Disasters and Failures Final

The mode is..
Q:1

The value in a distribution of numbers that occurs most often

Associated with the average you require the standard deviation to determine
Q:1

The precision of the measurement

Observation must be followed by
Q:1

Measurement

The average of a population is
Q:1

Equal to the mean of the population

Precision deals with
Q:1

The ability of a measurement to be consistently reproduced

In a true bell curve 68.27% of your data points should fall within plus or minus one standard deviation of the data's mean plus or minus one SD
Q:1

Yes

The standard deviation is a
Q:1

Write:
Measurement of precision

A systematic error is
Q:1

The result from some uniform problem in the way the data is collected

If it is possible to accurately measure something with a normal distribution, and all you errors are truly random and you have taken enough data then__________ of your data should fall in the range of the value of the Mean +/- one SD
Q:1

68.20%

Conclusions can be considered as
Q:1

Write:
Knowledge

Out of a universe of 100, John took the following data {21,22,22,22,22,22,23,24,25,22} and got a Mean+-SD interval values of 21.32 to 23.67.
Assuming he does not have systematic errors, What does he have to do?
Q:1

He has a good estimate of the population mean, he does not need to take more data

The mean is
Q:1

The computed value of adding all the values of a set

A random error is
Q:1

The result from some limitation in the method of data collection

What are the steps of the scientific method?
Q:1

1) Analysis
2) Hypothesis
3) Synthesis
4) Validation
5) Conclusions

If the distance between two objects is 4 and their masses are 4 and 16 respectively, then their mutual attraction would be proportional to:
Q:2

4

The mostly likely reason for not using Steel in in a bridge deals with
Q:2

Cost

In the bottom of a single beam the forces generated are:
Q:2

Write:
Tension

When we say that we expect normal behavior we mean that
Q:2

68.2% the data should fall within one mean+- std

The main cause for the failure of the Tacoma bridge is attributed to
Q:2

High winds

A major problem of bridges today deals with the
Q:2

Lack of maintenance

The following statement(s) summarize the lessons learned from building bridges
Q:2

All of the above
Bridges do not build themselves
Bridges do not take care of themselves
Building a cheap bridge is most often not cheap

From our experience in the lab the Warren Truss bridge was able to support ___________ of live load than the simple beam
Q:2

Five times as much

In the case of Therac 25, when Malfunction 54 happened the technician should
Q:2

Write:
Discontinue the therapy

_____________ is high-energy radiation capable of producing ionization in substances through which it passes
Q:2

Ionizing radiation

The Therac 25 had a graphic object console that show a simulation and the action begin performed by the Gamma rays
Q:2

Higher frequency

In the case of the Therac 25 accidents, the main reason one can attribute the deaths of the patients
Q:2

Overconfidence

Shorter wavelength actually means that both X and Gamma Rays have
Q:2

Higher frequency

Radiotherapy requires the use of sophisticated software to provide
Q:2

All of the above
High precision
High accuracy
Control of the radiation exposure time

A wave is
Q:2

A vibration that transfers energy

Power plants generate power at about __________ and
are connected to the HV lines by special substations
Q:3

25,000 volts

At a voltage of 100 a flow of 50 A of current would generate a resistance of
Q:3

2 Ohms

Using a River Analogy, for the case of electricity the elevation or height of a water fall is similar to
Q:3

Write:
Voltage

At a voltage of 100 volts and a resistance load of 50 Ohms the current flow would be
Q:3

2 Amps

One of the simplest ways to increase lift is
Q:3

To increase the size of the airfoil

An action force with a value 500 in one direction generates a reaction force of
Q:3

500

Assuming you are at constant temperature, if your pressure increases then the final volume should:
Q:3

Decrease proportionally

Assuming you are at constant VOLUME with an initial TEMPERATURE of 50, by the equation of ideal gasses, if your PRESSURE increases from 50 to 100 the final TEMPERATURE should be:
Q:3

Increase proportionally

The Comet 1 airplane disasters were caused mainly because
Q:3

They cut corners in the design and the materials

The statement that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction is a simple wording of
Q:3

Newtons Third Law

Electricity is generated
Q:3

Passing a wire through a magnetic field

At a voltage of 100 volts and a flow of 5 A of current would generate a power consumption of
Q:3

500 Watts

Using a River Analogy, the amount of water flow in a water fall is similar to
Q:3

Current (I)

Amongst other thing, looting occurred in the blackout of New York in the summer of 1977 with an estimated lost of 300 million dollars, because
Q:3

It was very hot

In order to promote competition in 1996 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
issued an order to all providers to
Q:3

To open their transmission lines to competitors

Nuclear Fission deals with
Q:4

Breaking a heavy nucleus apart

Reliability is obtained by the Telcos (telecommunications providers) using
Q:4

Redundant servers

Nuclear Fusion is the process of
Q:4

Write: Combining smaller atoms

Currently most US Energy needs are covered using
Q:4

Fossil fuels

From your experience in the lab, we get an increase in voltage when
Q:4

Cells are connected in series

Nuclear waste can not be sent to space because
Q:4

We don't have 100% relaiability on our rockets

In a PWR, what is the pressurized water circuit used for?
Q:4

To cool off the steam of the turbine

Enriched Uranium is used in ____________ Nuclear Reactors
Q:4

Fission Type

The Three Mile Island Reactor falls in the
Q:4

PWR type

Enriching Uranium is process by which you increase the amount of
Q:4

Uranium 235

At the end, the disadvantage of ATT leasing and franchising of telephones lines was that
Q:4

Innovation was not a priority

An "intelligent network" allows the carrier to
Q:4

Write:
To select the best route for a given call

Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) refers to the capacity of a switch to
Q:4

Yo mix several signals on the same single line

Parralel computing in telephony allows us to
Q:4

Increase the processing speed

The Fukushima nuclear Reactor falls in the
Q:4

BWR type

Information Science today tries to explain things that happen in terms of
Q:5

Information flows

The success of the Internet really begin to happen when the WWW was created in
Q:5

1992

A breakthrough is some sort of
Q:5

Discovery

In the Maturity phase of the BRETAM model you find ______________ products
Q:5

Write:
Inexpensive products

The Google Fight website is useful when we are comparing terms
Q:5

Using Internet websites

The T in the Bretam model refers to
Q:5

Theory phase

A good application for a supercomputer is
Q:5

Weather forecasting

Schumpeter tells us that the competition that counts is based on
Q:5

New Products

Spam refers to
Q:5

The use of any electronic communications medium to send unsolicited messages

In its goal to distribute tools and information to the world, the Internet is
Q:5

A set of individual computer-related standards

We live in exponential times, at least concerning the amount of information we have access to everyday, therefore we should concentrate on
Q:5

Selecting the right information

The top Search engine in the internet is
Q:5

Google

Spoofing
Q:5

Is when a software program acts like a standard application to get you (or your software) to send it information

Phishing is
Q:5

The practice of luring someone to send you information by representing yourself as a trusted person or entity

The use of Google Ngram to look for how often words are used is done by
Q:5

Using digitized books

Microgravity is achieved in the ISS mostly due to
Q:6

A free falling experience of all objects and crew

Power is generally obtained in the Space Station by
Q:6

Solar cells

In the Space Station, for masses M1 = 2 and M2 = 32 at a distance of D = 4 the force of atraction is proportionally equivalent to
Q:6

4

Previous artificial satellites in space, mostly useless junk, are a problem for the ISS and therefore it is needed to
Q:6

Keep track where they are and avoid them

Today reusable shuttles have a major disadvantage due to
Q:6

Write:
Technological obsolence

The assembly of the ISS by international cooperation
Q:6

Has not really worked

Delivery of the components the ISS Space Station has been done
Q:6

In various rocket launches

Developing and setting up a Space Station is a matter of
Q:6

30 years

The US began the conquest of space putting a capsule in orbit
Q:6

After the Soviet Union

In the Rice University Space Speech of 1962, JFK said that the US choose to go the Moon because
Q:6

It was a hard task to do

Apollo 13 was a mission where NASA was able to
Q:6

Recover from a problem with no loss of

With the Gemini project Nasa sent to space
Q:6

A two men capsule

It has been suggested that to go to Mars is will be necessary to
Q:6

First return to the Moon

With the Mercury Project Nasa sent to space
Q:6

A one man

A byte is
Q:7

A group of 8 bits

From Lab 11, Assuming you are able to overcome the gravitational pull of the moon. Do you need fuel to get back to earth and why?
Q:7

Write:
To slow you down to avoid chrashing on Earth

Bremerman's limit deals with
Q:7

The amount of information that can be stored or transmitted

The Speed of light has limit close to
Q:7

12 inches/nanosecond

The reason we can not accelerate to the a great speed in just seconds has to do with
Q:7

Inertia forces

Bremermann's derived a limit to the storage capacity of matter giving the following
Q:7

2
10^47 bits/gram
sec

Transporting atoms rather than bits into space is something
Q:7

Write:
Expensive and slow

Compression schemmes for text allows us to
Q:7

Reduce the size of the file up to 20% of its original size

Einstein?s E = mc2 equation could be used as conversion scheme for
Q:7

Matter to Energy

To travel one way to Proxima Centauri at the speed of light would take a ship up to
Q:7

4.25 years

Terrorists are unlikely to use Nuclear bombs because they
Q:7

Are diffcult to manufacture

Although biological weapons are fairly easy to produce,
Q:7

They are difficult to control

The best theory states that the WTC towers fell because the design never planned for
Q:7

The heat generated by the jet fuel

Besides energy the byproduct of combining Hydrogen with Oxygen is
Q:7

Water H2O

To generate thrust in space we need to use
Q:7

Action/Reaction (Third Law of Newton