Brain Teasers

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Puzzles and Ponderable Points for entertainment and edification, blessed by the Brotherhood of Technogeeks and Keepers of Odd Knowledge. Some of them look kinda scary (the puzzles, I mean) but the answer may be so simple you cant see it.

Light Weight ?
What is the mass of a cubic mile of sunlight? For reference, a cubic mile of air weighs about five million tons.
What is the mass of all sunlight in our solar system ?
What is the mass of the light our sun gives off in a year ? In the last 4 billion years ?
Dust off your calculator and email your answer to: lightweight@altair.org

The Sky is no Limit !
Every kid asks, but do you know the answer....Why is the sky blue in the day ?
Since the universe is so darn big and so full of stars, why is the sky black at night ?
Chemistry Quiz
  • What correct chemical name for water describes its behavior ?
  • What positive ion is formed when water is dissolved in water ?
  • Name two liquids with a higher specific heat than water
  • What is the coldest gas ?
  • What is the heaviest metal ?
  • EXTRA CREDIT: You are standing at the bottom of a large open pit mine, one mile square (1 mi x 1 mi) and one mile deep. You have a teaspoon of water (18 grams, let us say). A magic chemist waves his wand over it, and each molecule expands to the size of a marble, 1/2 inch in diameter. How deep is the water now ?
  • Email your Chem Quiz to: chemquiz@altair.org

Electrical Circuit Puzzles
  • "Dualling" Circuits, a pair of circuits so darn simple that PhDs cling to the Holy Tenets of Circuit Theory while claiming this one is unsolveable. But it ain't. Email your answer to: dualckts@altair.org
  • Resistor Cube Puzzle, becomes simple when you take advantage of symmetry. Can you find the short cut to the answer ?
  • If you figgured that one out, heres some "stump your professor" puzzles.
  • Resistor Puzzle 1, can be exactly solved by nine wizards and a mathematician, or approximately solved with a computer. Can you find a short cut to the exact answer ?
  • Resistor Puzzle 2, If you found the short cut, this one aint much harder. The mathematician sweats profusely, the wizards argue, and the computer churns madly.
  • Resistor Puzzle 3, takes on "new dimensions" as the computer melts down, the wizards vanish in a flash, and our mathematician takes up basketweaving. The answers are computable, but no one solves these without the short cut.
  • Email your resistor puzzle answers to: rpuzzles@altair.org

Advanced Design
Alien Ship ? This strange craft (its pointing left) aint extraterrestrial at all, but was designed for the USAF by Lockheed to counter a specific military threat. What was it designed for ? (Civil War, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Cuban Missile Crisis, Falklands Crisis, "Star Wars" Strategic Defense Initiative, Persian Gulf War) Extra credit: name the year. For instant answer, email your guess to L133@altair.org



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