Two identical jars are placed on a scale, each with one fruit fly in it. One fly is flying and the other one is sitting. Which jar weighs more? AnswerNeither; they weigh the same. The only reason the fly is flying is because it flaps its wings to make air push it up. So the […]

There is a box with a highly explosive bomb inside it. The lid of the box is made of glass and attached to this lid is a bowl of mercury with a dozen exposed wire leads just out of the reach of the mercury. You know that any attempt to remove the lid or cut

A cargo plane loaded with canaries is set to take off but the co-pilot has calculated the weight of the plane and its contents is just a few pounds over its maximum allowable takeoff weight. “No problem,” he tells the captain, “I’m going back to the cargo area. When you hear me yelling, go ahead

Tom had just jumped out of an aircraft at 5,000 ft above hard ground when he looked up and saw a relatively large hole in his parachute. He did not use his reserve chute; no one else was around to help him, and yet he landed safely.How did he survive? AnswerMost of the parachutes need

You have two bars of iron. One is magnetized along its length; the other is not. Without using any other instrument (thread, filings, other magnets, etc.), find out which is which. AnswerBar magnets are “dead” in their centres (i.e. there is no magnetic force, since the two poles cancel out). So, if bar A is

A man has two eggs. One is raw and the other is boiled. He would like to eat the boiled egg for lunch and save the raw one to have for breakfast the next morning. How can he find the boiled egg without breaking the wrong egg by mistake? AnswerIf the man spins the eggs

Two friends, Fred and Liz, were having a fun night out. They went to the bowling alley, bowled for a while, went to the bar, then left. They went to Liz’s apartment, at which Fred had never been before. Out of the blue Fred said, “How much do you want to bet I can figure

Xavier and Rex each own a television. They watched the exact same programme at the exact same time. However, what looked like white on Xavier’s television looked yellow on Rex’s. In this case, what colour would cyan, on Xavier’s, look like on Rex’s, and why? AnswerCyan would look like green. This is because pixels are

A juggler must perform a trick in which he crosses a narrow bridge juggling 3 balls. He weighs 80 kg and each one of the balls weighs 10 kg. However, the bridge can hold only 100 kg before breaking. The lion tamer said that as long as he kept one ball in the air, the

This bacterial waste product can be extremely deadly in some forms. Yet, millions of people voluntarily ingest it every day.The bacteria produce it as certain materials decompose. It is used by doctors, janitors, racecar drivers and maybe even you.What is it? AnswerAlcohol.In some forms deadly and used as a disinfectant, cleaner or race car fuel.

Professor Lipshultz was showing off his new inventions to a prospective investor. He told the investor that he had developed machines which would allow scientists to study the motion of gas molecules. His explanation of the machines was as follows:“The first unit will take in any gas and completely dry it, removing all the traces

One day when I was playing lawn tennis in my backyard, my tennis ball fell down a gopher hole. The hole was too deep to reach into and there was a bend in the middle, so you couldn`t use a stick. How did I get the ball out without digging up my lawn? AnswerGet a

From the Earth we can see the moon rise and set. When the day comes that we can live on the moon, will we see the Earth rise and set? AnswerNo. The moon’s rotation is synchronized with its orbit around the Earth, which is why we can only see one side of the moon from

Duffus came home one afternoon to find his wife in the kitchen making homemade jam. She had a few jars on the table, and was attempting to tape the vacuum hose on a lid, when Duffus arrived. “What are you doing, dear?” he asked, confused by the piles of twisted tape that clung to everything

Jim and Joe were close brothers until Jim graduated from Yale and became a renowned scientist who made millions. Not wanting to be outdone, Joe invited Jim over to a mansion that he claimed was his. He showed Jim many wonderful things inside the house one of which was a golden statue.“This was a little