Ten Myths That You Thought Were True
We’ve all heard plenty of myths growing up. Myths such as the Great Wall of China being the only manmade object visible from space to Christopher Columbus discovering America. Here are a ten myth many believed to be true but are in fact false.
Einstein Invented The Atomic Bomb
Though Einstein was a brilliant man, he was also very opposed to war. His famous equation, E=mc^2, was a discovery that matter and energy are the same thing in different forms. A small amount of matter can be transformed into an enormous amount of energy and an enormous amount of energy can be converted into a small amount of matter. This concept has been applied to nuclear warfare and nuclear power.
Nikola Tesla Invented the alternating current
Nikola Tesla did not invent the alternating current. Michael Faraday did. What Tesla did was innovate on it. It doesn’t make his achievements any less impressive. Scientists and engineers build on previous discoveries. This isn’t a bad thing.
Dropping a penny from the top of the Empire State Building can kill a person
I used to believe this one. I was so insistent that it was true. The flat shape of a penny makes it fall more like a leaf. Also as it accelerates the air resistance increases. after it has fallen about 15 meters the air resistance cancels out the effect of gravity meaning it can no longer accelerate. Reaching this point is what’s called terminal velocity. The terminal velocity of a penny is approximately 25 mph and it has a mass of only 2.5 grams. a mass at that velocity is not nearly enough to cause any harm to a person. It may hurt but it won’t be fatal.
You only use 10% of your brain.
That is not the case. It is debated that some people use 0% of their brains. All jokes aside, it’s not quite known where this myth comes from. My psychology teacher told me it stems from 10% of our brain function being involved in conscious awareness. We use 100% of our brains to keep everything functioning.
Opossums sleep hanging from their tails.
This is physically impossible. Opossums’ tails are not strong enough to support the weight of their bodies. They do use their tails as a fifth limb if they have to climb up trees, though.
Piranhas are vicious killers that can eat an entire cow carcass in minutes.
Piranhas are, for the most part, scavengers. Their diets consist mostly of plants, smaller fish, and bugs. They will occasionally eat carrion as well if it’s readily available.
Bulls are enraged by the color red
The color red is not what is agitating the bull. It’s the cape. Waving the cape around the way the matador does makes the bull feel threatened. When it feels threatened its first instinct is to attack.
Napoleon Bonaparte was short.
Yes and no. Relative to today he would be considered short. back in the back then, however, 5’6” was about average.
The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th
The final draft was presented on July 2nd, 1776. It was revised on the 3rd, and adopted on the 4th. It wasn’t signed until August 4th though. So when should the US really be celebrating Independence Day?
Washington had wooden teeth
Washington did not have wooden teeth. They were made of lead, gold, ivory, and the teeth of slaves.