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Water in the Cup (Posted on 2023-01-04) Difficulty: 3 of 5
Ryan was a wealthy customer in a restaurant. Sitting in his table he asked a waiter for a juice glass, a dinner plate, water, a match, and a lemon wedge. The man poured enough onto the plate to cover it.

"If you can get the water on the plate into this glass without touching or moving this plate, I will give you $100," Ryan said, "You can use the match and the lemon to do this."

A few minutes later, the waiter walked away with $100 in his pocket.

How did the waiter get the water into the glass?

See The Solution Submitted by K Sengupta    
Rating: 5.0000 (1 votes)

Comments: ( Back to comment list | You must be logged in to post comments.)
Theoretical vs. Practical solution | Comment 3 of 5 |
While I agree with the general idea of the first two posts (which are essentially the same), practically, the physics have to be perfect for this to work. For example, for the water (presumably, all the water, not just some of it) to be sucked into the part of the plate covered by the glass , this would have to occur while the entire lip of the glass remains covered by water or the vacuum under the glass will be lost. If even a small portion of the lip of the glass is not under the water outside air will be sucked in and the water will return to the plate.

This type of solution might work under lab conditions, with precision parts, but likely not otherwise, in my opinion.



  Posted by Kenny M on 2023-01-04 17:48:35
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