Had you told people many years ago that the earth was round, they'd have thought you were lying. As far as our forefathers were concerned, they lived on a flat surface and could fall off at any moment. It wasn't until experts could prove and explain how we're all on one giant, spinning ball that people truly believed it.
It's the same with many facts. Some sound like utter rubbish. Others seem too wild to be true. Someone asked, "What scientific fact sounds like complete nonsense until someone explains the maths or physics behind it?" and a bunch of nerds came out to play.
From lesser-known details about the solar system, to explanations on why cumulus clouds float despite weighing around 1.1 million pounds each, here are some of the most interesting responses.
#61
Infinity can be bigger than infinity.
I'm pretty sure VSauce did a video on it
Edit: Quick explanation for those who don't want to watch the video.
Imagine the natural numbers betwen 0 and infinity (aka: 1,2,3...). This is infinity A.
Infinity A can also be aplied to the interval negative infinity to 0. So, if you make the interval negative infinity to positive infinity you get 2A or as we will call it infinity B.
So, B=2A
But betwen 1 and 2 there is 1.1; 1,2; 1,3; 1,293729792 etc. You get the idea. So, you have another infinity A. And A×A=A^A or we can also write it as B×B=B^B=C
So, C>B>A.
I'm pretty sure VSauce did a video on it
Edit: Quick explanation for those who don't want to watch the video.
Imagine the natural numbers betwen 0 and infinity (aka: 1,2,3...). This is infinity A.
Infinity A can also be aplied to the interval negative infinity to 0. So, if you make the interval negative infinity to positive infinity you get 2A or as we will call it infinity B.
So, B=2A
But betwen 1 and 2 there is 1.1; 1,2; 1,3; 1,293729792 etc. You get the idea. So, you have another infinity A. And A×A=A^A or we can also write it as B×B=B^B=C
So, C>B>A.
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1point
#62
A mathematical one: in theory, it is possible to cut a ball up and reassemble the pieces into two balls of the same size as the original.
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1point
#63
There are microscopic blueprints inside each cell for tens of thousands of machines and scaffolding that are literally made exactly as written in atomic detail in blinding speed billions of times a minute.
The blueprints can be read many different ways for each creation, allowing for modularization that turns the tens of thousands of blueprints to probably millions of unique power- using machines and structural elements that can be rigid, flexible, or even fluid, and connected with each other and special items to be even further altered.
The protein machines themselves orchestrate continual making more of themselves and their own DNA blueprints without any intelligence, but simply by doing what they do naturally in response to the environment around them.
The blueprints can be read many different ways for each creation, allowing for modularization that turns the tens of thousands of blueprints to probably millions of unique power- using machines and structural elements that can be rigid, flexible, or even fluid, and connected with each other and special items to be even further altered.
The protein machines themselves orchestrate continual making more of themselves and their own DNA blueprints without any intelligence, but simply by doing what they do naturally in response to the environment around them.
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0points
#64
Heavy Water. So, it’s water… but heavier?
Also, ice isn’t just ice. There are currently 19 different types of ice known, all formed under different temperature and pressure conditions.
Also, ice isn’t just ice. There are currently 19 different types of ice known, all formed under different temperature and pressure conditions.
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0points
#65
In certain cases, scientists are able to predict what you will think about 5 seconds before you “think” it.
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0points