rookie1ja Posted March 30, 2007 Report Share Posted March 30, 2007 A Ping-Pong Ball in a Hole - Back to the Logic Puzzles Your last good ping-pong ball fell down into a narrow metal pipe imbedded in concrete one foot deep. How can you get it out undamaged, if all the tools you have are your tennis paddle, your shoe-laces, and your plastic water bottle, which does not fit into the pipe? This old topic is locked since it was answered many times. You can check solution in the Spoiler below. Pls visit New Puzzles section to see always fresh brain teasers. Ball in a Hole - solution All you have to do is pour some water into the pipe so that the ball swims up on the surface. Edit: oysterboy22's wording solution: none of those random things are going to help you, but the whole point is the person thinks they have to use the tools, while what they really have to do is urinate in the hole. A table tennis ball (= ping pong ball) fell into a tight deep pipe (amendment: eg. 30 cm long, buried in concrete pavement - having firm metal bottom, only 1 cm of the pipe is above the ground - so it can not be moved). The pipe was only a bit wider than the ball, so you can not use your hand. How would you take it out, with no damage? Edit: There is another more straight forward wording (as posted by oysterboy22) You are stuck in a room with no windows and no doors. There is a hole in the floor about a foot deep (ok, half a meter for you non-americans) and just wider than the diameter of a table tennis ball. There is a table tennis ball at the bottom of the hole. You have a fork, a wrench, and a long, thin plastic wire. How do you get the ball out of the hole? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 16, 2007 Report Share Posted April 16, 2007 Why can't you just suck the ball out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rookie1ja Posted April 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2007 Why can't you just suck the ball out? Sure, if you have lungs to suck it out of let's say 0.5 metre deep pipe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 19, 2007 Report Share Posted April 19, 2007 If the pipe was slightly wider than the ball (as stated in the puzzle) it would continue right through the pipe, so all you would have to do is go down to the bottom and get it from there. NB: If the pipe had a closed end, it would not be a pipe, but a cylinder..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 20, 2007 Report Share Posted April 20, 2007 ok ya if you know anyhting about water pipes then you know they all curve so the ball would stop the you could just go down and open the pipe to get it its abvious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 23, 2007 Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 Easy. Turn the pipe upside down, the ball will roll out ... it's called gravity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 26, 2007 Report Share Posted April 26, 2007 I was thinking about using a vacuum to suck it out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 27, 2007 Report Share Posted April 27, 2007 Although it was never specified, I believe it to be implied in the original challenge for the pipe to have a sealed bottom and was unable to turned upside down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 If the ball has not reached any elbow or bend in the pipe, and that this is a standard fuzzy tennis ball, then you can simply place a piece of Hook & Loop fastner to a stick and simply 'velcro' it out of the pipe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 13, 2007 Report Share Posted May 13, 2007 Fill the pipe with water. The ball will float. <<<Edit - new to the site! didn't realize that solution was right at the top!>>> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 18, 2007 Report Share Posted May 18, 2007 lol, Yeah, O.k, and while we are at it, Why not just seek a magical lamp, rub a genie out, and WISH the ball to the top of the pipe. Can't everyone just Take the question at face value and not rip apart every potential flaw. Come on people...lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 8, 2007 Report Share Posted June 8, 2007 Velcro sticks to tennis balls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 8, 2007 Report Share Posted June 8, 2007 Velcro sticks to tennis balls. It's a table tennis ball, otherwise known as a ping-pong ball. I have yet to see Velcro stick to an unaltered table tennis ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 8, 2007 Report Share Posted June 8, 2007 Although it was never specified, I believe it to be implied in the original challenge for the pipe to have a sealed bottom and was unable to turned upside down. I think benjr's right. This would mean that any sucking/vacuum solutions wouldn't work. Creating a vacuum in the pipe (or area of lower pressure approaching a vacuum) would do no good, because you'd just have a closed system in the vacuum+pipe of essentially uniform pressure, which would not move the ball (which I think is supposed to be a ping-pong ball -- table tennis, right?). Even though you're sucking out of one side of the pipe, the air you remove from the pipe is mostly on the wrong side of the ball, so it probably wouldn't move the ball very much, and if it did move the ball at all, gravity never stopped pulling down on the ball, so it would inevitably undo any motion caused by the flow of a little air in the opposite direction. Also, trying to use a vacuum is different from filling the pipe with water, because buoyancy is a different thing entirely. You could even fill the pipe with a decently heavy gas and the ball should eventually rise to the top, because the solid part of a ping pong ball isn't very dense and on top of that doesn't take up much of its volume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 11, 2007 Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 of course that doesnt rule out the double sided tape... also if you were to have a suspended pipe which isnt against the rules =) take a shovel or something and hit the top right where the hole is on the flat side... and the bottom will shoot out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 And at the end of the day, make sure you fill that damned pipe up...which really only seems to by a cylindrical hole in the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 21, 2007 Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 By using suction or forced air into the hole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 21, 2007 Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 Fill the pipe with water. The tennis ball will float to the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 I agree with swinguru, filling the pipe with water is the best choice if the pipe does not go all the way through. If it does then a vacuum is the best bet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 Good Lord, are you people serious? Vacuum cleaner? Velcro? Magic lamp??? Have you ever heard the phrase "floats like a cork?" Well, table tennis balls float even better than corks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 Good Lord, are you people serious? Vacuum cleaner? Velcro? Magic lamp??? Have you ever heard the phrase "floats like a cork?" Well, table tennis balls float even better than corks!! I know, I LOVE IT.. People can't just take it at face value. Of coarse there are ways you can Master Mind the ball out, but the puzzle is looking for the most LOGICAL and SIMPLE way. Everyone knows the Pipe-Ball puzzle answer is Water, yet everyone tries and tries and tries to offer the most Extravagant Answer possible..lol I think I enjoy the answers people come up with MORE than figuring out the answer..LMAO But then again, 3 out of 4 Doctors agree that I am Coo-Koo, so hey... I'm gunna go take my meds now.... Remember, Yellow is always within 5... COO-KOO...lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 I like tat one.. simply but interesting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 Assuming that the pipe is sealed at on end...Pour water into the hole so that the ball will float up. Assuming the pipe is not sealed in the other end....let me think.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 Assuming that the pipe is sealed at on end...Pour water into the hole so that the ball will float up. Assuming the pipe is not sealed in the other end....let me think.... Simple,,, Hire my ex wife... That Evil Dark Angel of Death Would suck a Bowling Ball through a McDonalds straw for a Food-Stamp...AND give you 50 cents change.. A Ping Pong Ball in a Pipe,, SHEEEEETT No problem..LMAO Dude, I'm awesome... At Least that's what the Voices tell me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 Easy. Turn the pipe upside down, the ball will roll out ... it's called gravity The pipe is inside the ground. How are you supposed to turn it upside down underground? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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