Flowers (hope this one lasts a bit longer)

[The Bob]

A women is asked if she wants to win £100,000. She says yes. She is taken to a room full of flowers. She is told that the room has only one real flower in it. If she can find the one real flower she will win. There are too many flowers in the room to go through one at a time as she only has an hour to find it. She can smell the flower but they have all been sprayed with flower aromes so it is pointless. All the fake flowers are made of synthetic silk and feel the same as real flowers. They look the same as well.

How does she try to find the flower in the fastest time?

If it makes no sense just ask.

The Bob (2004 ©)

 

[Gokul43201]

On her notebook (equipped with wireless internet) she locates the nearest apiary (bee-keeper). This takes 5 minutes. She then drives over and borrows - or rents at some cost that I imagine would be a lot less than $180,000 (can't seem to find that pound sterling key on my keyboard) - several hundreds of bees and some protective wear. She returns with 10 minutes to spare. She let's the bees out, into the room and prays that they will know which the real flower is.

 

[The Bob]

She cannot leave the room.

The Bob (2004 ©)

 

[Gokul43201]

Nasty rule, that.

 

[The Bob]

Indeed it is but it is the rules.

The Bob (2004 ©)

P.S. (Hint) You are clsoe.

 

[NateTG]

Well, there must be some way to distinguish the real flower from the fakes, otherwise she has no chance.

That said, I'd be inclined to pick up bunches of flowers and throw them in the air, looking for one that behaves differently.

Other options include:
Flooding the room with an appropriate gaseous solvent (TCE comes to mind) that will melt the fake flowers. (Alternatively, a fast acting herbicde would only go after the real plant.)

If the flowers are potted, she rotates the tables / pots, and waits to see which one turns towards the light.

She takes a tissue and brushes bunches of flowers looking for yellow (pollen) streaks or shakes tables looking for lose pollen.

 

[BobG]

If the flowers are potted, she rotates the tables / pots, and waits to see which one turns towards the light.

Good point. Flowers react to light. However...

"There are too many flowers in the room to go through one at a time as she only has an hour to find it."

Hmmmm...

 

[Gokul43201]

Other options include:
Flooding the room with an appropriate gaseous solvent (TCE comes to mind) that will melt the fake flowers. (Alternatively, a fast acting herbicde would only go after the real plant.)

I would want to be anywhere near a room that's flooded with TCE - if that's trichloroethane you're talking about.

If the flowers are potted, she rotates the tables / pots, and waits to see which one turns towards the light.

I like this idea...except I might try to change the position of the dominant light source. That should be easier to do quickly - if it is possible at all.

 

[The Bob]

Someone is very close but I am not going to say why or how because that would spoil the fun.

The Bob (2004 ©)

 

[loseyourname]

She turns off the light. Whichever flower closes its bud is the real flower.

 

[relativelyslow]

i would set fire to one then all the silk ones would burn hopefully leaving the well watered flower semi intact

 

[Moonbear]

She could just turn up the heat very high, just barely tolerable for her, and watch for the real flower to wilt.

 

[The Bob]

Right some of you are taking it too far so I am going to add some information:

A women is asked if she wants to win £100,000. She says yes. She is put into a room full of flowers. She is told that the room she is in has only one real flower in it. If she can find the one real flower she will win.

Rules: 1. She cannot change the conditions of the room with technology for fire.
2. There are too many flowers in the room to go through one at a time as she only has an hour to find it.
3. She can smell the flower but they have all been sprayed with flower aromes so it is pointless.
4. All the fake flowers are made of synthetic silk and feel the same as real flowers. They look the same as well.

How does she try to find the real flower in time?

No more crazy answers please. It is simple. There is a chance that she will not get the money with the method I have but that is life.

The Bob (2004 ©)

 

[loseyourname]

To be fair, it wouldn't require any technology to turn off the lights. Even if there wasn't a switch, she could break them. Certainly the money she would make could pay for it. The technique would work, but if that isn't what you had in mind, I understand.

When you say your method won't necessarily work, it sounds like you want her to just uproot every one of them and hope she finds the real one in time. I'm sure she'd probably have a 50/50 chance that way, unless the room is the size of the Sistine Chapel.

By the way, isn't the Bob a television character? Or a movie character?

Edit: I used to be a visual merchandiser in a home decor store. Even the best silk flowers feel nothing like the real thing.

 

[The Bob]

Right. She cannot use anything other than herself. She can climb on tables, touch the flowers and open windows but she cannot use lights or anything that is not one her, which is nothing. There are only flowers and tables in the room.

As for the name I do not know. Is it? I made it up because I was fed up of having no nickname so I set it on my MSN screen name and it took off from there.

Have fun.

The Bob

P.S. I am going to say that it is a hot summers day (in my brain teaser), the pollen count is high and the humidity is fairly low.

 

[Evo]

I'd start crushing them, only the real flower will bruise, unless the room is huge 1 hour should be sufficient since you can crush bunches at a time, but from your hints, that's not the answer you're looking for.

I have allergies, I could probably start sniffing and find the real one when I started sneezing.

 

[marcus]

... She can climb on tables, touch the flowers and open windows but she cannot use lights or anything that is not one her, which is nothing. There are only flowers and tables in the room.
...

P.S. I am going to say that it is a hot summers day (in my brain teaser), the pollen count is high and the humidity is fairly low.

On such a day there will be bees outdoors
She puts a table by the open window and spreads flowers on it.
the aroma is strong and as it blows out into the outdoor air
it will attract bees
the bees will see the flowers and a bee can instantly tell the natural flower
and will go to it

because bees can see ultraviolet light that we cannot see
and flowers reflect some wavelengths that we cannot see
so as to have an attractive color to bees

so to a bee's eye the one natural flower actually has a different color

even though they all look the same color to us

so she has a chance to win, a bee may come in and show her

(the first person, perhaps Gokul?, had such an idea but more elaborate

 

[The Bob]

I'd start crushing them, only the real flower will bruise, unless the room is huge 1 hour should be sufficient since you can crush bunches at a time, but from your hints, that's not the answer you're looking for.

I have allergies, I could probably start sniffing and find the real one when I started sneezing.

Ok, OK. It appears I will need to think of everything that anyone could say for my next brain teaser. The room has now been increased in size. (Fast Maths: Let's say you can crush 10 flowers in a second then that is 600 flowers in a minute so that is 36000 flowers in an hour.) So I am going to say there is 2,000,000 flowers in the room.

I am also going to say that she has no allergies to flowers.

On such a day there will be bees outdoors
She puts a table by the open window and spreads flowers on it.
the aroma is strong and as it blows out into the outdoor air
it will attract bees
the bees will see the flowers and a bee can instantly tell the natural flower
and will go to it

because bees can see ultraviolet light that we cannot see
and flowers reflect some wavelengths that we cannot see
so as to have an attractive color to bees

so to a bee's eye the one natural flower actually has a different color

even though they all look the same color to us

so she has a chance to win, a bee may come in and show her

(the first person, perhaps Gokul?, had such an idea but more elaborate

Indeed Gokul was the closest but I needed to add the fact that you could not leave. I am going to assume that when you read the comment above that you would realize that you cold not move all of the flowers in time but what I was looking for was:

She opens the window and hopes that a bee flies in and then it will land on the real flower.

So I am going to give it to Marcus, for simply reading my other hints and using common sense, but I do need to give credit to Gokul who was very close.

The Bob (2004 ©)

P.S. More to come later

 

[NateTG]

She opens the window and hopes that a bee flies in and then it will land on the real flower.

Bees use color vision and scent to identify flowers. According to your description the fakes are visually indistinguishable, and are also scented like real flowers.
Bees that are harvesting nectar are ery close to the end of their lives, so the odds of the bee dying before it gets anywhere are pretty good.
Moreover, you'd need it to be a greenhouse or something similar. Otherwise, the bee will get confused by the light sources (like windows) much like moths circling light bulbs.
Of course, it's not exactly easy to induce a bee to come into the window in the first place.

So, now that we have gotten the bee in the (nonexistant) window, and posited that, despite your description, the bee can distinguish between the real and fake flowers, an managed to keep the bee from flying into the window repeatedly, she still needs to be able to follow the bee which is, after all, not likely to take a human-convenient path through the warehouse.

This doesn't strike me as a very good solution.

 

[Evo]

Oh come now, what is the likelyhood of a bee just happening to be hanging around some building waiting for a window to open, and it has such a keen desire to find a single flower buried under 2,000,000 fake ones, that it ignores all the flowers outside and goes after that single one?

I think NateG's answer "She takes a tissue and brushes bunches of flowers looking for yellow (pollen) streaks or shakes tables looking for lose pollen." Would be a good solution.

 

[mercmisfire]

this is a very old riddle

I believe that this is a very old riddle and had something to do with socrates proving himself the wisest man in the kingdom (though, I think I may be wrong with socrates : I want to say it was some ancient greek storyteller, but I just can't remember --> it was someone renowned for their cunning)
sorry if everyone knew this already,
-->merc

 

[The Bob]

Oh come now, what is the likelyhood of a bee just happening to be hanging around some building waiting for a window to open...

Looks like I am going to have to think of absolutely everything before I post my next brain teaser

I should, therefore, have say there was a beehive place thing around but that would have given it away so I didn't.

Anyway hope my next one is better and that you all try it.

The Bob (2004 ©)