Brain Teasers
Clever Jenny X
Situation
Situation puzzles (sometimes called lateral thinking puzzles) are ones where you need to ask lots of yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the situation. These are good puzzles for groups where one person knows the puzzle and answers the questions.Situation
Jenny pulled her car up into her Mom's driveway. She got her package and walked into the house. "Hey, Rusty!" The little dog scampered in front of her.
"Hi, Mom! It's me; where you at?" "I'm in the kitchen, Hon; come on back!"
Jenny opened up her package and said, "I found this fabric for your new curtains. Hope you like it; it has the daisies you wanted in the border. What do you think?"
"Oh, it's just right! How much do I owe you?"
"Not a cent, Mom! I owe you more than I can ever repay! How's it all going for you?"
"Oh, I'm having a time with my garage door opener! It opens the door fine, but sometimes when I go to put it down, it starts, but then goes back up. I had to pull the door down myself last night! I have to call a repairman tomorrow!"
"Oh, Mom! That will cost you at least a hundred just to have him look at it! You say it doesn't do it every time?"
"No, only every once in a while. Maybe it's a loose wire?"
"Let me go look at it, Mom. Maybe it's something Dad showed me."
After a while Jenny came back in and said, "Hey Mom! Come see this!"
Out in the garage, her Mom watched Jenny send the door up and down perfectly.
"Dear Jenny, what did you do? Is it fixed for good?"
What had Jenny done?
"Hi, Mom! It's me; where you at?" "I'm in the kitchen, Hon; come on back!"
Jenny opened up her package and said, "I found this fabric for your new curtains. Hope you like it; it has the daisies you wanted in the border. What do you think?"
"Oh, it's just right! How much do I owe you?"
"Not a cent, Mom! I owe you more than I can ever repay! How's it all going for you?"
"Oh, I'm having a time with my garage door opener! It opens the door fine, but sometimes when I go to put it down, it starts, but then goes back up. I had to pull the door down myself last night! I have to call a repairman tomorrow!"
"Oh, Mom! That will cost you at least a hundred just to have him look at it! You say it doesn't do it every time?"
"No, only every once in a while. Maybe it's a loose wire?"
"Let me go look at it, Mom. Maybe it's something Dad showed me."
After a while Jenny came back in and said, "Hey Mom! Come see this!"
Out in the garage, her Mom watched Jenny send the door up and down perfectly.
"Dear Jenny, what did you do? Is it fixed for good?"
What had Jenny done?
Hint
Think, what's an important feature of most garage door openers?Answer
Jenny said, "Look at this, Mom; see these two little devices down there on either side of the door? See the green lights on each one? Watch this!"She held a leaf between the two devices and the lights went out.
"This door opener has a safety feature; without it, if Rusty was in the way of the door, he could be hurt. The door opener doesn't know Rusty from a leaf, so if anything turns those lights off, it sends the door back up. Some leaves got in the way, and made the door act so funny. So all you have to do if it does it again is check if anything is keeping those two lights from shining, and it should work ok."
"Oh, Jenny, dear, thank you! You're so smart!"
"Not really, Mom! I just remembered what Dad taught me!"
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