I shouldn't make fun of students, but...

[sniffnoy]

UNLOCKED this entry May 17 2017

I was asked a very unexpected quetion while proctoring the 105 final today: "How many hertz are in a volt?"

I suppose I could have answered "one volt-second" (or "one joule per amp", etc.), but that would have been unhelpful. And I really didn't want to try to explain in the middle of the test that these units do not measure the same thing. So I just went with the usual standby of "I'm afraid I can't answer that"... (We're not supposed to answer any substantive questions, really.)

Apparently, though, he later asked another proctor, who went and actually asked Angela, the course coordinator, who decreed that it was in fact OK to tell him that volts and hertz are not compatible units. I guess explaining that in the middle of an exam wasn't so messy after all...

ADDENDUM: I just realized, if we assume Planck units, another technically correct answer would be "5.62279 * 10^-17". But that would be *really* unhelpful...

-Harry

Comments

[joshuazelinsky.livejournal.com]

What class are you TFing that they care about hertz?

[sniffnoy.livejournal.com]

They don't. There was a problem on the final that used alternating current as an example of a sinusoidal function. And though they initially stated the frequency in hertz they then explained what that meant in seconds...