Monday, August 15, 2011

Energy at the Grocery Store

Did you know that you can buy energy at the grocery store? Whole Foods in Wedgwood has an entire energy aisle!


I wonder how much a Joule of energy is, these days...

4 comments:

  1. @Benedikt: "I wonder how much a Joule of energy is, these days... " Love it!

    Here's one approach, can be modified. Lab grade sucrose is about $10/kg.

    (1) According to Wikipedia, the (metabolic) energy content of sucrose is 17 kJ/g = 17 MJ/kg. So looks like 1 J is about $0.0000006 = $6E(-7) = 600 nanodollars.

    (2) However, the rest mass energy of 1 kg of sucrose (well, anything) is 9E16 J. So looks like 1 J is about $1E(-16).

    Sounds like you all are having a great time this session! I've been having a great time reading.

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  2. Once upon a time I knew the items with the most calories/cent in the Aubert Hall vending machine. (Poptarts, in case you were wondering). I'm really glad those days are over. . .

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  3. Rachel and I went to Whole Foods today and we saw a poster that said "Eating for Energy" near the burritos. I wonder how one eats against energy? (I took a picture of the sign but I don't think I can upload a picture in a comment!)

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