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Topic: The Law of Conservation of Alcohol ... Not! (Read 194 times) |
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rloginunix
Uberpuzzler
Posts: 1029
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The Law of Conservation of Alcohol ... Not!
« on: Nov 26th, 2016, 11:02am » |
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The Law of Conservation of Alcohol ... Not!
Right around Thanksgiving and Christmas a producer of ethanol noticed that about 10 liters of the liquid started to consistently and totally mysteriously disappear from one of its tank trucks used to deliver the goods to a local customer only 5 kilometers away.
Plant owner checked every imaginable scenario (or did he?): alcohol dispensing equipment was calibrated and tested and so was the equivalent equipment on the receiving end; air tight locks and the integrity of the company's seal on the tank were intact; the substance used for tank's inner surface coating was neutral.
Every second of the entire process, from dispensation to acquisition, was supervised - with the plant's owner himself, other managers and police officers present. Cops even escorted the truck from A to B with private detectives with powerful binoculars stuck in the bushes along the road.
It seemed that a mosquito could not stick its nose anywhere. Alas, the alcohol kept disappearing.
It was a good fortune that the plant owner new one of this forum's uberpuzzlers who, after analysing the situation, concluded that it is the driver who was the culprit.
But how did he steal the alcohol?
Hint: in one of his out-of-the-box posts Grimbal pretty much spelled out the solution to this puzzle.
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dudiobugtron
Uberpuzzler
Posts: 735
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Re: The Law of Conservation of Alcohol ... Not!
« Reply #1 on: Nov 26th, 2016, 12:20pm » |
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I think that the driver used some method to keep some of the alcohol from being dispensed until later. For example:
1) He rotated the tank slightly so that a small amount was left on the bottom, which he could claim later when not being observed.
2) He put sponges in the tank, which would soak up the alcohol, then slowly release it once the rest had been dispensed.
3) He placed an adjustable hose inside the tank so that it would not dispense the last 10L unless adjusted.
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rloginunix
Uberpuzzler
Posts: 1029
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Re: The Law of Conservation of Alcohol ... Not!
« Reply #2 on: Nov 26th, 2016, 1:58pm » |
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on Nov 26th, 2016, 12:20pm, dudiobugtron wrote:| I think that the driver used some method to keep some of the alcohol from being dispensed until later |
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Correct. But the devil, or should I say, the spirit is in the details.
on Nov 26th, 2016, 12:20pm, dudiobugtron wrote:| 2) He put sponges in the tank, which would soak up the alcohol, then slowly release it once the rest had been dispensed |
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Very close, bravo.
Simplify (before Grimbal posts the solution).
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dudiobugtron
Uberpuzzler
Posts: 735
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Re: The Law of Conservation of Alcohol ... Not!
« Reply #3 on: Nov 26th, 2016, 3:26pm » |
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I wouldn't want to steal Grimbal's thunder by trawling through his posts!
All I can think of from memory is his post about ice - which wouldn't really help in this case since ethanol has a much lower freezing point that water - too low even for the driver to take advantage of the sub-zero temperatures over Christmas and use the cold tanker to freeze the ethanol.
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| « Last Edit: Nov 26th, 2016, 3:26pm by dudiobugtron » |
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rloginunix
Uberpuzzler
Posts: 1029
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Re: The Law of Conservation of Alcohol ... Not!
« Reply #4 on: Nov 27th, 2016, 12:00pm » |
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on Nov 26th, 2016, 3:26pm, dudiobugtron wrote:| I wouldn't want to steal Grimbal's thunder by trawling through his posts! |
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There are too many of them and they are all good. That's why I made it a hint, 
Squeezing 10 liters of alcohol with a multitude of sponges is doable but cumbersome and time consuming. Is it possible to think of just one perfect "mega-sponge" times 10-2 so to speak?
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dudiobugtron
Uberpuzzler
Posts: 735
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Re: The Law of Conservation of Alcohol ... Not!
« Reply #5 on: Nov 27th, 2016, 1:52pm » |
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Well, perhaps Sand would work - although it appears to be the opposite of what you are suggesting! And might add an interesting flavour to the ethanol as well.
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