Get ready, get set, go! One student after another ran up the school stairs recently while Mr. David Gauger, physics teacher, timed each of them. Ridiculous, you say? No! As his students know, with Mr. Gauger, anything is possible!

This experiment, however, did have a purpose. The question being asked was, "Can you produce one horsepower of energy?" It isn't as easy as it sounds. To do this, it was necessary to run up the flight of stairs, which was 19.8 feet in length, fast enough for a person to create one HP of energy.

Strange as it seems, the heavier people had the advantage. This was because once in motion, their weight carried them along. One disadvantage lies here. Once that person reached the top, he was likely to fall flat on his face! It happened more than once.

For those interested in seeing if they are capable of becoming a horse, here's how this experiment works. Multiply your weight by the distance up the stairs, divide this by 559, and then divide the sum by the number of seconds it took you to make the trip up the stairs.