Brain Teasers
Soft Water or Hard Water?
Science
Science brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.Science
Two friends, Fred and Liz, were having a fun night out. They went to the bowling alley, bowled for a while, went to the bar, then left. They went to Liz's apartment, at which Fred had never been before. Out of the blue Fred said, "How much do you want to bet I can figure out, without guessing, if the water in your apartment is hard water or soft water?" Liz thought to herself and decided he wouldn't be able to tell, so she bet him twenty dollars. They bought some cheap soap at the local gas station, and a minute after they got back to her apartment, he told her the water was soft. He was right, and Liz handed him a twenty dollar bill. How did he know it was soft water so fast?
Hint
He figured it out at the sink.Answer
All he had to do was wash his hands. When you take a bar of soap and wash with soft water it leaves your skin soft, and your hand will glide right over it. On the other hand, (pun intended) when you take a bar of soap and wash with hard water, the soap reacts to the minerals in it and forms a very, very small layer of soap over your hands, which leaves it rough. All Fred had to do was wash his hands and he instantly knew if it was soft or hard water depending on how his hands felt afterwards.Hide Hint Show Hint Hide Answer Show Answer
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Comments
Great one
Great teaser, but easy since I live in a state with hard water...
That was neat! The only knew it cause i have hard water...
that was SWEET!
tarheel, it doesn't matter what kind of water your state has. What matters is if you have a soft water machine or not.
luv it!
Another fine teaser! I enjoyed this one.
Great job tinman.
Nice job! Loved it!
Nice job! I really liked this one!!
Pretty easy. He could also have tested for film on the sink, or just watched how well the soap lathered, if he didn't want to get his hands wet.
If Fred lived close by his water would be the same, wouldn't it?
No because Fred may not have a soft water machine.
nice one!
I'd have looked in the kettle - the answer would have been elementary (sorry, I've got a soft spot for rubbish puns)
DUh!
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