According to a scientist who watched the film, how many times could Pinocchio have lied before the weight of his nose would have broken his neck? (Assuming that he’s made of oak, his nose starts at one inch, and doubles in length every time he lies.)
The first new player to comment on the website with the correct answer wins a free drink at their next iQ Trivia show.
The question didn’t give the diameter of his neck so I assumed 3 inches. I took the density of Oak as 45 lb/cubic ft (listed as 37 to 56) or 0.026 lb/cubic inch which works out to about 0.02 lb/inch of nose. I also took the Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) of Oak to be about 2000 psi.
The highest stress is at the point on his neck furthest away from where the nose connects to the head.
Assuming the neck is solid, not hollow, and that the length doubles each lie:
After 8 lies nose length is 256 inches, stress is 994 psi
After 9 lies nose length is 512 inches , stress is 1966 psi, close enough to UTS considering all the assumptions.
Answer 9 or 10 lies.
Of course with a nose that long he would have a hard time moving around and would probably already have run into something.
Old Bill
This is very much the answer of an engineer, and while the analysis gave an answer of 13, I think we have to give this one to you just based on your level of dedication to cracking it.
Yes, I’m sure you realize that engineers enjoy things that other people find quite boring!
The scientist possibly assumed a slightly larger neck diameter, as the strength increases by the 4th power of the diameter so as the neck size increases the strength increases very rapidly.