DINNER BY CANDLELIGHT LOGIC- Not Adequate for Real-Life Situ

[tv snake]

Really people, posting the answer to the puzzle before someone has done this? That's absurd!!!

[tv snake]

So sorry, the title of the puzzle is actually "Dinner by Candleight".

[ZenBeam]

I think the Dinner by Candle(l)ight logic is adequate for real life situations.

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It is too clear, and so it is hard to see.

[jesternl]

Actually CandlEIGHT is a typo, look at the index page, it's called candlelight there, as it should.

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

[evil_little_bugger]

i think that most likely the water is the correct way.
but if you put matches into the jar they will float there fore not displacing oil but air.
also if you could get whole marbles into the jar there would still be a space in between the marbles meaning you would lose oil.
i think if you used the smashed up marbles idea or coloured sand you could also raise the level of the oil.
one last thing would be to crack open the top of the jar and through in a lit match from a little distance away,this way could cause a minor explosion or a nice bonfire on your table.
why does he not just bye a half decent candle thing

Greed is for amateurs. Disorder, chaos, anarchy: now that's

evil_little_bugger

[flip]

(considering the possibility that the wick tube can sway)the orientation of the cylinder has no effect on the level of the oil, relentive to it's opposite side. so, why not roll it slightly so that the wick angles over and dips into the pool? if you continue to roll the tube, the wick will eventually touch the side of the container. though the flame will come out of the side of the container at an unusual angle, it will be able to reach the bottom. i think this is better than the idea of water displacement because the water would need time to separate from the oil. and "the date will be here any minute!" is that a good idea?

[Ghost Post]

When there's far more oil than water, I don't think you have to worry too much about the two liquids not sperating in time. Plus people are never on time. So although the puzzle states that his date will be there any minute, it's probably to make the puzzle more dramatic. In real life you'd have 5, 10 minutes to burn.

[DropOfaHat]

FLIP -

I posted a similar solution (look at the "OIl Lamp Solution" discussion), but as you'll see I had second thoughts. I suggested turning the lanp onto one of the triangles' non-base sides, which (I thought) would cause the wick to be immersed in the oil. No water, no muss, no fuss. BUT! I realized that the wick seemed to be encased in glass, so the oil would not soak into it. It looks like the only entry point for oil is the base of the glass-encased wick, near the middle of the cylinder. So rotating the candle won't work, UNLESS oil can seep into the wick at any point in the glass casing, or at least where it meets the edge of the cylinder.

Adding Water was my first thought too, and it seems to be the best answer...

[MAT]

--Flip--

You say that it will take a while for the oil and water to separate, your solution is wrong. Oil is a lot more thicker than water and they would separate very quickly.

--Test--

Go take some oil (any) and put it in a bowl with water in it. Make sure there is more water than oil and you can tell the two apart. You will see that no matter witch way you do it (more water or oil) the result is the same: water on top oil on bottom.

--Mat--

--If knowledge is power, than a god am I.

[DropOfaHat]

Mat -

Don't you mean water on BOTTOM, oil on TOP? 'Cause that's what happens...

[NewHere]

Speaking of not real life...Has anyone else noticed anything odd about the reflection of the matchbox?

[Aarondalf]

How come my threads like this one dont get as much attention ?

[hank]

To DropOfaHat. Take a good look at the entry point of the oil at the bottom of the tube and the surface of the oil. It is nowhere near the center. That why I've proposed( oil lamp solution) tipping the lamp slightly which could raise the level of the oil on the tube by 3/8ths of an inch if the cylinder were four inches long.

There is a major problem for those who think that water can be introduced through the tube. I don't think you can overcome surface tension between the tube and the water.

[Vanyo]

If you can get oil in, you can get water in. It's that simple.

[NewHere]

How close are the match-heads to the end of the box nearest the candle? Nearly touching the wall, if you look at them directly, but further back than the height of the wall in the reflection. I doubt that this is pertinent to the puzzle, but makes the suggestions based on perspective lose a little weight.

[NewHere]

Experimental data confirms the water solution. I happen to have in front of me a similar oil candle (triangular solid instead of the flat triangle/cylinder arrangement) whose condition was exactly as discribed in the puzzle; used to the point where the wick no longer reached. I pulled it from it's dusty home on top of my entertainment center, stuck it under a slow stream of water from the faucet, and immediately lit it. It ingnited first try and continues to burn as I post this message.

[NewHere]

ignited, not ingnited. Still burning... she should be here any second....

[hank]

Excellent observation NewHere. I hope this error in graphics doesn't translate throughout the oil lamp, or my proposed solution and observations are useless. I'm not enjoying this puzzle anymore. Thanks

[hank]

NewsHere, did you pull the wick? Was there a glass tube involved ? Please be a little more descriptive of your candle.

[NewHere]

Thank you hank, and sorry. I was impressed by you measurements regarding the position of the wick over the oil suface, but if the surface were, say, five or ten units below the wick, the wick could still be centered over the surface. Perhaps another graphical error? This is my first puzzle here, so I don't know how common such errors might be.
My lamp is still burning, btw, but it looks like I've been stood up:-{

[NewHere]

Of course.
My candle is made of glass, in the form of a triangular solid: triangles on top and bottom with rectangular sides. the wick (fiberglass I think) sits in a glass sheath (and I wouldn't want to pull it out and put it back in under a time constraint. It's in there pretty good) The glass sheath extends about three quarters of the way down, and the wick juts out at bottom by about a quarter inch. The candle is roughly 3" tall. The sheath is removable, and I removed it to add the water, which separated almost instantly.

[NewHere]

Re-reading my last post I confused myself...to clarify...the wick is in the glass sheath pretty good, and I wouldn't want to remove the fiberglass from the sheath, but the sheath is quite easily removable and hangs in place by virtue of a lip, or collar, wider that the fill-hole. (note: the lip is not present in the illustration for the puzzle)
My candle is still burning just fine.

[NewHere]

Well, the candles been lit nearly an hour, and she still hasn't shown... guess I'l just blow it out and go find some other dining companion.
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Crappppp...does anyooooone know hw toooooo gt lamp-oil out of a keyboardddd?
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J/K...g'night all.