The best riddles. Anywhere.
An Extended Trip
posted by Sifat - January 19 2011 12:01:16 AM
Julie is going on an extended trip for three weeks. She lives in a remote area where there are frequent electrical power outages which can last up to three or four days. Julie has quite a bit of food in her freezer which would go bad if it thawed and then re-froze. She does have digital clock and a VCR which would flash 12:00 if the power went out. Unfortunately the clock and VCR flash even if the power only goes out for a few seconds. What can Julie do so that when she returns home she will be able to determine whether the power was out long enough to thaw her food?

Asking a neighbor whether the power was out, isn't a reliable option because the nearest house is half a mile away, and one house may have power, while another house may have no power. She won’t be able to have a neighbor check on her house every day, and has no one to house sit.

Hint- Also do apply your own sense of judgement.
Reply by Caprico - January 19 2011 11:13:13 AM
Umm... She could keep a good sized piece of ice in her freezer. If it has melted and refrozen, it must be a flat puddle shaped ice... Maybe that way, she could find out...
(P.S. - Its very bugging by the way that you keep posting riddles, but no solutions!)

Reply by Sifat - January 20 2011 11:37:35 PM
I keep posting riddles for fun so that everyone can answer them. But ya, if u are able to give the right answer and if your answer is true, i will seriously post the right answer in the concerned riddle. But isn't it fun that u keep trying to answer them until i say the answer or u yourself find the answer dude?

Reply by Sifat - January 20 2011 11:39:25 PM
By the way, your answer is right but not fully explained. She will keep a jar of water in the deep freeze. If it is turned into ice, the food is safe and if it is in water, that means power had gone and the food is not safe to eat...

Reply by Caprico - January 21 2011 10:18:58 AM
But if she keeps it in a jar, suppose power goes for the day. The ice will melt. Suppose the next day (which is the day previous to her return) the power has come back, the ice will refreeze. She has no way of knowing about the power. That is why I said a piece of ice, and not in some container... Isn't my logic right too?

Reply by Sifat - January 21 2011 10:34:36 AM
O ya sorry i messed it up. She will keep a jar of ice overturned and if the power went off even for once, the ice will turn into water, resulting the water to drop and the jar being empty.Thus she will know that the food is safe to eat or not.

Reply by Caprico - January 24 2011 04:29:26 AM
ya, that sounds better...

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