Let’s practice more problems using dimensional analysis. The following two problems are real world famous unit conversion errors from Space Math @ NASA (http://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov)
Directions: Use dimensional analysis to see if you can answer the problems.
Background: On September 23, 1999, NASA lost the $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft after a 286-day journey to Mars. Miscalculations, using English units instead of metric units, slowly sent the craft 60 miles off course. Lockheed Martin, the aerospace company performing the calculations, was sending thruster data in English units (pounds) to NASA, while NASA's navigation team was expecting metric units (newtons). Thrusters used to help point the spacecraft had, over the course of months, been fired incorrectly because the data used to control the wheels were calculated in incorrect units.
Background: On January 26, 2004, Tokyo's Disneyland Space Mountain broke an axle on a roller coaster train mid-ride causing it to derail. It was found that the wrong size part was used due to a conversion miscalculation of the master plans in 1995 from English units to metric units. In 2002, new axles were mistakenly ordered using the pre-1995 English specifications instead of the current metric specifications.