51 Favorite Facts You’ve Always Believed That Are Actually False

Reader's Digest ^ | no date given | DAVID MCCANDLESS

[Leaning Right]

Napoleon wasn't short? Bananas don't grow on trees? Here, the world's most contagious myths and misconceptions debunked.

[Moonman62]

If a bullet fired up into the air can come down with enough velocity to kill a person

...

Pretty much not true. I learned that here on FR many years ago. And like the penny, the reason is terminal velocity.

[FredZarguna]

It does make a difference. Adding any amount of solute will depress the freezing point and raise the boiling point, as I'm, sure you're aware...

http://www.chemteam.info/Solutions/BP-elevation.html

[BenLurkin]

Well, somebody needs to let Reader’s Digest know.

[max americana]

“YOU MEAN THERE REALLY ISN’T 57 STATES?????/”

Of course not! It’s “58 going to 59...”

[gigster]

Cashews? Geshundheit!

[AmericanMermaid]

Guide posts is also a lot of New Age trash that they try to pass off as Christian. Corny writing, too.

[rfreedom4u]

I did not see that. Thanks!

[Sam Gamgee]

Thanks to all you bullshitters out there, we have the truth! Why do people spread these lies? Just to feel the power?

[PLMerite]

“You seen Readers Digest lately?
A sad shell of its former self.”

My parents started getting RD in the late 50s or 60s. I remember it being the first place I read about a horror movie, “Night of the Living Dead.” They were outraged at the scene where the little girl kills her mother and eats her. I was hooked.

[Leaning Right]

If a bullet fired up into the air can come down with enough velocity to kill a person, why not a penny dropped from a high building? Physics majors please opine.

Well, I've taught physics, so I'll take a shot at this. It has a lot to do with air resistance. And air resistance depends on two things, shape and mass. Do not neglect the mass effect! A bullet cuts through air more efficiently than does a penny, even if that penny is dropped on its edge.

[ScoochDude]

It's your imagination. You're wasting your oil. Just wait until you drain the pasta then add a little oil.

Unless you emulsify it (which will break up once the water boils) the oil just floats on top because it's lighter than the water. Seriously, I'm a chef. I boil pasta daily, tonnes of it.

And adding salt to water actually gives it a higher boiling point so, things cook faster in it.

[FredZarguna]

I would say that it's unlikely that a bullet fired into the air can kill you when it returns to earth, but I wouldn't rule it out entirely. [Nor would I rule out a penny. That could depend a lot on your age, where it hits you, and other circumstances.]

On the moon, or Mars, both would kill you just as easily as they would if you were shot directly in a comparable location.

Once a bullet stops spinning and starts tumbling, it has a pretty low terminal velocity in air, because it presents a huge cross-section of resistance to the atmosphere. However, if the bullet were able to reacquire spin -- maybe by being driven in a wind current -- it would present a dramatically lower profile, would have a higher terminal velocity and, if massive enough, might still kill you.

Pretty Unlikely, though.

The claim that objects return to earth with the same speed they were thrown or fired upwards with is only true in a vacuum.

[redfreedom]

Regarding swallowing spiders at night. CPAP users beware, that nose/face piece and hose assembly is a great place for bugs of all sorts, including spiders, to hangout in when the machine is not in use. You will not swallow the bug, but it gets in your mouth or nose.

There are more facts that are actually false, such as the earth is going through a period of warming caused by man.

[Leaning Right]

What a nice thing you posted there! And yes, you did out me. I scour the net, looking for things that at first glance seem interesting to the FR community. But in reality I’m just trying to “feel the power”, whatever that means.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Ok so the french were short.

5'6" is still short.

[bagman]

The salt raises the temperature at which the water will boil, so more heat needs to be added to raise the water to the boiling point. It takes longer, then, to add the requisite heat. The advantage of adding salt is the higher temperature, which will then cook the food more quickly.

[treetopsandroofs]

By Reader’s Digest, PURVEYOR of lies and false stories, living down the street from the Clinton Machine HQ?!?!

[brucedickinson]

yeah I refuse to use the “list” type stuff where you have to keep clicking and loading new ads. Forget that.

[jonno]

Mass (and aerodynamics).

[NorthMountain]

1) Atmospheric drag on a moving object is a function of the object's size, shape, surface characteristics, and velocity. Any given FALLING object has a terminal velocity, that velocity at which the force of atmospheric drag resisting its motion equals the gravitational force acting upon it. Once this FALLING object achieves terminal velocity it maintains that velocity until impact with the ground.

2) A moving object's kinetic energy is a function of its mass and its velocity. E_K = (m*v²)/2

3) A moving object's momentum is also a function of its mass and its mass and its velocity. P = m*v

4) Kinetic energy and momentum are different quantities, but both can answer the question "How much will it hurt when it hits me?"

5) What are the respective terminal velocities of a falling penny, bullet, and bowling ball?

6) What are the respective masses of a penny, bullet, and bowling ball?

7) What are the respective kinetic energy and momentum of a penny, bullet, and bowling ball?

8) Rate the three object is order of how much they will hurt you when they hit you.