How does the "impossible" tube puzzle work in which a hook-piece, pushed into a tube that has a rubber band...
magic/hook.and.rubber.band New
New entry, edited from material collected for the archive and not yet in a released version.
Problem
How does the "impossible" tube puzzle work in which a hook-piece, pushed into a tube that has a rubber band dangling inside it, seems to catch the band and is snapped back into the tube by it? [ Editor: problem statement reconstructed from the reply. The question came from Scott Killen <skillen@autotester.com> in January 1996 and was passed on by the archive maintainer; his description of the puzzle was not collected. ]
Show solution
Hmmm.... if you call magic tricks "puzzles",.. yes, this is a puzzle.
If you call gags like the eye-blackening telescope "puzzles",... yes,
this is a puzzle. This is an example of an "impossible stunt"... The
first step in figuring it out (as in any magic trick) is to realize and
fully accept the fact that _it cannot be done_.
If you wish to try to figure it out, knowing that. Stop reading.
A crude and not to very good scale diagram of the puzzle follows:
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The diagram makes it look like the hook reaches well past the rubber
band. That is not true.. actually the hook (fully inserted) and the
rubber band (say, dangling at full length) are too short to touch each
other. If you wish to figure it out, knowing that. Stop reading.
Why is the end of the hook-piece shaped like a bullet? There's a reason
for that. Here's the key: if you take the hook-piece lightly between
thumb and forefinger, pull it out slightly and squeeze, the hook-piece
will snap away from your fingers and click back into place in the tube.
AS IF a rubber band had pulled it. It's an illusion.. ask Doug Henning.
Replace the rubber band? It'll probably never break; it never does any
work!
That's about it.
-- John <Chaneski@aol.com>