What Looks Like Food

What looks like food, tastes like food, smells like food, sounds like food when you cook it, is grown in dirt like food, fills up your stomach like food, but is not food?

A poisonous mushroom. Since some types of mushrooms are edible, it can be very hard to distinguish between a safe mushroom and one that will kill you. Food is defined as a substance consumed to provide nutrition, therefore a poisonous mushroom that kills you doesn’t qualify as food, even though it shares all of the traits of a regular mushroom.

Other valid answers include anything that’s edible, resembles food, but is poisonous.

Posted in Riddles

The Greatest God

The Pharoah asked, “Who is the greatest god?”

“I am not,” said Horus.
“Anubis is,” said Isis.
“Isis is lying,” said Anubis.

Only one god was telling the truth and the other two were lying.

Who really is the greatest god?

Horus is the greatest

“I am not,” said Horus = LIE
“Anubis is,” said Isis = LIE
“Isis is lying,” said Anubis = TRUE

Posted in Brain Teasers

Three Digits in a Row

On a regular 12-hour digital clock how many times would the same three digits in a row be displayed (e.g. 1:11, 11:12, 12:22) in one day?

34 times. These 17 instances will be visible twice in a 24 hour period.

1:11
2:22
3:33
4:44
5:55
10:00
11:10
11:11
11:12
11:13
11:14
11:15
11:16
11:17
11:18
11:19
12:22

Posted in Brain Teasers

Instrument Can’t Be Touched Nor Seen

What instrument can make any sound and be heard but not touched or seen?

Your voice.

Posted in Riddles

I Make You See the Beauty of Nature

I make you see the beauty of nature through colors,
My name makes things weigh less
And I have no weight at all.

What am I?

Light. Without light you wouldn’t be able to see anything. And light is made up of all the colors of the rainbow. Adding light to a word can mean it weighs less and light has no mass.

Posted in Riddles
Tagged with

I Am Worthless

I am worthless, yet when added to others I add worth.
I confounded the ancient Greeks, yet I changed men’s understanding.

What am I?

0 (Zero).

Zero is nothing, yet when you add zeroes to a number like 1, it becomes 10, 100 or 1,000.

The ancient Greeks did not have a name for zero and did not use a placeholder. They seemed unsure about the status of zero as a number, philosophizing about how nothing could be something. Once zero was added, it allowed for more mathematical understanding.

Posted in Riddles
Tagged with

A Circular Island

A circular island with a diameter of 30 feet has a 30 foot tree stands at the center. A man cuts the tree down with his chainsaw, making the cut a foot up from the ground. The tree comes crashing down and hits the water but doesn’t splash. Why not?

It’s winter and the water is frozen.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Loud Linda

Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and also participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations.

Which is more probable?

1) Linda is a bank teller.
2) Linda is a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement.

1) Linda is a bank teller.

Most people guess number two, but the probability of two events occurring together is always less than or equal to the probability of either one occurring alone. This problem is known as the Conjunction Fallacy.

Posted in Riddles

What Can You Break But Not Touch?

What can you break but not touch?

A promise.

Posted in Riddles

I Move Without Wings

I move without wings,
Between silken string,
I leave as you find,
My substance behind.

What am I?

A spider.

Posted in Riddles
Tagged with