11 tricky Soviet puzzles to test your logic and wits

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Let's see if you can solve these non-standard tasks!

1. Mysterious marine life

There are three representatives of marine animals that have one common weapon peculiar only to them - they use it to protect themselves from enemies. What are their names? What are these weapons that make them dangerous even for humans?

2. Fooled sages

Three certain sages entered into an argument: which of them is wiser? The dispute was resolved by a casual passer-by who offered them a test of wits.

- You see, - he said, - five caps: three black and two white. Close your eyes!

With these words, he put on each a black cap, and hid two white ones in a bag.

“You can open your eyes,” a passerby said. - Whoever guesses what color the cap adorns his head, he has the right to consider himself the wisest.

The wise men sat for a long time, looking at each other … Finally one exclaimed:

- I'm wearing black!

How did he guess?

3. Weightless fly

The two glass domes are balanced on a precision balance. A fly sits under one of the caps. If it takes off, will the scales stay balanced or not?

4. Underwater mill

The paddle wheel is installed at the bottom of the channel so that it can easily rotate. In which direction will it rotate if the flow is directed from right to left?

5. Gracious law

In some state there was such a custom. Every criminal condemned to death drew lots before execution, which gave him hope of salvation. Two pieces of paper were dropped into the box: one with the words "Life", the other with the words "Death". If the convict took out the first piece of paper, he received a pardon. If he had the misfortune to take out a piece of paper with the inscription "Death", the sentence was carried out.

One person who lived in this country had enemies who slandered him and ensured that the court sentenced the unfortunate man to death. Moreover, the enemies did not want to leave the innocent convict not the slightest opportunity to escape. On the night before the execution, they pulled out a piece of paper with the inscription "Life" from the box and replaced it with a piece of paper with the inscription "Death". Now, no matter what piece of paper the condemned pulled out, he could not avoid death.

So his enemies thought. But he had friends who became aware of the intrigues of enemies. They entered the prison and warned the convict that in the box both lots have the inscription "Death". Friends urged the unfortunate man to open before the judges the criminal forgery of his enemies and insist on examining the box with lots.

But, to their amazement, the convict asked his friends to keep the enemies' trick in the strictest confidence and assured that then he would be saved. Friends took him for a madman.

The next morning the convicted man, without telling the judges about the conspiracy of his enemies, drew lots and - was released! How did he manage to get out of his seemingly hopeless situation so happily?

6. A harsh journey

An old science fiction novel describes the journey of three people to the North Pole. They rode dogs across the snow-covered desert, but ice fields began almost at the very pole, so smooth that the dogs slipped and fell.

Then the travelers, leaving the dogs, decided to go further on skates. Each of them took a bag with the necessary things with them, and they started off, but after a while the skates stopped sliding … What should they have done to be able to skate further?

7. Waiting for the tram

The three brothers, returning home from the theater, approached the tram stop to jump into the first carriage that would come. The car did not appear, and the elder brother suggested waiting.

“Rather than standing here and waiting,” the middle brother replied, “let's go ahead. When some car catches up with us, then we will jump, and in the meantime, at least part of the way will be behind us - we’ll come home sooner.

“If we’re already going,” the younger brother objected, “then not forward in the direction of traffic, but in the opposite direction: then we will most likely come across an oncoming carriage. This means that we will arrive home earlier.

Since the brothers could not convince each other, each did his own thing: the elder stayed on the spot, the middle one went forward, the younger went back.

Which of the three brothers came home earlier?

8. Naughty liquid

How to pour a glass of water from this bottle without removing the cork or tilting the bottle?

9. Mysterious tide

A steel ladder was lowered from the side of the steamer. Its four lower steps are submerged in water. Each step is 5 centimeters thick, the distance between two steps is 30 centimeters. The tide has begun, which rises at a speed of 40 centimeters per hour. How many steps will be under water in two hours?

10. Resourceful peasant

Once there was a cruel ruler who did not want to let anyone into his domain. A sentry was posted at the bridge over the border river, armed from head to foot, and he was ordered to interrogate every traveler:

- Why are you going?

If the traveler told a lie in response, the sentry was obliged to grab him and hang him right there. If the traveler answered the truth, even then there was no salvation: the sentry had to immediately drown him in the river.

Such was the harsh law of a cruel-hearted ruler, and it is not surprising that no one dared to approach his domain.

But then there was a peasant who, in spite of this, calmly approached the guarded bridge near the forbidden border.

- Why are you going? - the sentry stopped him sternly, preparing to execute the daredevil, recklessly going to certain death.

But the answer was that the perplexed sentry, strictly following the cruel law of his master, could not do anything with the cunning peasant.

What did the peasant answer?

11. Miracles of balance

On an ordinary scale, on one cup there is a cobblestone weighing exactly 2 kilograms, on the other - an iron two-kilogram weight. These scales were carefully lowered into the water. Are the cups still in balance?

1. Mysterious marine life

Three inhabitants of the underwater kingdom - a stingray, an electric catfish and an electric eel - have the ability to generate electricity in their body. The charge is sometimes so powerful that it can kill a person or a large animal.

2. Fooled sages

The sage reasoned as follows:

- I see two caps in front of me. Let's say I'm wearing white. Then the second sage, seeing the black and white caps in front of him, should reason like this: “If I was wearing a white cap too, the third one would have guessed right away and declared that he had a black one. But he is silent, which means that I am not wearing white, but black. And since the second does not say this, it means that I am wearing black too.

3. Weightless fly

When the fly takes off, the balance of the weights will be upset, and here's why. To take off, the fly must push itself off the air and thereby produce a small, but still pressure. This pressure will upset the balance of the scales.

4. Underwater mill

The wheel will rotate counterclockwise, and here's why: the speed of the current at the bottom is always less than the speed of the current at the surface of the water. Consequently, the pressure on the lower blades will be less, and more on the upper blades.

5. Gracious law

Taking out the lot, the convict did the following: he took out one piece of paper from the box and, without showing it to anyone, swallowed it. The judges, wishing to establish what was written on the destroyed piece of paper, had to remove the rest from the box.

It had the inscription "Death" on it. Consequently, the judges reasoned, the destroyed piece of paper bore the inscription "Life" (after all, they did not know anything about the conspiracy). Preparing sure death for the innocent condemned, the enemies unwittingly led him to salvation.

6. A harsh journey

Why do skates slide at all? Because under the weight of the body, ice melts under the ridge, and the resulting thin layer of water serves as a lubricant. If the skates stop sliding, it is obvious that there is not enough pressure on them to lubricate. Therefore, travelers needed to increase the weight of their backpacks.

7. Waiting for the tram

The younger brother, walking back in the direction of travel, saw a car coming towards him and jumped into it. When this carriage reached the place where the elder brother was waiting, the latter jumped into it. A little later, the same carriage caught up with the middle brother in front and accepted him. All three brothers found themselves in the same carriage and, of course, arrived home at the same time.

8. Naughty liquid

You need to blow hard into the tube, then pinch it with your finger and, substituting the glass, release it. The increased pressure in the bottle will cause the water to rise up the tube and flow out.

9. Mysterious tide

In two hours, there will be the same four steps under the water, because the ladder, together with the steamer, rises by the tide.

10. Resourceful peasant

To the question of the sentry "Why are you going?" the peasant gave the following answer: "I am going to be hanged on this gallows." This answer puzzled the sentry.

What should he do with the peasant? Hang up? But then it turns out that the peasant told the truth, but for the truthful answer he was ordered not to hang up, but to drown.

But you can't drown either: in this case, it turns out that the peasant lied, and for a false testimony it was ordered to hang him. So the sentry could not do anything with the shrewd peasant.

11. Miracles of balance

Each body, if immersed in water, becomes lighter: it loses in its weight as much as the water displaced by it weighs. Knowing this law, we can easily answer the question of the problem.

A 2 kilogram cobblestone takes up more volume than a two kilogram iron weight, because granite is lighter than iron. This means that a cobblestone will displace a larger volume of water than a weight, and, according to Archimedes' law, will lose more weight in water than a weight. This means that the scales will tilt towards the weight under water.

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We took all these original puzzles from the book "5 Minutes for Thinking". This is a reprint of the collection of problems, which was released back in 1950. It contains interesting experiments from the field of physics, mathematical puzzles, fun and tricks, chess studies and crosswords. This book is a real find for those who want to learn to think outside the box and train their brains a little.