This problem was contributed to The Feynman Lectures website by Lev B. Okun.
Lev Okun gave this problem to Andrei Sakharov to pass the time while they were being driven from Moscow to JINR in Dubna. However, it didn't work (to pass the time) because immediately after being told the problem, Sakharov pulled out a pen, took Lev's magazine and wrote down the solution, without any hesitation whatsoever.
An infinitely stretchable rubber band has one end nailed to a wall, while the other end is pulled away from the wall at the rate of 1 m/s; initially the band is 1 meter long. A bug on the rubber band, initially near the wall end, is crawling toward the other end at the rate of 0.001 cm/s. Will the bug ever reach the other end? If so, when?
Answer :
Solutions (listed by author)
Michael A. Gottlieb (approximate stepwise solution html, 2k)