Oil Lamp Solution

[thunder]

Dont mess with Quailman. Or we'll have to sic Borodog, Buzzsaw and Arawella on you!!!

[tv snake]

It would make a good fishtank.

[ELEMENTAL]

Geez you people are sensitive. Can't you take a little “shouted” joke? Although dingbat was a little harsh. Anyway I only made a suggestion. The answer of putting the water in the candle I never thought of.

See ya

[firemeboy]

We've managed to scare yet another person away, and we didn't even need CzarJ...

[Duff Amanda]

The water solution was my first guess, but it seemed too simple. I wonder if the Minotaur had a different answer in mind.

[knightofni]

I'm all for dumping out the oil, filling the insde with matches and making a bright, but short-lived candle (: Either that, or adding a little water...

[tv snake]

You want bright but shortlived? break it and light the oil. done.

[ELEMENTAL]

You havn't scared me off yet but if you feel like that I just might leave!!! I didn't mean anything by insulting Quailman. But back to the riddle. What I mean is fire needs air to burn; am I right so far? Well the tube will have air in it when if you move it into the oil right? Well would the fire use the air to burn and when it did their would be a sucking action and would'nt it suck up the oil? Anyway it was just a suggestion. (sorry about the spelling)

[thunder]

I'm probably not the best one to be speaking out for the GL but I'll do it anyway. We do not want to scare you off. If you were joking then we misunderstood. Sarcasm does translate well when reading. Since you're new we had to "defend" one of our own and ask questions later. So please do not be scared off- you are more than welcome to join our little community.
As for the puzzle - My first instinct was to say turn it on a side. But that doesnt seem quite right. The water idea sounds good but awfully simple - but i'll stick with it.

[ELEMENTAL]

I understand perfectly thunder. I would have done the same thing. I just tend to be sarcastic and my sense of humor goes along the lines of freindly insults. SO NOBODY TAKE IT WRONG PLEASE!!!

[firemeboy]

Our problem is that we can't leave a solved riddle alone. The water solution is more than likely correct, but Vanyo solved that in the first post. We can't let him have all the glory so we have to come up with every possible solution under the sun, and then some...

The Minotaur probable has a difficult time making the puzzles so that they only have one solution.

[ELEMENTAL]

Your right. I hope he posts the answer to the riddle soon though. I wonder what what his next riddle will be? What # is he working on?

[Quailman]

You're joking, right? If you read the current message on the main GL page, you'll see that he's working on #100, and it may take him a little longer than usual. in the meantime, register and try solving some of the puzzles that get posted each day in the Visitor Submitted Puzzles forum.

[Water]

Hey everybody this is elemental I have changed my name to water because I registered

See ya

[Ghost Post]

Dropahat-i had the same thought when i studied the way the text said triangluar specifically.

[Ghost Post]

I like ELEMTNALS physics vacuum tube idea...that's pure genius

[Water]

Thankyou Brian. I think we can become friends. (Finally someone who will listen to me.)

[skott]

My first thought was to turn the lamp on it's side. The wick would then be in the oil. However, this doesn't fulfill the romantic requirements. If pull the wick nearly all the way out and fix the very tip of it on top of the tube, then it could still look pretty nice, as long as the wick was hard to see behind the cylinder.

Only problem with this idea is the thought that there may be no supplies with which to afix the wick to the top of the cylinder... unless the date is chewing gum when he arrives.

[Water]

O ha ha ha and as a bonus HA. You are very funny. This might seem like a stupid question to all you old hands but what is up with the post delay? Is that the posting problem the minotaur was talking about?

[Ghost Post]

First of all, I'd like to say hello to everyone out there, hi, I'm Tim :-)

As for my solution, well judging by the picture he might be able to light a match, take the wic out of the glass container, pour the fluid into the match case. Put the glass thing on it's side (flat side). Then put the match case on that so he doesn't brn the table. Then, ignite the match case. when the fire starts to burn down... throw another match on it, or as we say down south. "Throw another shrimp on the barbe."

bows...
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Yes, I am your father.

[This message has been edited by Zoko Siman (edited 11-18-2000).]

[Ghost Post]

Gday all :-)

I notice that the black glass tube holding the wick protrudes slightly above the glass cylinder. Perhaps that small piece could be broken off, allowing the wick to be lowered further down into the oil?

What are the pearl-like objects at the front right of the picture, in the shadow?

[tv snake]

That, I believe, is a nice lens flare caused by the refraction of light in the transparent candle.

Either that, or the aforementioned green and blue marbles.

[Kerinsky]

Like many other people adding water was my first thought too, but then I went back and decided that this whole question about the candle is a red herring. The real puzzle is "Where does a Minotaur get a dinner date?"

My guess is that it's a blind date. If it is, my guess would be that an unlit candle would be the least of your problems once the date shows up.

Of course if it's another Minotaur I would assume this to be irrelevant due to a dearth of other potential dates.

=)

Kerinsky,
Yes I'm always this literal, and no I won't mention the third option (this is a family board right?)

[NorthernHick]

Cancel the date, and make a run for the OPEC nations.

[Ghost Post]

OOOPs, I forgot to mention. Take the wick and slide the very end of it intot he match case and close the case. prop a few matches under the far end from the wic. Should work. Just as long as all the oil doesn't seep out of the casing.

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Yes, I am your father.

[HyToFry]

I'd put marbles in that bad boy.

[Ghost Post]

SO tell me, why does everyone think the water solution is the right one? Honestly, he specfically says that he does not have time to fidget with the wic. Putting in water would require taking out the wic, pouring water in to that minute hole, and then putting the wic back in. Now, I'm only 14 and I may be wrong (sheash, I am probably am) but I think thats kinda wrong. I mean wouldn't he have said "thats the answer" by now?

For all the forum regulars out there, sorry if I am coming off as to "it's my way or else" but I'm an odd ball different kinda person thinker.

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Yes, I am your father.

[This message has been edited by Zoko Siman (edited 11-20-2000).]

[jesternl]

Zoko,

that's part of the reason why I think it's not the right answer either. But then again, I also think that the triangular sides are nothing but a red herring.
Darn it, I'm confused...



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GRTZ,
Jester
www.geocities.com/jesternl/antibill.html

[firemeboy]

Zoko, if you are a bit of an oddball then you will fit right in here.

You need to remember that the Minotaur leaves the puzzles up for a specific period of time. Most of the puzzles are solved right away because some of the most brilliant minds visit this site daily. My guess is that water is the correct answer, and he is just putting together another puzzle for our enjoyment.

That is not to say that there is not another solution. There may be another one out there and given enough time, I am sure that you could come up with even a better solution.

But my guess is that water is the correct answer. If it isn't, I would hope that the minotaur would tell us so that we could find the correct one.

[daniel801]

assuming the middle cylinder will rotate freely, you could flip the lamp over where it is resting on the corners of the triangle panes. then push down on one side so that it teeters back and forth like a pendulum, giving it access to a little more oil height + a little slosh.

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anger is a gift

[hank]

Okay everyone, hold on to your computer mice. Have you noticed that the glass tube housing the wick is not vertical ! In fact , you will notice that the top of the tube is in the centre of the cylinder, but the bottom of the tube is positioned way over towards the top quadrant of the surface of the oil. It would take a short time indeed to position matches under the glass triangle nearest the source of the view in order to raise the oil level under the far quadrant. Thanks, I'll have a Heinekin.

[Ghost Post]

Uhh, whats all this talk about red herrings? What are they?

Hank, I think I'm not seeing what your seeing. Care to elaborate?

OK, let me see if I do un fact understand though. From the curent angel (given in the picture) of vision are you saying that the black wic casing is pointed away from us, or nearer to us? Cuse if indeed it is poionteed away fom us proping the one edge of the class would (or rather theoretically work) work.

[jesternl]

Zoko,

A red herring is the term for throwing something in a puzzle to confuse things. In this case for instance, people could be thinking that the fact that the sides are triangular means something sifgnificant, while in fact they could've been any shape, because their shape is irrelevant for the solution. See what I mean?

And Hank, I'm not sure about your solution, I think that's just perspective playing tricks.



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GRTZ,
Jester
www.geocities.com/jesternl/antibill.html

[hank]

Okay, guys, let me explain. I don't see any perspectives here. The relative distances from the observer for all four lines describing the surface of the oil in the cylinder are fairly close together. Furthermore, I have printed out the expanded picture and find that the surface of the oil is an exact parallelogram which I measured to be 100 units by 69 units at the perimeter. Measuring parallel to the perimeters I find that the contact point of the wick tube to be 38.5 units over the 100 units (not 50) of the length of the cylinder. Measuring the width of the surface of the oil, I find the contact point to be 23 units over 69 units(Not 34.5 ) Clearly we are talking here about a deliberate optical illusion. If the length of the cylinder were 100 mm, about 4 inches, I could squeeze out an additional 9 mm of oil (3/8 of an inch by slightly tilting the apparatus..

There is one other way to look at this picture. If the apparatus is symetrical, then the table is not level. Just measure the halfway point along the bottom of the triangle and draw a line to the top of the triangle. It should be vertical, but it isn't. The table is tilted up towards the top left direction.

[HyToFry]

Don't think I can't see those two marbles on the lower right hand side Minotaur.

[Just guessing]

How about this possibility:

Take the lamp and turn it on its side. (Still sitting on both of the triangles, but now the wick is pointing downward). If the hole around the wick is sealed so that the oil will not pour out onto the table, the end of the wick nearest the hole may now be submerged in the oil. The bottom of the wick will not touch the oil but that shouldn't matter. This would allow the candle to burn a little longer.

If the hole is not sealed the oil will be all over the place and this definitely will not work.

[Ghost Post]

I don't get what everyone is saying about marbles. Looks to me like the "marbles" are light reflecting of of the camera lenz. You know, that light thingy that happens in the intro to star trek the next generation. Don't get me wrong, it is obviously not a photograph, but was probably drawn from a photograph.....Or not....I'll stop now.

P.S. Why is everyone so interested in this question, I have explained why the official answer is incorrect on the Lawrence puzzle, and no one seems to even look at it. please have a look.

Raven

[CookMoominTroll]

Is it possible to fill the reservoir of the lamp with water to raise the oil level? As oil and water don't mix.It can't be that easy
surely!!!

[hank]

By the way. when I printed out the large size picture of the oil lamp, I very clearly noticed a distinct long flat object,perhaps a tool of some sort, lying on the table just in front of the lamp. Perhaps a secret clue!

[Matilda]

Hi, I've never posted here before, so I apologize if I'm stepping on any toes. I'm just so tickled that I think I know the answer.

Water won't work. Water is lighter than oil and will soak the wick, so the wick wouldn't burn. The only alternative is finding something that is heavier and won't mix with the oil, and will fit in the lamp.

Salt. Salt is water soluble, but doesn't dissolve in oil (ever see those fancy bath salt scrubs? The oils float on top). So if you add salt to the oil reserve it will push the oil to the top of the reserve, to the wick.

Matilda