The Brick in the Lake (sort of for Mairi bheag)
by cricketjeff on August 28, 2010. © Jeff Green, All rights reserved
A man held a brick as he sat in a boat
Then threw it away and the brick didn’t float
The man then considered and rubbed at his eyes
The level of water did it sink or rise?
His friend in the boat (he was there all along)
Said “deeper of course”, that comrade was wrong
A brick, while it’s floating, displaces its weight
And bricks are quite heavy, its weight may be great
But bricks are not floaters they rapidly sink
Then displacing their volume, it’s clear if you think
So if, in a boat you throw stones overboard
To deepen the lake then your thinking is flawed.
Author notes
Mairi_bheag The_lady_wot_writes” has a blog http://mairibheag.blogspot.com/
2010/08/brain-teasers.html where she posed a teaser that puzzled her.
English