I loved it KR On Mon, 23 Sept 2024 at 16:34, Markendeya Yeddanapudi < [email protected]> wrote:
> > > -- > > PHYSICS EXAM - TRUE STORY > > One student replied: "You tie a long piece of string to the neck of the > barometer, then lower the barometer from the roof of the skyscraper to the > ground. The length of the string plus the length of the barometer will > equal the height of the building." > > This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that the student > failed immediately. The student appealed on the grounds that his answer was > indisputably correct, and the university appointed an independent arbiter > to decide the case. The arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, > but did not display any noticeable knowledge of physics. To resolve the > problem it was decided to call the student in and allow him six minutes in > which to provide a verbal answer which showed at least a minimal > familiarity with the basic principles of physics. > > For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased in thought. > The arbiter reminded him that time was running out, to which the student > replied that he had several extremely relevant answers, but couldn't make > up his mind which to use. On being advised to hurry up the student replied > as follows: > > "Firstly, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper, > drop it over the edge, and measure the time it takes to reach the ground. > The height of the building can then be worked out from the formula H = 0.5g > x t squared. But bad luck on the barometer." > > "Or if the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer, > then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Then you measure > the length of the skyscraper's shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter > of proportional arithmetic to work out the height of the skyscraper." > > "But if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could tie a short > piece of string to the barometer and swing it like a pendulum, first at > ground level and then on the roof of the skyscraper. The height is worked > out by the difference in the gravitational restoring force T = 2 pi sq root > (l / g)." > > "Or if the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be > easier to walk up it and mark off the height of the skyscraper in barometer > lengths, then add them up." > > "If you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of course, you > could use the barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof of the > skyscraper and on the ground, and convert the difference in millibars into > feet to give the height of the building." > > "But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of > mind and apply scientific methods, undoubtedly the best way would be to > knock on the janitor's door and say to him 'If you would like a nice new > barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this > skyscraper'." > > *The student was Niels Bohr, the only Dane to win the Nobel prize for > Physics.* > > > -- > *Mar* > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZoqR5BM26WM%2BBVe2JSY0gZkBa2heGe_h3VKERYWatZ%2BBTQ%40mail.gmail.com.
