This month's theme: summer vacation!
1. A man goes to a swimming pool and swims 50 laps of breaststroke. The pool measures 82 ft long and 39 ft wide. It is 3 ft in the shallow end then after 49 ft it shelves (at an angle of 45 degrees) to a depth of 8 ft. How much water is required to fill the pool? (1 point)
2. In a balloon, stationary off the coast of France, I dropped two wine bottles over the side. If one was full and the other empty, which hit the ground first? (4 points)
3. Two men get lost while walking in the woods. One starts walking northwards, while the other heads south. They bump into each other a quarter of an hour later. Explain. (11 points)
Send your answers to Julianne Scibetta at j.scibet@usip.edu, and look for the results in the next LCN issue! Please also share any great brainteasers you love to give to friends (or students!) and I'd be more than happy to include it in the next list.
Congratulations to Lori Murphy of St. John's University, NY for her score of 5 points from this round of brainteasers!
Honorable mentions: Tara Sullivan of Rend Lake College, IL and Mary Schlueter of College of Saint Mary, NE.
1. Is it more correct to say "The herd of sheep is eating hay in the field"
or "The herd of sheep are eating hay in the field"? (1 point)
Correct answer: Neither. The correct terminology is a flock of sheep.
2. If an average hen's egg is 5cm long, and weighs 300 grams, and an average
peacock's egg is exactly twice the length and 2.5 times the weight, which has
the greater circumference? (5 points)
Correct answer: Peacocks don't lay eggs.
3. Three switches outside a windowless room are connected to three lightbulbs
inside the room. How can you determine which switch is connected to each bulb,
if you may enter the room only once? (10 points)
Correct answer: Switch the first light on, leave it on for a minute, and then
switch off again. Then switch the second bulb on and enter the room. The recently
turned-off light bulb will still be warm, the second one will be one, and the
third one will be off and cold.
All brainteasers for May and June are taken from IQ Challenge: The Lateral
Thinking Game, from Lagoon Games.