Splash Biography

What if we were to tell you that with just basic knowledge of mechanics, E&M, and thermodynamics, you can find almost any physical quantity in the world? In order-of-magnitude physics, you are challenged to find the simplest possible way to answer some of the biggest conundrums of science—and your daily life! For example: How much can you run before you die? How much electricity is generated in your brain? How far does water travel through soil before it is safe to consume through a well? How strong does a magnet have to be to levitate a person? Questions like these have become known as Fermi problems after physicist Enrico Fermi, who famously used order-of-magnitude physics to estimate the energy released by a nuclear bomb during the Manhattan Project (of which home is Berkeley!). Together, we will follow in his footsteps, and see just how much of the world we can fit in the back of an envelope. This class consists of collaborative activities between the students and teachers. We will explore many different Fermi questions in groups, and you will be free to join whatever group suits your level of knowledge and interests. We can cover anything from the simplest forces to quantum mechanics based on your skill level, since there are endless Fermi questions for us to investigate! Join us to see how far you can take your experience in high school physics—even if you have very little, you'll be surprised at how much you can make of it.

Enrico Fermi had a penchant for making "Fermi estimates"--for example, he famously estimated the power of the first atomic bomb test by dropping a piece of paper and seeing how far it flew. Thus began a whole category of order-of-magnitude estimation questions called Fermi questions. Some famous Fermi questions include: How long would it take to read all of Wikipedia? How many piano tuners are there in Chicago? How many intelligent civilizations are there in the galaxy? Want to impress your friends by doing back of the envelope calculations? If we ask you: determine (without googling anything!) the distance from Pluto to the Sun divided by the width of a single HIV virus--are you confident you'll be able to get an answer accurate to within a factor of 10? Learn how to become a whiz at Fermi questions, join the class!