Mr. Hartan's Science Class

"Knowledge is a reckoning . . . a way to assess your location, your true position, not a strategy for improving your position." -Walter Kirn-

Archive for June, 2008

Brain Teaser: The Pipe and the Ping Pong Ball

You are in a room that is an 8×8x8 perfect cube. There are no windows, or doors (don’t ask me how you got in there!) In the center of the floor there is a 12 inch pipe that is sticking 6 inches out of the floor. In the bottom of the pipe is a ping pong ball with a diameter that is one millimeter smaller than the inner diameter of the pipe. You have a 12 inch piece of string, a match, a magnifying glass, a 6″ ruler and a paper clip. How do you get the ping pong ball out of the hole?