A Bang-Up Job
RAY: Here's the answer. What did I figure out in that half-hour?
TOM: You figured out the flashlight is going to work.
RAY: No. I figured out why it didn't work.
TOM: Oh!
RAY: Because this light bulb is not a light bulb, it's an LED or a light emitting diode, and like all diodes the electricity can only flow in one direction. So it has to be hooked up correctly, and I by chance hooked up one wire to one end of the battery and one wire to the other end of the battery, and it was reversed.
TOM: Right.
RAY: When I fished it out of the trash and I tried it again, it still didn't work because I'd done the same thing, how would I know? And when I reversed the two wires the thing lit up. Pretty cute, eh?
TOM: It is very cute.
RAY: So who's our winner?
TOM: Our winner this week is Scott Treadwell, from Advance, North Carolina. For having his answer selected at random from among all the correct answers that we got, Scott gets a $26 gift certificate to the Shameless Commerce Division at Car Talk.com with which he can get a set of our enormously popular Car Talk Reusable Shopping Bags.
RAY: Congratulations Scott!
[ Car Talk Puzzler ]
