Brain Teasers
Not True
Science
Science brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.Science
Two geologists, Dr. Roeboensonsin and Dr. Thistle, were preparing a test sample for a student. The student, who was spending one college trimester doing field work, has been doing very questionable work. Both doctors wonder if he is a student or not.
The student came the next day to work through the sample. He got through every sample, finally coming to the last one. He looked down at it, and said, "These are two diamonds". Dr. Thistle and Dr. Roeboensonsin both knew that a student couldn't get that sample wrong and told him to go home, as he wasn't a student. Why was his answer wrong?
The student came the next day to work through the sample. He got through every sample, finally coming to the last one. He looked down at it, and said, "These are two diamonds". Dr. Thistle and Dr. Roeboensonsin both knew that a student couldn't get that sample wrong and told him to go home, as he wasn't a student. Why was his answer wrong?
Answer
The last sample was a diamond and cubic zirconia. Even a student would have known that they weren't both diamonds, and therefore the doctors, Dr. Thistle and Dr. Roeboensonsin, both knew he had to have been lying.Hide Answer Show Answer
What Next?
View a Similar Brain Teaser...
If you become a registered user you can vote on this brain teaser, keep track of which ones you have seen, and even make your own.
Solve a Puzzle
Comments
thats sorta confusing, i mean i wouldn;t know that either. pretty good teaser, though
I figured you meant something like that, but it's not really a well structured teaser. We aren't given enough information. The answer could also have been one was a diamond, and the other was a severed ear! No student would get that wrong either!
Great teaser tinman. Gee, got any of those diamonds laying around you don't need?
Aussiebrown and doghouse, I'm sorry you didn't get it.
Froggy, I wouldn't give up a diamond that easily!
Froggy, I wouldn't give up a diamond that easily!
This teaser was a little vague...
I didn't quite understand the teaser? I'm confused.
My first thought was that he was examining the samples through a stereoscope and only looked through one eyepiece at a time. In that case there would only be one diamond but he would have seen two images of it
I got close...thought they were BOTH cubic zirconias! Great teaser metallicman!
I think that the teaser means that any student should've known that they were both diamonds (to test if two minerals are both diamonds, you have to know if one of them is a diamond first. Then, you try to scratch the other mineral with the diamond, if it scratches the other mineral, then the other mineral isn't a diamond.) Hope I helped!
well, in this case, they weren't both diamonds, and anyway, it IS possible to have one diamond harder than another
I wish our teachers had sent us home for appearing not to be students. Sounds better than detention or lines.
Couldn't the answer have been anything? Maybe it would be that they were both sapphires. I mean, aren't there an infinite number of ways to prove that someone is stupid? Sorry but didn't enjoy the logic.
I'm sorry but I didn't like this teaser. Rather vague and hard to understand the question.
Or-
Both were diamonds and the student proved he was an accomplished gemologist because he relied only on his eyes.
These goofy professors really underestimate the ability of students to screw up. (Who hasn't watched someone test the same sample twice and get different results? Maybe the zircon was never tested.)
Both were diamonds and the student proved he was an accomplished gemologist because he relied only on his eyes.
These goofy professors really underestimate the ability of students to screw up. (Who hasn't watched someone test the same sample twice and get different results? Maybe the zircon was never tested.)
I try never to be negative when posting comments, so I give some constructive comments rather than criticism. I think that people like the science teasers because it lets them test their knowledge, and if they find a teaser they don't know the answer to, it is interesting to learn something new and find out why the answer is what it is. When I read the teaser I thought, "This is a good one, I don't know the answer, and I'm going to learn something new!" When I started reading the answer I thought "Wow! I might learn an easy way of telling diamond and cubic zirconia apart. Unfortunately although a student geologist may be easily able to tell these two minerals apart I am not a geologist and so can't. As such I learnt nothing new, this is why I think many comments criticise this teaser. Maybe it would have been better to state in the question that the student couldn't tell them apart so the geologists knew he wasn't actually a student and then ask was why he should have known. The answer should contain the differences between the two substances and how to tell the difference, and then many of us would have learnt something new. If metallicman reads this comment, might I suggest he post a comment telling us how to tell the difference.
I notice that you have written 62 teasers as of now, so don't let these comments dishearten you. Read them, learn from them, and improve future teasers because of them.
I notice that you have written 62 teasers as of now, so don't let these comments dishearten you. Read them, learn from them, and improve future teasers because of them.
the teaser is not descriptive enough!!!
more description
Not explanatory enough.
Very poorly written teaser.
So how DO you know the difference?
To post a comment, please create an account and sign in.
Follow Braingle!