A bucket full of rocks is suspended from two poles. Woman 2 holds the middle of the poles on her shoulders. Woman 1 holds one end of a pole and Woman 3 holds the other. Who carries the most weight?

Woman 2 is positioned in the middle, holding two poles on her shoulders. A bucket filled with rocks is suspended by chains from these two poles, directly beneath Woman 2's shoulders. Woman 1 is holding one end of the left pole, and Woman 3 is holding one end of the right pole.

The bucket of rocks is the primary load. Since the chains holding the bucket are attached to the poles directly at the points where the poles rest on Woman 2's shoulders, Woman 2 is directly supporting the entire weight of the bucket.

Woman 1 and Woman 3 are holding the ends of the poles that extend from Woman 2. They are primarily supporting the weight of the poles themselves from their shoulders to the ends they are holding. While the poles have some weight, it is significantly less than the weight of the bucket full of rocks.

Woman 2 is carrying the full weight of the heavy bucket of rocks, in addition to the weight of the poles at her shoulders. Woman 1 and Woman 3 are only carrying a portion of the weight of the poles. The expressions of strain on Woman 1 and Woman 3, and the neutral expression of Woman 2 (hidden by sunglasses), are a visual misdirection. Based on the physical arrangement, the heaviest load (the bucket) is directly on Woman 2.

The woman carrying the heaviest load is Woman 2.