THE puzzle in iron they seem at once extremely simple and diabolically unsolvable. In this video, we try to solve the “puzzle 88“, i.e. made up of two 8-shaped rings.
The two 8s are not perfectly closed – which would make the puzzle unsolvable – but their S shape presents a small gap at the crossing points, as you can see in the figure. This space, however, is not enough to pass the end of an 8, and to solve the puzzle force cannot be used!
But then, how solve this puzzle?
The solution to the iron puzzle 88
There solution And.. add the spaces! But in what sense?
As we said a little while ago – and as you can see in the video – the thickness of the iron is greater than the space we have available, and this makes it impossible for one 8 to pass inside the other unless you force it.
The solution lies in trying to “add up” the spaces we have available, in order to allow the passage of an 8 inside the other. To do this, you need to bring a match the two crossing points of the two 8 and at that point, operating one slight twistwe “magically” see the two rings release from each other.
There are dozens of puzzles like these and they are an excellent training for our mind to practice finding simple solutions to apparently complex tasks. In this case, the solution once found may appear obvious, yet before knowing it it might have seemed impossible that the two 8s could separate with such ease.
In this case, it’s the lateral thinking to suggest the solution and make us ask: “maybe I’m not looking in the right place”.
