Chapter 1, Problem 14P

The Scope and Scale of Physics

Find the order of magnitude of the following physical quantities. (a) The mass of Earth’s atmosphere: $5.1\times {10}^{1\text{8}}\text{ kg}$ : (b) The mass of the Moon’s atmosphere: $\text{25,000 kg}$ ; (c) The mass of Earth’s hydrosphere: $1.4\times {10}^{21}\text{ kg}$ : (d) The mass of Earth: $5.97\times {10}^{24}\text{ kg}$ : (e) The mass of the Moon: $7.34\times {10}^{22}\text{ kg}$ : (f) The Earth-Moon distance (semimajor axis): $3.84\times {10}^8\text{ m}$ : (g) The mean Earth-Sun distance: $1.5\times {10}^{11}\text{ m}$ : (h) The equatorial radius of Earth: $6.38\times {10}^6\text{ m}$ : (i) The mass of an electron: $9.11\times {10}^{-31}\text{ kg}$ : (j) The mass of a proton: $1.67\times {10}^{-27}\text{ kg}$ : (k) The mass of the Sun: $1.99\times {10}^{30}\text{ kg}$ .