This is a 19th century problem: use a barometer
to measure the height of a building. This picture shows a mercury-filled Fortin
barometer, 800 millimetres high, weighing just under 10 kg, like barometers
were, even in the 1950s.
The modern
problem: to come up with a creative
way of using the barometer to do it. Be imaginative, and play with it!
The standard
(“guess what I’m thinking”) answer is to use the atmospheric pressure at the
bottom and the top, and from this, calculate the actual height of the building.
Can you come up with a better answer?
There are hints
for this problem…
A mercury barometer, constructed in 1788.
The interesting answers I have heard include, in no
particular order:
* giving the barometer to the building
manager in exchange for the information you need;
* dropping the barometer from the top
of the building and timing its fall (rather environmentally undesirable);
* using the barometer as the weight of
a pendulum that almost touches the ground, so you can dangle it on a string and
time the period of the pendulum;
* lowering the same pendulum, pulling
it back up and measuring the string;
* measuring the shadows of the
pendulum and the building and using the shadow ratio to get the height ratio;
* using the 800 mm barometer as a yardstick, working your way up the fire stairs, marking off 800 mm rises as you go.
Now find a better answer!
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