Thursday, November 20, 2008

Winter??? 30 degrees ........

Degrees can be pretty confusing. A circle can be divided, sort of like a pie, into pieces. If the circle is divided into 360 pieces, the pie is said to be divided into 360 degrees.
Why would this be?
Some folks say it is because of donuts. Donuts are round - they are circular.
Donuts are round circles cooked in hot oil.
The oil is heated to 360 degrees fahrenheit. Thus to keep people from being confused about angular degrees and fahrenheit degrees, donuts have both kinds of degrees equal to each other.
When you stop to think about it, 360 degrees is 30 degrees a month.
That brings up the question, "What is 30 degrees?"
For the answer, you'll need a yardstick (a ruler that is 36 inches looooooonnnnnng).
You will also need a piece of tape or some other nondestructive method to place a mark on the wall.
Step one: from the floor, measure vertically up the wall .... place a piece or tape 18 inches up from the floor.
Step two: lay the yardstick on the floor, perpendicular to (sticking straight out from) the wall.
Step three: the end of the yardsitck against the wall ..... slide it up the wall to the tape/mark
(note: the other end of the yardstick will drag across the floor toward the wall)
Step 4: Announce with glee,"Look everybody, I have invented the 30 degree angle!!!! The yardstick is at a 30 degree angle to the floor. A hotwheels car, driving up the yardstick, would be ascending a 30 degree inclined plane .......... Shazaam, Shazaam, Shazaam!"

The 30 degree angle is a marvelous angle. Now for the test .....
What if you didn't have a yardstick! How far would you have to measure up the wall to make a 30 degree angle if you only had a 12 inch ruler? (ans. 6 inches)
What if you had a 2 foot ruler? (ans. 1 foot)
Can you make a general rule for how far to measure up the wall to create a 30 degree angle?
............. "Half the length of the ruler", you say? Wow! That's right!
What if you took off your belt and found it to be 32 inches long. What if you stretched it from the floor to a point 16 inches up the wall. What if the belt was the same color as automobile tires?
(ans. you'd have a 30 degree blackbelt ..... you'd be a marshall art guy like Matt Dillon)

When people ask, "How do I learn to be a machinist?" ......... tell 'em, "Well, for one thing, you'd better learn how to make a 30 degree angle AND how hot to heat oil to make donuts."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

...mmmmmmmm ......
donut .........
-homer simpson