A Physics student who got the following
question in an
exam: "You are given an accurate
barometer, how would you use it to determine the
height of a
skyscraper?"
1: He answered:
"Go to the
top floor, tie a
long piece of string to the barometer, let it down 'till it touches the ground and measure the length of the
string".
The
examiner wasn't satisfied, so they decided to
interview the guy:
"Can you give us another
method, one which demonstrates your knowledge of
Physics ?"
2: "Sure, go to the top floor, drop the barometer off, and
measure how long before it hits the ground......"
"Not, quite what we wanted, care to
try again ?"
3: "Make a
pendulum of the barometer, measure its
period at the bottom, then measure its
period at the top......"
"..another try ?...."
4: "Measure the length of the barometer, then mount it vertically on the ground on a
sunny day and measure its
shadow, measure the shadow of the
skyscraper....."
"....and again ?...."
5: "walk up the stairs and use the
barometer as a
ruler to measure the height of the walls in the
stairwells."
"...One more try ?"
6: "Find where the
janitor lives, knock on his door and say 'Please, Mr
Janitor, if I give you this nice Barometer, will you tell me the height of this building ?"
There are many more ways, for instance:
7: To which the less polite
alternative is to threaten to
wallop the caretaker with the barometer unless they tell you how high the building is.
The just-released book, "Expert C Programming (Deep C Secrets)", Peter van der Linden, SunSoft/Prentice-Hall,
ISBN 0-13-177429-8, lists twenty-one (21) more or less useful ways to measure the height of a building with a barometer.
8: Use the barometer as a
paperweight while examining the building plans.
9: Sell the barometer and buy a
tape measure.
10: Use a barometer to reflect a
laser beam from the top and measure the
travel time.
11: Track the shadow of the building positioning a barometer on the ground every hour.
12: Create an
explosion on the top and measure the time for the
pressure depression indicated on the barometer.