Re: [Phys-l] Tower height joke

[marx@phy.ilstu.edu]

All:

As an aside to the joke story..each semester in my advanced lab class, we do the Kater pendulum
experiment to get a precise measure of the local acceleration due to gravity.  To add some creativity to
the exercise, I ask students to determine the height of the lab relative to the sidewalk outside our
building.  You see, one could get an estimate of local g from Helmert's formula, which includes alititude
as a parameter.

To do the exercise, I ask each group of students to apply their knowledge of physics and be creative to
get the height.  I give them the alititude of the sidewalk, which I got from a geophysical survey map of
our campus.  The methods in the four years of doing this have been the obvious (lower a string out of
the window to the ground and measure the length) to counting stairs, to the use of the barometer, and
many many, more.  I will tell you that the barmometer method (pressure difference) fails every time its
tried.  Another failure occurred when a student tried to use a GPS unit (too much interference from
surroundings).

Cheers,
David Marx
Illinois State University


On 6 Sep 2007 at 14:58, John M Clement wrote:

> It goes back to at least 1961 when I heard it in a gen chem class.  It
> was a bit different in scenario.  It was about how a chemist,
> physicist, business major and engineer would each make the
> measurement.  The engineer used the string, the physicists dropped it,
> the chemist used the pressure, and the business major bribed the
> janitor to get the best value.
>
> I suspect it may go back much earlier.  After all there are only 5
> jokes, and the rest are just variations.
>
> John M. Clement
> Houston, TX
>
> > "The Barometer Story" by Alexander Calandra (Current Science,
> > Teacher´s
> > edition, 1964)
> >
> > If you want the whole story, send me a note.
> >
> > John Hubisz
> >
> > Bernard Cleyet wrote:
> > > The joke was originally published in the Sat. Rev. of Lit. (<1980
> > > probably ca. 1960)  It involved originally just a barometer.  The
> > > point somewhat different from the present form was the student
> > > didn't
> > > want to use the intended method. (pressure change).  Here's his
> > > point
> > > more articulately (PER aficionados take note).
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >     At this point, I asked the student if he really did not know the
> > >     conventional answer to this question. He admitted that he did,
> > > but
> > >     said that he was fed up with high school and college instructors
> > >     trying to teach him how to think, to use the "scientific
> > > method,"
> > >     and to explore the deep inner logic of the subject in a pedantic
> > >     way, as is often done in the new mathematics, rather than
> > > teaching
> > >     him the structure of the subject. With this in mind, he decided
> > > to
> > >     revive scholasticism as an academic lark to challenge the
> > >     Sputnik-panicked classrooms of America.
> > >
> > > This version is, as well as I can remember, exactly the Sat.
> > > Review's.
> > >
> > > http://www.math.vt.edu/people/adjerids/homepage/joke.html
> > >
> > > bc, has the original somewhere.
> > >
> > >
> > > Douglas Johnson wrote:
> > > > I wonder if there is enough density difference between the glass
> > > > types to use Archemede's Principle?   ...  Doug J.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Reading these responses reminds me of an old joke I heard once...  I
> > > > hope I can give it justice..
> > > >
> > > > A physics instructor gave a student a foot long ruler, stopwatch,
> > > > and
> > > > a rope to determine the height of a tower on campus in order to get
> > > > an "A" in his class.  The student went and used the ruler and
> > > > measured each stair in the tower carefully all the way up to the
> > > > top.
> > > > He added it up and took his answer to the instructor who in turn
> > > > said
> > > > that it was the wrong answer.  So the second attempt he took the
> > > > ruler and dropped it off of the tower and timed it's fall,
> > > > calculated
> > > > the results and turned it in to his instructor.  Of course the
> > > > instructor said it was close, but it wasn't correct.  So the third
> > > > time he took the ruler and tied it onto the end of the rope and made
> > > > a pendulum out of it and measured the period of the swing, made his
> > > > calculations and once again gave it to his instructor.  The
> > > > professor
> > > > was impressed at his determination and cleverness of his
> > > > measurements, but once again it wasn't the correct answer.  So about
> > > > an hour later he came back with another answer and it was exactly
> > > > right.  The professor was shocked and shook his head and asked him
> > > > how he did this with just the three articles he was given.  The
> > > > student responded, "I found the janitor and propose to him this
> > > > question, that if he could tell me the height of the tower, that I
> > > > would give him the ruler, stopwatch, and the rope."
> > > >
> > > > Well, I thought it was funny...  I may have forgotten some of the
> > > > details...   Doug J.
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