My first, yet simple, puzzle on this site.
By myself, I’m as light as can be
But throw me a ball, and suddenly I’ll be heavy
Give me another, and I’ll get quite excited
Because shortly thereafter, I will become a he instead.
What am I?
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
7
-
$\begingroup$ The title needs to be more specific. $\endgroup$– Peter MortensenCommented Aug 23, 2018 at 23:41
-
$\begingroup$ @PeterMortensen My intention was to make the title have a very obvious clue. $\endgroup$– T JamesCommented Aug 24, 2018 at 14:07
-
$\begingroup$ I don't know if it's just me, but $\ast$ (ROT13) jura lbh fnvq "ur", V qvqa'g guvax bs n znyr; V gubhtug bs "Ur" nf va "Uryvhz", naq gur "rkpvgrq" cneg znqr zr n yvggyr zber vagrerfgrq. V gura terj rkpvgrq zlfrys, hagvy V fnj @EnaqNyGube'f nafjre... V guvax guvf cneg jnf gur ovt tvirnjnl, naq abg gur gvgyr. Ohg V yvxr culfvpf... $\ast$ Great puzzle, nonetheless! I have reached my daily voting limit and have to wait $9$ hours before I can vote again (DVL9), so I have favourited instead $\color{darkorange}{\bigstar}$ :D $\endgroup$– Mr PieCommented Aug 24, 2018 at 14:25
-
$\begingroup$ I don't think there's anything wrong with the original title, just FTR. It's part of the nature of Puzzling that we have a lot of puzzles with 'unspecific' titles. $\endgroup$– Rand al'ThorCommented Aug 24, 2018 at 14:59
-
$\begingroup$ @Randal'Thor I don't mind the titles in a puzzle. I usually ignore them and then once I believe I have solved the answer, I explain the title last. (Even when I make my own riddles/puzzles, I leave the title 'til last.) :P $\endgroup$– Mr PieCommented Aug 24, 2018 at 15:12
|
Show 2 more comments
4 Answers
$\begingroup$
Feedback section
$\endgroup$
10
Are you
a hydrogen atom/nucleus?
By myself, I’m as light as can be
Hydrogen is the lightest element on the periodic table. Specifically, this would refer to the standard isotope of protium, with just a single proton in the nucleus.
But throw me a ball, and suddenly I’ll be heavy
Deuterium, a hydrogen isotope with one proton and one neutron, is called heavy water.
Give me another, and I’ll get quite excited
Tritium, a hydrogen isotope with one proton and two neutrons, is in an excited state ...
Because shortly thereafter, I will become a he instead.
... and soon decays into helium-3, denoted by "He" on the periodic table.
Feedback section
I think the word "excited" was the first key for me in solving this. That word seems likely to have a non-obvious meaning that fits the context of whatever the solution is, and the only second meaning I could think of was in physics. From the first line I guessed the answer might be a photon, so I spent a while barking up that tree and thinking about particle interactions involving photons on Feynman diagrams. Then I realised what the "he" must mean, and from there it was easy to construct the right answer after a quick look at a list of isotopes on Wikipedia.
answered Aug 23, 2018 at 15:55
-
$\begingroup$ I see we have similar lines of thinking. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 23, 2018 at 15:56
-
$\begingroup$ Apparently too easy.. You guys sure are fast! $\endgroup$– T JamesCommented Aug 23, 2018 at 15:59
-
$\begingroup$ @Joe-You-Know I had to think for a minute to be sure, but I think I just beat you to it :-) Have a +1. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 23, 2018 at 15:59
-
1$\begingroup$ @jwi You get my +1 as well :-) $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 23, 2018 at 16:06
-
1$\begingroup$ I should add that you are the only one who truly got the heavy reference correct. Impressive in such a short amount of time. $\endgroup$– T JamesCommented Aug 23, 2018 at 16:09
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
1
Are you:
Hydrogen (nucleus)
By myself, I’m as light as can be
Lowest atomic weight from all the elements
But throw me a ball, and suddenly I’ll be heavy
Add an electron, atomic weight increases
Give me another, and I’ll get quite excited
Add more electrons or even a proton+neutron, it will go through chemical change
Because shortly thereafter, I will become a he instead.
From that, it becomes He, helium
-
$\begingroup$ Really close, but missed the heavy reference just a bit. $\endgroup$– T JamesCommented Aug 23, 2018 at 16:24
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
1
You are an
electron
By myself, I’m as light as can be
Electrons have essentially as little mass as possible without being massless
But throw me a ball, and suddenly I’ll be heavy
the ball is a proton (or a proton-neutron pair)
Give me another, and I’ll get quite excited
Then you will be a helium ion
Because shortly thereafter, I will become a he instead.
helium ions are so good at stabilizing that it will pull an electron from somewhere and become stable. He is the atomic symbol for helium
-
$\begingroup$ Not exactly what I was thinking, but I am impressed that you actually came up with an alternate answer for what I thought was a rather specific riddle. +1! $\endgroup$– T JamesCommented Aug 23, 2018 at 16:05
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
Are you
Hydrogen?
By myself, I’m as light as can be
Hydrogen is the lightest element.
But throw me a ball, and suddenly I’ll be heavy
I believe this is referring to adding a neutron to the hydrogen atom. It'll make tritium, which makes it nearly twice as heavy.
Give me another, and I’ll get quite excited
Radioactive isotope.
Because shortly thereafter, I will become a he instead.
Turns into helium.
answered Aug 23, 2018 at 15:56