Question

The current theory of the structure of the

Answer 1

Answers:

a) $2.82(10)^{21} kg$

b) $1410 J$

c) $36.62 m/s$

Explanation:

a) Mass of the continent

Density $\rho$  is defined as a relation between mass $m$ and volume $V$:

$\rho=\frac{m}{V}$ (1)

Where:

$\rho=2720 kg/m^{3}$ is the average density of the continent

$m$ is the mass of the continent

$V$ is the volume of the continent, which can be estimated is we assume it as a a slab of rock 5300 km on a side and 37 km deep:

$V=(length)(width)(depth)=(5300 km)(5300 km)(37 km)=1,030,330,000 km^{3} \frac{(1000 m)^{3}}{1 km^{3}}=1.03933(10)^{18} m^{3}$

Finding the mass:

$m=\rho V$ (2)

$m=(2720 kg/m^{3})(1.03933(10)^{18} m^{3})$ (3)

$m=2.82(10)^{21} kg$ (4) This is the mass of the continent

b) Kinetic energy of the continent

Kinetic energy $K$ is given by the following equation:

$K=\frac{1}{2}mv^{2}$ (5)

Where:

$m=2.82(10)^{21} kg$ is the mass of the continent

$v=4.8 \frac{cm}{year} \frac{1 m}{100 cm} \frac{1 year}{365 days} \frac{1 day}{24 hours} \frac{1 hour}{3600 s}=1(10)^{-9} m/s$ is the velocity of the continent

$K=\frac{1}{2}(2.82(10)^{21} kg)(1(10)^{-9} m/s)^{2}$ (6)

$K=1410 J$ (7) This is the kinetic energy of the continent

c) Speed of the jogger

If we have a jogger with mass $m=77 kg$ and the same kinetic energy as that of the continent $1413 J$, we can find its velocity by isolating $v$ from (5):

$v=\sqrt{\frac{2 K}{m}}$ (6)

$v=\sqrt{\frac{2 (1413 J)}{77 kg}}$

Finally:

$v=36.62 m/s$ This is the speed of the jogger