Today’s puzzles are about deducing the mechanisms behind two extremely puzzling objects: a practical joke cup supposedly invented by Pythagoras and a vehicle that seemingly travels the wrong way.
1. Pythagoras’s Cup
Pythagoras, the Greek mathematician and mystic, is credited with devising a cup with the following properties:
1) If you pour it up to a certain level it behaves like a normal cup.
2) If you pour it beyond that level all of the liquid in the cup empties through a hole at the bottom of the cup.
Can you draw the mechanism inside the cup?
The solution is very simple and has no moving parts. (If you are a plumber you might find this very easy.)
The cup is a cute metaphor for moderation in life. Fill it up just a little too much and you will lose everything.
2. Backwards jalopy
Design a simple mechanism for a four-wheeled toy vehicle such that when you pull a piece of string backwards out the vehicle, the vehicle moves forward.
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the answers. Please NO SPOILERS. Instead please discuss your favourite engineering-based practical joke objects.
UPDATE: Read the solutions here.
I’ve been setting a puzzle here on alternate Mondays since 2015. I’m always on the look-out for great puzzles. If you would like to suggest one, email me.
