During English class, we were going over our mock exams. I nearly aced the exam (nearly - I already blogged about the ridiculous government exams), so my friend and I were just talking about anything.

One kid beside us (not quite sure how we got to the subject), but he asked us the following:

In space, if a monkey with a knife and an elephant were to fight, who would win?

As stupid as the question was, it took me half of an instant to come up with the following response:

The monkey! Due to it's size, it is most likely to be able to hold it's breath longest!

The kid beside us laughed, and added in the fact that there's air. I thought for a moment, recalled that the monkey had the knife, and immediatly came up with the idea that the monkey could throw the knife. However, my friend corrected me saying that the knife would hardly damage the elephant, and that the monkey could hardly be able to throw the knife hard enough anyways.

I contemplated over this for a few more moments, thinking of the image of an elephant and monkey staring at each other in space, immobily floating, when I came up with another conclusion!

Due to it's massive size, the elephant would most likely need food before the monkey!

I told my friend the idea, but he shrugged me off saying that the elephant could somehow absorb it's own body fat in order to stay alive longer. (I find the idea ridiculous - Is that actually possible??) Anyhow, it's a monkey! It can eat it's own crap, unlike the elephant who would not be dextile enough for such a phenomenon.

I told my friend the idea, then him and the kid next to me just stared... So I immedietly began thinking of other possible solutions. I asked the kid next to us the following questions:

Is it in space, or in a box?

A box.

Are they pushed into the box, or do they appear instantaneously out of nowhere?

They are pushed.

And then, I found the obvious conclusion:

When the monkey is pushed into the zero-gravity chamber/box, due to Newton's Law (whichever one it was), the monkey will stay in motion. Due to this law, the monkey will have the ability to jump from wall to wall slashing the elephant with his knife. The elephant however, is not agile, and will not be able to perform such a feat. And due to the zero-gravity, it has no way to use it's body weight against the monkey. The elephant is but a giant useless target, of which the monkey can easily overwhelm. In a zero-gravity chamber with air, a monkey with a knife can easily beat an elephant.

What do you guys think? Who do you think would win; a monkey with a knife, or an elephant? Your reasons? And is it actually possible for the elephant to absorb it's own body fat enough to survive longer than the monkey?