riddle

[jcroce77]

Hey folks, I had to give in on this one tonight so lets see how you can do.
Some of you may have heard it before as it was off Colombo - a fellow Ma'ist has been watching too much daytime TV

I give you 5 bags of gold.
You have one scale to weigh with, but you can only use it once.
There are 4 bags of real gold and 1 bag of fake gold.
The bars of real gold weigh 1 lbs the fake gold weighs 1 lbs 1 ounce.
You can put any combination of bags/ bars you like on the scale but you can only use it once - 1 reading.

Can you work out which bag is the fake?

Official Colombo status if you can figure it out.

[yeppidy]

you don't use the scales, you pick up the bags yourself and feel which one is heavier?

[bunnystalker]

An ounce aint gonna make too much difference

[BUGGZ]

well, it doesnt say how many bars are in each bag

[earl2k8]

So you can judge the diffrence between 1 ounce?

[Elvangelist]

How many bars are in each bag?

EDIT: As in, if there are more than 5, can you take one from one bag, two from another, three from a third, and so on, and place them on the scale?

[FrankenRubarb89]

there are the same amount of bars in each one, say 50

you have to use the scales

[paodhistorian]

Then you take one bar from one, two bars from another, three bars from a third, four from a fourth, and five from a fifth and put them in separate piles on the scale. Take the measurement and find out how many ounces too heavy it is (i.e., how much more than normal gold does it weigh?). The number of ounces extra will tell you which pile is fake, and therefore which bag is too.

[NickHoy]

Put all 5 gold bags on the scale.

then slowly take each bag off, while keeping an eye on the scale measuring dial thingy.

When you see it jump down a pund and an ounce then the one youre holding is the fake bag

[pineapplepower]

Nice one Sandus, that was too easy for you mate