Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Home › Understanding Scale with Paul Burgmayer ›

Reply to comment

RecycleJack Marine's picture

Child vs. Tractor Trailer

Submitted by RecycleJack Marine on Fri, 07/24/2009 - 12:26pm.

This morning's presentation reminds me of something that happened over a decade ago between New Jersey and New York City.

A traffic jam occurred at the entrance to the Holland Tunnel on the New Jersey side, backing up traffic for several miles. A tractor trailer had driven into the tunnel and its top got wedged between the ceiling and the road surface, causing it to get stuck inside. The police copuldn't figure out how to get it out of the tunnel. 

After an hour or so, a young child in one of the cars close to the tunnel's entrance came up with a simple solution, which was shared with the authorities: Let the air out of the truck's tires and then pull it out of the tunnel!

Think about the differences of scale: the child and the truck, the situation at hand and the simple solution.

 

Reply

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
3 + 1 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.

Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities

Scanning electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2

Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities has 50 remote-ready activities, which work for either your classroom or remote teaching.

Narrative is determined not by a desire to narrate but by a desire to exchange. (Roland Barthes, S/Z)

What's New? Subscribe to Serendip Studio