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- Great Physics.....must read : Vatsal Patel (DPSG Student)
Sir Ernest Rutherford, President of the Royal Academy, and recipient of
the Nobel Prize in Physics, related the following story:
"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 certify competence in physics, 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 hadn't 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 a sunny 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 his
will give you the height of the building in barometer units."
"A very direct method."
"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 [gravity] 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 tack, 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 the precession".
"Finally," he concluded, "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 to
teach him how to think.
The name of the student was...
Neils Bohr
- Study Material: By Mikul Patel
http://www.mikul262.webs.com/
- Decoding Physics : By Mikul Patel
The more you learn about physics, the more you will realize that physics is not simply a collection of unrelated facts and formulae. Here are some strategies for studying that I can suggest -
1. When reading through a textbook, have specific goals in mind - Know what you are trying to learn and focus in on it.
2. Stay away from the 'plug and chug' method of learning - You should not consider quantitative problems as plug and chug tasks -- looking for formulae to plug numbers -- and conceptual questions as guessing tasks.
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