Barometer Question (Wikipedia)

The barometer question is an example of an incorrectly designed examination question

demonstrating functional fixedness that causes a moral dilemma for the examiner. In its classic

form, popularized by American test designer professor Alexander Calandra (1911–2006), the

question asked the student to "show how it is possible to determine the height of a tall building with

the aid of a barometer."[1] The examiner was confident that there was one, and only one, correct

answer, which is through calculating the difference in pressure at the top and bottom of the building.

Contrary to the examiner's expectations, the student responded with a series of completely

different answers. These answers were also correct, yet none of them proved the student's

competence in the specific academic field being tested.

The barometer question achieved the status of an urban legend; according to an internet meme,

the question was asked at the University of Copenhagenand the student was Niels

Bohr.[2] The Kaplan, Inc. ACT preparation textbook describes it as an "MIT legend",[3] and an early

form is found in a 1958 American humor book.[4] However, Calandra presented the incident as a

real-life, first-person experience that occurred during the Sputnik crisis.[5] Calandra's

essay, Angels on a Pin, was published in 1959 in Pride, a magazine of American College Public

Relations Association.[6] It was reprinted in Current Sciencein 1964,[7] in Saturday Review in

1968[8] and included in the 1969 edition of Calandra's The Teaching of Elementary Science and

Mathematics.[9] In the same 1969 Calandra's essay became a subject of an academic

discussion.[10] It was frequently reprinted since 1970,[11] making its way into books on subjects

ranging from teaching,[12] writing skills,[13] workplace counseling[14] and investment in real

estate[15] to chemical industry,[16] computer programming[17] andintegrated circuit design.[18]

Calandra's account

A colleague of Calandra asked the barometer question to a student, expecting the correct answer:

"the height of the building can be estimated in proportion to the difference between the barometer

readings at the bottom and at the top of the building".[19] The student provided a different, and also

correct answer: "Take the barometer to the top of the building. Attach a long rope to it, lower the

barometer to the street, then bring it up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of the rope

is the height of the building."[20]

The examiner and Calandra, who was called to advise on the case, faced a moral dilemma.

According to the format of the exam, a correct answer deserved a full credit. But issuing a full credit

would have violated academic standards by rewarding a student who had not demonstrated

competence in the academic field that had been tested (physics). None of two available options

(pass or fail) was morally acceptable.[20]

Calandra asked the student the same question, and received a wealth of different answers

including dropping the barometer from the top of the building, timing its fall with a stopwatch, trading

the barometer to the building's superintendent in return for the information wanted, creating two

small pendulums and measuring the variation of g from the ground to the top of the building,

creating a pendulum as high as the building and measuring its period, comparing the building's

and the barometer's shadows. The student ultimately admitted that he knew the expected "correct"

answer but was fed up with the professors "teaching him how to think ... rather than teaching him

the structure of the subject".[5]

Internet meme

According to Snopes.com, more recent (1999 and 1988) versions identify the problem as a

question in "a physics degree exam at the University of Copenhagen" and the student asNiels Bohr,

and includes the following answers:[21]

 Tying a piece of string to the barometer, lowering the barometer from the roof to the ground,

and measuring the length of the string and barometer.

 Dropping the barometer off the roof, measuring the time it takes to hit the ground, and

calculating the building's height assuming constant acceleration under gravity.

 When the sun is shining, standing the barometer up, measuring the height of the barometer

and the lengths of the shadows of both barometer and building, and finding the building's

height using similar triangles.

 Tying a piece of string to the barometer, and swinging it like a pendulum both on the ground

and on the roof, and from the known pendulum length and swing period, calculate the

gravitational field for the two cases. Use Newton's law of gravitation to calculate the radial

altitude of both the ground and the roof. The difference will be the height of the building.

 Marking off the number of barometer lengths vertically along the emergency staircase, and

multiplying this with the length of the barometer.

 Trading the barometer for the correct information with the building's janitor or superintendent.

 Measuring the pressure difference between ground and roof and calculating the height

difference (the expected answer).