Concept explainers
BIO Are We Martians? It has been suggested, and not facetiously, that life might have originated on Mars and been carried to the earth when a meteor hit Mars and blasted pieces of rock (perhaps containing primitive life) free of the Martian surface. Astronomers know that many Martian rocks have come to the earth this way. (For instance, search the Internet for “ALH 84001.”) One objection to this idea is that microbes would have had to undergo an enormous lethal acceleration during the impact. Let us investigate how large such an acceleration might be. To escape Mars, rock fragments would have to reach its escape velocity of 5.0 km/s, and that would most likely happen over a distance of about 4.0 m during the meteor impact. (a) What would be the acceleration (in m/s2 and g’s) of such a rock fragment, if the acceleration is constant? (b) How long would this acceleration last? (c) In tests, scientists have found that over 40% of Bacillus subtilis bacteria survived after an acceleration of 450,000g. In light of your answer to part (a), can we rule out the hypothesis that life might have been blasted from Mars to the earth?
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 2 Solutions
University Physics with Modern Physics, Volume 2 (Chs. 21-37); Mastering Physics with Pearson eText -- ValuePack Access Card (14th Edition)
Additional Science Textbook Solutions
Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics
An Introduction to Thermal Physics
Conceptual Integrated Science
The Cosmic Perspective (8th Edition)
The Cosmic Perspective Fundamentals (2nd Edition)
- Part A: A researcher is studying the lifespans of chimpanzees from Location A and Location B. From her results, she estimates that a chimpanzee from location A will have an average lifespan was 27 ± 4 years and a chimpanzee from location B will have an average lifespan was 35 ± 4 years. Part A.I: Based on the life spans (with uncertainties) above, can one argue that primates from both locations have the same lifespan? Show work to prove your point. Part A.2: Assume the researcher studied chimpanzees in Location B first. What is the percent difference in chimpanzee life span between Location A and B? You will not need uncertainties for this part. Please finish both. thanksarrow_forwardPlease give a clear and detailed solution.arrow_forwardYou and your pen pal from Mars are comparing to see who is taller. You write to yourfriend that you are 1.7018 m tall. Your pen pal writes back that they are 58.19 orfzagstall. An orfzag is a Martian unit equivalent to exactly 26 glibchoms (another Martianunit). One meter is approximately 936.36 glibchoms. Who is taller? Report bothheights in meters to the appropriate number of significant figures. Show yourreasoning and all work.arrow_forward
- Hi, I need help with this page. I don't know what to do for all of the questions. They are difficult and I don't know how to solve them. Please help me!arrow_forwardOne year on Mars is as long as 1.88 years on earth. How many seconds is a Martian year? Please give the correct answerarrow_forwardA scientist performs an experiment on all 8 planets in the solar system by comparing the lengths of the strips of paper tape required to record 10 data points. Therefore, which would we find that: A) The longest strip of paper is required for the planet: ? B) The shortest strip of paper is required for the planet: ? 8 Planets are Saturn, Earth, Venus, Uranus, Mars, Neptune, Jupiter, Mercuryarrow_forward
- H.W: How many nanocubes can you get if you break the cube with 1 m on each side into 1 nm length? What is the collective surface area of the nanocubes? Answer: (No. = 1027, Total SA = 6 x 10° m2 = 6000 km?)arrow_forwardChapter 5, Section 5.8, Question 32 Determine the length of a rectangular trench you can dig with the energy gained from eating one Milky Way bar (270 cal). Assume that you convert the energy gained from the food with 5% efficiency and that the trench is 7 meters wide and 1 meter deep. Use the fact that the density of soil is 1000 kg/m³ and the acceleration due to gravity is 9.81 m/s². Round your answer to two decimal places. The length of the trench is the tolerance is +/- 2% Click if you would like to Show Work for this question: Open Show Work LINK TO TEXT meters.arrow_forwardYou are out on a date, eating dinner in a restaurant that has several television screens. Most of the screens are showing sports events, but one near you and your date is showing a discussion of an upcoming voyage to Mars. (a) Your date says, "I wonder how long it takes to get to Mars?” Wanting to impress your date, you grab a napkin and draw Figure P13.9 on it. Even more impressively, you tell your date that the minimum-energy transfer orbit from Earth to Mars is an elliptical trajectory with the departure planet corresponding to the perihelion of the ellipse and the arrival planet at the aphelion. You pull out your smartphone, activate the calculator feature, and perform a calculation on another napkin to answer the question above that your date asked about the transfer time interval to Mars on this particular trajectory. (b) What If? Your date is impressed, but then asks you to determine the transit time to an inner planet, like Venus.arrow_forward
- Suppose that the weight of a type of organism is governed by a power law relationship with its length from snout to tail and the thickness of its central vertebrae W=cL^pV^q. One specimen weighed 37 kg with a length of 1.6 meters and vertebral thickness 1 cm. A second specimen weighed 45 kg with a length of 1.6 meters and vertebral thickness 1.3 cm. A third specimen weighed 56 kg, with a length of 3.1 meters and vertebral thickness 1.2 cm. Write the equation with the correct coefficient and parameter values. (Express values to the nearest hundredth).arrow_forwardThe figure shows, not to scale, a cross section through the interior of Earth. Rather than being uniform throughout, Earth is divided into three zones: an outer crust, a mantle, and an inner core. The dimensions of these zones and the masses contained within them are shown on the figure. Earth has a total mass of 5.98 x 1024 kg and a radius of 6370 km. Ignore rotation and assume that Earth is spherical. (a) Calculate ag at the surface. (b) Suppose that a bore hole (the Mohole) is driven to the crust-mantle interface at a depth of 25.0 km; what would be the value of ag at the bottom of the hole? (c) Suppose that Earth were a uniform sphere with the same total mass and size. What would be the value of ag at a depth of 25.0 km? (Precise measurements of ag are sensitive probes of the interior structure of Earth, although results can be clouded by local variations in mass distribution.) 6345 km (a) Number (b) Number 25 km Number i 3490 km -Core, 1.93 x 1024 kg Mantle, 4.01 × 1024 kg Crust,…arrow_forwardStill think that unit conversion isn't important? Here is a widely publicized, true story about how failing to convert units resulted in a huge loss. In 1998, the Mars Climate Orbiter probe crashed into the surface of Mars, instead of entering orbit. The resulting inguiry revealed that NASA navigators had been making minor course corrections in SI units, whereas the software written by the probe's makers implicitly used British units. In the United States, most scientists use Sl units, whereas most engineers use the British, or Imperial, system of units. (Interestingly, British units are not used in Britain.) For these two groups to be able to communicate to one another, unit conversions are necessary. The unit of force in the SI system is the newton (N), which is defined in terms of basic Sl units as 1 N=1 kg · m/s?. The unit of force in the British system is the pound (lb), which is defined in terms of the slug (British unit of mass), foot (ft), and second (s) as 1 lb =1 slug ·…arrow_forward
- Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Foundations...PhysicsISBN:9781133939146Author:Katz, Debora M.Publisher:Cengage LearningAstronomyPhysicsISBN:9781938168284Author:Andrew Fraknoi; David Morrison; Sidney C. WolffPublisher:OpenStaxHorizons: Exploring the Universe (MindTap Course ...PhysicsISBN:9781305960961Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana BackmanPublisher:Cengage Learning