Hint to puzzle #21: The Brick, The Boat and The Lake

21. A man is in a rowing boat floating on a lake, in the boat he has a brick. He throws the brick over the side of the boat so as it lands in the water. The brick sinks quickly. The question is, as a result of this does the water level in the lake go up or down?
man in a boat on a lake with a brick
We need to turn to Archimedes and his eureka moment here. This is physics but I suspect a lot of people understand the principal even if they don't think of it as physics.

When something sinks it necessarily displaces water to its own volume, it simply moves the water out the way raising the water level. But when something floats it displaces water with the same mass it has....


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