Re: OT: Engineers quiz

Okay Rob, let me guess which six of these you consider right. These are
not necessarily my opinions on right and wrong:

1: Which of the naturally occurring chemical elements has the distinction
of
being both the cheapest and most expensive?
Carbon (Expensive as a diamond)

Right (total so far 1)


2: What is the third most abundant gas in the atmosphere?
Argon

Wrong. (Water vapor is the third most abundant gas.)


3: Genetically speaking, which did come first, the chicken or the egg?
Egg

Right. Eggs existed before chickens did. The first bird that could
(arbitrarily) be called a chicken developed within an egg that already
existed. Also, you didn't specifically state "chicken egg" you mere
stated "egg". (total so far 2)



4: How many odd numbered leap years have there been?
0

Right, I assume you are talking about the Georgian calendar. (total so far
3)


5: Before Pluto was discovered, which planet was furthest from the Sun?
Neptune

Right? I'm guessing that you do not consider Pluto to be a planet, as the
scientific community generally no longer considers Pluto to be a planet.
On the other hand, shortly prior to Pluto's discovery people would have
defined Pluto to be a planet, should it be discovered. So we're getting
into semantics now about what constitutes a planet at what time.

The gumption trap here is to select Pluto, because one realizes that
humans discovering Pluto does not change its distance from the Sun, but if
Pluto is NOT a planet than Neptune was the right answer after all. (total
so far 4)


6: Without adding anything to either the ice cube or the water, how can
you
make a pure water ice cube sink in a glass of water? (there are at least
two
correct answers to this).
Heat it

Wrong. An ice cube will float in boiling water. (One might also argue
that heating the water is adding something to it, as it is adding photons.)

7: If you hang a weight from a rubber band, then heat the band, does the
weight rise or lower?
Rise

Wrong. If the band is truly a rubber band (that is, made out of rubber)
it would soften and stretch with heating. I think the gumption trap is
that ?lower? seems the obvious answer, and therefore must not be the
answer when?IT REALLY IS THE ANSWER.


8: If a butcher is 190 cm tall, blond, and male, what does he weigh?
Meat

Right (total so far 5)

9: What is worth more, a box full of $1 coins or the same box half full
of
$2 coins?
$2 coins (They are smaller than a $1 here in Oz)

Wrong (according to what you were looking for, but more or less right).
I?m guessing that you mean U.S. dollar by $. However, that symbol can
also be used to indicate the Australian dollar. (However, when it is
otherwise uncertain what country is being referred to $ normally means
U.S. currency.) I think the answer you were looking for was the $1 coins,
as the $2 coins would be counterfeit, and hence worthless.


10: How many people do you need to have in the same room to have a 50%
chance that at least two them share a birthday?
23

Wrong, I the number is smaller than that.


11: Starting at zero and spelling out the numbers, how far do you have to
count before you use the letter 'a'?
Thousand

Right (total so far 6)


12: A pet shop owner has six canaries in a cage. Three are on the top
perch,
one in the middle and two on the bottom. How many of the birds are for
sale?
4

Wrong. I think this was a gumption trap. You want people to outsmart
themselves by thinking that the 2 on the bottom must be dead at the bottom
of the cage. Actually, as you mentioned, ?perch? to describe the top
perch, then not for ?middle?, we must assume that ?bottom? refers to
bottom perch. Even if it didn?t, a bird at the bottom of the cage can
still be healthy. For example, it might be there to pick up seeds.

13: What is the least toxic chronic poison known?
Water??

Wrong, I doubt that you consider water to be a poison. However, I find
the question vague. Just how DO you define a chronic poison?


6/13

Damn Rob, you sure do like those gumption traps.

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