THE SPEED OF SOUND, THE FORCE OF GRAVITY, AND 2 ENGINEERS
Two engineers were walking though a field when they came upon a large sinkhole. Curious as they were, the first engineer said “I bet I can write a program on my HP 15C that will calculate the depth of the sinkhole by timing how long it takes a rock to hit the bottom and the sound to come back up.” The second engineer, quick to challenge, said “I bet I can write a shorter, faster program on my 42S, but first we need to time it.” The first engineer prepared his wristwatch to time the event while the second searched for a small rock. At the given signal, the rock was dropped. After several seconds without a sound, the two engineers decided the first rock was too small and they needed a larger rock. Looking around revealed the only object of sufficient size was a discarded railroad tie. The second engineer dropped the railroad tie into the sinkhole at the signal….
While both engineers were listening intently for the tie to hit the bottom, they heard a strange noise coming up behind them. Turning around, the two witness a mad dog charging them at full speed. Jumping out of the way, the dog dove head first down the sinkhole.
The two engineers were scratching their heads at the event that just happened, when a farmer pulled up on his tractor. The farmer ask the two if they had seen his dog. They responded that they had seen a dog, and it had charged them and then jumped into the sinkhole. The farmer responded that it could not have been his dog because his was chained to a railroad tie.
Mike H 1111
Edited: 29 June 2004, 4:17 p.m. after one or more responses were posted