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        riddles >> easy >> Pen in bottle
        
(Message started by: Enigma on Jan 21^st, 2003, 2:39pm)

Title: Pen in bottle
Post by Enigma on Jan 21^st, 2003, 2:39pm

I can't remember where I heard this one but it's kind of interesting so I'll put it out there.

An ordinary pen has been placed inside a regular empty bottle. You must get the pen out without touching or moving the bottle in any way. In addition, no object you have touched can be inserted into the bottle or touch the bottle directly. The bottle cannot be destroyed or damaged in any way. How do you do it?

Title: Re: Pen in bottle
Post by lukes new shoes on Jan 21^st, 2003, 4:14pm

fill the bottle with water and the pen, which floats, will rise to the top.
this riddle was on some cop movie i saw. might have been metro.

Title: Re: Pen in bottle
Post by James Fingas on Jan 22^nd, 2003, 1:28pm

What if it's a fancy metal pen?

Title: Re: Pen in bottle
Post by towr on Jan 22^nd, 2003, 11:48pm

on 01/22/03 at 13:28:13, James Fingas wrote:

What if it's a fancy metal pen?

perhaps mercury would work then..
As long as the density of the pen is smaller, and assuming the metal doesn't desolve..

Title: Re: Pen in bottle
Post by Speaker on Jan 23^rd, 2003, 12:14am

The riddle states that nothing you touch can be inserted into the bottle, or touch the bottle directly. Can we consider water an object, and pouring it as touching it, and then it touches the bottle directly.

I say ask someone nearby to shake the pen out of the bottle. Which, by shifting all the activities to a third person, satisfies the riddles conditions as stated in the second person. Or something.

Title: Re: Pen in bottle
Post by lukes new shoes on Jan 23^rd, 2003, 1:22am

the riddles says no object u have touched may be inserted into the bottle, but u dont touch the water, just the container it is in b4 u pour it.

Title: Re: Pen in bottle
Post by towr on Jan 23^rd, 2003, 6:40am

By that logic you could also just wrap a cloth around a stick and then use the stick to get the pen out.. Since you're not touching the stick, but only the cloth, it would be allowed..

Title: Re: Pen in bottle
Post by lukes new shoes on Jan 23^rd, 2003, 4:56pm

towr: that fits the rules of the puzzle as long as u dont touch the stick while ur wrapping the cloth around it.

Title: Re: Pen in bottle
Post by Enigma on Jan 23^rd, 2003, 8:48pm

Yes the water solution was the right one. As for wrapping cloth around the stick, the riddle states that the bottle cannot be moved in any way. Using a stick to sort of wedge out the pen or slide it up the side would probably tilt the bottle at least a bit. Unless of course you have the dexterity of a circus monkey on steroids.....well ok maybe a circus monkey on steroids isn't dextrous, but it would be fun to see anyway.

Title: Re: Pen in bottle
Post by redPEPPER on Jan 24^th, 2003, 2:23am

shouldn't it be a pencil instead of a pen? The odds that it will float are much greater. I mean, try with a regular pen...

Title: Re: Pen in bottle
Post by SWF on Jan 25^th, 2003, 8:27pm

If it is OK to assume the pen floats, maybe assuming it is magnetic is allowed. A powerful magnet above the opening in bottle would pull the pen out with putting anything like water inside or in contact with the bottle.

Title: Re: Pen in bottle
Post by Chronos on Jan 27^th, 2003, 2:34pm

If you're worried about the stick solution being difficult, then just grab a pair of really long pliers with your rag, instead of a stick.

Or, leave the bottle where it is, move the rest of the Earth above the bottle, and let the pen fall up and out :)

Title: Re: Pen in bottle
Post by Noke_Lieu on Feb 26^th, 2004, 5:58pm

How is water not an object?

Easier to adopt a topological standpoint and argue that the pen isn't IN the bottle anyway...

Or wait thousands of years, assuming that its a glass bottle and glass is amorphous, it will flow into a puddle leaving the pen behind.

Title: Re: Pen in bottle
Post by Speaker on Feb 26^th, 2004, 6:22pm

So, if we wait until the glass of the bottle flows away, then the pen will probably have turned to dust and blown away.

Of course, as you mention, we can just redefine the meaning of in the bottle.

Title: Re: Pen in bottle
Post by SWF on Feb 26^th, 2004, 7:28pm

on 02/26/04 at 17:58:54, Noke_Lieu wrote:

How is water not an object?

That is why the person who suggested using a magnet has the best answer. ;)

Quote:

Or wait thousands of years, assuming that its a glass bottle and glass is amorphous, it will flow into a puddle leaving the pen behind.

That is a common misconception. Glass may be amorophous, but that does not mean it flows like a liquid.