I'm a software developer, and I need to calculate the estimated amount of force expended typing stored text. Preferrably in some interesting way. (i.e. the force exerted on keys thus far is enough to push a car 5 miles) (or: equivalent to 100 kg of TNT)
Assumptions:
- We're not going to worry about deletes or moving the cursor or anything, I'm just counting characters of stored text.
- I don't really care if the space requires more force or not, this is more of a "fun fact" than anything.
- From what I've found online, the mean force required for a keystroke is about 12.9N (source).
- Hundreds of millions of characters have been typed.
Questions
- What is a good way to make this something people can relate to?
- How can I calculate it?
Thank you all in advance for your valuable time and input.
EDIT: I thought my original post would make this pretty clear: I realize I only have the force required to push each keystroke. I'm looking for a way to demonstrate that force applied to something to help people quantify it, hypothetical energy in terms people can understand.
Best Answer
@HDE's comment's experimental approach done. Answer between about 1 and 2 ounces = 1/4 to 1/2 Newtons (http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=convert+2+ounces+to+newtons). Key travel 3mm, say, = 1.5 milliJoules = $3.59×10^{-7}$ dietary Calories (http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=convert+0.5+newtons+times+3+millimeters+to+Calories). So, for every 3,000,000 keystrokes, say, that's one Calorie. Not a large proportion of the daily Calorie consumption of the person who's pressing the keys.
As this shows, Wolfram alpha is your good friend for this kind of Question.