Tricks of the Trade

think it's time for the puzzler! We don't have all day... So let's get going.

This fellow was driving his wife's car to work. He was stuck in stop and go traffic. The car started to overheat. He could see the needle on the temperature gauge getting hotter and hotter.

So, he calls up his wife and says, "Hey honey, what is that trick that your father taught you, when the car is overheating in stop and go traffic like this?"

And she said, "Well, my father told me in times like this, to turn the heat on in the car and that would lower the temperature." So he thanks her, and then turns the heat on. And it helps a little, but not much. He is still overheating, and now it is hot in the car. So he pulls over and calls her back and asks, "Is there another trick your father used? Does he have any other advice?"

And she said, "Yes, turn the air conditioning on."

And he said, "What?! That can't be right! I knew your father was just another no good mechanic..."

And she said, "Just try it, stupid!" So, he reluctantly tries it. And, what do you know, it works!

So, this is a two part puzzler.

1) Is it true that when you turn on the air conditioning the car will run cooler?

B) And if so, how come?

Good luck!

Answer the Puzzler »

Remember last week's puzzler?

A Puzzler of Yore

So, something happened the other day and I was reminded of a puzzler from a while ago. A puzzler of yore, as they say. It was many, many years ago that we use a puzzle that was similar to this and I was reminded of it just the other day when a customer came into the shop. He had gasoline leaking under the hood of his car. Yeah. It was an older car, some old jalopy ready for the boneyard. Like a 1963 Dart! Ha!

Kidding. I don't remember what kind of a car it was, but it was a Toyota, I believe. And the fuel line that ran from the pump to the carburetor was leaking and gasoline was in fact leaking onto the hot exhaust manifold. He was extremely agitated. And he said, "You've got to fix this immediately because my car is going to catch fire because it's leaking gas onto this hot manifold!"

So I opened the hood. And of course, the smell of gas was everywhere. When I opened the hood, I found the leak and I fixed it.

He said, "Thanks very much. How many hundreds do I owe you? And also, by the way, why didn't it catch fire? I was worried about it was going to catch fire. But it didn't. Why?"
And I said, "Well if it caught fire, we wouldn't have made any money because we don't do fireworks!"

So this is the puzzler.
Now, I will give you some little hints here. The ignition point of gasoline, the point at which gasoline catches fire is about 700 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature of the hot manifold onto which the gasoline was dripping? It's probably also 700 degrees. Maybe even a little bit more.

So, why didn't the gasoline catch fire?