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Shown in the photograph at the left below is a stand with a tube extending upward, and a platform with a plunger that fits into the tube. The bottom of the tube and the end of the plunger are fitted with ends made of hard but flexible rubber. At the center is a picture of a plastic egg being squeezed between the two rubber surfaces by putting a 25-lb lead brick on the top surface of the plunger. A close-up of the plastic egg under the weight of the lead brick is seen in the photograph at the right. Notice that it is being squeezed so hard that it changed color.
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Now suppose that we put a real egg between the two rubber surfaces rather than a plastic egg. This situation is shown in the photograph at the left below, except that there are no lead bricks, only the weight of the plunger. At the right we see a close-up of the egg between the two rubber surfaces.
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The question this week is to use your intuition to make an educated(?) guess as to how many lead bricks, each weighing about 25 lb, can be placed onto the platform of the plunger before the egg will break. Here are some possibilities:
Click here for Answer #299 after December 3, 2007.
