Simple Conversion Problem: 6 Pounds in 30 Days to Milligrams/Second

  • Context: High School 
  • Thread starter Thread starter pepsi_in_a_can
  • Start date Start date
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
2 replies · 2K views
pepsi_in_a_can
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
For some reason I'm having trouble doing a simple conversion problem:


A person on a diet loses 6 pound(s) every 30 days. What is the loss rate in milligrams per second?

I get 62.9989, but apparently that answer is wrong, but I'm not sure why. I may have to put it in scientific notation, but I'm not sure what I'm overlooking. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
1 pound = x kg
1 kg = y mg
-> 1 pound = xy mg

1 day = p hours
1 hour = q seconds
-> 1 day = pq seconds

pound/day : mg/s
-> 1/1 : xy/pq

you don't have 1 pound/day but 6/30. Each 1 pound per day is worth xy/pq mg/s, and you have 6/30 of them.
 
There are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, so 60*60= 3600 seconds in an hour. There are 24 hours in a do so (24)(3600)= 86400 seconds in a day and so 30(86400)= 2592000 seconds in 30 days.

"pounds to milligrams" is a little harder since they are in differents systems so there are not an integer number of grams in a pound. According to http://www.onlineconversion.com/weight_common.htm, there are 453.2923 grams in a pound and so 453292 milligrams in a pound. 6 pounds in 30 days is 6(453291 milligrams)/ 2592000 seconds which is very nearly 1 milligram per second.