Re: Scientific method was physical pendulums/ an opportunity

[Leigh Palmer <palmer@SFU.CA>]

> When a student finally begins to understand how to
> produce and communicate real thoughts both teacher
> and student are in for a rare thrill.
>
> Cliff Parker

I'm very fortunate. The up side of having 320 students
in a lecture course is that this is not a rare thrill;
I've had it on two or three occasions today. The best
part is that the student experiences it, too, and at
the same time - the "Aha orgasm" we might call it.

Of course we also experience the thrills of discovery
in private, and I know that many of our students also
experience them, too. I had one today with a student.
I assigned a problem (below) which I had not worked
out beforehand, which had a neat twist I had not seen
before, but which I recognized instantly. It was too
bad that the young lady I was helping at the time was
not thrilled as I was.

Leigh

A golfer who can hit a ball a maximum distance of 215 m
on level ground, stands at the edge of a 50 m vertical
cliff and hits a ball out to sea so that it starts with
an angle of 40 degrees to the horizontal. At what
distance from the base of the cliff does the ball land?
(Neglect air resistance and use g = 9.81 m/s^2.)

What's the thrill in this dull problem? I never before
noticed that the answer does not depend upon g!