Brain Teasers
Disable the Bomb
There is a box with a highly explosive bomb inside it. The lid of the box is made of glass and attached to this lid is a bowl of mercury with a dozen exposed wire leads just out of reach of the mercury. You know that any attempt to remove the lid or cut through it would move the mercury enough to trip the bomb. How do you safely disarm this booby trap to disengage the bomb?
Answer
By heating the steel box and raising the temperature inside, the mercury, which has a relatively low evaporation point, will disappear making it safe to lift the lid. Just be careful not to inhale any of the fumes.Hide Answer Show Answer
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Comments
How about freezing it, wouldn't that also work. Not that i know a great deal about Mercury.
Jun 03, 2002
If U Breath The Fumes You Would Die so You Are Taking a Big Risk!
the problem with freezing the mercury, although it would probably work, is that you'd have to somehow get the temp down to -38F or -39C (mercury's freezing point). unless you happen to have a little liquid nitrogen on hand... =)
How about using a straw or large syringe to just suck the mercury out of the bowl, and avoid all the dangers?
I thought the mercury would expand first, before it evapourates touching the wires?? I thought freezing would be a better solution, because the volume of mercury will decrease giving you more room to work with. Even only down to 0 degrees C, you would have more room to work with. Whats wrong with having liquid Nitrogen anyway? It is a situation.
Shryke, that would stille be VERY, VERY, VERY dangerous. Mercury is a deadly substance and getting any in your body is a very BIG risk. You should never ever put mercury on your body and especially in your mouth!
Too late for me then
i was playing with a thermometer and a lightbulb once...rayn how much time do u have on ur hand so that u can make so many riddles!!!! nice one neway...
-Nutty
-Nutty
I feel a bit left out with the solutions...maybe u cud ask The Big S...the only thing he is vulnerable to is red and green kryptonite.Sorta cheesey wernt it? I liked ur comment on thingys riddle bout the fireman and crap...
-Nutty
-Nutty
couldn't the bomb not be lit?
mercury is used in regular thermometers because its volumic expansion is greater than that of average materials (ie glass and steel) and thats why it can give accurate temperature readings of such a scale... obviously, it would need such a high temp t evaporate it, it would expand a LOT before hand
why can't we spill the mercury?
Isn't this more like Science than Situation?
ONE OF THWE FIRST I DIDNT GET
I had thought of that early on, but I questioned the fact of what the explosive is.I unfortunately made the assumption that the highly explosive bomb was highly sensitive to heat.
Besides that, great teaser!
Besides that, great teaser!
Thanks MacGyver.
Cut the red wire, or is it the blue wire? Heck, cut ALL the wires.
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