Question

Question: A chemist’s 50-Trillion Angstrom Run (see Exercise 1.78) would be an archeologist’s 10,900 cubit run. Howlong is one cubit in meters and in feet? (1 Å = 1 × 10^-8 cm)

Short answer

One cubit is 0.46 m and 1.5 ft long.

Step-by-step solution

Defining the Trillion Angstrom and cubit units

We know that one trillion Angstrom is equal to 5 km (from Exercise 1.78).

A cubit is an ancient measure unit. It is measured based on the length between the elbow to the middle finger.

Also, 10,900 cubits are considered 50 Trillion Angstrom.

Converting the cubit into meters and feet

We know that

$\begin{array}{c}50trillionAngstrom=50\times {10}^{12}\times {10}^{-10}m\\ =5000m\\ =5km\end{array}$

And

$10,900cubit=50trillionAngstrom$

Therefore,

$10,900cubit=5000m$

$\begin{array}{l}1cubit=\frac{5000}{10,900}m\\ 1cubit=0.4587m\end{array}$

Rounding off, we get 0.46 m.

Also, we know

$1m=3.28ft$

We get

$\begin{array}{c}1cubit=0.4587m\\ =1.5049ft\end{array}$

Rounding off, we get 1.5 ft.

Therefore, one cubit in meters and feet are 0.46 m and 1.5 ft.