Discover 22 Things You Learned Wrong
Throughout our lives and education, we have learned a series of universal truths that we carry with us for the rest of our lives, passing on this knowledge from generation to generation. Some of these questions are so ingrained in our consciousness that we don't even stop to question whether they are true or not, while others may even cross our minds, but common sense prevents us from searching.
However, the truth is that many of these "absolute facts" are nothing more than popular lies invented by ancient personalities - or issues that science has already belied, but few people have ever known. From centipedes to the number of the beast, here are 22 things we all learned wrong.
1 Centipedes have a hundred paws
There is no record of a copy of the small animal that has this exact number of legs. Actual totals usually range from 15 to 191 pairs.
2 - Ostriches bury their heads when they feel in danger
The Roman historian Pliny was the first traveler to see the great birds with their heads under the ground, giving rise to the myth. However, the truth is that these animals do not do this to hide from predators, but rather dig holes with their beaks to create nests for their eggs.
3 - There are only three states for matter
At school we all learn that matter is divided into solid, liquid and gaseous states, while some of us are taught that there is also a fourth state, plasma. In fact, fifteen physical states have now been discovered, some of which have grandiose names such as the Bose-Einstein ionosphere and condensate profile. It should be noted, however, that some of them are only detected under extreme experimental conditions.
4 - The planet Mars is red
In fact, we still don't know what our neighbor giant's real color is, and it could very well be brown, orange or even yellow. What we do know is that its reddish appearance when viewed through a telescope is due to the large accumulation of dust in its atmosphere.
5 - Sleeping surrounded by plants is dangerous
The fact that plants consume oxygen at night and release carbon dioxide leads many people to believe that sleeping with live vegetables in the bedroom can be harmful to health. However, the amount of gas emitted is so small that a person would have to sleep surrounded by a real orchard in a hermetically sealed environment to suffer any consequences.
6 - Champagne is French
Although the invention of the drink is usually attributed to the French monk Dom Perignon, the fact is that the Burgundians, a Germanic people, had known it for a century when they took it to France. Perignon deserves credit just for refining it.
7 - Everest is the highest mountain in the world
The Tibetan peak measures “only” 8, 848 meters, which is little compared to the size of Mauna Kea, a Hawaiian volcano emerging from the Pacific. Although only 4, 205 meters of its size protrude above sea level, most of the structure (about 6, 000 meters) is hidden under seawater. In total, it is almost 2, 000 meters more than Everest.
8 - Marco Polo was Venetian
The truth is that the famous explorer came to the world on the island of Korchula, which belongs to Croatia. The confusion comes from the fact that at the time the place was occupied by the troops of Venice.
9 - One day is 24 hours
Science has coined the unit of measurement that we use to date to measure time, called the "average solar day" - which actually has 24 hours. However, astronomers point out that the length of a “true solar day” varies throughout the year, up to 24 hours and 4 minutes.
10 - Mozart's first name was Amadeus
The composer's real name was Joannes Theophilus Wolfgangus Chrysostom Mozart. The famous nickname came from a Prussian prince who was so impressed with him that he renamed him Wolfgang Gottlieb (German word for “beloved of God”). The artist took this as a joke and in letters exchanged with his friends joked that they should call him Amadeus, the Latin translation of the term.
11 - Bulls get angry with the color red
Bullfighting animals are unable to distinguish red from other colors, distinguishing only white, black and some shades of gray. Therefore, what really infuriates the beast is not the color of the killers' cape, but the undulating movements made by the bullfighters.
12 - Santa Claus doesn't come from cold lands
Although popular images paint the good old man in his reindeer sleigh out of an almost polar environment, the truth is that Saint Nicholas of Bari, the saint on which the legend is based, was born in Lycia, in the country we now know as Turkey.
13 - Water has no color and flavor ...
Only distilled water has such characteristics. Both drinking and sea liquids have ions in their composition that give it a slightly bluish hue in a slightly sweet and refreshing flavor.
14 - ... and only boils when it reaches 100 ° C
This is, in fact, the boiling point of water, but only at sea level. The higher the altitude, the lower the temperature required for boiling water.
15 - The longest animal in the world is the blue whale.
Even though specimens of the large 33-meter long marine mammal have been found, this is still very close to the real first place. The very long Lineus, a species of worm that can reach up to 40 meters from one end to the other, wins the race.
16 - The Universe is Black
In 2002, Karl and Ivan Baldry Grazeburg, two astronomers at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, measured the colors present in light emitted by 200, 000 galaxies. The results led to the conclusion that the predominant color in the universe is, by far, beige.
17 - Bugs Bunny is a Rabbit
In fact, Warner's famous character was based on hares of the genus Lepus, which differ from rabbits in their larger eyes and ears. Although the inspiration was clear in the early drawings, entitled "A Wild Hare, " the animal came to be called a rabbit when its creator, Tex Avery, was accused of plagiarism by artist David Hare. .
18 - Baseball was invented in the United States.
Surprisingly, the sport was actually created in Cuba. Reports of the first Spanish sailors to arrive on the island in 1492 describe the natives playing a game called bats. The hobby consisted of hitting a resin ball with a wooden log, accompanied by a dance called sandstone.
19 - Sahara is the largest desert in the world
We usually associate the word desert with high temperatures, which leads to the conclusion that the sandy giant of Africa is the largest in the world. But the bottom line is Antarctica, with its 14 million square kilometers and average annual rainfall of 5 millimeters. By comparison, the Sahara has an area of 9.4 million square kilometers and has an average annual rainfall of 127 mm.
20 - The Canary Islands are called that because of the birds.
According to a story known as Plinio el Viejo, the region was named after two mastiff dogs that Mauritanian mane men captured on the spot during an expedition.
21 - The first animal in space was the dog Laika
In fact, the first beast from Earth to break through space was a fruit fly that US astronauts sent out of our orbit in a captured V-2 rocket from the Germans.
22 - The number of the beast is 666
Researchers at the Oxford Ashmolean Museum have gone back to studying the Oxyrhynchus papyri, which contain the original text of the Apocalypse of St. John. During their research, they found that mistakes were made in the translation we know, including confusing the number 616, which is quoted by the apostle as the mark of Antichrist, 666.
So, did you know any of these facts? Leave your opinion in the comments.
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