Jack
Once upon a time, there was a poor widow and her son, Jack. Jack and his mother were very poor; they could barely scrounge up money to feed themselves. As time passed, their money practically began to disincarnate through their fingers and one day, there wasn't a single piece of money left.
"Jack!" his mother hollered, "Jack, you need to take old Milky White to the market to sell her. It is about 4,800 meters to the market and if you walk at 1.8 meters per second (m/s), it will take you about 2,667 seconds, which is 44 minutes, to reach the market. When you get to the market, do not spend more than an hour there. Your entire trip will take you approximately 2 hours and 47 minutes, which is 148 minutes or, if you prefer a more scientific unit, 8,880 seconds."
"Yes, Mum." responded Jack as he headed out the door to get their cow, Milky White.
Jack carefully calculated his walking speed to 1.8m/s with Milky White trudging behind him. When he reached the market, he noticed an odd little man with a large sack near the entrance. Curious, he approached the man.
"Pardon me, sir, but may I ask you what you have in your sack?" questioned Jack.
"This," said the man slyly," this is an ordinary bag of beans. But these on the other hand,"- the man pulled out a small bag-"are magic beans."
"Magic beans?" said Jack in awe, "What is their price?"
"Their price is much too costly for you, but I see you have a beautiful, old cow with a coat that doesn't absorb any photons. I am willing to trade these priceless beans for your cow."
Without giving himself a moment to think, Jack eagerly took the bag. When he glanced up to thank the man, the man and Milky White had vanished. Eager to show his mother his magical beans, Jack quickened his pace to 2.0m/s, cutting his walking time down about 10%.
When Jack reached his house, he found his mother boiling a pot of water at 96.5 ºC. Jack knew the precise temperature because their house is 1,024.1 meters above sea level and every 292.6 meters above sea level, the boiling point of water drops 1 ºC.
"I'm home mother." Jack called.
"Already?" said his surprised mother, "You must have gotten a wonderful trade for ol' Milky. Come, show me what you what you got."
Jack quickly walked over to his mother with the sack in his hand. He gave the sack to his mother and her smile fell.
"They're magic beans mother."
"MAGIC BEANS!" yelled Jack's infuriated mother, "YOU TRADED OUR COW FOR FOUR SMALL BEANS!"
Enraged, Jack's mother threw the beans out the window into their small, dry garden.
"Off to bed with you and no supper!"
When the earth rotated to face the sun where Jack lived, Jack and his mother were startled by a giant beanstalk, standing nearly 3,300 meters tall, out their windows. Jack quickly ran outside and began to climb.
"Jack! Jack, come down." His mother called.
"I am going up to see what is up there, above the clouds!"
Jack kept climbing until he had reached the top of the beanstalk. He looked around and saw before him a cliff, on which was a wide road. He hopped off of the beanstalk and started to walk down the road. At the end of the road, there was a humongous castle, surrounded by scaling walls and a tremendous gate. Jack slipped through the bars of the gate and was greeted by a delicious smell. He followed his nose and was led to the kitchen, where a woman was roasting ten oxen.
"Good day ma'am," said a Jack remembering his manners.
"Who are you?" questioned the startled woman, "You better leave at once. The Giant likes eating little boys in one bite."
"The Giant?"
Just then the ground shook and an angry roar filled the air.
"Hurry and hide! The giant is calling for his supper. He's coming now!"
The woman put Jack in a big kettle and covered it with a cloth.
"Fee, fie, fo, fum,
I smell the blood of and Englishman!
Be he alive or be he dead,
I'll grind his bones to make my bread!" bellowed the giant as he walked into the kitchen.
"Nonsense! All you smell is the ten roasting oxen for your dinner." said the woman as she brought him a huge platter of meat.
When the giant had finished his meal, he called to the woman saying: "Bring me my hen."
The woman scurried to get the hen. When she brought it, the giant growled, "Lay, hen, Lay!"
The hen laid five eggs that reflected gold photons and the woman carefully put them in a basket.
"Bring me my harp!" roared the Giant.
When the harp was brought, the Giant hollered, "Play, harp, play!"
The harp played many cycles of harmonized sound waves, so lovely that the ear yearned to hear more.
"Bring me my jewels!" bellowed the giant.
The woman brought two bags of jewels and gold. Nearly each jewel had a density of 11.04g/mL and the gold had a specific heat of 521J/Kg ºC. The giant let the treasures slid through his fingers until his eyelids slowly dropped.
Jack crawled out of the kettle and quickly climbed up the back of the Giant's chair. He shoved the hen under his arm, jumped off the table, and ran as fast as he could out of the castle.
The frightened hen began to squawk and called out, "My master! Oh, my master"
The giant woke up and cried angrily. He ran after Jack, but Jack had reached the beanstalk and was climbing down. Jack climbed until he had reached his house and he ran inside to tell his mother.
The hen's eggs kept them fed and they held a feast for all of their neighbors. But, Jack's desire to hear the harp play drove him to climb up the beanstalk again.
Once again, he climbed up the beanstalk, slipped through the gate and went into the kitchen. As soon as he got into the kitchen, he had to hide because the Giant was coming for his dinner.
"Fee, fie, fo, fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman!
Be he alive or be he dead,
I'll grind his bones to make my bread!" thundered the Giant as he entered the kitchen.
"Nonsense!" said the woman, "You just smell the twelve oxen that I am roasting for your dinner."
"Well, bring me my supper," growled the Giant.
After the Giant had finished his meal, he ordered the woman to bring his harp.
"Play, harp, play!" bellowed the Giant.
When the harp had finished playing, he ordered the woman to bring him his jewels and gold. Once again the Giant nodded off to sleep. Jack quickly hopped out of the kettle and grabbed the harp. He ran as fast as he could but the frightened harp's cries awoke its master. The Giant came running after Jack, but Jack had reached the beanstalk and was climbing down.
The next morning, although the harp had brought Jack and his mother great joy, Jack went up the beanstalk again to retrieve the jewels and gold. When he had slipped through the gate and went into the kitchen, he had to be hidden once more because the Giant was coming for his dinner.
After the Giant had finished his meal, he barked at the woman to get his jewels and gold. He held the jewels until his eyes dropped into a drowsy sleep. Jack crept out of the kettle and quickly grabbed the bags of jewels and gold. Jack ran as fast as he could but the noisy jangle of the treasures awoke the Giant. The infuriated Giant ran after Jack but once again, Jack was already climbing down. The Giant was not going to let Jack get away again, so he climbed down after him. Seeing the Giant come after him, startled Jack and he fell, rather than climbed, down the beanstalk and landed with a bounce in the garden. He ran inside and grabbed his ax. Jack hacked away at the beanstalk and while he was cutting, he wondered what the acceleration of gravity was. He knew that the gravitational pull would pull the Giant and the beanstalk at the same speed, but he did not know the acceleration of gravity. He took the distance that the Giant and the beanstalk would fall, about 500 meters for the Giant had climbed quite a ways, and used the equation a= 2d÷t?. He timed how long it took the Giant to fall, approximately 3.6 seconds and filled in the equation, a=2(500m)÷3.6?. He found out that the acceleration was 77.2m/s?. Rejoicing over his discovery, he failed to notice that the Giant had fallen to his death.
Jack's mother came outside because she had felt the vibration of the sound waves when the Giant landed on the ground.
"Jack!" she called, "Jack! You did it! You have slain the Giant!"
And Jack and his mother lived happily ever after with their new wealth and scientific knowledge.
Back To Mr. Brügge's World