Pyramid Problem

Data from Wikipedia:

- 200,000 men
- 20 years to build
- 5.9 million tonnes
- 146.5m high
-

Assuming 200,000 slaves worked for 20 years, expending 8000kJ per day (somewhere between a
bricklayer and an athlete’s rate):

E=2× 105 × 20 ×365 ×8000 ×103

¿ 1.168 ×1016 J

However the useful energy used to raise the stones can be calculated. The centre of mass of a
square base pyramid is ¼ of the height up from the base.

E=mgh

1
¿ 5.9 ×106 ×103 ×9.81 × ×146.5
4

¿ 2.12 ×1012 J

Thus the overall efficiency of the slaves was:

12
2.12× 10
×100=0.018 %Type equation here .
1.168× 1016