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The 3 Switches.


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This is a riddle I heard a while ago while I was doing plaster work. An electrician told it to me and gave me till the next morning to figure it out. My co-worker figured it out before I did. It took him 10 minutes. It took me hours.

 

The answer requires an explanation of how you came to figuring out which switch will turn on a certain light.

 

Heres the situation/rules.

 

- Your standing outside of a door that goes into a room. The door is CLOSED.

- You have been in the room before and know it has a light inside of it and it works.

- An electrician installed 3 switches outside of the room.

- One of those switches turns on the light inside the room.

- You can only open the door ONCE

- When you open the door, you cannot move any of the switches.

- You can move any of the switches as many times as you wish until you open the door.

- All 3 switches are ' Off ' right now.

- You have no time limits.

 

Good luck! ;) 

 

 

 

 

REPEATEDLY ARGUMENTATIVE, INSULTING AND RUDE. BANNED FOR LIFE.

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Turn all three on.

But to know which switch works you have to use them one at a time and then do something when you get in the room. Oh, wait a minute, I've just re-read the first post.  Scratch that.  I thought you had to go and feel which one made the bulb hot.

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Open the door and before you go in try each switch and the one that switches the light on is the correct one.

 

"- When you open the door, you cannot move any of the switches."

REPEATEDLY ARGUMENTATIVE, INSULTING AND RUDE. BANNED FOR LIFE.

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What kind of walls are we talking about here?

 

It depends on the door.  Most doors you can see light from under, the sides, or on top.

 

If not, take out the light switch plate and  look for a hole to the other side of the wall.  Then turn the lights on.  

 

Drill a tiny hole in the wall somewhere obscure, like towards the floor.  Then switch the lights on one at a time.   If the walls are made of sheet rock, you are set. Even I can fill in sheet rock holes and I'm about as incompetent as you can get with manual labor.

 

Get two wires and connect all three switches from outside with three long wires?  Then drag the wires into the room with you and undo each section, one at a time until the light goes out.  Then reinstall plates etc on outside.

 

Umm

 

-Just regular walls.

-For generalization, no light can escape through the door.

-Cannot remove the plate, theres no need.

-No drilling holes.

-No need for more wires.

 

Everything needed to figure it out is at your disposal.

 

A *hint* for everyone :

 

A light generates 2 specific things. 

REPEATEDLY ARGUMENTATIVE, INSULTING AND RUDE. BANNED FOR LIFE.

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You turn on switch 1 and wait for a few minutes. Then you turn off switch 1, turn on switch 2, open the door, and go into the room. If the light is on, the correct switch is, of course, number 2. If the light is off, you touch the bulb. If it's still warm, the correct switch is number 1. If it's cold, the correct switch is number 3.

 

That was easy, wasn't it?

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You turn on switch 1 and wait for a few minutes. Then you turn off switch 1, turn on switch 2, open the door, and go into the room. If the light is on, the correct switch is, of course, number 2. If the light is off, you touch the bulb. If it's still warm, the correct switch is number 1. If it's cold, the correct switch is number 3.

 

That was easy, wasn't it?

 

BINGO! You have it!

 

It took me about 2 hours to figure it out myself.

REPEATEDLY ARGUMENTATIVE, INSULTING AND RUDE. BANNED FOR LIFE.

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But to know which switch works you have to use them one at a time and then do something when you get in the room. Oh, wait a minute, I've just re-read the first post.  Scratch that.  I thought you had to go and feel which one made the bulb hot.

I think I got close.

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