Brainteaser: Two Jugs

(Image credit: Flickr user Bill Rogers)

You have two plastic jugs filled with water. How can you put all the water into a barrel, without using the jugs or any dividers, and still tell which water came from which jug?

When you are ready for the answer, continue reading.

Highlight here for the answer: Freeze them first. Take the ice blocks out of the jugs and put them in the barrel. You will be able to tell which (frozen) water came from which jug.

_________________________

This article is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Ahh-Inspiring Bathroom Reader. Get ready to be thoroughly entertained while occupied on the throne. Uncle John rules the world of information and humor. It's simply Ahh-Inspiring!

Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check 'em out!

You wouldn't believe the adventure I had searching for an illustrative picture of "two jugs."

Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)

I would just put both jugs in the barrel without emptying them.

Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)

2 replies

These are not so much fun with the answers available immediately. How about delaying them for a day or so and offering a t-shirt as a prize: one for the most correct and one for the most creative, but still functional.

If needed, I shall disqualify myself as a winner.

Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)

2 replies

ice is not water. you can tell which ice came from which jug, but not water.

Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)

5 replies

I don't like this solution. First, how are you supposed to pour ice out of the jug? Second, I challenge anyone to examine two blocks of ice and identify which came from which jug. I suggest that you should pour one jug into the barrel, allow the barrel to freeze, and then pour the second jug's contents in.