Another puzzle

ZenGum • Dec 10, 2010 7:01 pm
In the spirit of the plane-on-a-treadmill puzzle, I ask you this:

would a siphon work on the moon?
Happy Monkey • Dec 10, 2010 7:19 pm
Inside a lunar lander with atmosphere, yes. But slower.

Outside, assuming we have a fluid that stayed liquid in that environment, my guess is that it would work if you got it started, but the usual way to start it would not work.

Once it is going, I think it is powered by gravity and surface tension (which may again be affected by the fluid being used).

You wouldn't be able to start it by sucking air out of the tube. Maybe if you started with the tube fully submerged, and then pulled one end over the side.
ZenGum • Dec 10, 2010 8:18 pm
Ahh, but what fluid would remain liquid, rather than immediately boiling away due to zero atmosphere? And wouldn't the boiling produce gas bubbles that would break up the siphoning effect?
HungLikeJesus • Dec 10, 2010 8:31 pm
Would a toilet flush on the moon?
monster • Dec 10, 2010 10:44 pm
and if so, which way would the water swirl?
toranokaze • Dec 11, 2010 3:22 am
No it won't work because you didn't pay your bill.
TheMercenary • Dec 11, 2010 9:44 am
ZenGum;699442 wrote:
would a siphon work on the moon?


If you sucked bad enough, no. :)
footfootfoot • Dec 11, 2010 10:19 am
From your favorite source of all things informational:
Vacuum siphons

Experiments have shown that siphons can operate in a vacuum, provided that the liquids are pure and degassed and surfaces are very clean.[31][32][33]
[edit] Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) entry on siphon, published in 1911, states that a siphon works by atmospheric pressure. Stephen Hughes of Queensland University of Technology criticised this in a 2010 article[9] which was widely reported in the media.[34][35][36][37] The OED editors stated, "there is continuing debate among scientists as to which view is correct. ... We would expect to reflect this debate in the fully updated entry for siphon, due to be published later this year."[38] Dr. Hughes continued to defend his view of the siphon in a late September post at the Oxford blog.[39]
Griff • Dec 11, 2010 11:30 am
ZenGum;699442 wrote:
In the spirit of the plane-on-a-treadmill puzzle, I ask you this:

would a siphon work on the moon?


It doesn't matter, I'm pretty sure Jack Schmitt forgot to fill up the rover after his joy-ride. Some kids are just irresponsible.
Happy Monkey • Dec 13, 2010 5:47 pm
ZenGum;699446 wrote:
Ahh, but what fluid would remain liquid, rather than immediately boiling away due to zero atmosphere? And wouldn't the boiling produce gas bubbles that would break up the siphoning effect?
I'm not sure, but as you can see, I assumed that complication away.

If there is no liquid that can remain so in a vacuum, then of course you can't siphon one. And you probably couldn't maintain a siphon for very long on a liquid that is in the process of boiling or freezing.

But I'll stick with my answer if the liquid exists (and footfootfoot's wikipedia link seems to say it does).
BigV • Dec 13, 2010 5:53 pm
Perhaps a siphon filled with mercury, set up on the surface of the moon in the sunshine. Mercury's freezing point is lower than the average daylight surface temperature of the moon. I doubt mercury has dissolved gas in it.
Lamplighter • Dec 13, 2010 6:03 pm
BigV's proposed tube of mercury might be modified with a semi-permeable membrane to allow a strange form of osmosis to occur. Maybe it's not a true "siphon" but it might move something from one place to another (in any direction)
Gravdigr • Dec 14, 2010 3:57 am
Never mind that shit, here comes Mongo!!

[YOUTUBE]c6MCjp4FyME[/YOUTUBE]
glatt • Mar 28, 2012 8:44 am
I'm resurrecting this old thread to post this puzzle.

No Google. No cheating.

What do these mean? (I haven't seen an answer key, but I got 5 of them so far. I'm sure there has to be an answer key out there, since I saw this on FB)

[ATTACH]38086[/ATTACH]
glatt • Mar 28, 2012 8:45 am
Wait. I know them all except the bottom right one.
glatt • Mar 28, 2012 8:46 am
The bottom right just came to me.

I know them all.
Perry Winkle • Mar 28, 2012 9:02 am
I've got all but the bottom right and second from the bottom left. Those have me stumped.
glatt • Mar 28, 2012 9:04 am
Hint: Those two are European in origin, but you are probably familiar with at least one of them.
Clodfobble • Mar 28, 2012 10:16 am
Yep, the two European ones have me stumped. The rest were easy.
glatt • Mar 28, 2012 11:24 am
Well, I'm confident nobody will get Lucky Luke. He's a wild west sheriff who is always capturing the Dalton Boys gang.

[ATTACH]38090[/ATTACH]

My son started bringing these books home from the library a year or two ago. First I had ever seen them.
wolf • Mar 28, 2012 12:12 pm
Once I got #3 I knew what I was looking to match, and got most of them. I wouldn't have gotten Lucky Luke, and the guy in the two tone pants is causing me a problem.

Edit: Never heard of them. I wouldn't have gotten that out of my own head.
Ibby • Mar 28, 2012 12:17 pm
is it these guys?
edit: i only know that because they're always right next to the Tintin books.
wolf • Mar 28, 2012 12:41 pm
That appears to be correct.
Ibby • Mar 28, 2012 12:45 pm
i sorta think 3 gives it away TOO much. too easy.

though it reminds me to watch it at 10 tonight!
glatt • Mar 28, 2012 12:46 pm
Ibram;804274 wrote:
is it these guys?


Yep!
glatt • Mar 28, 2012 12:47 pm
3 only gives it away if you know it well. For me the tall one in number 1 gave it away.
wolf • Mar 28, 2012 12:58 pm
I wasn't looking at it right until #3. I was trying to figure out what the graph represented. #2 looked like military decorations, except that the colors were wrong, and then ... oh, and the rest were obvious, save for the European entries.
Ibby • Mar 28, 2012 1:05 pm
Cartman's girth gives it away in a way that just the colour banding on the previous two doesn't.
Gravdigr • Mar 28, 2012 5:22 pm
If those are LEGOs, it means you're gay.
ZenGum • Mar 28, 2012 7:33 pm
Got em all except the Dalton Boys. Never heard of them.

And I think I went through the same process of "what is this? some kind of graph" before the :smack: moment.
Clodfobble • Mar 28, 2012 7:49 pm
Bert & Ernie were the ones that tipped me off. Guess you can tell which videos are on the computer all day at our house...
footfootfoot • Mar 29, 2012 3:53 pm
Not my strong suit.