Recent Calculations

Latest calculations from the blog

Can You Measure Faith in Joules? Marching Around Jericho 13 Times
Physics & Science

Can You Measure Faith in Joules? Marching Around Jericho 13 Times

The Book of Joshua describes six days of marching once around Jericho's walls, then seven laps on the seventh — 13 laps in all. How far did that add up to for one person, how long did it take, and how much metabolic energy did 40,000 marchers burn doing it? We reverse-engineer the city's size from archaeology, weigh three guesses at how far back from the wall they actually walked, and convert the total into joules — and, just for scale, into tons of TNT.

#Jericho#faith and physics#energy expenditure#Fermi estimation#ancient warfare
What's the True Cost of One Avocado? Water, Carbon, and Nutrition
Physics & Science · Everyday Life

What's the True Cost of One Avocado? Water, Carbon, and Nutrition

One avocado (100 g flesh) gets dissected through three lenses: water, carbon, and nutrition efficiency. The math checks the popular "200-320 liters of water" claim against the primary dataset, tests how much transport mode swings the carbon footprint, and ranks avocado's nutrient-per-liter efficiency against four other fruits.

#avocado#water footprint#carbon footprint#LCA#nutrition#sustainability
Gas, Diesel, Hybrid, or EV — Which Is Cheapest Over 5 Years? At 7, the Answer Flips
Money & Economy · Everyday Life

Gas, Diesel, Hybrid, or EV — Which Is Cheapest Over 5 Years? At 7, the Answer Flips

A car's sticker price is just the opening bid. Add in fuel, insurance, registration tax, maintenance, and resale value, and the total cost of ownership (TCO) tells a very different story. We run the numbers on a Hyundai Tucson in gasoline, diesel, and hybrid trims plus an IONIQ 5 EV — and the cheapest car changes not once but twice as ownership length and annual mileage shift.

#TCO#electric-vehicle#hybrid#diesel#gasoline#depreciation
How Much Will Sea Level Rise If Ice Melts?
Physics & Science · Cosmic & Scale

How Much Will Sea Level Rise If Ice Melts?

Adjust melt rates of Greenland ice sheet, Antarctic ice sheet, and mountain glaciers to calculate sea level rise directly. An interactive calculator covering IPCC low/high emission scenarios through complete melting, where you can explore different futures by adjusting sliders.

#climate change#sea level rise#ice sheet#Greenland#Antarctica#glacier melt