20 Times People Shared Amazing Facts That Are Hard To Believe
Here’s a list of some of the most unbelievable scientific facts.
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No matter how many things you know, there’s always more out there that you probably never even heard about. Not only is it fun to learn something new, but knowing more things might make someone wiser as well – the more you learn, the more you open up to new perspectives and ideas.
Someone recently asked on Reddit, "What is a cool scientific fact that you know that sounds unbelievable?" We've collected some of the answers from the thread here. Scroll below and get ready to be blown away by these facts you probably didn’t know before.
More info: Reddit
Image source: Suuperdad, byrdyak
"Sharks pre-date trees."
Image source: iremovebrains, Kevin Kandlbinder
"Some people have extra spleen or liver that are pea sized."
Image source: sharrrper, Lemuel Francis Abbott
"Infrared light was discovered all the way back in 1800. By accident. With a thermometer.
William Herschel (who also discovered Uranus) was experimenting with a prism. He wanted to see if different colors of light had different temperatures. So he had the room completely dark except a beam of light hitting a prism and casting a rainbow onto the table. He had placed thermometers in each color band to see if there was a difference. As a control, he had an additional thermometer past the ene of the light below the red band.
Except when he compared his readings he got something strange: the control thermometer was reading the highest temperature of all. This didn't make any sense. Was his thermometer faulty? He tried a few more tests with more thermometers in other places and came to an inescapable conclusion: there must be an additional invisible "color" below red that carried more heat than any of the visible colors. He named it infrared, which just literally means "below red"."
Image source: DrTriage, Chalabala
"There was a period of about 50 Million years when we had trees on earth but nothing to decompose dead ones, so they just piled up, and up, deeper and deeper, they got buried and eventually we got coal!"
Image source: Easy_Cauliflower_69, Alison Harrington
"The largest organism in the world is a massive underground network of mushrooms."
Image source: GoodRighter, claudioventrella
"In Newtonian physics it was generally accepted that a planet call Vulcan was closer to the sun than Mercury. The math needed some kind of extra planet to explain Mercury's weird orbit. Astronomers around the world for a couple hundred years would confirm a sighting, but it would never be there when you tried to use physics to predict where it would be. Even the famous french scientist that found Neptune with math predicted Vulcan using the same formulas. The idea didn't die until Albert Einstein changes physics with special relativity. Suddenly all the orbits of our planets make sense and Mercury has a weird orbit because it is so close to the sun.
Basically, smart dudes figured a planet existed when it didn't because their system didn't work out. It took changing the system to meet reality. Confirmation bias is a scary thing.
Edit: General Relativity not Special."
Image source: toasted_oatsnmore, kevin turcios
"30-50% of people don’t have an internal monologue."
Image source: GBgabe13, Usman Yousaf
"If someone were to scream nonstop for a year it would generate enough energy to heat up a cup of coffee"
Image source: Fracture_98, Carlos Kenobi
"On average Mercury is the closest planet to Earth by a considerable margin."
Image source: aprilmayjunejuly21, Slawek K
"Giraffes’ tongues are black and purple to prevent sunburn while they’re feeding up high."
Image source: TheBarenJark, Takemaru Hirai
"Magnolias predate bees and were first pollinated by beetles and earlier bug species."
Image source: heidismiles, Corina Rainer
"A serving of movie theater popcorn is equivalent to two Big Macs, in terms of calories, saturated fat, and sodium."
Image source: Blacksixki, Daniel X. O'Neil
"The power required to make a 1000 decibel noise for one second is equivalent to the power of the entire sun for 4 billion years"
A family member was talking about a "600 DB" car horn he bought over the holidays, and I was trying to explain to him that 600 DB is enough energy to destroy the planet and then some. Lol"
Image source: TwoTheVictor, Georg Wolf
"The blue whale, at nearly 100 feet long and nearly 200 tons, is the largest animal known to have ever existed."
Image source: DiagonallyStripedRat, Akira Hojo
"Water IS actually blueish-greenish in color. It's just a very very weak tint, so it usually appears simply transparent (and reflecfing the color of stuff around and inside it). But when it's in very large volume, in a perfectly white room, under perfectlu white light, the water's very own teal colour becomes visible.
Similarily, the sun seems goldish-orange from Earth due to the atmosphere. The light of the Sun itself is mostly white. However, if we were to analise the light very accurately, it's actually a very subtle pale greenish/lime. We still see it as plain white in space, but I just think it's so cool."
Image source: UnethicalFood, Sandra Tan
"GPS tracking is not the satellites tracking the object, but the object tracking the satellites."
Image source: Mysterious-Bench-527, Greg Rakozy
"If you got sucked into a black hole, time would slow down too. Meaning while you are getting Spaghetiified, time is slowing down to the point where you will watch the universe die with you."
Image source: davilambic, Fusion Medical Animation
"The immune system does not encounter viruses and formulate an antibody that matches its shape. Instead, the immune system pumps out random antibodies that sometimes happen to match a virus it comes into contact with, and then begins to produce more of that specific antibody."
Image source: TheEyeOfLight, zoofanatic
"Female ferrets die if they don't find a partner to make with. Since they don't leave "Heat" Until they're mated with, the Oestrogen overload leads to Anemia, and death."
Image source: marcw14, nineplanets.org
"1.3 million earths can fit inside the sun. 5 BILLION suns can fit inside the largest star ever observed, UY Scuti."
#1
Image source: Suuperdad, byrdyak
"Sharks pre-date trees."
#2
Image source: iremovebrains, Kevin Kandlbinder
"Some people have extra spleen or liver that are pea sized."
#3
Image source: sharrrper, Lemuel Francis Abbott
"Infrared light was discovered all the way back in 1800. By accident. With a thermometer.
William Herschel (who also discovered Uranus) was experimenting with a prism. He wanted to see if different colors of light had different temperatures. So he had the room completely dark except a beam of light hitting a prism and casting a rainbow onto the table. He had placed thermometers in each color band to see if there was a difference. As a control, he had an additional thermometer past the ene of the light below the red band.
Except when he compared his readings he got something strange: the control thermometer was reading the highest temperature of all. This didn't make any sense. Was his thermometer faulty? He tried a few more tests with more thermometers in other places and came to an inescapable conclusion: there must be an additional invisible "color" below red that carried more heat than any of the visible colors. He named it infrared, which just literally means "below red"."
#4
Image source: DrTriage, Chalabala
"There was a period of about 50 Million years when we had trees on earth but nothing to decompose dead ones, so they just piled up, and up, deeper and deeper, they got buried and eventually we got coal!"
#5
Image source: Easy_Cauliflower_69, Alison Harrington
"The largest organism in the world is a massive underground network of mushrooms."
#6
Image source: GoodRighter, claudioventrella
"In Newtonian physics it was generally accepted that a planet call Vulcan was closer to the sun than Mercury. The math needed some kind of extra planet to explain Mercury's weird orbit. Astronomers around the world for a couple hundred years would confirm a sighting, but it would never be there when you tried to use physics to predict where it would be. Even the famous french scientist that found Neptune with math predicted Vulcan using the same formulas. The idea didn't die until Albert Einstein changes physics with special relativity. Suddenly all the orbits of our planets make sense and Mercury has a weird orbit because it is so close to the sun.
Basically, smart dudes figured a planet existed when it didn't because their system didn't work out. It took changing the system to meet reality. Confirmation bias is a scary thing.
Edit: General Relativity not Special."
#7
Image source: toasted_oatsnmore, kevin turcios
"30-50% of people don’t have an internal monologue."
#8
Image source: GBgabe13, Usman Yousaf
"If someone were to scream nonstop for a year it would generate enough energy to heat up a cup of coffee"
#9
Image source: Fracture_98, Carlos Kenobi
"On average Mercury is the closest planet to Earth by a considerable margin."
#10
Image source: aprilmayjunejuly21, Slawek K
"Giraffes’ tongues are black and purple to prevent sunburn while they’re feeding up high."
#11
Image source: TheBarenJark, Takemaru Hirai
"Magnolias predate bees and were first pollinated by beetles and earlier bug species."
#12
Image source: heidismiles, Corina Rainer
"A serving of movie theater popcorn is equivalent to two Big Macs, in terms of calories, saturated fat, and sodium."
#13
Image source: Blacksixki, Daniel X. O'Neil
"The power required to make a 1000 decibel noise for one second is equivalent to the power of the entire sun for 4 billion years"
A family member was talking about a "600 DB" car horn he bought over the holidays, and I was trying to explain to him that 600 DB is enough energy to destroy the planet and then some. Lol"
#14
Image source: TwoTheVictor, Georg Wolf
"The blue whale, at nearly 100 feet long and nearly 200 tons, is the largest animal known to have ever existed."
#15
Image source: DiagonallyStripedRat, Akira Hojo
"Water IS actually blueish-greenish in color. It's just a very very weak tint, so it usually appears simply transparent (and reflecfing the color of stuff around and inside it). But when it's in very large volume, in a perfectly white room, under perfectlu white light, the water's very own teal colour becomes visible.
Similarily, the sun seems goldish-orange from Earth due to the atmosphere. The light of the Sun itself is mostly white. However, if we were to analise the light very accurately, it's actually a very subtle pale greenish/lime. We still see it as plain white in space, but I just think it's so cool."
#16
Image source: UnethicalFood, Sandra Tan
"GPS tracking is not the satellites tracking the object, but the object tracking the satellites."
#17
Image source: Mysterious-Bench-527, Greg Rakozy
"If you got sucked into a black hole, time would slow down too. Meaning while you are getting Spaghetiified, time is slowing down to the point where you will watch the universe die with you."
#18
Image source: davilambic, Fusion Medical Animation
"The immune system does not encounter viruses and formulate an antibody that matches its shape. Instead, the immune system pumps out random antibodies that sometimes happen to match a virus it comes into contact with, and then begins to produce more of that specific antibody."
#19
Image source: TheEyeOfLight, zoofanatic
"Female ferrets die if they don't find a partner to make with. Since they don't leave "Heat" Until they're mated with, the Oestrogen overload leads to Anemia, and death."
#20
Image source: marcw14, nineplanets.org
"1.3 million earths can fit inside the sun. 5 BILLION suns can fit inside the largest star ever observed, UY Scuti."DE
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