Impromptu experiments and the ready-made society
Took my physics class outside today with a spur of the moment experiment. Using a straw, a piece of paper, a string and a weight we fashioned makeshift astrolabes and used them to determine the height of a security camera on a tower attached to the Science building.
No simple equilateral triangles either - proper parallax calculations.
While smiling to myself at the enthusiasm with which the students were attacking the problem and strutting about them all sighting down their straws I had the wind firmly taken out of my sails as I inadvertently overheard one student talking to his lab partner...
"There's probably an iPhone app for this."
No simple equilateral triangles either - proper parallax calculations.
While smiling to myself at the enthusiasm with which the students were attacking the problem and strutting about them all sighting down their straws I had the wind firmly taken out of my sails as I inadvertently overheard one student talking to his lab partner...
"There's probably an iPhone app for this."