Idea Generators: Uses for Wire Clothes Hangers

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BAROMETER AS ANOTHER MEASURING TOOL

A few years ago some cyberspace creativity friends took on a traditional engineering school challenge.

If the only tool you have is a barometer how many different ways might you be able to measure the height of a building?

The following have been categorized into groups. The following list took about 72 hours and the ideas came from around the world via the internet.

Art Ok, I can approach this from a point of complete ignorance, so I'll give it a humble try and prepare to eat my humble pie. My first thought is that you can measure the building in proportion to some other object for which the height is known. In drawing class we would hold a pencil at arms length to measure objects in proportion to one another. So enlist a perfect 5 or 6 foot tall friend to stand in front of the building. Now, figure out how many stories the building has and where the division between stories occurs on the building's facade. Walk far enough away from the building so that when you hold the barometer at arms length it subtends the height of the first story. From that position, measure the height of your friend on the barometer and mark it in some way (hmmm no tools, pencils, or tape...hold your finger there). Now figure out the proportion between your friends height and the story height and calculate the height of each story, multiply by the number of stories and you should come pretty close. If you know the exact size of the barometer and the exact height of the friend, you can probably work out proportions for any extras like observation towers and flagpoles. Are barometers always the same size? Do casings vary? pamela J. Shapiro

Chall - 5) Have a challenge like this, so that many other people can give you ideas Eunice T.

Competition - Offer the barometer as first prize in a 'guess the height of the building' competition. David Weeks

Const - a surveyers transit to measure the angle..Chris Barlow

Const - heck, hire a local surveyer to measure it for you..Chris Barlow

Const - knock down the building on its side and walk along and measure it in barometers. then multiply it times the length of the barometer..Chris Barlow

Const - My .02: Get a barometer that is as large as the building. look in the maker's catalog to verify height! Ron Yurman

Const - sell the barometer, rent a Ryder truck, buy some fertilizer, change the building height to zero...Chris Barlow

Contest - 2. Gather together a group of first graders or kindergarden students and ask them how they would measure the height of the building and give the "winner" the barometer as a prize. Bob Carr

Geom - 1. I know from the barometer in my parents house some 20 years ago, that there is a rotatable indocator to mark the actual airpressure. With the aid of this indicator, a baromater can be used as a trigonometric instrument - angles can be measured. And thus it becomes a classical geodetic instrument and in an easy way heights of buildings can be calculated (with a tangantial table). B.T.W. the same technique is aplicable with an ordinary wrist watch (analogue). Leo Minnigh

Geom - 2. Measuring the angle between the horizontal and the half height of the building (the middle of the building can be determined be the stetched arm-finger-method. Leo Minnigh

Geom - 2. Shadow. On a sunny day, measure the shadow the high-rise building casts beside the shaddow of the barometer, factoring in the angle of the sun and the time of day. Theoretically,at a certain spot at noon they would each cast the same shaddow...directly beneath them. Bob Carr

Geom - 3. Another one is using the difference between the angle of the shadow and the angle from another position to the top of the building. Leo Minnigh

Geom - 3. Measure the length of the shadows of the barometer and the building, calculate the proportional ratio Rolf Smith

Geom - 3. Use math of triangles - from a measured distance from the building - first measure baronmeter then building - wha they call 'smimilar triangles.' George Torok

Geom - As we would know the height of the barometer .. we place it in the sun and measure it's shadow .. we need to be careful to record both the height and length of the shadow on a piece of paper we do not lose. We then measure the length of the tower's shadow and using simple ratios come up with the height. Dan Hayes

Geom - Keep the barometer along the line of sight of the point on the ground from the top of the building and measure the angle between the building and the barometer. Trignometrically the height of the building could be found. Venkat Ramani

Geom - measure its shadow and its height. measure the building's shadow. Calculate using ratios. Tim Erin

Geom - measure its shadow and the shadow of the building and use ratio and proportion Gary Noseworthy

Geom - Scout - The Scout method: Stand back a sufficient distance. Hold the barometer in your hand at arm's length, looking at the building. Mark the peak of the building on the barometer. Now turn the barometer as if laying the length of the building down, and determine a landmark from the building that is that same distance away from it as the building is tall. Note the landmark carefully. Go pace off the distance. Ed Darr

Geom - Use the barometer to find a sunny day :-). Stand next to the building and wait till your shadow is as long as you are yourself (or for that matter, twice as long or half as long). Now watch the shadow of the building. It is as long as it's height (or double or half). Your answer lies on the ground. Thomas de Boer

Geom - 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 proportions, determine the height of the building. Alice Macpherson based on letter

Gift - 1. Tell the building custodian "Hey! I'll give you this nifty barometer if you'll tell me how tall the building is." Rolf Smith

Gift - a) Go to the caretaker of the building and ask him (or her) what the height of the building is. Offer the barometer in exchange for the important piece of knowledge. Charles Cave

Gift - besides trading the barometer to the janitor for telling the height,..Chris Barlow

Gift - offer it to the superintendent as payment for telling you how tall the building is Gary Noseworthy

Gift - Probably the best 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.' Alice Macpherson based on letter

Gift - something nice for the professor to bribe him or her to allow you to pass the test..Chris Barlow

Gift - something nice for your classmate so you can copy their answer..Chris Barlow

Gift - Tell the owner you are from the city councils quality of envirinment committee.[snip] You give him at the same time, looking intelligently at your barometer, a random estimate that of course is way too high, so that he can see the trouble coming. I'am sure he will immediately respond with the exact height to avoid that. Cor Kurpershoek

Gift - trade it to:-the architect..Chris Barlow

Gift - trade it to:-the city plans office to get access to the plans..Chris Barlow

Gift - trade it to:-the construction firm that built it..Chris Barlow

Gift - trade it to:-the engineering firm that built it..Chris Barlow

Gift - trade it to:-the FAA records (if it is tall enough)..Chris Barlow

Info - 3) Stand in front of the building, wonder out aloud, " Hmm..I wonder how high this building is...." Then wait for someone to give u the answer. meanwhile, exchange the barometer for a drink in case u're thirsty Eunice T.

Info - 4. Ask the engineer who designed the building George Torok

Info - 4. Blue prints. consult the blue prints to see what the original design called for. Bob Carr

Info - 5. Ask the builder/designer. Hopefully they knew what they wanted when they started. Bob Carr

Info - 5. Check the blueprints. George Torok

Info - 6. Ask the owner or the person who paid to have the building built. Did he/she get what he wanted? Bob Carr

Info - call your local cell phone company probably already knows the height because they want to put an antenna on top..Chris Barlow

Info - Contact the owner of the building, give her the barometer as a present and ask the height. Thomas de Boer

Info - Gift Whole brain: swap the barometer for a Good cuppa java, go to the town hall, look up the building permit specs. Donald P. Gauger

Info - gift - ask someone how high the building is in exchange for the barometer Paul Rousseau

Info - sell the barometer and buy:-satellite photos with shadows that will allow you to determine the height..Chris Barlow

Info - sell the barometer, go to the local casio, run it up to a few million dollars, buy the building, then look at the sales contract. or donate the money to your school for a new building and the president will make sure you graduate with honors...Chris Barlow

Info - the local fire department who has determined if they can get on top for a fire..Chris Barlow

Info - the US Georgraphic and mapping service topographical maps should show a height of a decent sized building..Chris Barlow

Info - Threat 1-Go to the top of the building with your barometer. 2-Wait for the mayor or some celebrity to go past on the street below. 3-Hurl the barometer at them. (Black-hat - if your aim is good you can go through a lot of politicians) John Trevithick

Info - Threat Second attempt. 1-sneak into the boiler room. 2-shut off all the safety valves, and crank up the pressure. 3-replace the pressure gauge with the barometer, so no-one will notice. 4 & 5- as above 4-Escape with your hide intact. 5-Read the papers the following day. Somewhere in the in-depth coverage a journalist is bound mention the height of the building. . John Trevithick

Info - threat OK. The "I'm bad at math" method to determine the correct height of the building using only a barometer: Step 1. Enter the building. When questioned by the security guard about your purpose reply in gruff tones "Look bud, if I don't get this Framistat guage in the boiler (wave barometer in guard's face) you're gonna' have a whole building full of unhappy people!" March quickly by and locate the brass information plaque that indicates the year of construction and the architectural firm that designed the building. Leave the building. Step 2. Go downtown and enter the City Records Building. When you encounter the front desk clerk tersely pointing at the "No Unauthorised Personnel" sign, reply in gruff tones "Look bud, if I don't get this Framistat guage in the boiler (wave barometer in guard's face) you're gonna' have a whole building full of unhappy people!" March quickly by and locate the drawings for the building in question. Find the height. Voila. Joseph G. Lansing

Math - Econ - Ask an economist what the price is for such a building per square metre. Get the total building cost and the total content in square metres of the building. Then proceed to calculate the height from that and check with the other calculation. Economists don't want to be wrong. Find out the cost of the barometre and you can tell how many barometres the building is worth. Cor Kurpershoek

Meas - 1) climb the flights of steps, count the total no. of steps * height of each step....use the barometer as a walking stick ....Eunice T.

Meas - 1. Tie the Barometer to a thread. Go to the First Floor and release the thread through the window until it touches the Ground. Note the Length. Count the Number of windows and multiply it with the length noted. Go to the top of the building and again release the thread until it reaches the bottom end of the top floor window. Add to the figure You have arrived earlier. Thats the Height of the Building. Sridhar Vanaparthi

Meas - 2) Stand some distance away from the building, hold the barometer horizontally, close to your eyes and try to look for another building of similar height, then go find out the height of that building from whoever's responsible Eunice T.

Meas - 2. Ride the elevator to the top floor and notice how long it takes. Ask the elevator company (Otis?) how many feet the elevator climbs per second. Multiply as necessary. Use the barometer to prop open the elevator door as you do your math. Chris Dehlinger

Meas - 3. Take a photo of the high-rise and a photo of the barometer from the same angles, and then compare the two and determine how many barometer lengths it would take and convert that number into your measurement. Bob Carr

Meas - 4. Lower it on a string a measure the length of string. Rolf Smith

Meas - 6. use the barometer as a meauring stick. George Torok

Meas - a ball of string long enough to measure the building..Chris Barlow

Meas - a If the length of the barameter is measurable, use it to size up the height of each step, create a mulitplication factor-i.e. each step is 1.2x the length of the barameter.Count the number of step to each floor. Multiply by the number of floors to get building height. Walter Derzko

Meas - b) Tie the barometer onto a piece of string and lower it from the top of the building. Measure the amount of string used. (You may need a lot of string). Charles Cave

Meas - Const - 1. Smash the barometer into small pieces with a large hammer 2. Collect all the wooden pieces 3. Boil them in water for three weeks 4. Take the resulting pulp and make a =BD inch wide strip 5. Allow to dry 6. Measure the resulting strip 7. Stick it on the building 8. Photograph the result 9. Measure the image of the strip and the image of the building 10. Building Height =3D length of strip * building image length/strip image length David Hill

Meas - Cont 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 this will give you the height of the building in barometer units. Alice Macpherson based on letter

Meas - Exch - Exchange the barometer for a yardstick. Then measure the height of one floor (and the thickness of the ceiling), estimate the number of floors and bingo! Thomas de Boer

Meas - Geom Measure about 10 AM or 3 PM on a sunny day, measure the shadow of the barometer and of the building. The ratio of shadow to reality is the same for both, so calculate the height of the building with simple ratios...Chris Barlow

Meas - Have already mentioned the string method? Tie a string to the barometer, lower it off the top of the building. Measure the length of the string. Ed Darr

Meas - Helicopter Get a lift to 10,000 feets (or someway above the building). Drop the barometer and time the drop. Using the appropriate maths work out that distance and then calculate the building height. David Weeks

Meas - Left brain: measure the barometric pressure on top of the building and on ground level; consult a physical scientist, use the pressure delta and calc the height. Donald P. Gauger

Meas - Lower it on a string and measure the length of the string by arm-spans (6 ft?) Gary Noseworthy

Meas - Magnify ladder (or it may be a small high rise) The gigantic barometer is in the shape of a ladder. Climb up with a tape measure. David Weeks

Meas - Magnify Rule Use the gigantic barometer as a rule marked in 1 metre lengths measure the building by placing the barometer against it. David Weeks

Meas - Measure the exact height of the barometer. Then stand the barometer on the ground and wait until the length of its barometer's shadow matches the height... at that moment mark the length of the shadow of the building...it will be the same as the height of the building. Tim Benoit

Meas - Or, you could count the number of stories in the building. Measure the height of the first story and multiply by the number of stories in the building. The barometer in this case becomes one of those pieces of irrelevant data that are so popular in this kind of problem. Tim Benoit

Meas - Right brain: climb the side of the building measuring the side as you go with the barometer as a gauge stick; calc. the height. Donald P. Gauger

Meas - 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. Alice Macpherson based on letter

Meas - Taking dial of the barometer out and rolling it up the wall to the first window and then 2*pi*r * number of floors would be fun too, assuming we have a good eye to estimate the radius correctly. Dimitri Ostapenko

Meas - Tie a string to it. Lower it from the top of the building and measure the length of the string. Tim Erin

Meas- Cont 3. Brick measure. Assumption:that because it is a "high-rise", it is made of brick. If the height of the barometer is known, then measure it against the height of a brick; factor in the height of cement between bricks; count the number of layers of bricks, and there you have it. The trick is finding someone to count the bricks. Bob Carr

Meas- lower the barometer on a string, then measure the string..Chris Barlow

Mech - Melt down the barometer, make a wire, mark it off in feet, hang it from the top and read off the measure...Chris Barlow

Military - Perform a controlled series of test vertical test *launches* of the barometer with a known explosive, such as C-4; determine the vertical-height-per-explosive increment, then blast that puppy as high as the building. Simple division will then yield the height of the building. Mike Beardsley

Mtn - Climb the side of the building, using the barometer to measure off "barometer lengths" .... when you get to the top, you'll know how many barometers tall the building is. Tom Przybylski

Phys - 1. A barometer measures pressure - so measure at the base and top - compare and do some mathemtical formual to caluculate the hieght. George Torok

Phys - 1. Gravity. Drop the barometer from the top of the building and measure the time it takes to hit the bottom...calculate distance=rate(gravity)x time. Bob Carr

Phys - 2. Drop the barometer from the top and time it's fall. Do math again. George Torok

Phys - 2. Throw it off the top, count the seconds until you hear it hit the bottom, calculate the the height from the speed of sound. Rolf Smith

Phys - actually, weighing the pendulum accurately enough -- with a spring scale, not a balance scale, should give different weights at different distances from the earth.....Chris Barlow

Phys - Also, that horse's hair that's inside could be used to suspend the barometer, while standing on the roof, all the way down to the ground (we could only hope that said hair is long enough) , time one cycle and then use pendulum calculations to determine the height. Dimitri Ostapenko

Phys - c) Drop the barometer from the top of the building and time the fall. I forget the equations but you can derive the distance falled given the number of seconds. Charles Cave

Phys - Drop it and time its fall. Gary Noseworthy

Phys - Drop it from the top and measure the time to hit the ground. Calculate taking into account all known sources of error. Tim Erin

Phys - Drop the barometer from a point of know distance (length) and count how many seconds it takes to fall that distance. Then, drop the barometer from the building in question and count the number of seconds it takes to fall that distance. The height of the building may be calculated by comparing the drop time and distance to that calculated in the benchmark exercise. Mike Bixler.

Phys - Drop the barometer from the top of the building, time its fall. With a good physics text you can find the formula to determine the distance of the fall. Ed Darr

Phys - Drop the barometer, time the difference between when you see it crash and when you hear it. For most building heights you can assume that the light travels instantaneously without seriously affecting your calculations. Sound travels at about 1100 feet per second; do the math. Ed Darr

Phys - drop it and listen for the breakage and calculate the height based on the time and the 32 ft/sec squared force of gravity...Chris Barlow

Phys - Get someone to shine a torch (flashlight) from the roof. Reflect it back using the glass on the front of barometer. Time difference. Practically very difficult. David Weeks

Phys - go to the top of the building and drop the barometer and count how long it took to reach the ground and compare this with standardized data for objects of similar weight dropped from buildings Paul Rousseau

Phys - Gravity Fire it into the air(This is a cannon ball shaped barometer) until it reaches the building top. Knowing force used and mass calculate the height. David Weeks

Phys - I didn't read all the answers, but we certainly could drop barometer from the roof, time the difference between the moment we see it break into thousand little barometers and the moment we hear the sound. Multiplying this time by the speed of sound we could get the height of the building. Dimitri Ostapenko

Phys - If a barometer is the tool than the measure is in atmospheres. The ground measure would be different than the top measure. This would have meaning to one who would offer a barometer. Indeed an altimeter is only a moving location barometer. Jack M. Fox

Phys - measure the barometric pressure differences at known altitudes and derive an equation using the differences between the ground level pressure and the roof top pressure. Gary Noseworthy

Phys - Or, you could take the barometer to the top of the building, get out your stopwatch and drop the barometer over the side. Start your stopwatch when the barometer smashes into the sidewalk and stop it when you hear the crash. The time the sound takes to reach your ear multiplied by the speed of sound should give you the height of the building. Tim Benoit

Phys - 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 S=0.5*a*t^^2, calculate the height of the building. Alice Macpherson based on letter

Phys - theoretically, but not practically, there is a way to use the barometer as a pendulum and measure the force of gravity at the top and the bottom, thus calculating the height...Chris Barlow

Phys - walk up the building and do mathematical calculation on the changes in atmospheric pressure Paul Rousseau

Phys - You have a very sensitive barometer. Get someone to clap their hands at the top of the building and note when it reaches the base of the building by detecting the pressure wave. Have some way of timing the transition and knowing the speed of sound calculate the distance. David Weeks

Phys - you can tie the barometer to the end of a string, swing it as a pendulum, and determine the value of g 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. Alice Macpherson based on letter

Pres - Just thought of one more...just ask the building designer, architect and give them a present in return for giving you the height-the barameter. Walter Derzko

Sport - 1. Hold a contest (perhaps a new olympic event) to see who can throw a barometer to the exact height of the building. A judge can stand on top of the building and determine which one was at the exact height, and then calculate the rate of descent (gravity) and determine the distance. Bob Carr

Super - 1. Have Spiderman climb up the side of the building. Estimate the length of his climbing gait and multiply by the number of steps he took. Give him the barometer as a reward. Chris Dehlinger

Threat - 4) threaten to drink the mercury (i think) till somebody gives u the answer Eunice T.

Threat - Stand on the roof holding the barometer and when the firemen come to rescue you ask them how far up the cherry picker has elevated. Gary Noseworthy

Threat - Third attempt 1- stick the barometer in your coat pocket. 2- go see the architect who designed the building. 3- pretend the barometer is a gun, and force the information out of the sucker. PS. Is it a requirement of this quiz that we remain out of prison? >:-> John Trevithick

Threat - Threaten the owner that you will give him a bashing with the barometer, unless he tells you the height. Cor Kurpershoek