Word Problem

The following was contributed by Phillip ('02).

1. If the Natural History Museum is open daily from10:00 am to 5:30 pm 7 days a week how many hours a week is the museum open? 
2. If the Hope Diamond is 45 carats and half a carat and .2437 ounces equals a cart then how much does the Hope Diamond weigh?
3. If they feed the tarantulas 4 days a week and 3 times a day how many times do they publicly feed them a year?

The following was contributed by Stephen ('03).

4. If a 1 carat diamond is .2437 ounces and the Hope diamond is 11.08835 ounces how many carats is the Hope diamond?
5. If there are 1500 dinosaur specimens in the Natural History Museum and 30 of them are on display and 6 are the actual original specimens used to name new species then what is the ratio of original specimens to all of the specimens?
6. If the world was created 4.6 billion years ago and the dinosaurs died out 64 million years ago then how long was the time between earths creation and the extinction of the dinosaurs?
   

Answers

Scavenger Hunt

Go to the web site http://mnh.si.edu
Once you are at the site click on the link exhibits. 
Then click on virtual tour

1.      How many objects of nature and culture are in their collection?     

Go back to the main page and click on the link information desk.
Then click on the link research & collections.
Once you are there, go to the science department anthropology.
Then click on the Archaeology, Ethnology and Physical Anthropology Collections link.

2.      The Ethnology collection of 19^th and 20^th century cultures contains how many objects?               

3.      When will researchers be able to search the department's archaeology, ethnology, and physical anthropology collections online using a new multimedia catalog?   

Answers

1. James Smithson founded the museum.       

2. The Natural History Museum is part of the largest museum complex.         

3. The Museum of Natural History has exhibits on the first flying airplane.        

Answers

The Natural History Museum is part of the Smithsonian Museums complex.  The Smithsonian is the most visited museum complex in the world.  In the year 2000 over nine million people visited the Natural History Museum alone.
The museum’s exhibits contain ample supplies of interesting information on various topics.  The museum contains over fifteen hundred dinosaur specimens. Six of them were used to identify completely new species of dinosaurs.  Thirty of the specimens are on display for visitors.
 The museum has a large interactive insect zoo that contains insects from tarantulas to butterflies.  You can watch a tarantula feeding if you are lucky and arrive on one of the three days they get fed.  The museum shows Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution of mankind from the apes to modern humans.  This exhibit is called “Seeds of Change”.  The museum also explains the evolution of the earth and the theories on how it was formed. 
In the museum there are also exhibits on all types of rare and beautiful rocks and minerals. The Hope Diamond resides here.  It is known for its flawless cut and its size.  This section of the museum also contains extremely valuable necklaces, bracelets, and rings made of emerald, diamond, ruby, and many other precious materials.
           The Natural History Museum was on of the highlights of the Washington D.C. trip for me and I hope everyone gets to see it at least once some day.

Answers to Word Problems

1. 52.5

2. 11.08835 ounces

3. 624

4. 45.5

5. 1/250

6. 4,536,000,000 years

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Answers to Scavenger Hunt

1. 120 million

2. A quarter of a million 

3. Early 2003

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Answers to Fact and Fiction

      1. True
      2. True
      3. False, that is the Air and Space Museum
      
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"National Museum of Natural History." Smithsonian Institute. April 2003. Copyright © 2002 Smithsonian Institution. 18-January-2003 <http://www.mnh.si.edu>.