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Odd One
Which of the following objects below is the odd one?
SOLUTION
The second square is the odd one – each of the others has some unique feature (shape, boundary, color, size), except for it.
Mummy Mazes
Review
Creative expression, learning, and focusing are some of the most important activities children should be encouraged to practice from an early age. Driven by this idea, Elizabeth Carpenter has published several oversized books that give kids the opportunity to solve beautifully drawn line mazes, color them, and learn interesting trivia, all at once.
The Mummy Mazes Monumental Book contains 28 poster-size mazes based on Ancient Egypt themes, along with explanations about each of the included objects. The Dino Mazes Colossal Fossil Book contains 31 poster-size mazes, depicting various dinosaurs, accompanied by descriptions and quick facts about them. Recently, Elizabeth also published a Mandala Mazes book which is suitable for older people looking for fun and relaxing activities as well. In terms of difficulty, the Dino and the Mummy mazes seem to fall on the easier side, while the Mandala mazes are a bit more challenging. After being completed, the mazes can be detached and used as posters, even though we think they look best organized together.
All three books offer great quality, and we would highly recommend them to any maze enthusiast.
- 8 – 12 years, 4 – 6 grade
- about 30 over-sized mazes per book
- beautiful line mazes, suitable for coloring
- mazes can be detached from the books
- books include interesting trivia
GET ELIZABETH’S BOOKS HERE
Reverse Puzzling
George is a great puzzler, so I was extremely surprised when he didn’t immediately know the answer to a really famous puzzle. It’s a puzzle that you probably did years ago, and have heard so often you can do it from memory rather than working it out. It’s also not really that difficult, so I was also surprised when it appeared to be stumping him.
“Come on, surely you know this one,” I said.
“I don’t. And don’t call me Shirley.” He answered grumpily. I could tell his mood was declining rapidly, but like any great puzzler he was down and not out, and I watched his facial expression change as he reached into his mental bag of tricks. He nodded towards a conveniently located whiteboard. “Have you got a marker for that?”
I handed him one, and he drew up the following diagram:
He stepped back, admiring his work, beaming proudly. “Well, now the solution is very obvious!” he commented. And indeed it was. The question for you is:
What is the puzzle?
SOLUTION
The diagram represents the puzzle about the man, trying to cross the river with a fox (F), a chicken (C) and a sack of barley (B). He can carry at most one of them with himself in the boat, and he shouldn’t leave the chicken alone with the fox or with the barley on one side of the river. The red dots represent all admissable configurations and the lines between them all available moves.
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Chemistry Jokes
Who says science jokes are not funny? Below you can see some of the best Chemistry jokes we know, along with short explanations to the more obscure of them.
Do you know any funny Chemistry jokes yourself? Let us know in the comment section below.
Helium walks into a bar and orders a beer. The bartender says, “Sorry, we don’t serve noble gases here.” He doesn’t react.
Explanation
Helium is noble gas and noble gases do not react with other chemicals.
So oxygen and potassium went on a date. It went OK.
Explanation
The symbol for oxygen is O and the symbol for potassium is K.
“What do you do with a sick chemist?”
“If you can’t helium, and you can’t curium, then you might as well barium.”
Explanation
Helium, Curium and Barium are chemical elements, which sound like “heal him”, “cure him” and “burry him”.
“What’s the first thing you should learn in chemistry?”
“Never lick the spoon.”
Explanation
Chemists use spoons to mix (often) poisonous solutions.
“Why are chemists perfect for solving problems?”
“Because they have all the solutions.”
Explanation
“Solution” has two meanings – as in problem solution and chemical solution.
“How can you tell the difference between a chemist and a plumber?”
“Ask them to pronounce ‘unionized’.”
Explanation
The word “unionized” has two meanings, which are pronounced differently. One of them is “characterized by the presence of labor unions”, and the other one is “not converted into ions”.
A weed scientist goes into a shop. He asks:
“Hey, you got any of that inhibitor of 3-
Shopkeeper:
“You mean Roundup?”
Scientist: “Yeah, that’s it. I can never remember that dang name.”
“My teacher threw Sodium Chloride at me. That’s a salt.”
Explanation
“A salt” (Sodium Chloride) sounds like “assault”.
“If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the precipitate.”
Explanation
The precipitate is a
“I think I’ve lost an electron.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m positive.”
Explanation
Since electrons are negative particles, when an atom loses one, it becomes
“I tried to tell a chemistry joke at school last week. No reaction.”
Explanation
Wordplay with the phrase “chemical reaction”.
“Why can’t you trust atoms?”
“Because they make up everything.”
Explanation
Everything in the world is made of atoms.
A neutron walks into a bar, asks how much a drink costs. The bartender replies: “For you, no charge.”
Explanation
Protons have
“What is a cation afraid of?”
“Dogions.”
Explanation
A cation is a positively charged ion. This is a wordplay joke with cats and dogs.
“What does a subatomic duck say?”
“Quark!”
Explanation
Quarks are subatomic particles.
“Why did the bear dissolve in water?”
“Because it was polar.”
Explanation
Polar solutes dissolve in water.
“What do you call an educated tube?”
“A graduated cylinder.”
Explanation
A graduated cylinder a tube used by chemists for measuring liquids.
“Two chemists walk into a bar. The first one says, “I will have some H2O.” The second one says, “I will have some H2O too.” He dies.
Explanation
“H2O” means “water”. “H2O too” sounds like “H2O2”, which means hydrogen peroxide and is deadly.
“Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium BATMAN!”
Explanation
Sodium’s symbol is “Na”. “Na na na na na na na na na na na na BATMAN!” is the intro theme from the classic Batman TV series.
“What weapon can you make from the elements potassium, nickel
“A KNiFe.”
Explanation
K, Ni, and Fe are the symbols for potassium, nickel
Athletics Competition
An athletics competition, organized periodically, rewards a medal to 79 winners, 47 runner-ups, and an indeterminate number of third places. If 50 cans of drink are served for refreshment, how many policemen are needed to keep order?
SOLUTION
The numbers are references to elements in the periodic table. 79 is the number of Gold, 47 is the number of Silver, 50 is the number of Tin, and Bronze is not in the periodic table. Since 29 is the number of Copper, it should be the correct answer.
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100 Hats and 1 Million Dollars
A challenge is given to 100 people. A hat will be placed on each of their heads, and each hat will have an integer between 1 and 100 written on it (numbers can repeat). Every person will be able to see the hats of the other 99, but not his own. After that, everyone will have to guess what is the number on their hat (without others hearing). If at least one person guesses correctly, they will be awarded 1 million dollars. What strategy should the people come up with in order to optimize their chance of winning?
SOLUTION
Label the people with numbers 1, 2, 3, … , 100. A strategy which ensures 100% success is the following:
Person X should sum the numbers on the hats of the other 99 people, then subtract the result from X, and take the residue modulo 100 of the answer (say “100” if the residue is 0).
This way if the sum of the numbers on all hats has residue R when divided by 100, then person R will guess correctly the number on his hat.
Yes, No, I Don’t Know
Your friend is thinking of a number among 1, 2, and 3. You can ask him just one question, to which he is allowed to answer only with “yes”, “no”, or “I don’t know”. What would you ask him in order to find his number?
SOLUTION
You can ask him the following:
“If I am thinking of a number among 1 and 2, is your number going to be bigger than mine?”
If your friend’s number is 1, he will say “no”. If his number is 2, he will say “I don’t know”. If his number is 3, he will say “yes”.
Riddle of the Sphynx
Which creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?
SOLUTION
Man – four limbs as a toddler, two feet as an adult, two feet and a walking stick as an elderly.
Puzzle Sum 18
What two American cities do these puzzle sums represent?
SOLUTION
NEST + ONE – STONE + WHEEL – HEEL + ARK = NEWARK
WHEEL + PIE + RING – PIER = WHEELING
MLN
This puzzle/game is played with groups of people, in which at least one of the participants knows the meaning of “MLN”, and the others are trying to figure it out.
All players must sit in a circle, facing each other. Then the people, who do not know what “MLN” stands for, take turns to ask questions. Every question must start with “Is MLN…” and must have a “yes” or “no” answer. Then a player who knows the meaning of “MLN” answers the question and the game continues until everyone solves the puzzle.
To play this game with your friends, at least one of you must know about the solution, which is explained below. Just keep in mind that whoever reads it, will lose the enjoyment of figuring it out by himself.
SOLUTION
The abbreviation “MLN” stands for “My Left Neighbor”. For example, if someone asks “Is MLN a boy?”, the answer will depend on the gender of the person on their left side. This makes the game both interesting and confusing.