By Vurdlak on March 22, 2006, with 115 Comments
Try to solve the following enigma. The following piece of aluminium was neither thinned not elongated. And no pieces were added. It was not a sphere or a cylinder. So how can it have this shape now?
(26 votes)
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There are two pieces of metal overlapping on the bottom strip where as on the top one they are no longer overlapping and someone just bent them up.
I don’t understand the question.
umm, you can see theres two pieces of metal the same length, one attached to either side of the outer part on the bpttom horizontal bar. the black little metal nubs were disconnected for the top piece and made into that shape… easy really.
sorry for tripple post…
i didnt see JBs entry before i submitted mine.
w/e
I think the problem is how is there two strips in each of the two center crossings, while at the top and bottom, there are only one. Where did the extra material come from.
In regards to that, I am stumped.
I think the question is “How can this single peice have this shape?” If it was, say a stamped sheet, it can’t. The two overlapping strips are the enigma, The ones that are bent up are to illustrate this.
Yes, that portion is obvious.
But look more carefully-
the rectangle around the perimeter is unbroken.
How did they do that!?!?
The point is that the whole thing is manufactured out of one sheet. The perimeter is one solid piece, a sort of 0 on a seven segment LED, In one piece, one thickness. The inner sections are doubled, two thicknessess. How is that possible?
Sorry, but this was totally trivial to see. In fact this was so easy that i believed i misunderstood the question. So how is this even remotely puzzeling?!
Now while there are many really good illusions on this webpage, this one is so dumb and easy that it is a shame to show it here, really.
you guys are missing the question
the pieces overlap, yes.
therein lies the enigma.
look allthe way around the figure, it’s one piece of aluminum, so how can there be overlapping parts like that?
I may be wrong, or blind, but i believe that this is one solid rectangle of aluminum. but how can the center have overlapping parts if it is one piece. the fact that the top half is bent up makes no difference, and it only further demonstrates that there is more metal in the center than there should be.
This would be possible if a sheet was formed, cut and unfolded – imagine the shape similar to the letter E – not the solid of the E but the spaces around the letter (an inverse E I suppose). Form this shape, cut and unfold along the top to bottom axis.
is it cut from a sheet, or carved from a solid block?
HA HA HA!!!
I am thinking that the item is not actually a rectangle. It is a trapezoid that has 1 parallel side much longer than the other. The “overlapping” strips are actually cut next to each other, then twisted up and joined at their ends. The illusion is that the object is photographed with the shorter parallel side closer to the camera than the longer parallel edge so that the cut outs look rectangular but is in actually trapezoidal.
There is a copy of this illusion at Puzzle World in Wanaka, New Zealand. I saw it many years ago and I have never figured it out. It *is* a rectangle, from memory.
Can we have the answer, please???!
It’s simple, look at the black-on-white text on the board next to the piece.
There is one word visible: Welds
As I seem to recall, there is a “no” in front of “welds”.
It’s easy to do if it was carved from a solid block…
I cannot understand the question. Where is the enigma? Why is this an illusion? Stick to breathing pillows and twirling snakes, aight?
This one was posted for people who can understand. In short, how is it possible to cut single aluminium plate into object you see. how is it possible to get pices to overleap making if the pices together would be as wide as the aluminium board?
“I cannot understand the question. Where is the enigma? Why is this an illusion? Stick to breathing pillows and twirling snakes, aight?”
and you stick to posting comments about the ‘enigmas’ that you can understand.
…I think it’s a sheet of aluminium that has been folded and doubled up. If you look carefully at the top corners you can just about see a double layer, but that could just be my imagination. If it is doubled up then it could explain the overlaps easily.
Can’t one just weld the extra material on to the square, polish it and say it was stamped from one sheet? No enigma here…
Just zoom at the picture and you will find the answer. the 2nd branch from the bottom is overlapping and at the top it’s has been cut and screwed together so you don’t see it because it’s supposed to be in the shadow of the bended piece.
Sorry for my bad english but I come from germany
This _is_ the bit of metal at Wanaka, the sign to the left of it is the one they have there.
looking at the surrounding rectangle, it has 6 rivets in it that on first impression seem to be of no purpose…
but it doesnt really help much :(
I think there are 2 plausible way for this to have taken shape. The solid block theory is well, solid. The folded idea also seems very possible, that could account for the 6 rivets on the frame.
1.Start with a block
2. Cut the three openings/holes in it. You should now have something that looks like a cinderblock (only with 3 holes).
3. Everywhere but the middle two strip cut down to a thin strip.
4. Hollow the two middle strips out from behind.
5. Make a cut in the middle of each middle strip.
6. Unfold each middle strip.
Viola! Because the middle strips went out and around the block they are longer than the ones you left in step 3. By sizing the block right you could make this peice of aluminum.
Hi,
I saw this in New Zealand, and I couldn’t – and still can’t – figure it out.
The sign says something like, “no welds, no cuts, no glue”.
It wasn’t make from a solid block; it was made from a single sheet.
Note – it’s not aluminium – I think it’s sheet steel.
I asked them some questions to get this info.I’d love to find out how it can be possible.
Those two pieces are perfectly aligned, coming out of the piece at exactly 90 degrees. The sheet has not been “turned inside out” or anything.
They did say that the trick wouldn’t be possible with e.g. a piece of paper.
Anyone got any ideas?
I think it’s a stamped piece.
The center was stretched a bit more than the frame, and the excess was cut off.
This is an optical illusion. Take a piece of aluminium shaped like a four pronged E and bend the second prong up, the third prong back onto itself. Now, place a mirror exactly where you bent the third prong and take a picture. Viola, you have the illusion/enigma.
Except that there is no mirror. You can touch and look at it from every angle.
You need to look at it from 3 dimensions. Basicallly, start with a block (say, twice the thickness of the desired final thickness) and then cut it diagonally for the frame. The strips in the middle, therefore, will no longer lay flush on the newly-cut frame. You then only have to separate them to achieve the illusion. If you have access to the original material, you can confirm this by looking at the frame. The cross section will not be rectangular, but rather, a parallelogram. I can make diagrams if anyone wants me to.
What
i didn’t understand anything………
I agree with Kevin and Zack… I don’t know what anyone is talking about.
Hmm, I got another idea.
Imagine that the “left” and “right” strips of metal were originally parallel: instead of lying flat on the plane, they would go in the up-down and forward-backward dimensions. These are connected in the frontmost and backmost strips to form an S shape: the bottom of the left strip would connect to the top of the right strip.
The middle strips would be the same, but not connected: the bottom of the left strip would simply keep on going until it’s near the bottom of the right strip. Likewise, the top of the right strip would go near the top of the right one.
Anyway, the fundamental problem remains: this shape cannot have been made by cutting out a rectangular sheet of metal, then bending it into form.
Are the overlapping and curved-up crossbars half as thick as the frame? like did the ‘slit’ the panel halfway through it’s thickness? So like the frame is 6mm thick and the crosspieces are 3mm thick?
Cut the outline you see in the picture. The rectangle with two crossbars. Slicing the two crossbars along there thin edges would give you two cross bars overlapping.
But that would be equivalent to “thinning” it. Also, stretching the crossing bars would also be a solution. However both theese techniques are not used according to the description.
So how to cut this from one sheet of metal (without welding)?
Well, since someone metioned that this was something that couldn’t be reproduced with e.g. paper, my theory is that the original outside shape when cutting the sheet was not a rectangle, but a parralellogram (not a trapesiod, that would require elongating again, also a trick of perspective isn’t possible since it could be picked up and studied).
It’s a bit tough to explain, but drawn on paper it’s seems simple.
I made a wonderful illustration/photomanipulation in photoshop showing the original cutout vs. the finished shape, but (i’m on a *cough* mac) photoshop crashed when i clicked save as… So no illustration for you.
I’ll try to explain it instead. *sigh*
Imagine the left/right sides to be paralell and of equal length. Imagine the top and bottom to be that as well. Now, skew the right side downwards (making roughly 6 degree angles in the corners) about the thickness of one of the middle bars. Now imagine the middle bars. Two from the left, and two from the right. They will now not overlap, but just be next to eachother. Imagine this cut out from the metal sheet.
Now, apply force to push the right side up so that the middle bars must overlap. This will bend/deform the metal a little bit in each corner, but metal bends so it should not be noticable.
At least. That’s my theory and it’s the only possible solution i can think of given the circumstances.
i think its basically a diamondshape, cut with the four bars, then bent to place, so the four bars overlap.
if you do the math by computer, it would be possible to calculate where to deform it.
thats no bent.its the stupid reflection of the two connected bars on top.i lke it tho
i think Chain, in responce #42 is correct with his analogy. good job
i dont know
I agree with xrobbyrob. I think chain is actually correct.
Initially, the sheet was a parallelogram. not a square or rectangle…
Cut the four centre strips side by side.
Force the parallelogram into a rectangle.
The centre strips must overlap…
Hold it in place with the six rickets…
Chain, you’re a genius….
huh?
took me a while to read it.. i’m tired as hell… but I spotted the how it was done in less than a second… poorly done.
what illusion am i supposed to see here???
the two strips in the middle are just bent upwards.
i don’t get what you’re asking
xx
chain
why bother bending the whole frame when you can just bend the centre pieces? cut the sheet like in the following (Fantastic) diagram and then bend them towards the middle?
|/ |
| /|
it’ll take less effort ;)
yeah i don’t think we’ve got it quite yet. cos if that’s the answer then that’s just stupid. it’s gotta be more ingenious than that to put on display.
heated and bent?
the liquid alliminium was poured into a mold,
not that hard
easy!!! it was like this:
1
_____________________
_____________________
2
/ \
/ \
____________/ \_____________
3
||
||
||
||
||
||
||
_____________________ / \______________________
ummm.. can any of you say….”welded” It is very obvious by seeing it the word in the pic also.
Its cleverl but rather simple, cut from a sphere. Think of it as globe frame (with grid rather than full solid) say cut the globe at +20 degress Lattitude and -20 degrees lattitude and +30 degrees (u could still use 20 as such) longitude and -30 degrees longitude. That will form a rectangle of sorts with long mid section and small top and bottom sections.In order to make it a real rectangle you would have to cut the mid sections which forms the douple layer (of the middle horizontal strips) that’s shown here. The rivets are just for show.
Clever..aiye!!!
im confuzzeled. was it welded? bent? overlapping the someone stuck it up? does anyone really know 4 sure except the person that did it? no one really knows for sure.
The Vulva warped it to it’s current shape.
its against a mirror
The answer is within your own mind’s eye, if you can remember the word ‘reflection’ on the top end of the picture. To reflect the top horizontal strip will give an added dimension that sends the human mind’s eye on vacation for a moment… then it becomes obvious, in my mind’s eye, anyway…
REFLECTION FROM BENEATH!
wat if it’s just a picture? and not aluminium at all??
That is stupid
2 pieces of metal, one on top of the other.
Its in plain view that way!
It’s carved from a block of metal.
omg Photoshop.
what JB said at the top is correct… the bottom strips at the bottom are not bent they are over lapping but on the top they are bent up and held together quite clearly by what I believe is a bolt… placed through the holes…..
Never mind, I see what is being asked now, forgive me… I am not sure how this would be done then with out doing what Yo said
Chain I like your theory the most, it makes sence… and it is a an object, not just photoshop or mirrors….
It has been cast and then bent into shape
Connie you idiot, It says, no welds in the explanation. Chain makes the most sense, given the circumstances. The rest of you are pathetic.
yeh u can tell that they were overlapping – and that on the bottom strip they r overlapping
I don’t know whether anybody will be bothered to look down this far because I didn’t so i don’t know if this had been said or not.
I can see one possible weld joint on the bottom right corner. But i can’t see one at the top.
I was in wanaka yesterday and spent ages agonising over it. I like chains explanation in 42 and i did notice some evidane of deformation in the corners. The staff there will not tell you the solution but if you give them an explanation they will say if your right.
How about this shape?
_____________________
| ____ _____ __ |
\ \###| | |###| | |#\ \
\ \##| | |###| | |##\ \
\ \#|_| |###|_| |###\ \
|_____________________|
then lift up one end sligtly and tap into a rectangle
___ __
\__\ ==> |__|
with the middle peace overlapping
___________________
| ___ ___ __ |
\ \###| |###| |###\ \
\ \###| |###| |###\ \
\ \###|_|###|_|###\ \
|___________________|
I just want to say: “READ the other posts BEFORE posting your own comment.”
I too believe Chain is correct in his theory, and him having post 42 makes it just a bit more likely (Answer to life, the Universe and Everything.)
Somebody thought about Photoshop?
I’m thinking that maybe it was cut similar to this:
|=======|
|…….|
|=======|
|=======|
|…….|
|=======|
|=======|
|…….|
|=======|
Where the single cut is a top bar, a bottom bar, and two inner “double bars” each separated from the frame opposite their partner. From there you would lift each of the inner ones and overlap them. (bad text example:)
|=======|
|…….|
|===\ |
| \===|
|…….|
|===\ |
| \===|
|…….|
|=======|
Depending on the width of the whole sheet or the angle you view it at, it would *appear* that the doubled up single inner bars meet the sides at the same point on either side. In this picture, in fact, it almost appears as though the lower unbent doubled up bar is higher on the right side than it is on the left. It’s hard to tell from this picture though.
Me no get it…
it is easy to figure out if you just look at the other strip of metal, there are actually two strips of metal and one is going across the other!
theres two peices of metal on the straight one you dipshits
they just didnt add the screws, bent them upwards and ‘tried’ to fool you
laaaame illusion
expecially since i can see the ‘trick’ without someone having to tell me