Crapshoot

Film for September 15^th, 2004

For this week we can have a little fun with math:

The problem:

1. What is the total amount of nitrogen produced by the entire population of Vermont annually? of phosphorus?

2. What is the total amount of nitrogen produced by the 146,000 lactating cows in Vermont? of phosphorus

3. How many acres of potatoes could you produce with that much nitrogen from people? From cows? Assume nitrogen was the only limiting nutrient.

I will give some extra credit to anyone who gets all three questions correct. I will allow a 10% margin of error. For 1 and 2 give answer in tons.

Numbers you may need to do the calculations.

Annual body wastes per 100 humans:
915 lb nitrogen
137 lb phosphorus
55 lb calcium

Make the assumption that all cows in Vermont are midsize Holsteins that weigh about 1350 lbs (of course this isn’t true)

Population of Vermont 620,000 (estimated 2003)

Manure Characteristics: see this file