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Re: [Phys-l] Good Questions



I read your material on ill-posed questions with interest this past
summer. Good stuff! I had it in mind when I posed the soup question.
Talk about an ill-posed question; I just went over and talked to my
neighbor, the husband of the woman with whom I spoke on the phone in:
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3) A neighbor asked me whether she should cool or heat a pot of soup on
which a slightly oversized lid had become stuck after she heated up the
soup in it. While I was on the phone with her, her husband got it off
by means of a vice. (I guess he put the pot in a vice and knocked the
lid off with a hammer.)
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(This just happened a couple of days ago--I think it was Saturday.) His
wife and I said our goodbyes on the phone after he got the lid off so I
did not get the whole story until about 15 minutes ago. He did not use
a vice. The pot (pan) and the lid were both made of stainless steel.
The "slightly" oversized lid was not really slightly oversized but
extended beyond the rim of the pan by about 3/4 inches so that the
"dome" of the lid was resting on the rim of the pan. The lid did not
get stuck while the soup was heating up but some time after she had
turned the burner off. He was able to flex the lid and upon doing so,
he heard a hissing sound and was then able to remove the lid with ease.

To Everybody: Do your friends/neighbors/acquaintances/callers ask you
physics questions? If so, I'd be interested in hearing about the ones
that you think would make for good classroom discussion.

-----Original Message-----
From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
[mailto:phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of John
Denker
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 4:50 PM
To: Forum for Physics Educators
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] coffee + cream (was: good questions)
.
.
.
This *increases* the value of the question in my eyes. Real life is
full of ill-posed questions. Students do not get enough classroom
experience dealing with ill-posed questions. Not nearly enough.

http://www.av8n.com/physics/ill-posed.htm