The Chippendale Mupp is a mythical creature (see the poem below, from Dr. Seuss’
ID: 68236 • Letter: T
Question
The Chippendale Mupp is a mythical creature (see the poem below, from Dr. Seuss’s The Sleep
Book) who bites his tail before going to sleep. According to the poem, his tail is so long that he doesn’t
feel the pain until it’s time to wake up, eight hours later. Suppose that a single unmyelinated axon connects
the Mupp’s tail to its spinal chord. (We assume that it takes negligible time for the signal to get from the
spinal cord to the brain.) Use the parameters appropriate to the squid. Given the range of axon diameters
in real animals is 0.2 to 100 m, make an estimate for the range of the length of the Mupp’s tail.
[The Chippendale Mupp, by Dr. Seuss:
“Now the news has arrived
From the Valley of Vail
That a Chippendale Mupp has just bitten his tail,
Which he does every night before shutting his eyes.
Such nipping sounds silly. But, really, it’s wise.
He has no alarm clock. So this is the way
He makes sure that he’ll wake at the right time of day.
His tail is so long, he won’t feel any pain
‘Til the nip makes the trip and gets up to his brain.
In exactly eight hours, the Chippendale Mupp
Will, at last, feel the bite and yell “Ouch”! and wake up.”]
Explanation / Answer
the scene about him you will notices that his tail is on the inside of his mouth then he bites on his and closes his eyes and you will see the red light on his tail travel fast on his tail to him then he opens his eyes and moth again, so his tail was never in place as it was in the book.