12 Comments

Zero points for this physics question

January 18, 2007 by in Entertainment,Stupid with 12 Comments

There is an elephant in the way

Open for interpretation. Obviously the teacher did not appreciate the humor in this particular students answer. Thanks Syl.


  • Jeffy

    He didn’t say a or b. He should have said b first.

  • http://acecombine.com dov

    funny :D

  • JJ

    That is exactly the kind of answer I used to give in physics exams as well. I couldnt care less how fast some apple drops down from the tree, I’m just happy to know it drops…

    Let the people who are interested waste their life on such questions…

    PS. I still managed to get past physics course…

  • http://quatre.wordpress.com Matthew Rodgers

    I don’t see the comedy in the answer. Are elephants that funny?

  • Francis

    I would have given that kid full marks. With an elephant in the way, of course it wouldn’t!

  • timdoug

    Energy at top of ramp -> mgh = 3 kg * 9.8 m/s**2 * 5 m
    Energy put into the spring -> (1/2)kx**2 = 50 N/m * x**2
    [The student was on the right track up to here.]

    When it stops, the block has no kinetic energy, and E sub i = E sub f, therefore mgh = (1/2)kx**2 -> 147 = 50x**2 -> x = sqrt(147/50) = 1.71 meters. (Note that there is no friction in this system. Makes things easier.)

    Since there’s no friction, the same energy put into the spring pushes it back up to the top of the ramp where it initially came from, so it goes back up 5 m to where it started.

  • molotovito

    So the elephant would fall, because there is no friction….??

  • ronin

    ^Hehe, he wouldn’t need friction to stand, just to move ;)

  • http://www.clunkclunk.com ClunkClunk

    You wouldn’t be able to solve this anyway because there’s too little information. There is no mention that this is on Earth, so choosing earth’s gravitational constant doesn’t work. There is a mention that the ramp is frictionless, but no mention of air friction (or lack therof).

    Although, last I checked, elephants were only found on Earth.

  • http://deleted Andrew

    the answer is obviously clipped off and the assumption that, yes, this occurs on earth is pretty obvious. Also this is most certainly from an intro physics course, which doesn’t delve into such factors as air resistance.

    I’d have given the kid full marks but the question states that the object does compress the spring, so obviously to do that it had to get to the spring. So the elephant excuse, while good for a chuckle, is out of the parameters given by the question. So yeah, I’d have given it a 0 too :P

  • gav

    I’d have answered that there is no such thing as a frictionless ramp,drawn an arrow toward the little x and pointed out that after it had come to a rest it wasn’t moving anymore.
    And I’d have got a zero,I’m sure.
    g

  • Dogcow

    This elephant is flying and obviously has no effect on the box dropping. Its no wonder he failed. I don’t know why the elephant stumped him, the math is on the right track.

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