Sally is travelling by ship from south of the equator to the north. She has a nice little cabin with a bathroom, but no window. Sally hasn’t a compass or other instruments. Just the general luggage one brings on board a long cruise. Yet, without leaving her cabin or talking with anyone, Sally will be able to tell when the ship has crossed the equator. How?
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NotBob
Pro - 2008-10-11 @ 14:32:13
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la_spice
- 2008-10-11 @ 14:36:55
You win first prize - virtually anything your heart desires
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Can you manage world peace?
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She presses her ear up against the wall of her cabin and overhears the people in the next cabin saying "Oooh! We've just crossed the equator!"
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la_spice
- 2008-10-11 @ 14:38:15
That what they call lateral thinking!
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trintrin1x
- 2008-10-11 @ 15:09:37
She gets charged a boundary fee!
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la_spice
- 2008-10-11 @ 15:23:42
Good try but .....
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grumpus
Pro - http://grumpus.blog.co.uk
- 2008-10-11 @ 18:11:46
If Sally was a Girl Guide she would stop at the nearest island and look at the trees. Moss grows on the north side of the tree in the Northern Hemisphere and on the south side below the Equator. If she noted the time on her watch and placed a pencil halfway between the hour and twelve o'clock and pointed the pencil in the direction the moss was growing and the minute hand at the Sun ... no wait a minute ... the North Star comes into this somewhere ...
Have they covered her in lather and chucked her in the swimming pool yet? If so she's crossed the line.
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la_spice
- 2008-10-11 @ 19:07:37
Brave attempt!!!
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murphymole
Pro - 2008-10-11 @ 21:33:08
If I was Sally I' just laze on my bunk and wait till we arrived wherever we were going then I'd know we'd crossed the equator. but then I'm lazy.
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la_spice
- 2008-10-11 @ 22:17:04
Here - I've just poured you a drink
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rubychoo
- 2008-10-12 @ 16:56:07
Poor Sally-no-mates...
And budget-class too...
Bet she won't be taking again in a hurry ! -
She fills the washbasin with water and watches which way it swirls round the plug-hole.
This answer, if given on QI, would result in the words "CORIOLIS EFFECT" to flash up on the back-screens. The forces that would produce this effect in a perfect basin are so weak that the mere movement of the ship would render it useless as a guide.
*Switches off "Stephen Fry mode"*
Hope that answers it.