You are in a room with 3 light switches...

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exiledforcefreak

RIP Jacob KT 2/16/06
... on the other side of the building you are in there is a room with three light bulbs. Each bulb corresponds to one of the light switches. There is no way to observe anything in either of the rooms other then being inside the room itself. You may enter the room with the light bulbs only once. You may do anything in either room while you are in it. You have 24 hours.

How do you figure out which light switch belongs to which bulb?
bonus question: Why did I say you had only 24 hours?

fun fact: it is possible even with 4 light switches and 4 light bulbs.
 
You turn on one switch and leave it on for two hours. Then you turn it off and turn on another one. You don't do anything to the third.

Go into the other room. One buld will be dark but hot. That is the first. Another bulb will be bright. That is the second. The third is of course just off.

How you could do it with four I don't know, unless there is some way you could smash the fourth bulb, go back into the first room, and determine with some device which switch went to the broken circuit.
 
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so who can figure out 4 bulbs and 4 switches?
who can figure out the bonus question?
 
exiledforcefreak said:
100000.00 points donated to Jason_C successfully!

so who can figure out 4 bulbs and 4 switches?
Click to expand...
I can only assume flicking one light switch on and off rapidly for ages. The sudden surging in current might make the bulb blow. When you're in the room, examine the bulbs to see which filament has gone.

exiledforcefreak said:
who can figure out the bonus question?
Click to expand...
Because you could? Or perhaps you said it so we couldn't leave one switch on for years and years before messing around with the others, so the bulb burns out.
 
Well it all depends on the kind of lightbulbs. If they are power saver ones then same as before only the extra one is switched on but not left on as long as the first one that was left on and so that extra one would not be as bright.

Or you could leave one on for an hour switch one on and off a couple of time and switch one on. The one that wasnt touched will be cold the one that was switched a couple times will be warm but not very hot the one that was on for ages will be hot and the one that was left on will obviously be left on.
 
Ok then how about you take the switch box off the wall and start messing round with the wires of one switch in such a way that it causes enough of a power surge or whatever that the bulb attached explodes and then follow the steps laid out before for the 3 switch question.
 
Just a wild guess on the four light switch one..


Take the light switch casing off, examine the wires (which should be different colors if they go to different bulbs) and study their differences. Go into the room with the light bulbs and take the light bulb unit off the wall and examine the wiring. Each light switch wirign should match up with each light bulb.


I really have no clue what I'm talking about. XD
 
1.Turn 2 lights on leave it for 20 hours.

2.Turn a third switch on and one of the others off.

3. run into the other room.

4. You should have 2 lights on 2 lights off.

5.One light that is on should be hotter than the other. This is the one you left on for 20 hours and kept on.

6. The other one is the switch you just flipped.

7. One of the bulbs turned off should be hot. This is the one you left on for 20 hours and then turned off.

8. The last one was never turned on.
 
I think what he is trying to say is that the one that had been on for 20 hours and is still on would be hot, while the one that is now on that just got turned on would not have had the time to warm up yet, thus identifying which one had been on and which one had been turned on.
 
You get your friend to come in and work the switches while you're in the room watching. Although I suppose that's a loophole.
 
blade146 said:
1.Turn 2 lights on leave it for 20 hours.

2.Turn a third switch on and one of the others off.

3. run into the other room.

4. You should have 2 lights on 2 lights off.

5.One light that is on should be hotter than the other. This is the one you left on for 20 hours and kept on.

6. The other one is the switch you just flipped.

7. One of the bulbs turned off should be hot. This is the one you left on for 20 hours and then turned off.

8. The last one was never turned on.
Click to expand...

You win
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hot + on
hot + off
cold + on
cold + off
 
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