UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY DEPT.
CET-1010 Introduction to CET
“Figure It Out” Assignment
REQUIREMENTS
Project teams of consisting 2 or 3 students will calculate and present their findings to
problems that will be assigned by the instructor. It is expected that all team members will
share equally in the calculation and presentation process. The team grade will be
recorded as the grade for each individual on the team based on correctness,
organization and clarity of the calculations and presentation.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Not all learning takes place while listening to the instructor lecture. Sometimes
learning occurs better with a hands on approach. While you may not have yet taken
classes that require design calculations, there are some important things to be
learned by participating in this project.
1. How to calculate and document a calculation in an organized manner.
2. How to solve problems that may require some innovative thinking and
investigation.
3. How to attempt to provide a quality result and presentation.
ASSIGNMENT PROCEDURES
1. Project teams will each be assigned a unique extraordinary problem from the
project draft day selection process to “figure out”.
2. The team needs to do the research and calculations necessary to determine a
plausible answer to the problem. Some assumptions and estimations may be
necessary to complete the calculations. Final units should be of an appropriate
magnitude (such as 24 days instead of 2,073,600 seconds).
3. Presentations can be either in Word or Powerpoint format.
4. Email the final presentation to Dr. K by the due date NOT the presentation date!
5. Each team will have their presentation shown in class by Dr. K on the scheduled
day. Students in the group should be prepared to answer questions if any arise.
PRESENTATION FORMAT
The following format should be followed to obtain a maximum score:
1. Clearly state the problem that you were assigned.
2. State any assumptions made regarding the calculation.
3. State any references used for determining information required for calculations.
4. Clearly show the calculation process in a stepwise organized fashion.
SCHEDULE
Solution Presentation Electronic File Submitted TO Dr. K
Nov. 15, 2016
Solution Presentations in Class By Dr. K
Nov. 16, 2016
FALL 2016
CET-1010
Introduction to CET
PAGE 1
UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY DEPT.
CET-1010 Introduction to CET
“Figure It Out” Calculations Assignment
Problems List
Problem #1 – If it were possible to build a ladder to the moon by stringing together step
ladders, how many semi-trucks would it take to deliver the ladders to the base point on
earth?
Problem #2 – If you could build a standard elevator through the earth from Toledo to the
opposite side of the earth (assuming that deep in the earth was all soil) how high would
the excavated soil be if piled all in the Glassbowl Stadium?
Problem #3 – If the Spaceship Earth ride (the big ball) at Epcot Center in Orlando,
Florida broke loose, how many revolutions would it take to roll to the tip of Key West,
Florida?
Problem #4 – If you had to drive a riding lawn mower all the way from Toledo to
Washington DC, how long would it take and how much gas would you use?
Problem #5 – Provided they could get under it, how many ants would it take to lift a
standard brick and how long would it take them to move it the length of a tennis court?
Problem #6 – How many Twinkies (neatly stacked) would it take to completely fill up my
office?
Problem #7 – How many packs of Twizzlers would it take to wrap all the light poles in the
Glassbowl from bottom to top?
Problem #8 – How many times would you have to flush a toilet to get enough water to
completely flood the basement of U Hall?
Problem #9 – How long would it take you to inflate the Goodyear blimp using your own
breath?
Problem #10 – How long would it take to empty all of Lake Erie over Niagara Falls?
Problem #11 – How many miles of laces are required from all of the baseballs used in
one entire season of Major League baseball?
Problem #12 – If all the hockey pucks required for one season of play in the NHL were
stacked in one column, how many times taller than the Empire State Building would the
stack be?
Problem #13 - How many semi-trucks would it take to fill a one direction traffic jam in all
lanes from Indiana to Pennsylvania on the Ohio Turnpike?
Problem #14 - How many eggs of Silly Putty would it take to cover the floor of our
classroom two feet deep after letting it ooze and settle into place?
FALL 2016
CET-1010
Introduction to CET
PAGE 2
UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY DEPT.
Problem #15 - What amount of money would you need to fill the Rec Center swimming
pool with quarters?
Problem #16 – How many ping pong balls would it take to completely fill Nitschke
Auditorium?
Problem #17 - How many tractors would it take to plow all the farmland in Iowa in 1 day?
Problem #18 - If it were all on land, how much paint would be required to paint a 6” stripe
around the earth at the equator?
Problem #19 – How many times could I drive my Subaru Impreza around the earth using
just the gasoline made from the oil that it takes to fill the entire Trans-Alaska pipeline?
Problem #20 – How many French Baggettes would be needed to fill up the openings in
the Arc de Triomphe in Paris?
Problem #21 - If the Gateway Arch in St. Louis was used as a giant croquet wicket, how
long would a proportionally sized handle of a croquet mallet need to be? How heavy
would the mallet head be if it were all made of wood?
Problem #22 - How many concrete trucks would it take to deliver the concrete required
to construct a 5’ wide, 4” thick sidewalk around Lake Erie?
Problem #23 – How many rolls of duct tape would be required to wrap up the U Hall
clock tower?
Problem #24 – What percentage of the 1st floor of Nitschke Hall could be covered using
every undergraduate and graduate engineering student’s TI-85 Graphing Calculator?
Problem #25 – If it were made of ¾” plywood, how long would it take to cut Florida off
from the US using a hand saw and float it away to South America?
Problem #26 – What would be the total weight of the amount of standard paper clips
required to make a connected chain the same length as the distance across the
Maumee River in Downtown Toledo.
Problem #27 – How many years on average does a two-car width garage door in a
single-family home need to be lifted to cumulatively lift the equivalent weight of a 747?
Problem #28 – How many revolutions does it take for a dime to roll a mile?
Problem #29 – How many hours in an average American’s lifetime will they spend
reheating leftovers?
Problem #30 – If a ramp could be built at the same slope as those in the UT Student
Union, how long would the ramp need to be to get to the top of Mt. Everest from Sea
Level?
FALL 2016
CET-1010
Introduction to CET
PAGE 3