The Riddles Thread

[Timsup2nothin]

I believe it first appears in an AD&D 2nd Edition boxed adventure from the early or mid '90s.

A classic!

I waive my turn, as I do not know any good riddles at the moment. I think the "riddles" I have presented are more like puzzles than riddles.

 

[El_Machinae]

You blithely ignored that having only half as much tissue to pass through to get out reduces the chance of any damage occurring by fifty percent, so this is a break even. A gamma that passes through cleanly does no damage at all, no matter where it originates. Doubling the number that "hit meat" while simultaneously halving the chance that they will interact with that meat is a net zero.

'Blithely' is the wrong word, but hmmmm, yes, you make a good point. My intuition is that the pocket is still less total gamma than the gut, but I'll play with the math to make sure.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

'Blithely' is the wrong word, but hmmmm, yes, you make a good point. My intuition is that the pocket is still less total gamma than the gut, but I'll play with the math to make sure.

It will be less, I'd be fairly sure of that. And the hand would certainly be even less. But I seriously doubt that it is going to make up for the damage factor of an alpha or beta emitter. You want to shield those for sure, which is easily done (inherently in the design of the question). The swallowing of the gamma emitter is strictly a "least bad option" situation, not an endorsement for swallowing gamma emitters.

The key thing about the gamma emitter is that once the proximity is established as "very close" the factor that is going to dominate the damage calculation is the probability of any interaction at all for the individual particle, which is fairly low. If you swallow the emitter detectors will not notice any appreciable change in the flux levels, because you provide basically no shielding at all for the source...almost everything it is emitting will pass through and out without interacting with you at all.

By the way, the most prone to damage from gammas tissue that you have is actually closer to your pocket than it is to your gut, unless you are putting it in your shirt pocket.

 

[El_Machinae]

Yeah, there's no question the beta goes in the pocket!

What I'm scratching my head around is that the gamma particle is going to be much safer at arm's length, if only because of the inverse-square law.

 

[Mise]

Tim, just so I understand you correctly, are you saying that Gamma will kill you whether it's in your stomach or your hand, so you might as well swallow it?

 

[Perfection]

You could go the mule route and swallow the alpha in some condoms then you can keep the gamma at arms length

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Tim, just so I understand you correctly, are you saying that Gamma will kill you whether it's in your stomach or your hand, so you might as well swallow it?

Not exactly. It is sort of implied in the question that the four emitters are low enough levels that the challenge is survivable, so the gamma emitter isn't sufficient to kill you if swallowed. It would do even less damage if held in your hand, but that damage would be added to the damage done by whatever you chose to swallow instead...and of the four the least damaging one to swallow is the gamma emitter, assuming equal rates of emissions. Add to that that the other three can be rendered completely harmless and you are really not left with much choice.

You are basically correct though. If it is a strong enough source to kill you in a pass through your digestive tract, it is probably going to kill you if you hold it in your hand anyway.

 

[Perfection]

Back in college I did experiments with gamma rays. They told me there's three factors in minimizing radiation exposure: shielding, distance and time. The problem with swallowing a gamma source is the fact that it'll probably remain inside you a fair bit after this hypothetical occurs.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Back in college I did experiments with gamma rays. They told me there's three factors in minimizing radiation exposure: shielding, distance and time. The problem with swallowing a gamma source is the fact that it'll probably remain inside you a fair bit after this hypothetical occurs.

If they let me out of the room quickly, I'm puking it no matter which one I swallowed. But there's no reason to think the time is a variable, since I would puke them all exactly the same.

 

[Perfection]

If they let me out of the room quickly, I'm puking it no matter which one I swallowed. But there's no reason to think the time is a variable, since I would puke them all exactly the same.

Time is a variable if there's a significant difference between contact time between the one inside you versus the two outside.

I'm not very confident in my puking abilities.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Time is a variable if there's a significant difference between contact time between the one inside you versus the two outside.

I'm not very confident in my puking abilities.

I meant it isn't a variable across the different possible sources. If you can't puke out the gamma source you won't be able to puke out any of the other sources either, and they are still worse.

 

[Mise]

Tbh I'd struggle to keep it down.

 

[Arakhor]

Pig with a gamma source = free gammon!

 

[Borachio]

Riddle: What's the difference between "representatives" and "delegates"?

Spoiler :

"Representatives" are people chosen to speak or act on behalf of others, whereas "delegates" is a setting on your washing machine.

 

[PhroX]

Riddle: What's the difference between "representatives" and "delegates"?

Spoiler :

"Representatives" are people chosen to speak or act on behalf of others, whereas "delegates" is a setting on your washing machine.

I'm sorry, I haven't a clue what you're going on about there.

 

[Arakhor]

Compare and contrast delegate and delicate.

 

[Borachio]

NB "I'm sorry, I haven't a clue"

 

[PhroX]

Compare and contrast delegate and delicate.

Yeah...I understood the joke. As Borachio noted, my comment was actually pointing out where he got it from

 

[Arakhor]

Oh yes.

 

[Borachio]

Riddle: What's the difference between a water buffalo and a bison?

Spoiler :

You can't wash your hands in a water buffalo.

(Actually, I've always thought that you could, if it was a dead one you'd sliced open and washed your hands in its blood. But whether your hands would be any cleaner for it is another matter.)