My grade school was one block away from an amusement park (back in the days when small ones dotted the seacoast). I recall being called out by the teacher one day for not paying attention.
She was right. I was looking out the window at workmen working on the roller coaster. It occurred to me that once the rollercoaster was pulled to the top and then released, all it had was the interchange of potential and kinetic energy to work on. It was not powered after it was released. It could only climb a hill using the speed it picked up from falling down the previous hill.
And thus my love of engineering started. I also later learned how to exchange altitude for airspeed and vice versa while flying airplanes.
My teacher was right for calling me out for daydreaming, but it was a dream worth having; it affected the rest of my life.
My grade school was one block away from an amusement park (back in the days when small ones dotted the seacoast). I recall being called out by the teacher one day for not paying attention.
She was right. I was looking out the window at workmen working on the roller coaster. It occurred to me that once the rollercoaster was pulled to the top and then released, all it had was the interchange of potential and kinetic energy to work on. It was not powered after it was released. It could only climb a hill using the speed it picked up from falling down the previous hill.
And thus my love of engineering started. I also later learned how to exchange altitude for airspeed and vice versa while flying airplanes.
My teacher was right for calling me out for daydreaming, but it was a dream worth having; it affected the rest of my life.