Need some commonly accepted untruths/misconceptions

[Sea Moose]

Another great misconception is that Pink is a good singer!

 

[Modelworks]

Americans did invent the internet. CERN developed the web protocol.

True. Watching an interview with two of the original engineers they discussed the first communication on the internet. You had to type your name to login. So they started it up , it displayed "lo" and then it crashed.

After the reboot this is the written log of the first message ever:

 

[Six]

Marconi invented the radio - it was Tesla by almost 8 years.

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone - it was Elisha Gray , Bells attorney paid off the patent clerk to view Grays patent application

Thomas Edison invented the light bulb - he bought the patent from Woodward and Evans

Wondering why these myths are still being taught in middle and high school textbooks?

 

[yh125d]

More specifically, a penny isn't aerodynamic enough.
A bullet doesn't have much mass, but one can be quite effective at killing a person.

A penny will tumble, slowing its descent.



Other myths:
- Stainless steel cannot corrode.
-

Even more specifically, the poor aerodynamics and low mass result in a low terminal velocity. It's low terminal velocity matched with its low mass result in a rather small momentum when it would hit a person, and since it doesn't have a shape prone to piercing skin much less bone, it won't kill a person

 

[Rastus]

Early to bed and early to rise makes you healthy wealthy and wise.

 

[Sea Moose]

Wondering why these myths are still being taught in middle and high school textbooks?

why?

*gathers round for story time with six*

 

[Crono]

Early to bed and early to rise makes you healthy wealthy and wise.

That's a general proverb, it's not meant to apply in every single scenario. And I think it meant more about rising early to get started on the activities of the day, which doesn't work so well if you're getting up just to sit on your ass.

A lot of successful people start their day early and go to sleep early, though.

 

[mugs]

Are you saying that it IS visible from the moon? Cause if you are that's not true:

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/workinginspace/great_wall.html

"
It has become a space-based myth. The Great Wall of China, frequently billed as the only man-made object visible from space, generally isn't, at least to the unaided eye in low Earth orbit. It certainly isn't visible from the Moon.
"

When I was a kid I read that the Great Wall of China was the only man-made object visible from space, and it struck me as odd that a wall that is ~25 feet wide would be visible yet man-made objects much larger would not be. I don't know how that myth ever got started, because it makes no sense.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Wondering why these myths are still being taught in middle and high school textbooks?

Because teachers are as full of shit as anybody else. Especially middle school teachers that have been teaching the same stuff for 20-30 years.

http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teache.../dp/0684818868

Oh damn, its available for free on Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=Et...resnum=5&ved=0CDIQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

[Crono]

Because teachers are as full of shit as anybody else. Especially middle school teachers that have been teaching the same stuff for 20-30 years.

That and history taught is never really entirely accurate, and the lower the level of education, the less effort is expended comparing historical accounts and keeping abreast of new theories and discoveries.

 

[mugs]

People think that Americans invented the internet, but the general public (of morons) doesn't realize it was Cern labs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERN <-- Read computer science section

Others have pointed out that the Internet and the worldwide web are not the same thing, so I'll point out that the web is an evolution of Gopher which was invented in the US.

 

[Jeff7]

Lead, steel, and copper are all more dense than magnesium for starters.

Irrelevant, assuming there's no air.
velocity = acceleration * time

Since acceleration is the same for all bodies in the same gravitational field, you could drop a bullet made of magnesium, one made of aerogel (lightest solid known), and a bullet made of ultradensium. They'd all impact at the same speed.
(See also: Hammer vs feather.)

Now, tack in air resistance, and the lighter object (well, less weight per unit surface area) will experience much more of the effects of wind resistance, and thus will have a lower terminal velocity.

Also dropping a bullet on some one, and shooting them are two different things.

Why? Dropping it just means it takes longer to reach final velocity.
Now, shoot someone at point-blank, the bullet may well be traveling faster than its terminal velocity in air.

But if you drop a bullet, and assuming it remains stable during flight, and also assuming that air resistance is magically negligible, its final velocity will simply depend on how long it's been falling.
You'd probably get better results with some sort of apparatus that would give the bullet a decent spin before it's dropped, giving it some of the wonderful lovin' of gyroscopic stability.

 

[shortylickens]

For reference: Bullets spin when they are fired, and theres a damn good reason for it.

 

[Modelworks]

Wondering why these myths are still being taught in middle and high school textbooks?

Textbooks in school are filled with so many errors and nobody seems to care. They still show Haeckel drawings in science books under evolution even though he was criticized by scientists after they found out he made them up.

Schools spend millions each year trying to fix them. You would think a history book couldn't change much each year but they get total rewrites regularly.

 

[Analog]

That electrons move at the speed of light through a conductor

 

[Analog]

That nicotine and alcohol are not drugs

 

[sandmanwake]

Your parents love you.

 

[Cattlegod]

Coca Cola created the modern image of santa wearing red/white in the 30s.

 

[rudeguy]

btw...why not just browse snopes?

 

[Sea Moose]

Textbooks in school are filled with so many errors and nobody seems to care. They still show Haeckel drawings in science books under evolution even though he was criticized by scientists after they found out he made them up.

Schools spend millions each year trying to fix them. You would think a history book couldn't change much each year but they get total rewrites regularly.

whoever wins the war writes the history book <--- fact

 

[daw123]

The first digital computer was built in America (ENIAC). False; it was Colossus.

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000984.htm
http://www.picotech.com/applications/colossus.html

 

[Colt45]

Irrelevant, assuming there's no air.
velocity = acceleration * time

Since acceleration is the same for all bodies in the same gravitational field, you could drop a bullet made of magnesium, one made of aerogel (lightest solid known), and a bullet made of ultradensium. They'd all impact at the same speed.
(See also: Hammer vs feather.)

Right, speed is the same, but the force exterted on the... victim, is greater with a heavier bullet...

Why? Dropping it just means it takes longer to reach final velocity.
Now, shoot someone at point-blank, the bullet may well be traveling faster than its terminal velocity in air.

Terminal velocity is a lot slower than normal muzzle velocity, probably a tenth at best...

 

[Sea Moose]

Greatest Misconception : Women enjoy sex

 

[daw123]

Irrelevant, assuming there's no air.

[snip]

Since acceleration is the same for all bodies in the same gravitational field, you could drop a bullet made of magnesium, one made of aerogel (lightest solid known), and a bullet made of ultradensium. They'd all impact at the same speed.
(See also: Hammer vs feather.)

[snip]

A colleague at work has some Aerogel. Its very weird stuff; almost transparent (has a 'smokey' look to it), very brittle and obviously very light.

 

[darkswordsman17]

That nicotine and alcohol are not drugs

This. Probably my biggest pet peeve are the anti-drug idiots that go out and drink on the weekend and then pretend they're better than the person snorting coke off a hooker's ass. Hell, if you take Tylenol even you are taking drugs. Oh, and of course caffeine. Granted yeah, not all drugs are equal, but people's refusal to use knowledge and reason when it comes to drugs in general is a big part of why they are so problematic in the first place.

A secondary, and directly related myth is that if you're not anti-drug you're a drug abuser.