Soap
Science brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.
A boy went to the kitchen and saw his dad having difficulty holding the bar of soap.
"What's wrong, Dad?" the boy inquired.
"Oh, I think this soap must have some sort of acid in it, it is so slippery."
"No, Dad, the soap doesn't have an acid in it. Don't you remember your basic chemistry?"
How did the boy know this?
Answer
First, soap usually does not have an acid in it: it has a base. There are properties of soap that can prove it has a base and not an acid. Soap is slippery as the father said, because bases are slick, while acids are not. Second, soap is bitter, not sour: bases are bitter, while acids are sour. Finally, soap turns red litmus paper blue, a tell-tale sign that you have a base.
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Comments
jsdodgers   
Jul 10, 2008
| This one was a bit too easy. And that guys dad should have actually paid attention in elementary science and he would have known. |
coma_man2 
Jul 11, 2008
| Question. How do you know what soap tastes like? |
kunju 
Jul 13, 2008
| too easy  |
(user deleted)
Jul 16, 2008
| hooray easy science |
unklemyke
Aug 19, 2008
| Why would Dad think acid would make something slippery? Slipperyness is a characteristic of fats and oils (both ingedients of soap) not of acids. And was the kid's remark about "basic" chemistry a pun? I like basic puns - no lye!   |
HarryPutter 
Sep 18, 2008
| "
"No, Dad, the soap doesn't have an acid in it. Don't you remember your basic chemistry?"
How did the boy know this? "
See? The answer is actually "Science/Chemistry class" since that is how he knew it. |
bigabbs
Dec 05, 2008
| pretty sure i dont need any litmus paper to figure this one out |
Holo 
Feb 15, 2009
| He ate soap |
Paladin
Apr 09, 2009
| Easy teaser but fun. |
TableElbows 
Aug 03, 2009
| Finally a science teaser I didn't only understand but was able to answer!! |
Flamey500
Jan 03, 2010
| How did the boy know this?
I guessed that he took science in school .
cool teaser. |
katie384
Mar 07, 2010
| SO very easy. But I enjoyed the fact that I knew the answer. |
princess2007
Mar 08, 2011
| How does acid make anything slippery in the first place? |
Candi7
Jun 10, 2012
| Why would he think that acids made stuff slippery? Maybe he got them mixed up. And... How do you know what soap TASTES like?  |
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