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burning paper


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Soak the paper in a strong alcohol solution (but not too strong).The water in the solution will evaporate as the alcohol burns, causing the temperature to not reach the flash point of paper.

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Useless knowledge answer:

Soaking paper in a saturated solution of alum in water and then allowing it to dry multiple times will render the paper fireproof. You could then just pour some lighter fluid on it and drop your match.

Outside the box answer:

Sit on the ground with a sheet of paper in front of you and a bed of kindling soaked in fluid a few feet in front of the paper. On the count of 3, drop an unused match onto the sheet of paper and have your friend light the kindling.

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You could cover it with a thin sheet of metal, or any other nonflammable solid that completely covers it, then a second piece of paper, and drop the lit match onto that.

You could put it at the bottom of a bucket of alcohol and drop the match on that. You would definitely see flames, and the paper wouldn't burn for a long time

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If the match being dropped had to cause the flame, it would read "if and only if a match were dropped on it".

No, it wouldn't. The riddle stating "so that if you drop a match on it" means the action of dropping the match on the paper must be responsible in some way for one to see flames.

Outside the box answer:

Sit on the ground with a sheet of paper in front of you and a bed of kindling soaked in fluid a few feet in front of the paper. On the count of 3, drop an unused match onto the sheet of paper and have your friend light the kindling.

But dropping a match is not the cause of your friend lighting kindling.

You could cover it with a thin sheet of metal, or any other nonflammable solid that completely covers it, then a second piece of paper, and drop the lit match onto that.

You could put it at the bottom of a bucket of alcohol and drop the match on that. You would definitely see flames, and the paper wouldn't burn for a long time

The match is not being dropped on the paper in either of those examples.

mabey you could drop an unlit match on a piece of paper an look at a fire

Again, the riddle states that dropping a match on the paper will be the cause of flames to be visible.

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place the paper under glass, then drop a lit match on top of it. Technically the match (and flame) will be on the paper, while the paper will not burn. Regardless of how people argue simantics, the author it seems needs to reveal the answer or this is going no where...

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A match is a match even if it hasn't been lit yet...so don't light it! Then if you drop it on the paper...no flames!

I read more thouroughly...you need to see flames...so. Light the match, see the flame and then drop the then dead match on the paper.

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I read more thouroughly...you need to see flames...so. Light the match, see the flame and then drop the then dead match on the paper.

Read even a little more thoroughly. If you light the match, then that will be the action that causes you to see flames. The riddle states "What can you do paper so that if you drop a match on it you will see flames and not burn the paper?" You have done nothing to the paper so it won't burn; you've done something to the match.

Edited by Scraff
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Read even a little more thoroughly. If you light the match, then that will be the action that causes you to see flames. The riddle states "What can you do paper so that if you drop a match on it you will see flames and not burn the paper?" You have done nothing to the paper so it won't burn; you've done something to the match.

i agree-dropping the match on the paper will cause you to see flames

btw - i believe Martini's original answer is the best :P

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i agree-dropping the match on the paper will cause you to see flames

btw - i believe Martini's original answer is the best :P

just to let you know his way is right and i have done it before. unless someone has a magical match that when lit the fire only burns the match and not paper...wait would it be the match that is magical or the fire....ponder that one :P

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What can you do paper so that if you drop a match on it you will see flames and not burn the paper?

The truth qualities of an if statement are such that the statement is false ONLY when the first condition is true and the outcome is false. Meaning that when the first condition is false, the entire statement is true no matter what the second one is.

Therefore the statement "if you drop a match on [the paper], then you will see flames AND not burn the paper" is true when:

you drop the match, see flames, and don't burn the paper;

you don't drop the match, see flames, burn the paper (this is what happens if you burn it before the dropping of the match)

you don't drop the match, see flames, don't burn the paper (this is what happens if you have a picture of the flames on the paper)

you don't drop the match, don't see flames, burn the paper (this is... kind of hard to do...)

you don't drop the match, don't see flames, don't burn the paper (ummm idk what situation this pertains to... haha)

So multiple solutions are correct.

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I don't really think you will see the flames, because you don't be asked to lit it. :P

If it should be done, just lit the match, drop it on the paper and just drop it again at instant.

Papers should be strong enough not to get burned.

Or, if your paper is easily get burned: lit the match, look the paper from the top, drop the match between you and the paper, remove the paper before your match touch the paper.

You now can see flames on paper.

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drop the match from a ladder, that way, you'll see flames, but the match will blow out before it hits the paper. ;)

And what is it you've done to the paper? What you and about the last five posters don't seem to get has already been explained by Martini. Something must be done to the paper so that if a match is dropped on it, flames will be seen but the paper won't burn. ssxm said to laminate the paper. That is at least doing something to the paper so that it won't burn, but it does not cause flames so that answer doesn't work.

"What can you do paper so that if you drop a match on it you will see flames and not burn the paper?"

What you do to the paper must both be a reason for seeing flames and for the paper not burning.

Martini's answer works because the alcohol solution results in flames and also results in the paper not burning.

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And what is it you've done to the paper? What you and about the last five posters don't seem to get has already been explained by Martini. Something must be done to the paper so that if a match is dropped on it, flames will be seen but the paper won't burn. ssxm said to laminate the paper. That is at least doing something to the paper so that it won't burn, but it does not cause flames so that answer doesn't work.

"What can you do paper so that if you drop a match on it you will see flames and not burn the paper?"

What you do to the paper must both be a reason for seeing flames and for the paper not burning.

Martini's answer works because the alcohol solution results in flames and also results in the paper not burning.

What you're "doing to the paper" is putting it at a great distance from the match. Lighting the match itself is already seeing flames, the paper does not necessarily have to be near the flames, the match has to be dropped on the paper. As long as you have eyes, lighting the match is satisfying the condition of seeing flames.

I hate this forum, everyone always has something to say to refute people's answers/opinions, even if they're valid.

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