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Muddy Elite user 449 Posts |
A person is trapped in a spaceship which is broken and drifting aimlessly in space. He has one laying hen and a bag of corn. Assume that in any event that his heat and oxygen will outlast these resources.
How should he consume his resources to maximize the time he can survive? |
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Steve Martin Inner circle 1119 Posts |
Ration the corn to the chicken while it is still laying eggs. Eat the eggs. Eat the remaining corn. Eat the hen. Eat the hen's bones and feathers. Eat himself.
No - hang on....rubbish. Get 2 eggs. Incubate them, and feed the corn to the chicks. When they are old enough to reproduce, get them to make you another chicken. Continue creating eggs and chickens until you are sick of eating eggs and chicken and would rather die in space (or you run out of corn). If you run out of corn, try feeding the chicks with chicken or egg.
Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.
Albert Einstein |
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Avrakdavra Loyal user The Pine Tree State, USA 224 Posts |
Alas, if all one has is one hen and no rooster, there will be no chicks to raise.
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Muddy Elite user 449 Posts |
Quote:
On 2005-01-26 14:25, Steve Martin wrote: no "right" answer so far ... |
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0pus Inner circle New Jersey 1739 Posts |
Eat the chicken, then the corn.
0pus |
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Muddy Elite user 449 Posts |
Quote:
On 2005-01-26 18:00, 0pus wrote: That's right! You'd want to kill the chicken as soon as possible to stop the conversion of your precious resources (chicken) to heat. There is no point in converting your existing resources (corn/chicken) to eggs, especially since the process is not 100% efficient. |
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zur Special user California 671 Posts |
I'm thinking of Wolf's Magic.
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Steve Martin Inner circle 1119 Posts |
I still think you'd be better off trying to hatch some of the eggs and rear some new chickens. With a bit of luck you'll get at least one male and one female who can create some more. Should keep you nicely fed with chicken until you reach a friendly planet
(Assuming you like the idea of eating raw chicken).
Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.
Albert Einstein |
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
In this case, as there is no shortage of heat, air or water... the issue is not simple as in the usual statement of the problem.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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Muddy Elite user 449 Posts |
Try looking at it as a control volume and apply the 1st law of thermodynamics (energy is neither created nor destroyed). Conversion of corn to eggs and chicken is not "free" there are some inefficiencies (the conversion costs more than just the corn) and energy is lost in the form of heat ... just letting the chicken live without feeding him has a cost.
kill the chicken asap! :) |
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
Muddy, folks;
Given this unusual condition in the original post: "Assume that in any event that his heat and oxygen will outlast these resources. " The optimal solution might not be to kill the chicken quickly.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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TomasB Inner circle Sweden 1144 Posts |
I think Jonathan is right as the problem is stated. As a human you can't eat the heat, but it is said that you have an unlimited supply of it. That heat _could_ be converted to something edible.
/Tomas |
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magicgeorge Inner circle Belfast 4299 Posts |
Can energy be converted into matter?
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Muddy Elite user 449 Posts |
Hmmm ... heat to converted to food ... details?
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zur Special user California 671 Posts |
Food converted to chicken waste
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Muddy Elite user 449 Posts |
Lol
kill the chicken ... that's the answer ... |
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TomasB Inner circle Sweden 1144 Posts |
Quote: If it is warm the chicken doesn't need the metabolism to keep the body warmth up and that energy _could_ go to building muscle tissue for example. So the correct answer then would probably be to wait until the chicken has stopped regenerating anything and kill him then.
On 2005-02-01 15:24, Muddy wrote: So I just mean that it is a bit muddy. /Tomas |
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Muddy Elite user 449 Posts |
The question never fails to generate this kind of discussion. that's what makes it fun! You are evidently a deep thinker and the answer can seem a bit counterintuitive. The chicken converts the corn to work (heart beat, etc) and muscle and feathers, etc. The process is not 100% efficient, so some of the energy value of the corn is forever lost in the conversion process. It is definitly a problem that will make you think ... but the answer is to kill the chicken asap. |
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TomasB Inner circle Sweden 1144 Posts |
Yes, of course I didn't mean for the chicken to eat any corn, but the energy he still has in his body from his previous meal is used for tissue generation. Compare to when you go to the gym and then your body starts to repair and increase your muscles with the food you ate earlier. Eventually this muscle building stops if you don't eat. So the question is...when did the Chicken have his last meal and had he been working out. If the chicken is in a catabolic state when this problem begins kill him immediately. If he's in an anabolic state (which is very possible) wait until he reaches a catabolic state.
Sorry, I suddenly see my error. If he is in an anabolic state it means that he has unprocessed food in his body or energy in his blood not yet distributed to cells so I'd still be better off killing him immediately since it's better to eat his undigested food and the energy still in his veins. I'm with you now. Kill the chicken immediately and hope that the meat doesn't rot before you need to eat it. Those microorganisms might get to it before you. /Tomas |
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damien666 Special user canada 513 Posts |
What if the 'space drifter' is a vegetarian?
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