Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2023

DOI

10.1119/10.0021881

Publication Title

The Physics Teacher

Volume

61

Issue

7

Pages

A539

Abstract

The picture is of the tapering Chester Shot Tower, located in Chester, England. It was built in 1799 for the manufacture of lead shot for use in the Napoleonic Wars. Molten lead was poured through a sieve at the top of the tower, with the tiny droplets forming perfect spheres during the fall; these were then cooled in a vat of water at the base. This process was less labor-intensive than an earlier method using molds. It is the oldest of the three remaining shot towers in the UK. Using the parked van at the base, estimate (i) the height of the tower, and (ii) the number of bricks comprising it. Assume the column is only one brick thick (this is undoubtedly not the case, of course!). What is the potential energy of the tower? Estimating the dimensions of a typical (British!) brick, including mortar, to be 0.2 × (0.1)

Rights

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in

Adam, J. (2023). Not your typical Tower of Sauron: Solutions for Fermi questions, September 2023. The Physics Teacher, 61(7), A539.

and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1119/10.0021881

Original Publication Citation

Adam, J. (2023). Not your typical Tower of Sauron: Solutions for Fermi questions, September 2023. The Physics Teacher, 61(7), A539. https://doi.org/10.1119/10.0021881

ORCID

0000-0001-5537-2889 (Adam)

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