blazeoner
Jun 09, 2001
| What about the weight of the truck driver? |
KmartSmile
Jul 16, 2001
| what about the drivers weight? |
Pongalopete
Sep 07, 2001
| Ditto what about the driver's weight was it included? |
randyeatmon
Oct 06, 2001
| "Gas" and fuel are commonly interchangeable. If the fuel were Diesel and the engine in good condition then it would be an arguable proposition. The "Bird" could also have been a well fed Eagle. Too vague. |
(user deleted)
Nov 15, 2001
| that is one innefficient truck to use a birds weight if fuel in 500ft |
(user deleted)
Feb 22, 2002
| I am sure when engineers are designing bridges they take into consideration exrta weight. And anyway birds don't weigh that much... |
bluetwo
May 29, 2002
| elsie is absolutely correct. the engineers build in a certain margin of safety in the design. just because a bridge is rated to 4000 lbs does not mean that it will crumble to the ground when 4100 lbs of force is applied. it is, however, a "safe" figure. by the same token, rooms can hold more than their stated max capacity, but it is due to safety concerns in the event of an emergency that those capacities are stated. |
jonnyonline
Jan 24, 2003
| what if the bird landed on the truck, latched it's claws around a part of the roof and started flapping upwards, then its weight would be negligible. |
Mogmatt16  
Jun 29, 2004
| no, becuase then the bird would be pushing air down equal to it's weight. |
TehIgnored 
Mar 03, 2006
| When in danger or in doubt, run in circles scream and shout....
and no...im sorry but this is a VERY weak riddle.... |
Crazycriely
Mar 25, 2006
| well i said no, but i dont think the gas or the bird would be very significant weight so i dont think it would break. |
Vigo95
Mar 25, 2006
| i agree crazycriely ! |
Atropus
Apr 05, 2006
| I'm with elsie on that one...
It's like those elevators that have a limit of 9 people.. there is a margin of error built into any structure that people want to keep up. Redundancy is one of the fundamental principles in architecture. |
calmsavior
May 10, 2006
| whys everyone talking about the weight of the driver? |
Mellew 
Jul 30, 2006
| but what if another car is on the bridge also??  |
cyberstar5150
Aug 04, 2006
| Yeah... if you're using a bird's weight in gas to go that far, you're in trouble.
The true reason it would be okay is because engineers have a factor of safety built in... and would NEVER put a sign up that says the absolute maximum or people like this guy would try to max out and destroy the bridge. |
cyberstar5150
Aug 04, 2006
| For those of you who aren't engineers and don't know what factor of safety is:
Factor of safety takes into account the worst case scenario for that bridge (say the worst case is 1000 lbs) and makes it stronger to avoid having it break (say they make it able to tolerate 1500). The factor of safety for such a bridge is 1.5. |
rrn0rrnrrnY
Sep 08, 2006
| simple teaser, simple answer:No |
LeafFan4life
Mar 02, 2007
| i got answer no but for wrong reason here is my reasoning:
Most signs such as elevators but the maximum weight it can with stand on it but they usually put less than it actually is just incase so if it said can hold 1200pounds it can probably hold more than that but just for safety they put less. |
deadsnakebiting
Mar 14, 2007
| Before looking at the Answer or the other Comments, "I swear no peeking - I'm out here on a limb, gang;" no, the bridge will not break. Ratings are set at a weight that does not come close to the actual limit (maybe 15-20% less) for exactly these types of situations. Now, I will go look at the answer and see how I did! |
deadsnakebiting
Mar 14, 2007
| PS. Just a follow up... the given answer shows a little thought - but the rating / actual maximum weight still stands - look it up! Otherwise lots of bridges would fail because most truckers use the SWAG method to determine their weight. SWAG = Scientific Wild-Ass Guess! |
