In intro physics, I assigned problem 91 on page 205 of Giancoli's
"Physics for Scientists and Engineers" 3rd ed. (This is the text we
use with the required physics course for all nonmajors here at the
Academy.) After some questions about it, I started writing up some
notes about how to look at this problem. These notes then sort of
mushroomed into something bigger, in part because of further comments
I received from interested parties.
Well anyways, here's how it looks presently. It might spark some
interesting thoughts on your part and I welcome discussion on or off
the list. The basic problem is to calculate the power required to
shoot a stream of water of specified base radius straight up to some
specified maximum height: