Geekery

Water in the Cup Riddle

Posted on 24. Apr, 2009 by Jake.

Riddle

A man in a restaurant asked a waiter for a juice glass, a dinner plate, water, a match, and a lemon wedge.

The man poured enough water onto the plate to cover it.

“If you can get the water on the plate into this glass without touching or moving this plate, I will give you $100,” the man said. ”

You can use the match and lemon to do this.”

A few minutes later, the waiter walked away with $100 in his pocket.

How did the waiter get the water into the glass?

Answer

First, the waiter stuck the match into the lemon wedge, so that it would stand straight. Then he lit the match, and put it in the middle of the plate with the lemon.

Then, he placed the glass upside-down over the match.

As the flame used up the oxygen in the glass, it created a small vacuum, which sucked in the water through the space between the glass and the plate.

Thus, the waiter got the water into the glass without touching or moving the plate.
You can try this experiment at home with appropriate supervision.

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Two Doors

Posted on 25. Mar, 2009 by Jake.

A man is trapped in a room. The room has only two possible exits: two doors. Through the first door there is a room constructed from magnifying glass. The blazing hot sun instantly fries anything or anyone that enters. Through the second door there is a fire-breathing dragon. How does the man escape?

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Rock Paper Scissors

Posted on 25. Mar, 2009 by Jake.

A teacher was having trouble getting her students to learn their facts, but she noticed that her students often played the game “Rock, Paper, Scissors”. She made a game with similar rules in order to encourage the students to learn their facts.

The class would be divided into three teams: Rock, Paper and Scissors. The teacher would ask the students a question and the class would raise their hands if they knew the answer. If the first person to answer the question correctly is in the Rock team, he or she would choose one player from the Scissors team to be eliminated. Similarly, if a player from the Scissors team was first to answer the question, then he or she would eliminate a member from the Paper team. Lastly, if a player from the Paper team was first to answer correctly, he or she would eliminate a member from the Rock team.

The teacher would then continue asking questions until only one team still has members. That team would be declared the winner and all its members would win a small chocolate.

However, as soon as she explained the rules to the class, one particularly smart student immediately found a large flaw that made the game unplayable. Can you do the same?

Answer

After one team loses all its members, the team that it eliminates members from will always win. For example, say the Scissors team is the first team to lose all its members. It is now impossible for the Paper team to lose any members, but the Paper team can still eliminate members from Rock team, so it will eventually win (if the Rock team answers questions, there would be no one left for them to eliminate so nothing would happen). This means that the best strategy is actually to avoid answering questions until one team is eliminated. If all the players know this, the game would never end.

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What song?

Posted on 04. Mar, 2009 by Jake.

A man is sitting in a pub feeling rather poor. He sees the man next to him pull a wad of £50 notes out of his wallet.
He turns to the rich man and says to him,
“I have an amazing talent: I know almost every song that has ever existed.”
The rich man laughs.
The poor man says, “I am willing to bet you all the money you have in your wallet that I can sing a genuine song with a lady’s name of your choice in it.”
The rich man laughs again and says, “OK, how about my daughter’s name, Joanna Armstrong-Miller?”
The rich man goes home poor. The poor man goes home rich.

What song did he sing?

Answer

“Happy Birthday”!!

The song can be sung with anyones name in it!

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Go Ahead, Shoot!

Posted on 04. Mar, 2009 by Jake.

Pirate Pete had been captured by a Spanish general and sentenced to death by his 50-man firing squad.

Pete cringed, as he knew their reputation for being the worst firing squad in the Spanish military. They were such bad shots that they would often all miss their targets and simply maim their victims, leaving them to bleed to death, as the general’s tradition was to only allow one shot per man to save on ammunition. The thought of a slow painful death made Pete beg for mercy.

“Very well, I have some compassion. You may choose where the men stand when they shoot you and I will add 50 extra men to the squad to ensure someone will at least hit you. Perhaps if they stand closer they will kill you quicker, if you’re lucky,” snickered the general. “Oh, and just so you don’t get any funny ideas, they can’t stand more than 20 ft away, they must be facing you, and you must remain tied to the post in the middle of the yard. And to show I’m not totally heartless, if you aren’t dead by sundown I’ll release you so you can die peacefully outside the compound. I must go now but will return tomorrow and see to it that you are buried in a nice spot, though with 100 men, I doubt there will be much left of you to bury.”

After giving his instructions the general left. Upon his return the next day, he found that Pete had been set free alive and well. “How could this be?” demanded the general. “It was where Pete had us stand,” explained the captain of the squad.

Where did Pete tell them to stand?

Answer

Pete told them to stand in a circle around him. All the squad was facing in at Pete, ready to shoot, when they realized that everyone who missed would likely end up shooting another squad member. So no one dared to fire, knowing the risk. Thus at sundown he was released.

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