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army1987 comments on Open thread, Sept. 29 - Oct.5, 2014 - Less Wrong Discussion
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I had this meme roaming around my mind ever since I was a child that a dripping faucet is a major waste of water (not sure where exactly I got it from), so I decided to Fermi estimate how much water it actually wastes. (The answer is left as an exercise to the reader.)
Hmm.
ROT13: V unir ab vqrn ubj zhpu jngre'f va gur nirentr qebcyrg, ohg gurl ybbx nobhg unys n pz npebff, fb yrg'f onyycnex vg nf n gragu bs n pp. Gubhfnaq PPf gb n yvgre, fb gra gubhfnaq qebcyrgf va bar. 86400 frpbaqf va n qnl, fb n snhprg qevccvat ng n qebc n frpbaq (cerggl snfg) vf jnfgvat nebhaq 10 yvgref n qnl, naq bar qevccvat ng n qebc rirel 10 frpbaqf (zber glcvpny sebz jung V erzrzore) vf jnfgvat nobhg n yvgre n qnl. Cerggl ybj rvgure jnl, pbzcnerq gb jung lbh'er fcraqvat ba fubjref, qvfujnfuvat, rgp.
That about what you came up with?
Yes. And this thing says that you're within a factor of 2.1 of the right answer.
Now, does anyone know how much water is needed to manufacture a replacement faucet? (this is surprisingly difficult to estimate)
Usually the proper fix for a leaking faucet is substantially more conservative than replacing the whole assembly.
For comparison, producing a pound of meat uses 2,400 gallons of water.
Fun fact: when I was a child, instead of being afraid of the dark, I was afraid of the light.
I thought that the lamp that my mother left switched on would just consume too much and the electric bill would send us under a bridge. I could only sleep by pretending that I was asleep, so my mother would leave and I could swiftly switch off the light bulb.