In a film documentary about the Eiffel Tower, we learned the following information: The elevators in the Eiffel Tower travel as many kilometres in a year as if they circled the entire globe two and a half times. How could you check if this information is correct? Can you model the mathematical background of the information?
Explore elevators and escalators in your town!
Can you find the escalator in your town, which is the longest or the fastest or the slowest or the shortest? Is there a special elevator in your city? Take a picture of an elevator in your town and try to find out how fast it is and how often it is used.
Search the Internet for information on escalator speed limits.
Are there prescribed limits for the speed at which the escalator moves? If so, why is it necessary to respect these limits?
Can you find information about the fastest elevators in the world on the Internet? Note the data about fastest elevators and compare their parameters.
Now try to estimate: How long does the elevator in your town or the one in the Eiffel tower or the fastest in the world travel and how does this compare to circling the globe?
This Worksheet is part of the Quartely Problem Series. For more quartely problems and other classroom materials, click here.
Picture Source: Marcel Strauß on Unsplash
CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence granted
Content-related competences
