So you think you're an educator

[Joan Greathouse]

Here's a good reminder to all of us who see ourselves as educators!

Joni

 The Physics Exam

 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 studentreplied 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
> shor 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
> mindand 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.

Another great example of thinking outside of the square you live in.



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