Kind of a thinking puzzle

[Srentiln]

I was thinking of a story out of (I think) UC Berkley a professor told my class and thought I'd see how people here would do with the same situation.

You are shown an acorn and then a log from an oak tree. "Where did the mass come from?"

Keep in mind that this happened to three Biology PhD candidates and they all got it wrong.

 

[Freakworld]

You are shown an acorn and then a log from an oak tree. "Where did the mass come from?"

That's an anagram hold your horses.

YOU ARE SHOWN AN ACORN AND THEN A LOG FROM AN OAK TREE WHERE DID THE MASS COME FROM

H L TREE D E M COM FR

HL TREE COMFRMED

>HL THREE CONFIRMED

HALF LIFE 3 CONFIRMED

"Where did the mass come from?"

Since this is an obvious half life reference, it did not get any mass because it's radioactive, it loses mass.

So it was either a very heavy acorn or a very small oak tree.

And since both are made out of plants, which I assume are made out of the same atoms, my point stands.

Also note this:

three

Proves my point even further.

 

[Freakworld]

/thread

 

[magicdem0n11]

... i was sat thinking of an actual scientific answer... until i read freaks post...

 

[Srentiln]

it's an actual scientific answer, freak's response is null and void for one reason:

Vechs is in the early-alpha test group for half life 3

 

[creeperTNTman198]

Plants take in atoms and create structures out of them using sunlight (photons) as energy. These structures are used to build more cells, which allows the plants to grow and gain mass. So, the mass basically comes from dead matter whose atoms have been reconstituted into the plant. Though, if we are going super far, the mass comes from atoms that were produced in the heart of stars.

This is my answer

 

[Srentiln]

no, and while the answer is science-based, it's very simple.

 

[SleeknFoxy]

Water and glucose?

 

[TheForgottenUser]

Nowhere. Your statement contains nothing about growth.

EDIT: And if this isn't a trick question then my answer is carbon that got fixed from the atmosphere. I feel like that's what TNTman meant though.

 

[SleeknFoxy]

Wait no, the mass came from an oak tree ofc

 

[corygolfanatic]

Well, if you were shown the "log" of an oak tree, I would assume using logarithms????

 

[Srentiln]

While worded a bit oddly, I think forgot got it correct:

carbon that got fixed from the atmosphere

more simply known as "the air"

btw, the biology PhD candidates (who *should* have known more about this than me) all said, "the soil"

 

[magicdem0n11]

mass/energy is never created or destroyed... (idk whereelse to go from here)

 

[Freakworld]

since the loss of mass is reverse mass growth aka int mass = mass.growth()-- i still consider my answer correct

 

[DistinctMadness]

I"ll be honest, I think creeperTNT was pretty much right. A+ to creeperTNT
Also how the f**k did bio majors not know that one? I knew that one and I'm in high school bio, that's not a very advanced course

 

[Srentiln]

Dis, creeper's rather technically laiden answer pointed to a more siplistc version of "the soil" since

dead matter whose atoms have been reconstituted into the plant

has that implication.

However, the first part of his post was a fairly accurate statement of what plants do.