Very Vicious Cycles

If you think that made me look like a fool, ask me for the addresses of at least half a dozen happily married ladies today, who had all swooned at the sight at the time and then on revival had merely managed to mutter a broken “yes” to my gesturing towards two empty seats at some friendly neighbourhood movie hall.

E4

I learnt to ride a bike at a very fragile age and therefore, it took about seven-and-a-half knees before I stopped imitating freshly chain-sawed trees and managed to stay up on the seat. My sole purpose in learning to ride a bike was because I had gone to a circus and wanted to do all the tricks that I had seen. Needless to say, I too soon became adequately proficient at most of the easier tricks in a matter of years and, come early youth, they were a source of great comfort to me in times of sorrow and things. Like, at the drop of one sling or arrow of misfortune, there I’d be, on some windblown street, standing on my head on the handlebars, whistling into the downwind at close to 50 km/hr.

If you think that made me look like a fool, ask me for the addresses of at least half a dozen happily married ladies today, who had all swooned at the sight at the time and then on revival had merely managed to mutter a broken “yes” to my gesturing towards two empty seats at some friendly neighbourhood movie hall.

The reason I bring all this back into my highly fabricated memory is because of the following problem: Let someone gently hold the bike by the seat just so it doesn’t topple over. Now tie a length of twine to one of the pedals when it’s in the lowest position. Got that? Good, because the question is, what would happen if the twine is pulled backwards? Remember that logically this will set the pedal in a rotary motion which normally moves the bike forwards. BUT practically speaking, and as a matter of fact, the twine is being pulled backwards. Your call.

DEAR MS

(The problem was supposing you keep the refrigerator door open on a very hot day — does this result in cooling the room it’s kept in? The argument was that it should, considering it cools the food inside via the same mechanism. — MS)

Freezing-Hot-Dept:

The refrigerator will not be able to cool the room. Whatever energy the refrigerator removes from the air is given out from the back as heat. Hence, the net energy change is zero and temperature of the air remains the same. It would work if the heat from the back is given out in some other environment, but we already have contraptions like that called air conditioners.

• Ibrar-ul-Samad, vjibi_94@hotmail.com

(The other problem was: “A young man in Perth, Australia, offers a pretty girl a lift in his private jet saying no matter where she’s headed, he won’t be going out of his way. So where was he headed? — MS)

Podes-Apart-Dept:

Obviously, he is heading to the antipode of Perth, which is Bermuda. Since this is exactly on the other side of the world, he could fly along the path that contains the girl’s destination, and still not be going out of his way. Observation #1: Since the earth is not a perfect sphere, technically, some routes might be longer than others. Observation #2: “Young” man, “pretty” girl, “not going out of my way” is a cheesy pick-up line that even I would use no matter where I was going if I had my own private jet.

• Nigel Tauro,coolnigel@yahoo.com

(And the leftover problem from the week-that-never-was was: “At 
what distance from Earth is it possible to see exactly one-third of the Earth’s surface?” — MS)

What-On-Earth-Dept:

Exactly the diameter of the Earth!

• Dhruv Narayan, dhruv510@gmail.com

ENDGAME(S)

1. A six-inch long cylindrical hole has been drilled through the centre of a solid sphere. What is the volume remaining in the sphere?

2. A certain small water plant reproduces by dividing into two every day. If, starting with one such plant, it takes 30 days to cover a certain area, how long will it take to cover the same area if we start with two of these water plants?

(To get in touch with Mukul, mail him at mukul.mindsport@gmail.com)

• Mindsport