Not Just Another Mail Forward!!!!!

Just Another Mail Forward???
No way!!!!!!
Its Different!!!

Please read this patiently.............recollect some high school
physics.

But the message at the end is very good.


An Excerpt.....
Some time ago I received a call from a colleague. He was about
to give a student a zero for his answer to a physics question, while
the student claimed a perfect score. The instructor and the student
agreed to an impartial arbiter, and I was selected.
I read the examination question:
"SHOW HOW IT IS POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE THE HEIGHT OF A TALL
BUILDING WITH THE AID OF A BAROMETER."
The student had answered, "Take the barometer to the top of the
building, attach a long rope to it, lower it to the street, and then
bring it up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of the rope is
the height of the building." The student really had a strong case for full credit since he
had really answered the question completely and correctly! On the other hand,
if full credit were given, it could well contribute to a high grade in his physics
course and to certify competence inphysics, but the answer did not confirm
this. I suggested that the student have another try. I gave the student six
minutes to answer the question with the warning that the answer
should show some knowledge of physics . At the end of five minutes, he
had not written anything. I asked if he wished to give up, but he said he
had many answers to this problem; he was just thinking of the best one . I
excused myself for interrupting him and asked him to please go on.
In the next minute, he dashed off his answer, which read:
"Take the barometer to the top of the building and lean over the
edge of the roof. Drop the barometer, timing its fall with a stopwatch.
Then, using the formula x=0.5*a*t^^2,calculate the height of the building."
At this point, I asked my colleague if he would give up. He conceded,
and gave the student almost full credit.
While leaving my colleague's office, I recalled that the
student had said that he had other answers to the problem, so I asked him
what they were. "Well," said the student, "there are many ways of getting the
height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer.
For example, you could take the barometer out on asunny day
and measure the height of the barometer, the length of its shadow, and the
length of the shadow of the building, and by the use of simple proportion,
determine the height of the building."
"Fine," I said, "and others?"
"Yes," said the student, "there is a very basic measurement
method you will like. In this method, you take the barometer and begin to
walk up the stairs. As you climb the stairs, you mark off the length of
the barometer along the wall. You then count the number of marks, and this
will give you the height of the building in barometer units."
"A very directmethod."
"Of course. If you want a more sophisticated method, you can tie the
barometer to the end of a string, swing it as a pendulum, and
determine the value of g at the street level and at the top of the
building.
From the difference between the two values of g, the height of the
building, in principle, can be calculated."
"On this same tact, you could take the barometer to the top of the
building,
attach a long rope to it, lower it to just above the street, and then swing
it as a pendulum. You could then calculate the height of the
building by the period of theprecession".
"Finally," he concluded, "there are many other ways of solving
the problem.
Probably the best," he said, "is to take the barometer to the
basement and knock on the superintendent's door. When the superintendent
answers, you speak to him as follows:
'Mr. Superintendent, here is a fine barometer. If you will
tell me the height of the building, I will give you this barometer."
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 toteach him how to think.
The student was Neils Bohr (quantum theory & physics &
mechanics, hydrogen atom guru etc ) and the arbiter Rutherford.
THINK DIFFERENT!!!!