Sep 13, 2022
Okay all, here is the new puzzlah for today.
A young boy was sent to the shop to buy exactly a half gallon of oil, like straight motor oil. He is sent on a mission. He takes with him a can of exactly one-gallon capacity like a
paint can. A one-gallon paint can with a little handle on it, like Jack and Jill all those years ago in the fairy tale.
He goes to the auto parts store to buy this oil. But they dispense the stuff in bulk from a big oil drum. A huge vat of motor oil.
The guy at the store says, "I don't have anything to measure a half gallon kid but I have two measures of oil. One is 5 pints and the other one is 3 pints."
He says to the kid, "If I use these two things, 5 pints, and 3 pints, and your one-gallon paint can, I can measure out exactly the half gallon of oil that you want to buy."
The kid says, "I don't need your stinking 3-pint and 5-pint containers. I can do it without either of those."
So, how does he do it?
Good luck!
Okay, kid says, "I don't need your stinking 3-pint and 5-pint containers. I can do it with a regular old one gallon paint can."
So how does he do it? This is how.
The kid takes his one gallon paint can, and he holds it at an angle. At a perfect diagonal. Then, he adds motor oil while holding the gallon paint can on this diagonal. He fills it all the way up to the top, at this angle.
By doing this, he is ensuring that he is filling exactly half the capacity of the paint can, which would measure out to half a gallon. See, when you hold the can at exactly the right diagonal angle, you are only able to fill it up half way, because otherwise, it would spill over the side, since it is at an angle. That angle bisects the can in two, half filled, half empty.
So there you go. He didn't need any 3 or 5 pint measuring cans. He did it all on his own, using physics and angles.
That is a good one.
