Strange Facts that go against the grain completely

Zen65 · 20-02-2012 1:00am

JustAddWater wrote: »

Australias toilets flow Counter clockwise!

Although the Coriolis effect does result in water in the southern hemisphere having a tendency to spin counter-clockwise as it drains from a vessel, the stronger local forces (e.g. motion caused by the stirring of the water, heat variations, imperfections or asymmetry of the toilet or basin) have a stronger influence on the actual direction the water spins.

However, the direction of wind is reversed as you cross the equator, so that a high pressure system rotates clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the southern hemisphere.

Z

Deus Ex Machina · 20-02-2012 1:01am

Sindri wrote: »

On this forum we obey the laws of thermodynamics!

Zen65 wrote: »

Do you mean that it cools quicker than colder water?

Are you simply pointing out the obvious relationship between heat flow and temperature differential?

The term "freezes" means to transform to ice, and hot water never turns to ice (at pressures observable on this planet).

Let's not turn AH into a forum where people can speak out against the laws of physics!! Down with this sort of thing!!

Z

YourAMentalist wrote: »

Hot water freezes quicker than colder water.

Hot water does not freeze faster than cold water. The myth is based on the fact that when you put hot water in the ice cube tray and then put it in the freezer, a lot of the water evaporates. This means that there is less water in the ice cube tray and this smaller quantity of water freezes more quickly than the larger amount of water which remains in the tray when cold water is used as there is less/no evaporation in the latter situation.

If you were to calculate the amount of water lost through evaporation prior to the start of the freezing process and then remove it from the normal volume put in the ice cube tray you would see that this amount of cold water would freeze as quickly as a fully loaded tray of hot water.

GaryIrv93 · 20-02-2012 1:06am

Human hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.

tfitzgerald · 20-02-2012 1:07am

Two facts that I believe
1 God is real
2 after the next election FF will be back in power

I'll throw in a third one for free .Kian from westlife is a bully on the voice

RonMexico · 20-02-2012 1:11am

GaryIrv93 wrote: »

Human hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.

Wrong. Something to do with your tissue shrinking that gives this impression.

Zen65 · 20-02-2012 1:18am

Potential-Monke wrote: »

If you are locked in a completely sealed room, you will die of carbon dioxide poisoning first before you will die of oxygen deprivation.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is not poisonous. It occurs naturally in nature (including within your body) and your lungs release it with every breath. However, your lungs cannot separate the oxygen from the carbon so breathing it in will not sustain life.

In fact, in a room full of CO2 you will die due to oxygen deprivation, in much the same manner as drowning in water.

Z

superstoner90 · 20-02-2012 1:22am

Zen65 wrote: »

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is not poisonous. It occurs naturally in nature (including within your body) and your lungs release it with every breath. However, your lungs cannot separate the oxygen from the carbon so breathing it in will not sustain life.

In fact, in a room full of CO2 you will die due to oxygen deprivation, in much the same manner as drowning in water.

Z

Could you die from too much oxygen?

antodeco · 20-02-2012 1:29am

My cats breath smells of cat food

Capt'n Midnight · 20-02-2012 1:33am

Curly Judge wrote: »

On Mars, a day is longer than a year

LOL

Mars is the planet with the closest day length to our own.

Mercury would be a gas during daytime on Mercury and a solid at night.

Also the London factoids mentioned at the start of the thread are very out of date and many are no longer true.

Turtwig · 20-02-2012 1:36am

Deus Ex Machina wrote: »

Hot water does not freeze faster than cold water. The myth is based on the fact that when you put hot water in the ice cube tray and then put it in the freezer, a lot of the water evaporates. This means that there is less water in the ice cube tray and this smaller quantity of water freezes more quickly than the larger amount of water which remains in the tray when cold water is used as there is less/no evaporation in the latter situation.

If you were to calculate the amount of water lost through evaporation prior to the start of the freezing process and then remove it from the normal volume put in the ice cube tray you would see that this amount of cold water would freeze as quickly as a fully loaded tray of hot water.

Alas I don't think it's that simple.

(Leave aside the risk of cracking your windscreen!) Next time your car windscreen is frozen pour boiling water on it. See how long it takes to turn to ice. Now compare this with "lukewarm" water and water just a few degrees above zero. On a cold day "hot" water does appear to reach freezing point faster than cooler water would.

This is an incredibly complex field of thermodynamics and I don't want to bastardise it plus water itself is a bastard. To me though the "myth" is valid. (Or should I say confirmed?)

aramush · 20-02-2012 1:43am

A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.

Capt'n Midnight · 20-02-2012 1:46am

Water bears are tough little buggers.

-273C to +151C
10 days in the vacuum of space even in direct sunlight
can survive without water for years

twistedsoul · 20-02-2012 1:58am

Danger **** are Dangerous !

Sindri · 20-02-2012 2:06am

Jernal wrote: »

Alas I don't think it's that simple.

(Leave aside the risk of cracking your windscreen!) Next time your car windscreen is frozen pour boiling water on it. See how long it takes to turn to ice. Now compare this with "lukewarm" water and water just a few degrees above zero. On a cold day "hot" water does appear to reach freezing point faster than cooler water would.

This is an incredibly complex field of thermodynamics and I don't want to bastardise it plus water itself is a bastard. To me though the "myth" is valid. (Or should I say confirmed?)

Is it due to rapid convection?

longshanks · 20-02-2012 2:14am

aramush wrote: »

A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.

Sometimes, when I'm fucking an ugly girl it takes me 30 minutes.

policarp · 20-02-2012 2:21am

Nerds arn't stoopid. . .

d3exile · 20-02-2012 2:34am

Zen65 wrote: »

Let's not turn AH into a forum where people can speak out against the laws of physics!! Down with this sort of thing!!

Z

Careful now!

Jev/N · 20-02-2012 2:37am

policarp wrote: »

A broken bone is stronger when it heals. . .

Don't know about that but here's one:

Pound-for-pound, bone is stronger than steel.

AngryBollix · 20-02-2012 2:54am

aramush wrote: »

A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.

The pig I shagged last weekend didnt orgasm for 30 minutes

skregs · 20-02-2012 3:27am

Jernal wrote: »

On a cold day "hot" water does appear to reach freezing point faster than cooler water would.

No it doesn't. The cold water freezes faster.
Proof: go outside and fúcking try it.

The mpemba effect occurs in certain conditions but pouring water on the ground is not one of those conditions

seantorious · 20-02-2012 3:52am

Crocodiles tongues are attached to the roof of their mouths

im invisible · 20-02-2012 4:13am

Dogs cant lick their elbows

Tea_Bag · 20-02-2012 4:39am

both sides of the universe shouldn't be the same temperature, but they are.
Horizon problem

calculating the mass of the atmosphere above us is a fairly easy thing to do.

Entropy is a ****.

if we find the higgs boson, then gravity gets left out of the standard model, meaning it shouldn't really be there and we can't understand why.

the largest accepted number in the mathematical community (as a solution to a proof) is so large, there isn't enough atoms in the universe to write it out if you had 1 unit representing 1 atom. Graham's number

44leto · 20-02-2012 5:10am

sociallyjaded · 20-02-2012 8:11am

Despite their diet, pandas' stomach are built like a typical carnivores

suicide_circus · 20-02-2012 8:55am

Batsy wrote: »

Travelling on the London Underground for just 40 minutes is the equivalent of smoking two packets of cigarettes.

http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/epic-jackie-chan-template.png

--Kaiser-- · 20-02-2012 10:02am

These threads are the reason I like Snopes, QI and Mythbusters so much
(i.e. 90% of these 'facts' are anything but)

Wibbs · 20-02-2012 10:33am

Curly Judge wrote: »

On Mars, a day is longer than a year

Nope. The martian year is nearly twice as long as ours, but it's day is only 40 minutes longer. You're thinking of Venus, maybe Mercury?

seantorious wrote: »

Crocodiles tongues are attached to the roof of their mouths

Eh no it isn't.

They would have a hard time eating if it was.

A parrot can move both it's upper jaw and lower.

mconigol · 20-02-2012 10:58am

Zen65 wrote: »

Do you mean that it cools quicker than colder water?

Are you simply pointing out the obvious relationship between heat flow and temperature differential?

The term "freezes" means to transform to ice, and hot water never turns to ice (at pressures observable on this planet).

Let's not turn AH into a forum where people can speak out against the laws of physics!! Down with this sort of thing!!

Z

In this forum we obey the laws of physics dammit!!

Curly Judge · 20-02-2012 11:08am

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

LOL

Mars is the planet with the closest day length to our own.

Mercury would be a gas during daytime on Mercury and a solid at night.

Also the London factoids mentioned at the start of the thread are very out of date and many are no longer true.

I'm mortified!

I should instead have posted Venus as the relevant planet.
A year on Venus lasts for 225 earth days.
A "day" lasts for 243 earth days

Apologies all round.

Wibbs · 20-02-2012 11:10am

Venus is also weird in that it rotates the opposite way to all the other planets. Though IIRC either Neptune or Uranus are tilted right over. South pole aimed at the sun kinda thing.

mikemac1 · 20-02-2012 11:13am

Howth Harbour was silting up and unsuitable before it was even finished, nobody listened to the locals.
They have useless planners in those days too

Before the North Wall was built there was ships constantly getting damaged or sinking in Dublin Bay.
King Henry VIII was getting angry over it so if a local pilot damaged a ship their eyes would be put out with a dagger.
No SIPTU in those days

There are rocks off Dalkey Island called The Muglins where they would hang pirates and leave them to rot as a warning

I haven't realy answered the thread title but I think they are interesting

Regarding the English post on page one, if you live in Chester you are allowed shoot a Welshman with a crossbow if you see them after dusk.

Wetai · 20-02-2012 11:20am

AngryBollix wrote: »

The pig I shagged last weekend didnt orgasm for 30 minutes

It's probably only the females.

working fool · 20-02-2012 11:21am

Robbie keane has had more boyhood dreams come true than all the Disney characters put together !

AeoNGriM · 20-02-2012 11:33am

GaryIrv93 wrote: »

Human hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.

No they don't. The skin just shrinks and makes it look like they do.

44leto · 20-02-2012 11:50am

So why do we drive on the left, in medieval Britain a Knight while traveling on horseback would ride on the left, so he could draw his sword with his right hand. At that time most on the continent traveled on the left, cart tracks leaving a Roman quarry in Italy left deeper tracks on the left as the cart was loaded. So they drove on the left.

With the advent of the stage coach you sat on the coach and held the whip with your right, so on the continent they start to drive on the right. Then in the colonial era anywhere the British went they drove on the Left bar the USA and Canada because of the use of the stage coach in those vast countries. Anywhere the continental powers went they drove on the right.

In Eastern Europe they drove on the left till the wermach invaded and the Germans drove on the right and after the war those countries just left it that way. One nation changed, Sweden use to drive on the left but in 1967 they switched and joined the rest of the continent and drove on the right, cutting pedestrian accidents, it is safer to drive on the right.

CHealy · 20-02-2012 12:42pm

The island most of Cork city center is built on, Morrisons Island, is actually a marsh and many of Corks streets such as St.Patricks Street, Grande Parade, South Mall and many more used to be little canals, not too unlike Venice. In fact a boat docking post(where the rope is tied around) still exists on Grande Parade.

BO-JANGLES · 20-02-2012 1:32pm

A goldfish will turn white if left in the dark for 4 days in a row.

Heard some bloke on the radio talk about this last night......

:cool:

Reloc8 · 20-02-2012 1:36pm

bob the bob wrote: »

Can you elaborate please?

I work in the City of London and your post doesn't correlate with what I see every day, i.e. loads of roads

Love2love wrote: »

I think he is referring to the names of streets. None have road in them. They have alley, street ect.

Sindri wrote: »

Abbey Road?

Is in the city of Westminster.

mikemac1 · 20-02-2012 1:40pm

The traffic on the quays in Dublin city used to be the other way around, North quays took you West and South quays took you East

They were changed around on a Sunday morning, I forget the exact year.
There was moaning and complaining and people said it would never work but in the end, the changeover was completed perfectly well

Irishchick · 20-02-2012 1:55pm

Wibbs wrote: »

A parrot can move both it's upper jaw and lower.

1) A parrot doesn't have an upper "jaw". It has a beak called a mandible
2) It cannot move it

Sindri · 20-02-2012 1:56pm

A bee by all rights should not be able to fly.

It's whole body shape is completely non-aerodynamic.

So, by filming a bee in flight with a high speed camera and some smoke, they found that a bee in fact after stroking it's wings downwards, is able to disconnect their shoulder muscles from their wings and flip their wings over on the upward stroke which creates twice as much lift.

Also, bees should not be able to survive outside early in the morning. Usually you see them lethargically laying on a plant. But with the use of thermal imaging camera they found that a bee, disconnecting their shoulder muscled from their wings, start to beat those muscles ferociously as if they were flying and this heats them up sufficiently to fly and survive early in the morning.

Also we get the word piss from the Latin for bee apis. It comes from the practice of placing an image of a bee in urinals as a place for men to aim supposedly, (but there are other theories for it's etymology).

seamus · 20-02-2012 1:59pm

Sindri wrote: »

No it's not. It's of equal strength.

It's a bit of a misunderstood "fact". When a bone heals, the body lumps a whole pile of new bone in there which then solidifies, as it does. This leaves a kind of "bulb" of bone at the healing site. This makes the actual place where the break occured, stronger than it was before the break.
The problem with this is that it makes the bone above and below this "bulb" slightly more vulnerable to being broken (because the bone isn't equally strong along its length).
But it does mean that once your 6-8 weeks of healing is done, it's very unlikely that the bone will break in the same place again, it's more likely to break somewhere else because the original fracture site is stronger than the rest of the bone.

For the next few years after the break, the original fracture site is worn down by a process called "remodelling" where the bone returns to its original shape and strength.

--Kaiser-- · 20-02-2012 2:01pm

Sindri wrote: »

A bee by all rights should not be able to fly.

It's whole body shape is completely non-aerodynamic.

So, by filming a bee in flight with a high speed camera and some smoke, they found that a bee in fact after stroking it's wings downwards, is able to disconnect their shoulder muscles from their wings and flip their wings over on the upward stroke which creates twice as much lift.

Also, bees should not be able to survive outside early in the morning. Usually you see them lethargically laying on a plant. But with the use of thermal imaging camera they found that a bee, disconnecting their shoulder muscled from their wings, start to beat those muscles ferociously as if they were flying and this heats them up sufficiently to fly and survive early in the morning.

Also we get the word piss from the Latin for bee apis. It comes from the practice of placing an image of a bee in urinals as a place for men to aim supposedly, (but there are other theories for it's etymology).

Rubbish

44leto · 20-02-2012 2:04pm

Sindri wrote: »

A bee by all rights should not be able to fly.

It's whole body shape is completely non-aerodynamic.

So, by filming a bee in flight with a high speed camera and some smoke, they found that a bee in fact after stroking it's wings downwards, is able to disconnect their shoulder muscles from their wings and flip their wings over on the upward stroke which creates twice as much lift.

Also, bees should not be able to survive outside early in the morning. Usually you see them lethargically laying on a plant. But with the use of thermal imaging camera they found that a bee, disconnecting their shoulder muscled from their wings, start to beat those muscles ferociously as if they were flying and this heats them up sufficiently to fly and survive early in the morning.

Also we get the word piss from the Latin for bee apis. It comes from the practice of placing an image of a bee in urinals as a place for men to aim supposedly, (but there are other theories for it's etymology).

I remember reading about that and it was only solved recently they actually generate vortexes at the edge of their wings.

http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/av/dn8382.avi

Sindri · 20-02-2012 2:09pm

seamus wrote: »

It's a bit of a misunderstood "fact". When a bone heals, the body lumps a whole pile of new bone in there which then solidifies, as it does. This leaves a kind of "bulb" of bone at the healing site. This makes the actual place where the break occured, stronger than it was before the break.
The problem with this is that it makes the bone above and below this "bulb" slightly more vulnerable to being broken (because the bone isn't equally strong along its length).
But it does mean that once your 6-8 weeks of healing is done, it's very unlikely that the bone will break in the same place again, it's more likely to break somewhere else because the original fracture site is stronger than the rest of the bone.

For the next few years after the break, the original fracture site is worn down by a process called "remodelling" where the bone returns to its original shape and strength.

Maxillo-facial doctor told me it's of equal strength.

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

Rubbish

Why?

Easy Rod · 20-02-2012 2:27pm

Pound for pound there's more sugar in a lemon than in a strawberry.

Mr.Biscuits · 20-02-2012 2:39pm

Grains have high levels of phytic acid, a substance that reduces our absorption of minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, and magnesium.

20-02-2012 2:47pm

storker wrote: »

If your car could drive straight up, space would be about an hour's drive away.

Stork

If you drove your car into town when the sales are on, a space would be about an hours walk away.

Wossack · 20-02-2012 2:52pm

BO-JANGLES wrote: »

A goldfish will turn white if left in the dark for 4 days in a row.

Heard some bloke on the radio talk about this last night......

:cool:

but as soon as you turn on the light, they instantly go gold again

tricky bastards

Strange Facts that go against the grain completely

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