Jump to content
BrainDen.com - Brain Teasers
  • 0


Guest
 Share

Question

You are on a very thin layer of ice, 4 cm away from safe land. The only problem is, if you change the pressure on either of your feet the ice will break, sending you down into the watery depths.

You have 2 things that you are holding:

1) a 15 foot long plastic rope

2) a 16 by 12 by 5 in lead weight

Is there any way to escape?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0

4 cm? How about reach your arms out over the land and then take a step. As you fall through the ice catch yourself on the bank and viola! you are saved from a watery grave.

You are on a very thin layer of ice, 4 cm away from safe land. The only problem is, if you change the pressure on either of your feet the ice will break, sending you down into the watery depths.

You have 2 things that you are holding:

1) a 15 foot long plastic rope

2) a 16 by 12 by 5 in lead weight

Is there any way to escape?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
You are on a very thin layer of ice, 4 cm away from safe land. The only problem is, if you change the pressure on either of your feet the ice will break, sending you down into the watery depths.

You have 2 things that you are holding:

1) a 15 foot long plastic rope

2) a 16 by 12 by 5 in lead weight

Is there any way to escape?

... get rid of the 165kg lead weight and walk out! probably by holding it in front of me and dropping it on the land.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
... get rid of the 165kg lead weight and walk out! probably by holding it in front of me and dropping it on the land.

I'd tie that rope to the weight and me. Never hurts to have a backup plan. (and things like that rope are usuallythere for a reason)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Surely you could swim 4cm?

or throw the weight away and jump for your life??

Or you could replace one of your foots pressure with the weight, move your foot forward,pick up the weight while putting your foot down, etc. But that would be really hard and the weight would have to be exactly right.

somehow dont think any of these is the answer. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

It's pretty simple really....

You fall to your knees. This will break the ice because pressure pattern has changed, but you are only 4 cm from land so when the ice breaks, your knees will already be on the ground.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
It's pretty simple really....
You fall to your knees. This will break the ice because pressure pattern has changed, but you are only 4 cm from land so when the ice breaks, your knees will already be on the ground.

You gotta toss that lead weight when you start your fall, or you'll probably crush your knees. That lead is roughly the weight of 2 average peoples, plus a little. Ouch!

But great guess, and the easiest to execute thus far. I'm interested to see what the OP had in mind for a solution.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

But great guess, and the easiest to execute thus far. I'm interested to see what the OP had in mind for a solution.

You gotta toss that lead weight when you start your fall, or you'll probably crush your knees. That lead is roughly the weight of 2 average peoples, plus a little. Ouch!

Good point Grayven, when I saw the 4 cm I didn't bother to even do that particular calculation, seemed like excess information just there as a red herring.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

you could just throw the lead weight toward the middle of the pond, and you will slide toward shore. You and your rope can then walk safely back to your office at the Daily Planet.

The real question is, what are you doing walking around a frozen pond carrying 392 lbs of lead and 15 ft of rope?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
The real question is, what are you doing walking around a frozen pond carrying 392 lbs of lead and 15 ft of rope?

And if the "thin" ice can hold 550 to 600 lbs (roughly) focused onto two average (edit) human feet worth of area, how thin could it really be?

Edited by Grayven
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Answer this question...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...