ENGR-201 Spring 2012 Lab 1: Thinking Like An Engineer

This lab consists of 3 exercises to help you to begin to think like an engineer: 1. Estimating the size of the lab without and without measuring equipment 2. Fermi Problems (3 total) 3. Significant Figures (exercises) There is no formal report just the verification sheet which is attached. You TA will provide additional information for these exercises. General Process for Fermi Problems: 1) Students should first take an educated guess at the answer - it may be completely wrong that is okay. This guess is based on what your group knows or thinks is correct. 2) Students should then use Fermi analysis to work through to get the answer. This consists of breaking up the problem into a number of steps (similar to what was done to determine the number of Piano Tuners in Chicago). It also requires that you clearly state any assumptions and use dimensional analysis. For this step you should try to estimate intermediate answers such as: the volume of a mason jar; number of people at a Phillies game etc. These are best guesses they will be refined in step 3. At the end of this step you should have a well-defined process which uses dimensional analysis and produces a number. 3) Students should then rework the problem by visiting appropriate web sites to refine their guesses where needed. At the end your group should have 3 basic answers the key is to compare the order of magnitude not the exact values. You should also compare your answer to those of other groups in the class and understand if they are significant differences and why (see assumptions). All Lab sections will do the following Fermi Problem: How much does it cost to attend each ENGR 201 Lecture? How much it cost to attend each ENGR 201 lab session? Your analysis should be based on attending Drexel for five years with the number of quarters {3, 2, 2, 2, 3}. Determine the tuition and the cost of housing and food for the five years (internet is okay for these). You should base your answer on the total clock time of the class/lab, the number of credits you would take over 5 years and the total cost of attending Drexel. Do NOT use the posted cost per credit hour. You TA will provide two other Fermi Problems (different for each lab section) Significant Figures: Review the following websites http://www.chem.sc.edu/faculty/morgan/resources/sigfigs/index.html http://www.physics.uoguelph.ca/tutorials/sig_fig/SIG_dig.htm Answer the problems on the verification sheet with the correct number of significant use scientific notation if appropriate.

ENGR-201 Spring 2012 Lab 1: Thinking Like An Engineer

Verification Sheet
Team members: ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Exercise 1: Room Measurement Parameter Estimated with no explicit tools Measured % Error 100(Meas.-Est.)/Meas. Section ____

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Exercise 2: Fermi Problems Cost to attend ENRG201 Lecture, Cost to attend Lab

Prob 1: initial guess Prob 1: without internet info Prob 1: with internet info Prob 2: initial guess Prob 2: without internet info Prob 2: with internet info Exercise 3: Significant Digits value ( ) Area of circle with diameter of 1.34 inches Number of students in this lab section Average value of the set of numbers {1.07, 2.0, 3.3, 4.401} How many sig digits: 8.2300 E-6 Sum of: 123.4 + 123.451 ab/c = ?, a = 483 J, b = 73.67 J c = 15.67 x + y + z = ?, x = 48.1, y = 77, z = 65.789 Units if applicable

ENGR-201 Spring 2012 Lab 1: Thinking Like An Engineer