The whisky puzzle that will have you on the rocks

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HansV
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The whisky puzzle that will have you on the rocks

Post by HansV »

For Stuart (and others): Can you solve it?
The solution will be posted on the puzzle page at 5PM GMT today.
Spoiler
The answer is not a whole number
Best wishes,
Hans

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Rudi
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Re: The whisky puzzle that will have you on the rocks

Post by Rudi »

I'll wait for the math(s) gurus to post the "real" answer; but in the meantime (and to avoid all that number crunching), I'll drink the rest of the whisky and post that my bottle contains:
Spoiler
Answer: 0.00287 cm3 (before evaporation). :clapping:
Regards,
Rudi

If your absence does not affect them, your presence didn't matter.

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StuartR
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Re: The whisky puzzle that will have you on the rocks

Post by StuartR »

My bottle seems to be empty too...
StuartR


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HansV
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Re: The whisky puzzle that will have you on the rocks

Post by HansV »

For those who didn't empty the bottle in one go:
Spoiler
When the bottle is right side up, the top of the whisky is 14 cm from the bottom.
When the bottle is upside down, it is 19 cm from the cap/cork, i.e. 27-19 = 8 cm from the bottom.
Hence the bottle would be half full if the top of the whisky was (14+8)/2 = 11 cm from the bottom.
Therefore the top is 3 cm higher than a half full bottle.
A half full bottle is 750/2 = 375 cc.
3 cm has a volume of 3*pi*(7/2)² ≈ 115.5 cc.
So the total contents is 375 + 115.5 ≈ 490.5 cc.
S326.png
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Best wishes,
Hans

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StuartR
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Re: The whisky puzzle that will have you on the rocks

Post by StuartR »

That's clever. I was trying to do it with a pair of hugely complex simultaneous equations that included calculating the volume of the neck and the bump at the bottom.
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Rudi
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Re: The whisky puzzle that will have you on the rocks

Post by Rudi »

Hans, for that you deserve a glass. :cheers:
Spoiler
(However, if you cannot break your New Years promise, I'll be happy to have the 490.5cc.)
Regards,
Rudi

If your absence does not affect them, your presence didn't matter.

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AlanMiller
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Re: The whisky puzzle that will have you on the rocks

Post by AlanMiller »

StuartR wrote:That's clever. I was trying to do it with a pair of hugely complex simultaneous equations that included calculating the volume of the neck and the bump at the bottom.
Yes, devilishly cunning solution. I was trying to do the same sort of thing as you.

So easy to overcomplicate the situation when alcohol becomes involved. For those who remember Fawlty Towers:
May I congratulate you on your choice? Yes, excuse me? - Yes? - I'm afraid this is corked.
I just uncorked it.
Didn't you see me? What? - Look.
- No, no.
You see, I took it out of the bottle, that's how I managed to get the wine out of the bottle into your glass.
I don't mean that.
I mean the wine is corked.
The wine has reacted with the cork.
I'm sorry? The wine has reacted with the cork and gone bad.
Alan

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Re: The whisky puzzle that will have you on the rocks

Post by Becks »

Another view on a (nearly half empty) glass bottle
Spoiler
Whisky + air = 750
Volume of air = Volume of whisky - 6 x (7/2)2 x 3.14 (6 cm = the difference in heights either way about)
Air = Whisky - 230.8
2 x Whisky - 230.8 = 750
2 x Whisky = 980.8
Whisky = 490.4 cc (as Hans said)
Regards
Kevin

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AlanMiller
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Re: The whisky puzzle that will have you on the rocks

Post by AlanMiller »

It's always a shame to see fine whisky demeaned by unromantic metric units.
The correct answer(s) should be 132.6 dram = 0.001712 hogshead = 0.8630 pint = 3.976 x 10-7 acre foot.
The last one, while not a traditional unit for alcoholic beverages, maintains that delightfully quaint spirit of total confusion within the system of imperial units.

Alan

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HansV
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Re: The whisky puzzle that will have you on the rocks

Post by HansV »

A hogshead of whisky. The mind boggles...
Best wishes,
Hans

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StuartR
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Re: The whisky puzzle that will have you on the rocks

Post by StuartR »

The mind may boggle, Hans, but the heart yearns
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AlanMiller
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Re: The whisky puzzle that will have you on the rocks

Post by AlanMiller »

Here's yet another approach which still keeps things fairly simple.
Spoiler
The bottle is a cylinder of height 27 and cross-sectional area A minus the upper “cylindrical annulus” of volume U and the lower dome indentation of volume L
27A – U - L = 750

If V is the volume of whisky left then
14A – L = V and
19A – U = V
So 14A – L = 19A – U
U = 5A + L
Substituting up top
22A – 2L = 750
And putting in the value for A (38.465)
L = 48.12 and V = 490.4
I got the idea having just watched Command and Control, in which this socket
command-socket.jpg
dropped and punctured the fuel tank of a Titan II missile in its silo.
Then all hell done break loose. Well worth watching (from a distance!)

Alan
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