Physics 161 Second Homework Assignment

Questions:

1. Either by using the Web or by going to a library, make a plot of the World Wide Consumption of oil as a function of year going back to say, 1970. Please clearly state your units of measurment (e.g. billions of barrels of oil or whatever)

2. Find some information about the amount of oil that is left in proven reserves. Using the graph that you made above esitmate when the world's oil supply will be exhausted. Do you believe this estimate? If so, why? If not, why not?

3. Find some information on US State Populations since 1960 and answer the following questions. Include your graphs where relevant.

A. What will the population of Oregon, Washington and California be in the year 2010?

B. Find the fastest growing state in the US in terms of percentage population growth per decade (exclude Alaska and Hawaii)

C. Identify some regions of the country in which the population has apparently stablized.

4. The US population is currently growing at the rate of 1% per year and there are 260 million people. When will the US have approximately 500 million people?

5. The population of Mexico is currently 90 million. Mexico is growing at the rate of 2% per year. When will the population of Mexico have approximately 500 million people?

6. IF the growth rates remain unchanged, when will the Population of Mexico exceed that of the US?

7. Find a Web resource that deals with the nuclear accident at Chernobyl. What, when and where did this happen and approximately how many people were affected. What is the status of this environment today?

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