18 The misappliance of science (Urban legends)
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This article is from the Urban legends FAQ, by Terry Chan tchan@dante.lbl.gov and Peter van der Linden linden@eng.sun.com with numerous contributions by others.
18 The misappliance of science (Urban legends)
F.*You can make as much ice faster by starting with warmer water.
T.*Boiled water freezes faster than ordinary water at same initial temp.
T.*Hot water evaporates while freezing, producing 75% of ice in 90% of time.
See "Hot water freezes faster than cold water. Why does it do so?",
Jearl Walker in The Amateur Scientist, Scientific American, Vol. 237,
No. 3, pp 246-257; September, 1977 and "The Freezing of Hot and Cold
Water", G.S. Kell in American Journal of Physics, Vol. 37, No. 5, pp
564-565; May, 1969.
F. A penny falling from height of Empire State building will embed in pavement.
T. There is no truth to the rumor that James "T." Kirk's middle name is Terry.
F.*Bath water drains the other way round in other hemisphere, due to Coriolis.
T. Coriolis force affects fluids if you take incredible pains to isolate it.
T. You can also consult the sci.physics FAQ [part 2].
Fb.Microwaving panties kills yeast infections (cold spots in oven...)
F. Coloring your CD's rim with (special) marker will enhance sound quality.
T.*CDs are the size they are because it could hold Beethoven's 9th symphony.
F.*People explode/boil/something in the vacuum of space.
F. Eelskin wallet demagnetizes bank cards (nope, but magnetic clasp might).
F. Daylight sky appears dark enough to see stars from bottom of deep well.
T. Venus and perhaps a few other bright stars/planets can be seen in daylight.
F. Bubbles in bubble wrap contain a cheap, but toxic gas.
U. East German secret police "bug" factory now uses skills to make hearing aids
F. Hot-drying acid-washed jeans "re-activates" the acid(Nope, but might shrink)
F. Ontario Hydro mandated poor installation,so copper fails as often as Alum.
T. Fluorescent lamp will light up when held near high-voltage line.
T. You sure can raise bloody hell asking about physics/chemistry on AFU.
Tb.Fluorescent light will break down vitamins in clear milk containers.
F. Fluorescent lights leach vitamins from your body.
Tb.Leather saddles used to be treated with llama dung to avoid scaring horses
Tb.The spec. for leather saddles got copied for leather jackets...
T. 3M "post-it" notes were invented & marketed as an unofficial project
T.*Subliminal messages in advertising are ineffective, but outlawed anyway.
["Media Sources and Business Legends" in TCD] ...Ted Frank cited USA law.
U. Filamentous phage M13 obtained from lab's letter rejecting the transfer!
T. Long term storage of paper in a PVC envelope is harmful (fumes degrade it).
T. Some combinations of metal tooth fillings can receive radio signals.
F. Printer/copier toner is carcinogenic. [But be careful about breathing it.]
F.*The moon looks larger near the horizon than up in the sky due to refraction.
T.*The above is due to an optical illusion.
T.*Indiana House Bill #246 of 1897 would've set pi=3.2 <or whatever>. Killed
in state Senate.
Fb.Some state (e.g., KS, OK, etc.) once considered a bill setting pi = 3
(or some other arbitrary, non-transcendental number).
F. US and Russia won't destroy their cultures of smallpox for fear of bio- war.
Fb.People only use 10% of their brain capacity (whatever that means).
F. If the entire population of China jumped up at the same time: a) the Earth's
orbit would be disturbed, b) the entire US would be swamped by a tidal wave.
Fb.If all the Chinese screamed at the same time, people in the US could hear it
U. This message is costing the net hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
T. There was a natural nuclear reaction in Africa long ago [NOT an explosion.]
F. Swimming right after eating will cause cramps and you'll drown.
F. Squeezing out the air from a partially consumed soda bottle will keep soda
from going flat.
F. There are workmen who died building Hoover Dam and were entombed in it.
F. There is a pillar in India made of metal found nowhere else in the world.
Tb.Tomatoes are not vegetables, they're berries. [Thanks, Scott C.]
T.*Women workers in old watch factories got poisoning by licking brushes used
for applying radium compound to watch faces. Thanks to Stan Schwarz.
F. Large telescope mirrors often become distorted due to glass flow.
F.*You can see glass flow in the windows of old buildings.
T. It don't matter whether or not you define glass as a liquid. It still
don't go.
T.*MRI used to be called "Nuclear MRI", but "N" was dropped due to nuke fear.
T. Nobody except Doug Spindler came up with any good stuff on the origins
of Daylight Saving Time.
U. "Trekkies" are controlling the minds of everyone on the net.
T. A newspaper once substituted "In the African-American" for "in the black."
T. ...Andrew Steinberg sent a copy of the 19 Jul 90 column in the _Fresno Bee_
which contained the original error and the 21 July 90 column w/correction.
T. ...pvdl nailed this sucker down as a prank which was pulled by a journalist.
F.*Welding while wearing contacts can cause them to stick to your eyeballs.
[TCD]
F. NASA sends Swiss watchmakers very thin threads of gold; they send back
drilled w/holes. [Similar story w/Japan and US.]
F. Standing a hard-boiled egg on end has something to do with an equinox.
[See TSD]
F. There was a "Philadelphia Experiment" that tried to make stuff invisible.
T. You'll probably die if your skin is completely coated w/paint, but not
of asphyxiation. [TSD]
F. Scientists once concluded that bumblebees couldn't fly.
T. There are many stories about musicians and bands, especially after
they die or are dead. Most aren't very interesting or novel.
T. There are many bogus acronyms for rock bands (eg, KISS, etc.). Nobody cares.
T. There are male (and female) models in the Victoria's Secret catalogue.
F. No two snowflakes are alike.
F. Elderly/large woman shoplifter faints in checkout line due to frozen
chicken on her head.
F. There is no Nobel prize for mathematicians because his wife was fooling
around with one. [See the sci.math FAQ.]
F. There was a "missing day" that was discovered by a NASA scientist.
[See "Government Legends" in TCD.]
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