February 11, 2026
posted on: Wednesday, February 11th, 2026, 0:01
Today is the birthday of
- Josiah
Willard Gibbs (1839-1903).
Get a Josiah Willard Gibbs ceramic mug. - Leo Szilard (1898-1964).
Today’s Problem
A well known statement in radio astronomy is that the total energy collected by all radio telescopes on Earth since the 1930s is less than the energy of a single falling snowflake. Estimate the energy of a single falling snowflake.
Answer
A typical snowflake has a mass of about 3 mg. Snowflakes fall at a speed of around 1 m/s.
Substituting the typical snowflake mass and speed into the Newtonian formula for kinetic energy:
\[\begin{eqnarray} KE&=&\frac{1}{2}mv^2=\frac{1}{2}(3\times 10^{-6}\,\mathrm{kg})(1\,\mathrm{m/s})^2\\ &=&1.5\times 10^{-6}\,\mathrm{J} \end{eqnarray}\]
References
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