PHYSICAL SCIENCE
 

Platte Canyon High School
Bailey, Colorado

Student Stuff 

STUDENT STUFF
PROBLEMS OF THE WEEK

February 5, 2001

What is the diameter of this circle?               

February 12, 2001

I have two glasses.  One contains 10 ounces of water, the other an equal amount of wine.  I pour 1 ounce of water into the wine, mix thoroughly, then pour 1 ounce of the wine-water mixture into the water.  Is there now more wine in the water or water in the wine?

February 19, 2001

You're given a wooden cube, 3 inches on a side, and a saw.  The assignment is to cut the cube into 27 smaller cubes, each one inch on the side.  Obviously, you can do it with 6 cuts (two cuts in each of three directions).  Can you reduce the number of cuts by rearranging the pieces after each cut?

February 26, 2001

You're about to take off from the Beijing airport on a long-distance flight when a hitchhiker asks you for a ride.  "Sure," you say, "hop in!"  "Don't you want to know where I'm going before you agree to take me?" asks your passenger.  "No," you answer, "Wherever it is, it won't take me out of my way."  What's your destination?

March 5, 2001

What is special about these phrases?

A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!

Never odd or even

Step on no pets

Was it a can on a cat I saw?

March 12, 2001

A bunch of flies are in a capped jar.  You place the jar on a scale.  The scale will register the most weight when the flies are:

          a.  sitting on the bottom of the jar.

          b.  flying around inside the jar

          c.  ...weight of the jar is the same in both cases.

March 26, 2001

You are looking at two dark hills, one more distant that the other.  The hill that appears a bit darker is

          a.  the near hill

          b.  the distant hill

          c.  both appear equally dark.

April 2, 2001

A metal disc with a hole in it (washer) is heated until the iron expands one percent.  The diameter of the hole will

          a.  increase

          b.  decrease

          c.  not change

April 9, 2001

Sometimes snow crackles when you walk in it, but only when the temperature is far enough below freezing.  What causes the noise, and why does its production depend of the temperature?  At approximately what temperature will the snow begin to crackle?

April 16, 2001

A bathtub is brim full of ice-cold water with a large iceberg floating in it.  When the iceberg melts, the water in the tub will

a.  go down a little

b.  spill over

c.  stay exactly brim full without spilling

April 23, 2001

This time we have three bathtubs brim full of ice-cold water with three icebergs floating in them.  In one iceberg, there is a large air pocket.  In the second iceberg, there is a large pocket of unfrozen water.  In the third, there is a large iron railroad spike frozen into it.  When they melt, what will happen to each bathtub?

April 30, 2001

On a clear and sunny day you are on snow and look at your shadow.  You see that it is tinted

a.  red                   

b.  yellow

c.  green

d.  blue

e.  not at all.

May 7, 2001

A cloud casts a shadow on the ground.  If you actually measured the size of the cloud and the size of the shadow you would find that the cloud is

a.  substantially larger than its shadow

b.  substantially smaller than its shadow

c.  about the same size as its shadow

May 14, 2001

Will a bird get a shock sitting (both feet touching) a single bare high-voltage line?

May 21, 2001

You see a beautiful rainbow in the sky.  Your totally color-blind friend sees nothing.  True or False?

May 28, 2001

Water boils at 100°C and freezes at 0°C at sea-level atmospheric pressure.  At higher pressure, water will boil at a

a.  lower temperature and ice melt at a lower temperature

b.  lower temperature and ice melt at a higher temperature

c.  higher temperature and ice melt at a higher temperature

d.  higher temperature and ice melt at a lower temperature

June 4, 2001

If a magnifying glass is held under water its magnifying power is

a.  increased

b.  the same ias it was out of water

c.  decreased

June 4, 2001

Suppose an atomic bomb was exploded in a box that was strong enough to contain all the energy released by the bomb.  After the explosion the box would weigh

a.  more than before the explosion

b.  less than before

c.  the same as it did before