What is Magnitude: Definition and 1000 Discussions

An order of magnitude is an approximation of the logarithm of a value relative to some contextually understood reference value, usually ten, interpreted as the base of the logarithm and the representative of values of magnitude one. Logarithmic distributions are common in nature and
considering the order of magnitude of values sampled from such a distribution can be more intuitive. When the reference value is ten, the order of magnitude can be understood as the number of digits in the base-10 representation of the value. Similarly, if the reference value is one of certain powers of two, the magnitude can be understood as the amount of computer memory needed to store the exact integer value.
Differences in order of magnitude can be measured on a base-10 logarithmic scale in “decades” (i.e., factors of ten). Examples of numbers of different magnitudes can be found at Orders of magnitude (numbers).

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  1. W

    Electric Potential between two charges of equal magnitude

    Homework Statement Two charges of equal magnitude Q are held a distance d apart. Consider only points on the line passing through both charges. If the two charges have the same sign, find the location of all points (if there are any) at which the potential (relative to infinity) is zero. a)...
  2. I

    Determine the magnitude and direction of forces

    Homework Statement The figure shows a frame with a 100N object hanging on it. Determine the magnitude and direction of forces exerted on AB and BC respectively. Homework Equations ∑Fx=0, ∑Fy=0, ∑M=0 The Attempt at a Solution I believe this question is unsolvable. The free body...
  3. J

    Magnitude at pivot point and A

    So this is the question that is given The right-angle uniform slender bar AOB has mass m. If friction at the pivot O is neglected, determine the magnitude of the normal force at A and the magnitude of the pin reaction at O. Now I don't really know where to start whit this or what to do at...
  4. L

    Understanding Orders of Magnitude: Clearing Up Confusion | Homework Help

    Homework Statement Hi guys this isn't so much a coursework or homework help problem but figured this would be a sensible place to post my question. Basically I got back an assignment I had recently completed from my tutor and I had been marked down for some errors in regard to the orders of...
  5. V

    Can a phasor have a negative magnitude?

    Would it be preferred to write ##-60\angle 10°\quad or\quad 60\angle 190°?## Would one or the other be incorrect? Those two phasors are equivalent, right?
  6. Shadow236

    Finding the magnitude necessary to balance two forces

    Homework Statement Two forces are acting on an object. The magnitudes of them are F1=10.0N, F2=4.0N. If a third force F3 is applied on the object, what is the smallest magnitude of F3 needed to balance the first two forces? Homework Equations N/A The Attempt at a Solution I've done...
  7. A

    MHB Finding smallest magnitude eigen value

    Hello, I have been asked to implement an algorithm which will find the smallest magnitude eigen value of the matrice. I have already seen many implementation of it. However, all of them are for the symmetric matrices. My problem is that I need to do it for non-symmetric matrices which makes it...
  8. N

    The magnitude of Earth from Moon

    Hello, I was wondering that I'm a astronaut on Moon and I thought about a one question... If I look at the Earth (in "full moon") from the Moon, what magnitude will have the Earth? Ok, I know some typical values that the magnitude of Moon from Earth is -13 mag and the magnitude of Sun from...
  9. D

    MHB Magnitude Fourier transform lowpass, highpass, or bandpass

    Using geometric evaluation of the magnitude of the Fourier transform from the corresponding pole-zero plot, determine, for each of the following Laplace transforms, whether the magnitude of the corresponding Fourier transform is approximately lowpass, highpass, or bandpass. \[ H_1(s) =...
  10. T

    Estimating Milky Way Absolute Magnitude

    Important: All Logs are base 10 and not the natural log. Homework Statement This question is from Foundations of Astrophysics from chapter 19 Suppose the Milky Way consisted of 2.7x10^11 stars, each of solar luminosity MB=4.7. What would be the absolute magnitude of the whole galaxy? To...
  11. Shadow236

    Magnitude of acceleration given the orbit

    Homework Statement A satellites are placed in a circular orbit that is 3.22 × 105 m above the surface of the earth. What is the magnitude of the acceleration due to gravity at this distance?Homework Equations a = MG/R^2The Attempt at a Solution For the above formula I have trouble because I do...
  12. sa1988

    Magnitude of electric field between two concentric oppositely charged

    Homework Statement Magnitude of electric field between two concentric oppositely charged spheres. Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution So I first went with the simple electric field equation E=V/d So I have the potential difference V between the two sphere...
  13. C

    Magnitude, Unit vectors,unknown variables

    Homework Statement a and b are vectors in R^3 s.t. a=(1,7,-4) and b= -3j-4k 1. Find ||3a-3b|| (magnitude of 3a-3b) 2. Find unit vector u in direction of 3a-3b, write answer in form (u1,u2,u3) 3. Find vector of length 8 in direction of a (write answer in form "-") Homework Equations...
  14. Shadow236

    Magnitude of acceleration due to gravity

    Homework Statement Satellites are placed in a circular orbit that is 1.20 × 106 m above the surface of the earth. What is the magnitude of the acceleration due to gravity at this distance? Homework Equations My book is saying that the relevant equations are: W = G((ME m)/r2) W =...
  15. A

    Help understanding magnitude and phase of sinc functions?

    help understanding magnitude and phase of sinc functions?? Homework Statement Homework Equations pτ(t) ⇔ τsinc(\frac{τω}{2\pi}) Δτ(t) ⇔ \frac{τ}{2}sinc2(\frac{τω}{4\pi}) sinc(x) = \frac{sin(\pi x)}{\pi x} The Attempt at a Solution My instructor had posted solutions to the problems: I...
  16. M

    Finding magnitude of current of 3 rods, so 1 can levitate.

    Homework Statement You have three parallel conducting rods. Two of them are very long, and the third is 10.0 m long, with a weight of 36.0 N. You wish to conduct the following levitation demonstration: The two long rods will be placed in a fixed horizontal orientation at the same height, 10.0...
  17. R

    What is the magnitude of the charge on a second object?

    Homework Statement Two charges are separated by a distance of 17 m. The charge on one object is 22 x10-6 C and the magnitude of the electrostatic force between them is 0.8 N. What is the magnitude of the charge on the second object? (enter your answer as a decimal with at least 4 non-zero...
  18. Y

    Finding the magnitude of the moment on a pipe wrench

    Homework Statement A force of 56 pounds acts on the pipe wrench shown. find the magnitude of the moment about O by evaluating || OA x F || Homework Equations || OA x F || The Attempt at a Solution First I tried to find my vector component for Force which I got -56 [ cos(30)i +...
  19. S

    Explosion mass and magnitude physics

    An object with total mass mtotal = 16.5 kg is sitting at rest when it explodes into three pieces. One piece with mass m1 = 4.7 kg moves up and to the left at an angle of θ1 = 19° above the –x axis with a speed of v1 = 26.5 m/s. A second piece with mass m2 = 5.2 kg moves down and to the right an...
  20. J

    Finding the magnitude of the force and direction.

    Homework Statement A long wire carrying 6.50A of current makes two bends. The bent part of the wire passes through a uniform 0.280T magnetic field directed as shown in the figure and confined to a limited region of space. Part A: Find the magnitude of the force that the magnetic field...
  21. N

    Fluid Mechanics and order of magnitude calculation

    Hi In my lecture notes we making some calculations and all terms \mathcal O(M^3) are to be thrown away. Here M is the Mach number. Now, there is the expression (u denotes the velocity): uu\partial_t \rho \approx \rho_0 uu\nabla u which in my notes are thrown away because they claim it is...
  22. M

    Magnitude of the current flowing around the nucleus in the Bohr mode

    magnitude of the "current" flowing around the nucleus in the Bohr mode Homework Statement According to the Bohr model, a hydrogen atom in its lowest energy state has a nucleus consisting of a single proton, which is orbited by a single electron. The speed of the electron is 2.19×106 m/s and...
  23. K

    Calculating the Magnitude of the force

    Homework Statement Calculate the magnitude of the force on an electron moving at 4×10^6 m/s at an angle of 8 degrees to a magnetic field of 0.3 Tesla. Give your answer in Newtons. Homework Equations the equation that i used was f= qvBsin(8) The Attempt at a Solution...
  24. P

    Ambiguous Electric-Field magnitude

    Homework Statement On the x axis, charge +Q lies at x = -a and charge -Q lies at x = +a. Point P lies on the axis at x = +b, where b > a. a) Work out the electric field magnitude of P b) What is the direction of this …field? Homework Equations E=kqr/r3 The Attempt at a Solution...
  25. V

    Magnitude and direction of Electric field

    Homework Statement Calculate the magnitude of the electric field E = (-11i^+14j^)N/C ∣∣E⃗ ∣∣ = _______ N/C Calculate the direction (relative to the +x-axis ) of the electric field E = (-11i^+14j^)N/C. θ =_________∘ counterclockwise from the +x-axis Homework Equations...
  26. J

    G Magnitude to V magnitude stars in a CCD

    I have astronomical images taken using a CCD camera and telescope using a g filter. In the images I have stars with what is called instrumental magnitudes (from the photon count in each pixel). My question is if there is a way to change this g instrumental magnitude to a real V magnitude. I...
  27. B

    Four charges each Q in magnitude

    Homework Statement Four charges, each q in magnitude, are arranged in a square, two positive and two negative, in opposite corners. The square is L length on each side, and the charges are all in the same plane as shown in the diagram. Show work and units for full credit. q+ -----B----- q- | |...
  28. ckirmser

    How to Determine Absolute Magnitude

    Hello, all. I'm trying to find an equation to determine a star's absolute magnitude in order to populate a table of stellar characteristics. Unfortunately, every formula I've run across requires a star's apparent magnitude and that requires knowing how far the star is from the observer...
  29. N

    Why is magnitude g instead of vector g used in range projectile

    It is not being explained anywhere in my book nor on the internet. Can someone explain to me why?
  30. A

    Electric field magnitude midway between 2 charges

    Homework Statement What is the electric field magnitude midway between charges of Q1 = 1 C and Q2 = 11 C separated by 2 m? Homework Equations E= k (Q/r^2). The Attempt at a Solution 9E9 x 1C / 1^2 = 9E9 N/C 9E9 x 2C / 1^2= 1.8E10 N/C. What do I do from here? Any help...
  31. A

    Magnitude of electric and magnetic fields question. Help,

    Homework Statement An ink drop with charge q = 3 ✕ 10-9 C is moving in a region containing both an electric field and a magnetic field. The strength of the electric field is 8E5 N/C and the strength of the magnetic field is 1.3 T. At what speed must the particle be moving perpendicular to...
  32. N

    Solar eclipse - magnitude and albedo

    Hello, everyone. On physics Olympiad in our country I get a interesting example... But, I didn't know how to solve it. Can you tell me how? It is known that the Moon when it is full has the apparent magnitude of approximately -12 mag and the Sun during the day has the apparent magnitude of...
  33. L

    Calculating Apparent Magnitude of The Moon

    Hello everyone, I've been wondering if I can calculate the apparent magnitude of The Moon since I know the apparent magnitude of The Sun(say -27mag) and reflection coefficient of Moon's surface(say 0.12). We know the equation \Delta m = -2.5 log_{10}(I/I_0) Where I is the flux of the...
  34. V

    Magnitude of the resultant acceleration

    Homework Statement An electric turntable 0.760m in diameter is rotating about a fixed axis with an initial angular velocity of 0.250rev/s . The angular acceleration is 0.900rev/s2 . what is the magnitude of the resultant acceleration of point on the tip of the blade at time 0.200...
  35. M

    Adding vectors given just the magnitude

    Homework Statement The problem is attached Homework Equations sqrt(a^2+b^2) The Attempt at a Solution I used the equations above to calculate the resultant but apparently it wasn't right.
  36. V

    Magnitude of torque in a circuit?

    Homework Statement What is the torque in the circuit in the attached document? Homework Equations τ = μ x B μ = (I)(A) The Attempt at a Solution See attached document for solution. I'm very confused by how to relate each torque together. I know that for each segment of wire...
  37. B

    Magnitude of abs(H(exp(jwT)) = 2

    abs(H(exp(jwT))=abs((exp(jwT)+2)/(exp(jwT)+0.5))=2 How come the answer is 2. I just find it impossible to express it in terms of Imaginary and Real parts so that I could find the absolute value.
  38. B

    Finding the magnitude and direction

    Homework Statement A 325Kg boat is sailing 15° north of east at a speed of 2.00ms-1. Thirty seconds later it is sailing 35° north of east at a speed of 4.00ms-1. During this time, three forces act on the boat: A 31N force directed 15° north of east (engine), a 23N force directed 15° south of...
  39. P

    Magnitude of friction force between two boxes

    Hello! I'm excited to join this physics community and appreciate any help that the people posting in this thread will give me! The problem is this You are lowering two boxes, one on top of the other, down the ramp with length 4.75m and height 2.5m (The ramp has its highest point at the right...
  40. H

    Linear speed and magnitude of linear acceleration

    Homework Statement A car with 64.0-cm-diameter tires is being driven down a level road at 75.0 km/hr. As seen by a person riding in the car (i.e. relative to the passenger), what are the linear speed and magnitude of the linear acceleration of a) the center of one of one of the wheels, b) a...
  41. J

    Force Vector Magnitude Distance

    Homework Statement A force of f= i + 2j- 3k is applied to a particle that moves 10 feet in the direction of i + j. How much work is done? Homework Equations W= ||F|| dot product d The Attempt at a Solution D= 10 cos 45 i + 10 sin 45 j D= 5sqrt(2) i + 5 sqrt(2) j F= i + 2j - 3k...
  42. anthonyk2013

    Getting magnitude and direction of 3 forces

    I have completed this question but I am not sure I am right. 3 co-planer forces acting at a point 0, 100KN→ at 0deg from o point, 70KN→120deg from o point and 50KN →210deg from o point (hope that make sense, can't draw it). using a scale of 10mm+10KN determine, By means of polygon of...
  43. L

    How to calculate magnitude of this function ?

    Homework Statement f =(ax+ jay) Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution
  44. N

    Magnitude of magnetic field at the center of a semi-circle

    Homework Statement A very long wire carrying a current I = 5.0 A is bent into a semi-circle with a diameter of 10 cm as shown in the figure. What is the magnitude of the magnetic field at the point P, halfway between the ends of the straight sections of wire and at the center of curvature of...
  45. J

    Magnitude of force on electron in magnetic field

    Homework Statement An electron in a vacuum is first accelerated by a voltage of 41300 V and then enters a region in which there is a uniform magnetic field of .145 T at right angles to the direction of the electron's motion. What is the magnitude of the force on the electron due to the...
  46. J

    What is the direction and magnitude of the frictional force?

    Homework Statement A 2,200-kg car is moving down a road with a slope (grade) of 14% at a constant speed of 11 m/s. Homework Equations The equation that I'm using is ƩF=ma and friction=μN The Attempt at a Solution the mass is 2200kg the acceleration is zero because of the constant...
  47. P

    How to find the distance to a cluster using the apparent magnitude

    Homework Statement The main sequence can be approximated by a relation of the form L\proptoT^5 . In Cluster A, a main sequence star called Star α has the same B – V colour as the Sun, and a V-band apparent magnitude of 11.3. The effective temperature of Star α is 5800K. In Cluster B, a main...
  48. R

    Calculate Magnitude of Impulse on 920-kg Car

    Homework Statement What is the magnitude of the Impulse exerted on a 920-kg car as it slows from 24.3 m/s to 12.9 m/s while traveling in a straight line? The Attempt at a Solution I was thinking 920(24.3 m/s) and 920(12.9 m/s) and subtract the two. Not totally sure tho.
  49. N

    Determine the magnitude of the magnetic field.

    Homework Statement Three long parallel wires are 3.5 cm from one another. (Looking along them, they are at three corners of an equilateral triangle.) The current in each wire is 8.00 A, but its direction in wire M is opposite to that in wires N and P. Determine the magnitude of the magnetic...
  50. V

    Calculating Vector Magnitude and Angle: A Step-by-Step Guide

    Homework Statement What is the magnitude and angle to Vector B - 2(Vector A)? Homework Equations A sub x: 44cos28 = 38.85 A sub y: 44sin28 = 20.66 B sub x: 26.5cos56 = 14.82 <-- (Does the negative sign matter in 26.5? My teacher said it's not) B sub y: 26.5sin56 = 21.97 The...
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