For those confused about imaginary momentum flow movies and wondering
how a 5-year old could possibly comprehend Energy and charge
conservation when many of us have no good conceptual definition of
either energy or charge (not to mention time, mass, etc.) I offer a
well known question about buoyancy, just in case anyone hasn't heard it.
You are sitting in a rowboat floating in a swimming pool. You have in
one hand a banana and in the other a live chicken. There is an iron
anchor in the bottom of the boat. In each of the following, describe
what happens to the whater level in the pool.
1) You eat the banana
2) The chicken flies away (yes chickens can fly...a little)
3) You throw the anchor overboard into the pool.
This one you can ask to all levels of students and be confident you know
the answers. ;-)
rwt
--
Richard Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
free Physics educational software at
www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html
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