This Week's Puzzle

This assignment is due before 9 AM, Friday, January 19th, 2001.



  • Puzzle solutions are due by 9:00 AM on Friday.
  • Puzzles are worth 5 points of extra credit each.
  • Answers must be accompanied by valid reasoning. Just like the tests, the answer alone isn't enough!
  • Each week, the first student to submit a correct answer will recieve the soemthing stylish
  • Please enter your solution in the text area at the bottom of this page. DON'T FORGET TO GIVE YOUR NAME!

"Gas Units Confuse Jimmy"

Due 9:00 AM Friday, January 19, 2001

Jimmy Kimmel was trying to figure out the root mean square speed of a hydrogen molecule for Ben Stein. He came up with an answer of 6.05, to which Ben replied "In what universe?". Ben went on to ask Jimmy whether he had ever had chemistry in high school and asked him what units were appropriate for his answer. After going back to his calculations, Jimmy discovers that his units work out to



He consults with his old chemistry teacher who only gives him the following hints:

1. You used the gas constant with inconvenient units.

and

2. Do not forget what a Joule is in SI units.

Take over for Jimmy and convert his inconvenient other-worldly answer into units of meters per second so Ben will get off his back.

Don't forget to explain your answer as clearly as possible. Just the correct answer is worth nothing!


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