[Guest]

two men are in a dark alley, they are jumped and beaten within an inch of their lives and placed in the trunk of a car with a spare tire. In the morning the police open the trunk and find one of the men is dead and one survived, if they were both beaten equally how is this possible?

[Guest]

One of the men breathed the air of the spare tire

[bonanova]

One of the men breathed the air of the spare tire

Since the puzzle mentions a spare tire, that's probably the solution.

However, if the trunk was airtight, causing death by asphyxiation to the other,

it's problematical that the air in a single tire could have enabled the first guy to survive.

Even a scuba tank couldn't have lasted all night.

[Guest]

One of the men breathed the air of the spare tire

Why didn't both men share the tire? If they were of equal remaining vitality, could one have overpowered the other? Or did one man just not bother to use the tire?

[Guest]

I like the spare tire idea, I guess it could have been an airtight trunk.

but how long would that have lasted

what if one of the men was already hurt so the equal beating that he endured

actually killed him

[Guest]

well I called my friend and the tire is not the answer, I appreciate the help maybe I have posted incorrectly. I am going to get him to repeat it to me and I will repost after lunch

[unreality]

Did the police find rugburns on the dead guy's body? Or "tire-burns"? Or maybe one of them was just more susceptible to the beating. Or the wheel popped, the spare tire had to be used, then later they bought a new matching tire and threw the spare tire back in the trunk- hitting the head of one of the guys, knocking him out but not showing signs of beating, so the other person freely used the spare tire for air on the rest of the journey (which is less cuz they had to open the trunk twice throughout the trip, so there would be enough air through those sections of time, and with opening the trunk twice, and then the spare tire, one person could easily make it while the other was passed out for the rest of the journey so the spare air wasnt being shared with him. He died. Hopefully the criminals that did this are in jail

[Guest]

I think since there was only one spare tire, only one of them could be 'spared'.

[Guest]

two men are in a dark alley, they are jumped and beaten within an inch of their lives and placed in the trunk of a car with a spare tire. In the morning the police open the trunk and find one of the men is dead and one survived, if they were both beaten equally how is this possible?

I think there are too many solutions based on this information.

One: One of the two men was robbing the other when they were jumped, and had previously stabbed him, so he died, not from the beating (that was equal) but from the stab wound.

Two: similar to above, but with gunshot (or any other piercing weapon)

Three: size matters. One of the two is larger, and so cannot breath in the trunk as well as the other (or the smaller dies because larger suffocates him)

Four: Ones name is Jack, and he can live in a trunk with a spare tire, but the other cannot

Five: One is tall, one is short, the short one survives, because he fits, the tall one doesn't because he has to be folded to fit

[Guest]

well I have the solution....

you are on the right track with the asphyxiation

there is a button in all late model cars for a trunk release

so one of the men waited for the other to asphyxiate

and then released the trunk for fresh air

not as much fun

so I modified it ...

the tire was filled with fix a flat which is poisonious, on attempting to breath in the air from the tire the first man turned green and died. The other man seeing this decide to use his last bit energy to reach over and open the trunk.

so since there was only one spare tire one of them was saved ... ha

[Guest]

the man that died was the man that the other pushed into the attackers and ot the initial hit from them which would be the strongest due to them not being tired from throwing punches....... or the dead one was the first one thrown in the trunk and the other guy landed on him, which would push his last inch of life-

[Guest]

Too many posobilities !!!

[Guest]

well I have the solution....

you are on the right track with the asphyxiation

there is a button in all late model cars for a trunk release

so one of the men waited for the other to asphyxiate

and then released the trunk for fresh air

not as much fun

so I modified it ...

the tire was filled with fix a flat which is poisonious, on attempting to breath in the air from the tire the first man turned green and died. The other man seeing this decide to use his last bit energy to reach over and open the trunk.

so since there was only one spare tire one of them was saved ... ha

I don't understand "the solution". Why would the one man wait for the one to asphyxiate? Why not just open the trunk and let both survive? Why would one asphyxiate faster than the other? Why is this solution better than the others?

The spare tire in my trunk would not be accessible to either of the men, as it is under a cover, which they would be on top of. Of course, I don't think that two men would fit in my trunk anyway.

Would a man see another turn green and die inside a trunk? It would be a little dark I would think.