The following riddles have made it to the status of all-time best:
Or, try the Americana Trivia Quiz! How well did you pay attention in civics class?
Check them out! Each riddle has a two step answer, and a prize is given to anyone who can solve the second
step.
Pirate's Chest of Gold
Okay, folks this one takes a little while in the telling. So,
pour everyone another round, sit back and relax, and listen closely ...
Once upon a time a small band of pirates followed a treasure map until they located the correct spot on a small island. Then they dug all day and half the evening, and behold! they uncovered a treasure chest filled with gold pieces. It was so heavy with all the gold in it that there was quite a struggle to get it out of the hole and lug it back to camp. By this time it was already late at night, so by common agreement, the pirates decided to sleep the night through and divide the spoils in the morning.There being five pirates, they all placed their bedrolls in a circle, with the treasure chest in the center, next to the fire. This way, they reasoned, none could sneak into the treasure while the others slept. Of course, each one also reasoned in his heart that he alone was stealthy enough to do just such a thing!
At midnight, one pirate arose, opened the chest, and counted out the gold pieces into five even piles. When he finished, there was exactly one odd piece remaining. Wishing to avoid arguments, he threw that piece as far as he could into the sea. Then, he thought, he might as well keep a share to himself and still take a share in the morning. So he carefully hid one of the five piles in the sand, and place the other four back into the chest. Then he went back to sleep.
At one o'clock, another pirate arose, and he also counted out the remaining pieces of gold into five equal piles. He, likewise, found one extra gold piece and got rid of it into the ocean. Then, greed got the better of him, and he too hid one of the piles he had made, and only put four of them back into the chest.
Well, you guessed it. At two o'clock, three o'clock, and four o'clock, each of the remaining pirates in turn sneaked a look into the chest. Each pirate, being unaware anyone else had beaten him to it, divided the gold he found in the chest into five equal piles, and each one found exactly one extra gold piece from going evenly by five. Each pirate disposed of the odd piece, and each one in turn kept one-fifth of the gold he'd counted for himself, and only put the other part back into the chest.
Come dawn, all arose, and after congratulating each other on being so honest--remember, each pirate thinks he is the only one who has helped himself to an early share--they all sit down to count the gold. Lo and behold! the pile of gold pieces remaining in the chest divides evenly five ways. Each pirate receives a share, and the band splits, each member planning on secretly returning to recover his hidden extra share.
The question is this: what is the smallest number of gold pieces that could have been in the chest to begin with, for the above events to have taken place? Or,on the other end, how much gold did each pirate receive in the morning?
Let each gold piece be the same size and value as all of the others, and for simplicity's sake, we won't allow splitting of any pieces into two.
Try another riddle.
Everyone knows that earth is tilted over
on its axis by 23½°. That is to say, that the axis of rotation is out of alignment by the axis
perpendicular to the planet's plane of orbit about the sun. This is what causes the seasons, and what delineates
the major climactic zones. On June 21st the North Pole is inclined toward the sun as much as it ever is, and
summer begins. It seems as if on the line of latitude 23½° North, the sun passes directly overhead.
Similarly, on March 21st the sun is directly over the equator (heading north) while on September 21st it's in the
same place again (southbound). On December 21st the South Pole is pointing most closely toward the sun, and
the Northern Hemisphere is enjoying winter.
Thus it is that the major climactic regins of earth are defined as the Tropics, from the equator to 23½° North or South latitude, and the Arctic and Antartic, from the poles to 66½° North or South latitude. (The Arctic regions stretch from the poles down toward the equator 23½°.) The Temperate zones are everything between the tropics and the arctics.
This explains why it is in the polar regions that one experiences the midnight sun, or sunless day. In the polar summer the sun never sets because--since the earth is tilted so far toward the sun--the sunlight reaches up over the pole and still provides daylight, even at nighttime hours. The limits of this phenomenon are the Artic and Antarctic Circles, because this is how far the sunlight can reach. By extension from the foregoing, the closer one lives to the arctic regions, the longer one's day gets in the summer time, and the longer are the nights in the winter time.
So it is that all of this also explains why June 21st is the longest day of the year.
I speak from a Northern Hemispheric point of view. Basically, all this works for the Southern
Hemisphere, too, except that you have to rotate your calendar half way around, and stand on your head while
doing the calculations.
But there is a catch here. "Most" of us live in the Temperate zone. So it makes sense that June 21st is the longest day of the year. For, even though the sun doesn't get directly overhead on that day--it's still to the south of us--it gets as close as it ever will. We have the most sunlight when the sun is as close to our position as it's going to get.
What about people who live in the tropics? By definition, on June 21st, the sun will be past them, that is, it will pass north of straight overhead. So if you live in the tropics, what is the longest day of the year for you?
Try another riddle.
A cow is tied to the side of a silo by a
ten-meter rope. The silo itself has a ten meter radius. How much grass can the cow eat?
For simplicity's sake, assume everything is the easiest case. The outer edge of the silo is exactly ten meter's distance from its center. The length of the rope, the swivel onto which it is tied, all the stretch in the cow's collar, equals exactly ten meters out from the silo at ground level that the cow can reach. There are no obstructions, bare spots, ways for the rope to get stuck, etc. It's just a matter of a declining radius as the cow wraps her rope around the perimeter of the silo.