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Re: Cable around the Equator
Posted:
Nov 6, 1996 2:59 AM
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>
>This Ma Bell puzzle reminds me of the one about the buckling bridge...
>If a bridge is made of a single piece of material exactly one mile long
>and anchored firmily at both ends, then it expands exacly one foot such
>that the middle of the bridge buckles up (your choice of models and
>assumptions for this one), how far above the original roadway will the
>center of the bridge be after the buckle?
>
Try the same problem but have it buckle by only an inch. This is even more
amazing, I think. When we gave this problem to a biology teacher here (with
the track expanding by a foot) his response was "Are you using the same
Pythagorean theorem I was taught in sshool?" The answers do not seem
intuitive.
--
Doug Kuhlmann (508)-749-4242
Phillips Academy dkuhlman@idea.uml.edu
Andover, MA 01810
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