19 Augusti 2023 - 13:24

If you are a smart sixth former at a state school in the UK, then you are eligible to take part in a fantastic free course run by Oxford university that will teach you mathematics and physics at a deeper level than the A-level curriculum, preparing you for studying these subjects at university. The last one is maths, not physics, but it allows me to segue into the reason I have posted these puzzles today. It looks complicated, but there is a two line solution. What will happen sooner: ball 1 flies off the table or ball 2 hits the side of the table? You let go of both balls at the same time. The middle of the string is over the edge of a table.

A weightless string connects two identical metal balls.
