On a hot and sunny day, which box would you choose? And why?
Imagine it is a hot and sunny day. A friend of yours says that he has a gift certificate for a full tank of gasoline and he wants to give it to you.
“What’s the catch?” You ask.
He says, “The catch is that in order to receive your full tank of gasoline…I need you to sit in a box for 15 minutes.”
You look outside, “I see two boxes in a field.”
“Yes, you only need to sit in one of those large 11 x 11 x 11 foot cubes for 15 minutes. So you’ll need to choose which box you’d like to sit in.”
You ask a question, “What are these boxes made out of?”
“Metal.”
“They don’t look metallic,” You say.
He then responds by saying, “Both cubes are made out of thin sheet-metal. One is painted black on its exterior. And one is painted white on its exterior. But both boxes are painted grey on the inside.”
“Will you close the door after me?”
“Yes I will close the door after you. But there is no lock, so you can leave at any time. Although if you leave before I open the door for you at the 15 minute mark…I will not give you the gasoline gift card.”
After inspecting the black cube and the white cube, you observe how your friend was telling the truth. They appear to be identical in size and shape, only the color of their exteriors differ. Also, you notice that neither cube block sunlight in any way for their counterpart cube. So neither cube gets the net effect of a shadow.
You think for a moment…your car does guzzle a great deal of gasoline. Also, your friend is trust-worthy and you don’t think he’ll bar the door and/or evacuate the air from the cubes. So you make up your mind on which box you choose to sit in for 15 minutes on this hot summer day.
What is your choice? And more importantly, why?
[there is no right or wrong answer]
June 18th, 2013 – www.overidon.com – Tyler