Which tank will fill up first? This online puzzle is trickier than you might think

There are a ton of ways to entertain yourself online, but if puzzles are your thing — the internet’s got plenty to keep you busy. This water tank graphic will have you asking yourself, “Which tank will fill up first?” And the answer’s not as simple as you might think.

The graphic that’s been making the rounds online is accompanied by the directive to imagine water flowing into this system of tanks, and to then answer the question, “which tank will fill faster?” At first glance, it appears as though these tanks are all connected, but a closer look reveals that, in fact, they’re not.

Don’t worry — that’s not a spoiler! Even with that information, it’s still going to require a bit of thinking to ultimately find the answer.

You have the site Do You Remember? to thank for this specific graphic, but there are tons more like it available for your puzzle-solving pleasure on YouTube. Before you go internet surfing, though, imagine pouring water into each of these lettered tanks. Which one will fill first? It’s kind of relaxing to envision this, isn’t it?

OK. Once you’ve given yourself a chance to really look this over, you can move on to find out whether or not you got it right.

The Answer:

All right. Time to test yourself.

The answer is…. “F.”

Did you guess correctly?

As you can see, tank “C” will flow directly into tank “J” because there’s no actual connection between the “C” and “D” tank.

Then, “J” will flow downward into tank “L.”

From there, the water will drop below and fill tank “F.” There’s no actual connection from “L” to “H,” you’ll notice.

More Puzzles

Whether you figured this one out on your own or not, you may be interested in testing yourself even more. Because these online puzzles can be pretty addictive.

There are plenty more where this came from. For example, can you find the cat hidden amongst the owls in this picture?

And if you like the idea of testing your brain pretty regularly, you can even wake yourself up with puzzles thanks to the “I Can’t Wake Up” app.

No more snooze button for you!

Technology’s making it possible to solve puzzles as often as you’d like. Ask and the internet will provide.