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Subject:
From:
"Elizabeth H. Thiers" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
St. John's University Cerebral Palsy List
Date:
Wed, 14 Jun 2000 07:47:36 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
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text/plain (99 lines)
Sorry for the cross-posting, I don't know the veracity of the story but, I
like the moral of the story anyways.  Enjoy....

Beth

-----Original Message-----
From: Thiers-1, John [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2000 3:39 PM
To: 'Elizabeth Hill Thiers'; 'Home'
Subject: FW: Independent Thought - "Thinking Outside the Box"




----------
From:  Killpartrick-1, William
Sent:  Monday, June 12, 2000 5:26 PM
To:  Cline-1, Scotty
Subject:  FW: Independent Thought - "Thinking Outside the Box"


 Independent Thought - "Thinking Outside the Box"


 The following concerns a question in a physics degree exam at the
University of Copenhagen:


 "Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a barometer."


  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 was
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 x PI x [sqrroot (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.

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