RAY: The inspiration for this puzzler was sent in by Jerry Olhaver.
It’s 1954 and a giant hurricane has hit Cape Cod, leaving flooding in its wake. Cars sit underwater everywhere, waiting for a tow truck -- unable to start, unable to move.
Enter our hero, pedaling his bicycle. He spots his Morris Minor. Remember the Morris Minor? It was the great-grandfather of the modern Mini. His Minor looks as drowned as the rest of the cars, but at least the four tires are on the pavement. When he tries to start it, the engine cranks, but it won’t fire up.
He opens the hood and removes the spark plugs. They’re soaked with gasoline. He realizes why they’re soaked, because when he takes the distributor cap off, it’s full of water. Yet, in less than 10 minutes, unaided and using only what he has on his bicycle and in the trunk of the car, he begins a successful drive across the peninsula.
How did he do it?
Last weeks Question:
A Lesson Learned the Hard Way
RAY: This puzzler is from Gary from Santa Clara, who writes:
As a shade tree mechanic, I've read many times that when removing a car's battery or doing electrical work, one is supposed to disconnect the negative terminal first, and only then the positive terminal. Installation, as so many instructions say, is the reverse of that procedure.
As an electrical engineer, I scoffed at these instructions. I knew that opening a circuit at any point was equivalent to opening it anywhere else. I just disconnected whatever terminal was handy.
One day, I was helping a friend change the battery in his garden tractor. He happened to be an electrician, and he knew as well as I did that it didn't matter which terminal was removed first.
But, as we learned the hard way that day, this isn't true. It does matter which is removed and replaced first.
Why is that?
Puzzler answer:
A Lesson Learned the Hard Way
RAY: You're using a metal wrench to disconnect the battery cables. If your wrench contacts a piece of metal that's connected to the frame, you've got a short circuit, because all the ground circuits are connected to the frame, and the negative terminal of the battery is connected to the frame.
If you disconnect the positive terminal first and touch the wrench to a metal ground on the car, it’s tantamount to laying your wrench across the two terminals of the battery. So the reason that you disconnect the negative first is, if in the process of loosening the bolt to remove the negative terminal, the wrench should contact the frame, it doesn't make any difference. Because the negative terminal is already connected to the frame. And that's why when you go to put the battery back in, you reverse the order. You connect the positive first and then you connect the negative last.
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The Principle of Least Interest: He who cares least about a relationship, controls it.
Not too sure if there is more to this. The Morris tires are all on the ground while others are underwater just means he could be on higher ground.
Water got into the distributor cap. He flood the engine trying to start in. So takes of the cap wipes it with his shirt or rag and blows it dry with a bicycle pump. Same with drying out the plugs. Now he can start the car.
-- Edited by cadiver on Tuesday 22nd of December 2015 12:24:04 PM
Not too sure if there is more to this. The Morris tires are all on the ground while others are underwater just means he could be on higher ground.
Water got into the distributor cap. He flood the engine trying to start in. So takes of the cap wipes it with his shirt or rag and blows it dry with a bicycle pump. Same with drying out the plugs. Now he can start the car.
-- Edited by cadiver on Tuesday 22nd of December 2015 12:24:04 PM
Yes, this is pretty much what I was thinking.
This car was not dependent on electronics. My son's late-model Corolla that got flooded, had a few mini-computers under the carpet under the front seat. They died, and the car was totaled.
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The Principle of Least Interest: He who cares least about a relationship, controls it.
