Brain Teasers
6 Foot Feather
A six-foot tall, wide-shouldered American man told his Russian colleague, 'I weigh 38 kg'. The Russian replied 'I only weigh 26 kg'.
How is this possible?
How is this possible?
Hint
What type of men were they?Answer
The men are astronauts, and they are on Mars. Weight = mass x gravitational pull. On Mars, there is far less gravity and so a man weighing 100 kg on Earth weighs only 38 kg on Mars.Hide Hint Show Hint Hide Answer Show Answer
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Okay, I didn't say Mars. I thought it was the Muir space station
I figured that's where this teaser was going... One problem. Kilograms are a measure of mass, not weight. Mass is independent of gravity and therefore does not change depending on what planet you are on. Weight is the force an objects Mass exerts due to gravity. If you replace KG with LBS the teaser makes more sense.
Good point. Good teaser though!
Vortex: i think you will find kilograms are a measure of weight not mass as lbs and kilograms are directly proportional
The first one was anorexic, and the second one was an anorexic dwarf :-)
or, they were measuring something lol
or, they were measuring something lol
And btw, Vortex is absolutely correct in saying that his "weight" in kg wouldn't change... no matter where he went.
Kg measures mass not weight. On Earth the ratio of Kilograms to Pounds is 2.2 to 1. On the moon, it would be totally different. Mass is "how much stuff" is in something. Weight is the force exerted by gravity, and therefore very much subject to change.
Kg measures mass not weight. On Earth the ratio of Kilograms to Pounds is 2.2 to 1. On the moon, it would be totally different. Mass is "how much stuff" is in something. Weight is the force exerted by gravity, and therefore very much subject to change.
I understand the answer although its a bit far fetched. as if u would have 2 ppl discussing their weight on mars....
Omega and vortex are not quite right. Replacing Kg with Lbs only changes from the Metric unit of mass to the Imperial unit of mass. The corresponding Units of Weight are Kg weight or Newton (1 Kg weight = 9.8 N) in the metric system or Lb weight or poundal (
Definition from WordNet Dictionary: [n] a unit of force equal to the force that imparts an acceleration of 1 foot/sec/sec to a mass of 1 pound; equal to 0.1382 newtons ) in the Imperial system.
If you insist that Lbs are a unit of wieght (force) in the Imperial system, then what is the relevant unit of mass?
If I remember correctly 1 Lb weight = 32 poundals.
Definition from WordNet Dictionary: [n] a unit of force equal to the force that imparts an acceleration of 1 foot/sec/sec to a mass of 1 pound; equal to 0.1382 newtons ) in the Imperial system.
If you insist that Lbs are a unit of wieght (force) in the Imperial system, then what is the relevant unit of mass?
If I remember correctly 1 Lb weight = 32 poundals.
The corresponding unit of mass is a slug.
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