5 Scientific Myths Which Must be Busted: Part-1

Hello my dear readers, welcome to my blog. Today we are gonna discuss some prevalent science myths that must be busted and require correct reasoning. If you have not followed or subscribed to my blog then please do it or you will miss such interesting content in the future.

So, let us begin our journey of debunking these myths!!!

MYTH #1: If a penny (coin) is dropped from the empire state building, it can kill a person standing below it.

This is the most prevalent myth in the world. It even sounds realistic when we hear it at first. We all have learnt Newton's equations of motions in our schools and it is one of its application. The height of the empire state building is around 400m so if we calculate the final velocity of the coin, it would be around 90 m/s which is around 324 km/h 😲. It is a really high speed. But does the impact depends on the speed? Hmmmmmmmm, No. The impact of anybody depends on its momentum and if we find its momentum it would be very less as its mass is very small as a result decreasing its impact. It can hurt a person but it is not sufficient to kill one.

So, next time if someone asks you this question you must reply to him confidently and prove him wrong.

MYTH #2: There are only three states of matter namely, solid, liquid and gases.

This is a very big misconception in people's mind. They think that matter can only exist in the form of solid, liquid and gases but they always forget plasma (very hot) and bose-einstein condensate (very cold). These are the two states of matter which are not physically seen by a person but exist. Sun is the best example of the former state. It is a huge ball filled with hot plasma. Bose-Einstein Condensate is formed on cooling a matter to absolute zero. This is a kind of matter in which the molecules stop vibrating. It is not found in prevalence but it does exist and cannot be ignored.

So, do not forget these two when telling the states of matter. 

MYTH #3: Glass is a highly viscous liquid.

This misconception is caused due to the uneven thickness of old windows glasses. Earlier the technology was not much developed to make a glass slab of uniform thickness so they used to be thicker at one end and thinner at another. This caused confusion among people that over time glass flowed from one point to another and resulted in a change of thickness. It is true that glass can be melted and glass items are crafted in a melted state also but at room temperature glass remains in the solid-state only. 

Next time if someone tells you this then don't get confused and correct him/her. 

MYTH #4: Lightning never strikes at the same place twice.

I would like to correct this myth as "Lightning is highly probable to strike twice at the same place withing that area". The mechanism of lightning is such that it has to complete the circuit between charged clouds and earth. When clouds approach a place where there is a conductor close enough that their charge can bypass the insulation caused by air and complete the circuit (This is why we are not advised to use an umbrella while a thunderstorm). This type of spots are not much in a specific area and thus lightning is most probable to strike at the same place more than once.

MYTH #5: Elephants are afraid of mice.

This last myth for today made me laugh the whole day when I heard it. This myth has probably originated from the famous children's story. Elephants do not have a specific fear for mice. The elephant is a strong and enormous creature. They have weak eyesight and might get surprised by a small creature like mice. Still, they do not have a specific fear of mice. 

Reference: https://thebestschools.org/magazine/25-popular-science-myths-debunked/

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I hope you all have a happy and prosperous day.

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