Scientific knowledge offers us countless fascinating surprises. This article will summarize for you world-class scientific knowledge that has never been included in textbooks.
Scientific knowledge offers us countless fascinating surprises. This article will summarize for you world-class scientific knowledge that has never been included in textbooks.
Even if you weren't interested in science class in school, now that you're an adult, it's hard not to be amazed by scientific facts. Seriously, stop for a minute and think about what the natural world and technology are capable of. It's truly impressive, and chances are you only know a small fraction of the fascinating and utterly bizarre facts that scientists have discovered so far.
After all, scientists are always learning new things. Something we don't know today might be discovered tomorrow, so we can always expand our knowledge to impress our friends. Remember, a little humor will make sharing your knowledge less boring.
1. If you spin the ball and then drop it, it will fly.
If you spin a ball and then drop it, it will initially fall straight down, but then… it will gradually change its trajectory into a parabolic curve and fall quite far away. This phenomenon is caused by the Magnus effect. As the ball spins, the movement of air molecules on the side of the airflow in the same direction as the ball's rotation increases, while on the opposite side the velocity of the air molecules decreases, causing the ball to fly in a parabolic path.
In football, players often apply this effect to create curved shots.
2. The truth about sunlight
In fact, each ray of sunlight releases enormous energy, equivalent to a 100-megaton atomic bomb. The destructive power of the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Japan) was approximately 15 kilotons, or 0.015 megaton.
3. Proving the Pythagorean Theorem using liquids
Pythagorean theorem: In a right-angled triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the two legs.
The converse of the Pythagorean theorem: If a triangle has the square of one side equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides, then the triangle is a right triangle.
a2 + b2 = c2
The Pythagorean theorem can be proven in an easily understandable way using the following fluid model.
4. Liquids can boil and freeze at the same time.
Water can exist in three forms: solid, liquid, and gas. Furthermore, when temperature and pressure are in thermodynamic equilibrium suitable for all three phases—solid, liquid, and gas—the liquid triple point, water can both boil and freeze simultaneously.
For water, the conditions necessary for it to boil and freeze simultaneously are a temperature of 0.01°C and a pressure of 0.00603659 atm.
In the video, liquid cyclohexane is poured into a vacuum-sealed container. The cyclohexane on the surface begins to freeze as the pressure inside the container decreases, causing the liquid below to boil, creating a continuous liquid-solid phase transition.
5. Laser beam gets stuck in water stream.
Thanks to the phenomenon of total internal reflection, light always travels in a straight line.
Scientists at the University of Utah, USA, conducted an experiment to "trap" a laser beam in water. They drilled a small hole in the bottle to allow water to flow out, then shone a laser beam through the bottle at a specific angle.
In this case, the laser beam no longer maintains its original straight path but bends along the water flow as if trapped within it. This is because when the laser beam hits the water, it bends at a certain angle and is refracted instead of continuing straight. This process occurs continuously, so the entire beam is bent along with the water stream.
6. What happens when you crack an egg underwater?
At a depth of 20 meters on the seabed, if you were to crack an egg, the contents would remain intact because the pressure of the surrounding seawater acts as the eggshell.
The video was provided by the Bermuda Institute of Marine Science (BIOS).
7. The incredibly high speed of the spacecraft
We all know that space rockets travel at extremely high speeds, but it's hard to imagine just how fast they can go.
And the image below comparing the speed of the New Horizons spacecraft (58,000 km/h) and the SR-71 Blackbird (currently the fastest aircraft, reaching a speed of 4,345 km/h) will give you a clearer picture of the incredible speed of spacecraft.
8. The moment a black hole swallows a star.
Black holes possess incredibly strong gravity; anything, including light, is drawn inside. But that doesn't mean that being drawn in automatically plunges you into darkness.
When a star approaches a supermassive black hole, some of the debris will fall into the black hole. The remaining debris will be propelled away at high speeds, creating a high-energy, X-ray-like plume of light hundreds of light-years long.
The video was released by the Goddard Space Research Center of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
9. The power of solar flares
The Sun constantly experiences intense bursts of radiation, known as solar flares. Each eruption can release an enormous amount of energy, equivalent to millions of 100-megaton atomic bombs (1 megaton = 1 million tons of TNT) exploding simultaneously.
In 1945, the Fat Man atomic bomb that the US dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, had a yield of only about 21 kilotons (equivalent to 21,000 tons of TNT).
10. How does a baby's face form in the womb?
You'll be amazed to see these fascinating images of a baby's face developing in the womb. Over time, the baby's 'appearance' will evolve from an initially unsightly cavity to a nose, mouth, and finally a complete face.
Source: BBC.
11. Cats always land on all fours.
No matter how they fall, cats always land on all fours thanks to their flexible skeletons and remarkable ability to turn around.
12. It is possible to turn liquid water into ice instantly.
Place a bottle of purified water in the freezer, maintaining a temperature of -24°C for 2 hours and 45 minutes. Then, remove the bottle and gently tap it or pour the liquid water directly onto another block of ice. The liquid water will instantly freeze into ice.
13. A "life hack" to help you see when you've forgotten your glasses.
Here's a little trick to help nearsighted people see what they need to see when they've accidentally left their glasses at home: look through a small hole in your hand, as shown in the image below.
Light will be focused more on the retina when the viewing angle is limited in this way. This will help make the image sharper.
14. The habit of cracking your knuckles offers no benefits.
Many people worry that the habit of cracking their knuckles can cause arthritis and degeneration. However, research conducted by doctors at the UC Davis Medical Center (USA) on people who habitually crack their knuckles shows no signs of cracking or inflammation. It only causes your finger joints to enlarge.
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15. The human stomach can dissolve razor blades.
If you swallow a razor blade, don't panic. The human body is more capable than you think. Acids are rated on a scale from 0 to 14—the lower the pH level, the stronger the acid. Human stomach acid is typically 1.0 to 2.0, meaning it has an extremely strong pH. In a study published in the journal Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, scientists found that the "thick back of a single-edged razor blade" dissolved after two hours of soaking in stomach acid. That's just one of many interesting facts about the human body that you never learned in school.
16. The Earth's oxygen is produced by the oceans.
Have you ever stopped to think about where oxygen comes from? Your first thought might be rainforests, but here's a fun scientific fact for you: According to the National Oceanic Service, we can thank plant-based marine organisms for all that fresh air. Plankton, seaweed, and other photosynthetic species produce more than half of the world's oxygen.