Welcome back, puzzle lovers!
Are you ready to give your brain a quick and fun workout today?
Take a close look at the image on your screen.
We have two scales with some delicious-looking jam jars on them.
The big question today is: What is the weight of a single empty jar?
At first glance, it might look a bit tricky, but don’t worry at all.
We are going to break it down together step by step!
First, let’s observe what we see on the right scale.
On the right side, there is one full jar of jam sitting on the scale.
The scale shows a total weight of 330 grams.
This means one empty jar plus a full amount of jam inside equals 330.
Now, let’s look at the left scale.
On the left side, we have two items together.
There is one completely empty jar, and one jar that is half-full of jam.
Together, they weigh 300 grams on the scale.
So, how can we use these clues to find the answer?
Let’s think about what the items actually consist of.
The left scale has two empty glass jars in total.
It also has half a portion of jam.
So, two empty jars plus half a portion of jam equal 300 grams.
Now, let’s double everything on the left scale to make things super clear!
If we double two empty jars, we get four empty jars.
If we double half a portion of jam, we get one full portion of jam.
And if we double the total weight of 300 grams, we get 600 grams!
So, four empty jars plus one full portion of jam equal 600 grams.
Now, remember what we learned from the right scale earlier?
One empty jar plus one full portion of jam weighs exactly 330 grams.
Do you see the magic happening here?
Let’s compare our new equation with the right scale!
Four empty jars with full jam weigh 600 grams.
One empty jar with full jam weighs 330 grams.
If we subtract the right scale from our doubled left scale, the jam cancels out completely!
That leaves us with three empty jars.
Subtracting 330 from 600 gives us 270 grams.
So, three empty jars weigh 270 grams!
To find the weight of just one empty jar, we simply divide 270 by 3.
270 divided by 3 gives us 90!
That means the weight of one empty jar is 90 grams!
Let’s quickly check our answer to make sure it is 100% correct.
If the empty jar weighs 90 grams, then the full jar on the right scale has 240 grams of jam, because 330 minus 90 is 240.
Half a portion of jam would weigh 120 grams.
On the left scale, we have one empty jar (90 grams) plus a half-full jar (90 plus 120, which is 210 grams).
90 plus 210 equals 300 grams, which matches the left scale perfectly!
Did you get 90 grams as your answer too?
Great job solving this puzzle, and keep practicing to keep your mind sharp!
