Large Truck

Originally posted by sloppyb
A large truck is crossing a bridge 1 mile long. The bridge can only hold 14000 lbs, which is the exact weight of the truck. The truck makes it half way across the bridge and stops. A bird lands on the truck. Does the bridge collapse? Give a reason.

This discussion is not leading anywhere.

The bridge holds 14000 lbs, and breaks with 14001 lbs of load, right?
And how would anyone know that? The only way to know that is to stress the bridge up to 14000 lbs to confirm that the bridge holds, and put another 1 lbs on it and see it fold.
Realistic? No, not at all. Bridges are not built that way.

Bridges is built with a certain degree of safety, or over-safety if you will, if it's properly built. If a bridge is built to hold a truck, it will hold for a truck and much more. There is no stipulation that the truck has to bee bird free, or be without an obese driver, or with only half load, or whatever. What kind of bridges do you have over there anyway?

(How many kilograms is a lbs, by the way...?)

Originally posted by FabianFnas
(How many kilograms is a lbs, by the way...?)

1 lb is pronounced "one pound".
When you have more than one the abbreviation becomes lbs. This is short for 'libra' (I think) and has a Latin background as a weight. The conversion I remember is that 2.2 lbs is equivalent to 1kg.

Originally a 'pound sterling' (the money) was the value of a 1 lb weight of silver (from a particular part of Germany - so Euro-sceptics who don't want us, rightly, to join the Euro are really arguing that in saving the pound we preserve a currency named after a silver-producing area of Germany!).

Libra in the financial sense is the original of the pound symbol (as we have it in the UK, not the bizarre Americanism for the hash # symbol), which is a stylised L and also for currencies called the Lira (eg Turkey, previously in Italy).

The British pound weight is divided up into 16 ounces (abbreviated to oz). Unless you are talking about liquid, in which case there are 20 fluid ounces in a pint (and beware - an English pint is bigger than a US pint!). Gold is weighed in troy ounces, I think, which are different again.

14 lbs is called a stone (but only in the UK - in the US they just keep reckoning in pounds). I am fairly sure that 8 stone is equivalent to a 'hundredweight' (abbreviated to cwt) and that 20 cwt is a ton. A ton is about 2% bigger than a tonne.

Simple, really!

Originally posted by Diapason
1 lb is pronounced "one pound".
When you have more than one the abbreviation becomes lbs. This is short for 'libra' (I think) and has a Latin background as a weight. The conversion I remember is that 2.2 lbs is equivalent to 1kg.

Originally a 'pound sterling' (the money) was the value of a 1 lb weight of silver (from a particular part of Germany - so ...[text shortened]... t) and that 20 cwt is a ton. A ton is about 2% bigger than a tonne.

Simple, really!

Thank you! I never understood it earlier, but now it is crystal clear. Again, thank you! 🙂

The driver made it across because he had to stop and take a pee, he peed 1 pound of liquid from his door, just peed right into open air where the pee did not touch the bridge so after that the whole assembly including driver weighed in at 13,998.5 pounds and when the 1/2 pound bird landed on the truck that combined with the 1/2 pound of fuel used let him go across safely.