How Many Holes Are There in a Straw?

[SalixIncendium]

How many holes are there in a straw? Explain your reasoning.

 

[Rival]

None, it's a tunnel. I could have gone with 1 hole, but 0 seemed more apt.

 

[Yerda]

Depends. Normally a few in the ones I try to use.

 

[Vinayaka]

Not as many as there are in a strawman.

 

[Stevicus]

How many holes are there in a straw? Explain your reasoning.

Well, if a straw is like a tunnel, then I can enter a tunnel in Detroit and end up in Windsor. Does the hole in Detroit and the hole in Windsor constitute a single hole, or are they two separate holes? If I'm standing by the hole in Windsor, then I can't be standing by the hole in Detroit. Can't be in two places at once. That would suggest two holes.

 

[mangalavara]

How many holes are there in a straw? Explain your reasoning.

According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, a hole is a ‘hollow place in a solid body.’ From my perspective, a straw is not a solid body, rather, it is what @Rival called it: a tunnel. What a straw has on both ends is an opening.

 

[Twilight Hue]

According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, a hole is a ‘hollow place in a solid body.’ From my perspective, a straw is not a solid body, rather, it is what @Rival called it: a tunnel. What a straw has on both ends is an opening.

Best answer, except for that hole that sprung a leak on the side, and had to get another straw for my drink.

 

[Viker]

Being that it is a hollowed cylinder with two openings, it's still one thing (a hole).

It's also just a matter of perspective and how you might want to express it. The question is a great debate exercise. That's for sure. Is any one answer entirely correct?

 

[Stevicus]

I've seen where others tackling this question compare the straw to a donut, which would be viewed as only having one hole.

 

[Revoltingest]

I've seen where others tackling this question compare the straw to a donut, which would be viewed as only having one hole.

Topologists use a different definition of "hole".
Not the same as the general public & people
in other professions.
We are not topologists, so the straw has 2 holes,
1 at each end. But if your straw were only 1/16"
long, it would be a ring, & have no holes.

 

[RestlessSoul]

Looked at holistically, it's one open ended space. With two ends.

 

[Stevicus]

There's a turkey in this straw:

So, another question might be: How many turkeys can you fit in a straw?

 

[PureX]

I'd say it's a tube with a hole at each end. So two holes.

 

[ChristineM]

One hole, two openings

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

One structure -- one hole. Those who argue for more than one shoul share with the rest of us where one ends and the other(s) begin.

 

[Secret Chief]

One structure -- one hole. Those who argue for more than one shoul share with the rest of us where one ends and the other(s) begin.

There's a DMZ in the middle.

 

[crossfire]

If you are inside the straw, there are two holes. (entry or exit points.)

 

[PureX]

One structure -- one hole. Those who argue for more than one shoul share with the rest of us where one ends and the other(s) begin.

I understand a 'hole' to be an opening in an otherwise enclosed plane. What lies beyond that opening is not part of the opening. So the straw has two holes, and what lies beyond and in this case between them is one continuous 'tube'.

A straw is a hole, a tube, and another hole each connected to the other in that order. What is deceptive is that the enclosed planes at each end of the straw is only very slightly larger than the hole within it. Causing people to ignore it as a plane with a 'hole' in it, and to focus on the 'tube' as part of the hole.

 

[ChristineM]

Does a washer have 1 hole or 2?

Now stretch the washer to make a tunnel like the straw.

Does it still have one hole or is magic involved?

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

If you are inside the straw, there are two holes. (entry or exit points.)

One hole -- two exits -- and, among Jews, three opinions.

(sorry about that)