Brain Teasers
Irresistible Force
Science
Science brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.Science
What would happen if an irresistible force (i.e. a cannonball that cannot be stopped by anything) met an immovable object (i.e. a wall that cannot be moved by anything)?
Answer
Nothing would happen because the situation is impossible. The term irresistible force and immovable object cannot coexist. If a force is irresistible, there cannot be an object that is immovable, Conversely, if an object is immovable, there cannot be a force that is irresistible. It's as absurd a situation as two people each being taller than the other.Hide Answer Show Answer
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Comments
That was a really good one!
Good one. It's sort of like trying to find 1 mile north of the north pole.
The wall cannot be moved, however, the friction created by the unstoppable object would probably burn a hole through it. The object is not movable, but no one said it was indestructable
What I ment to say is the wall is immovable, but not indestructable, thus the fiction created by the irresistable force would burn through it. Force wins, wall loses.
i think they would both burn up by the friction...thatd be a hella lotta friction
If we assume that the wall is impenetrable, indestructable, AND immovable, THEN the situation would be impossible.
i like the taller people thing cuz it's like real cool... yeah.
Aug 14, 2002
Not only can the two terms not coexsist, the can't exsist seperately either. Every time I jump, the earth moves a little bit in the opposite direction, however minutely. The earth and I do re-attract eachother though, thus returning to our same initial positions.
obviously the juggernaut would bounce of the blob.
I think it may be a VERY long time before someone reads this teaser, let alone the comments, but I think credit needs to be given where credit is due. This teaser is written, word for word, off of a playing card from the game Mindtrap. The submitter didn't even change the names or the wording of the solution, so although it may be wrong, it is also copyright infringement and plagerism. FYI-I have this game, which is how I recognized it, and it is a blast!
Hmm, I always thought that the unstoppable force would permeate the immovable object (via burning through).
E=mc^2
It's related to some theological questions such as why can't God give us free will without allowing evil - does that show he isn't omnipotent? The classic answer is that God can't do the logically impossible, but this isn't about omnipotence, it just means that you can't make a meaningless sentence meaningful by adding "God can". I think that's from CS Lewis.
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