Try these puzzles on your own. Then click on the link at the top right of the page to check your answers!

Straw-ng Man

How many drinks do you think this guy can drink with all these straws in his mouth? During the Czech Republic's Festival of Curiosities, Lukas Safranek set a national record for the greatest number of straws in a person's mouth. He stuffed 160 straws in there! If he drank 1/4 of a can of soda through each one of those straws, how many cans of soda would Lukas have drank?

Sticky Situation

In New York City this past June, the drink company Snapple made a popsicle that was 25 feet tall and weighed 17 1/2 tons. They planned to display the world's largest popsicle. It might have worked, but the treat melted in the hot summer sun—leaving the street full of cold, kiwi-strawberry goo that the fire department had to clean up! (Worst of all, no one got to taste the popsicle, which was supposed to be sliced and given out for free.)

One ton equals 2,000 pounds. How much did the popsicle weigh, in pounds, before the "meltdown"?

Try it yourself. Then, scroll down to the bottom of this page, hold down your mouse button, and scroll over the blank area. The answer will appear!

Here is the answer to the Numbers in the News problem, "Straw-ng Man":
Lukas would have drank 40 cans of soda with the straws.

Here is the answer to the problem, "Sticky Situation":
The Snapple popsicle weighed a total of 35,000 pounds.

Be sure to check back each month for more fun Numbers in the News stories! Until then, keep on calculating!