Powdered Water
Science brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.
Steven Wright, an American comedian, has a famous one-liner which goes "I just bought some powdered water, but I didn't know what to add."
While this is a funny line, it should be obvious to Mr. Wright what he needs to add. What is it?
Answer
Heat.
"Powdered water" is of course finely crushed ice, and to get what you really want (liquid water), you only need to add heat.
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Comments
Bobbrt  
Feb 07, 2003
| I was thinking "I wonder if I can come up with a teaser that will have a popularity rating better than 2.4 after receiving 19 votes." Looks like I was right.  If you don't like it, just give it a low rating and move on. And watch the language, please. |
jonnyonline
Feb 18, 2003
| could powdered water technically be air? then by adding water, you would have water. |
Bobbrt
Feb 18, 2003
| First off, if it were air, then you wouldn't call it powdered WATER (of course you wouldn't call it powdered AIR, either). Second, in your suggestion you wouldn't be adding water to the air - you would be displacing air with water. The air has nothing to do with the final result, which is a glass full of water. |
gooblah
Feb 23, 2003
| ok, easy teaser once ya read it righ! lol, I was reading "poWEred water" and was VERY confused =P, but yes poWDered water, right, good teaser! |
JJansen
Apr 11, 2003
| If you crush ice as fine as to qualify as powder,you would probably end up with water and not ice anymore.If you did manage to get fine ice, it would take only seconds before it spontaneously melted anyway. Not a very good teaser. |
Bobbrt
Apr 12, 2003
| JJansen, I think that you're thinking a little too hard. It would be quite easy to make "powdered water" on a cold winter day. Plus I never said anything about the temperature in the room or how the powdered water was produced. The teaser simply states that Steven has powdered water. Where it comes from is irrelevant. |
jimbo
Sep 15, 2003
| I like skiing on powder - snow is powdered water isn't it? I also like the teaser, well it isn't one of my favourites but it was clever. personal taste! |
Palsha
Apr 12, 2004
| Good teaser! I like these types because once you see the answer you get mad because of how easy it really is but tried to think all technical about what the answer is. I loved it!  |
bluetwo
Apr 23, 2004
| more stephen wright: "Curiosity killed the cat but, for a while, I was a suspect." "When I die, I'm donating my body to science fiction." "It's a good thing we have gravity or else when birds died they'd just stay right up there. Hunters would be all confused." "If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happen if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?" "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate." "Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of that song?" |
Bobbrt
Apr 26, 2004
| "I was born Caesarean. Everything is alright and normal, except that when I leave a house, I tend to go out through a window." |
kellgo 
Apr 15, 2005
| is this anything like buying magic beans??? my answer was... well water...  add water to the "powdered water" and ta-da... more water!!!! |
drussel3
Jun 07, 2005
| Didn't understand 'powdered water', and you can't convince me there is such a thing. |
Steve1973
Sep 07, 2005
| Actually, the answer to this one should be "water" like kellgo suggested. What the comedian was talking about was "powdered water" -- a gag gift.
Powdered milk is made by evaporating the water from the milk and all you have to do is add water to produce milk again...
Powdered water is made by evaporating the water from it, and then putting a lid on the empty can. All you have to do is add water to produce water again...
It's why the joke works and is funny. |
RedPython
Oct 01, 2006
| I agree with steve1973 |
jsdodgers
Jan 18, 2007
| i like this one |
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