[time-nuts] Danish Question

M. Warner Losh imp at bsdimp.com
Wed Oct 31 19:22:24 UTC 2007


I must admit that this reminds me of the only Dane I know really well,
and who happens to be a frequent contributor to this list.  I can just
see him saying "If you would like a nice new barometer..." :-)

Warner

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            "Rob Kimberley" <rk at timing-consultants.com> writes:
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: 
: Completely off topic, but thought this might amuse you all.
: 
: Rob K
: 
: 
: 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. He 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 uut 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 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 Nils Bohr, the first Dane to win the Nobel prize for
: Physics.
: 
: 
: 
: 
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