Monday, October 8, 2007

The Saddest Thing: Calculus Edition

Dr P warned us to be psychologically prepared when doing our homework this evening because problem #13 is the "saddest" problem we will experience this semester.

"Assume the bucket in example 4 is leaking. It starts with 2 gal of water and leaks at a constant rate. It finishes draining just as it reaches the top. How much work was spent lifting the water alone?"

160 ft-lb of work was expended to bring up zero gallons of water. (sob)

1 comment:

Tam said...

At least those kinds of problems are typically fun.