Facts that shocked you
Discussion
A few.
The Holocaust. I was probably around eleven and off school sick watching daytime TV. I am not sure if it was a program for schools or perhaps an episode of The World at War. It was about the liberation of the death camps. There was footage of dead bodies piled up and the survivors in rags (just skin and bone). I knew the Germans were the “bad” guys but had had no idea of the evil they had perpetrated. I think my faith in humanity took a fatal hit that day and has never really recovered.
That light can be both a wave and a particle and that the same applies to other particles like electrons. The double slit single electron interference pattern still blows mind.
Special and general relativity and how time isn’t constant for all observers.
That the observable universe is only a (most likely) tiny part of the whole universe and that every day the observable universe gets “smaller” as the accelerating expansion of the universe means that light from the furthest stars and galaxies will never reach us.
The unimaginable scale of the universe. Even the bit we can see.
That there were an estimated 50 million to 100 million native Americans before the Europeans arrived (about a quarter to half the population of Europe at that time).
That you are not just you. In terms of number of cells we contain more “non” human cells (eg bacteria but also parasites) than human cells. We even have cells from our mothers.
The Holocaust. I was probably around eleven and off school sick watching daytime TV. I am not sure if it was a program for schools or perhaps an episode of The World at War. It was about the liberation of the death camps. There was footage of dead bodies piled up and the survivors in rags (just skin and bone). I knew the Germans were the “bad” guys but had had no idea of the evil they had perpetrated. I think my faith in humanity took a fatal hit that day and has never really recovered.
That light can be both a wave and a particle and that the same applies to other particles like electrons. The double slit single electron interference pattern still blows mind.
Special and general relativity and how time isn’t constant for all observers.
That the observable universe is only a (most likely) tiny part of the whole universe and that every day the observable universe gets “smaller” as the accelerating expansion of the universe means that light from the furthest stars and galaxies will never reach us.
The unimaginable scale of the universe. Even the bit we can see.
That there were an estimated 50 million to 100 million native Americans before the Europeans arrived (about a quarter to half the population of Europe at that time).
That you are not just you. In terms of number of cells we contain more “non” human cells (eg bacteria but also parasites) than human cells. We even have cells from our mothers.
Super Sonic said:
Every prime above 6 is a multiple of 6, plus or minus 1
look.
That sounded more impressive on first reading it until I realised it was obvious. A multiple of six plus or minus 2 or 4 is even so can’t be prime. A multiple or six is also divisible by three so adding or subtracting 3 will also be divisible by 3 so not prime. Which only leaves plus or minus 1 or 5. But minus five is the same as the previous number divisible by six plus one. So effectively you can shorten it to just plus or minus one. look.
Pitre said:
Pitre said:
Skeptisk said:
.... A multiple of six plus or minus 2 or 4 is even so can’t be prime. A multiple or six is also divisible by three so adding or subtracting 3 will also be divisible by 3 so not prime. Which only leaves plus or minus 1 or 5. But minus five is the same as the previous number divisible by six plus one. So effectively you can shorten it to just plus or minus one.
It's shocked me that you can write that before 7am. Hats off sir.GroundEffect said:
Countdown said:
DodgyGeezer said:
I remember being told as a child that the whole of the world's population could fit on the Isle of Wight - which would then sink due to the weight (whether both parts were untrue, neither or just the one I have no idea)
I’m not sure why it would sink? It’s not floating…What this shows is the shocking fact of how much the human population has grown over our lifetime as I suspect then when this snippet was first stated the population of the earth was small enough to fit onto the Isle of Wight but in less than a century it is not.
OzzyR1 said:
98elise said:
Fusion777 said:
OzzyR1 said:
Leads to moaning about the NHS being underfunded when the current annual budget is around £160 billion - a staggering amount if thought about.
True. Then think that there are individuals with even more wealth than that.The NHS consumes160bn of actual cash every year!
£438million per day, every day of the year.
It is a colossal amount of money. On an individual level, people dream of the huge rollover lottery jackpot of £100million. The winner would be amongst the richest 300 in the UK.
That £100million fortune would run the NHS for 5 hours then that cash runs out.
I'm a fan of the NHS, but we can't keep puting more and more into it due to claims of underfunding & hope it will all be OK. What would be enough? £500million/day, £600million?
Insanity, needs an overhaul but no Govt will be brave enough to do it as they will be accused of "destroying the NHS".
Edited by OzzyR1 on Saturday 22 July 21:36
Edited by OzzyR1 on Saturday 22 July 21:37
GroundEffect said:
No two decks of 52 cards (the order of the cards) have ever been the same. Or ever will be the same.
The chances of that are for all intents and purposes infinitely less likely than you choosing the correct grain of sand (that someone has pre-earmarked) out of all the grains on earth.
Based on the maths, probably true. However I wonder whether it is true in practice. On many occasions people start with a pack of cards that are in order eg is someone has been playing patience. Then the cards are shuffled. The chances of that are for all intents and purposes infinitely less likely than you choosing the correct grain of sand (that someone has pre-earmarked) out of all the grains on earth.
I wonder how many shuffles are required to mix them completely. If you only did one shuffle then there might not be that many different combinations so the chance of someone else having the same combination might be low enough for it to happen.
Not sure if my ramblings are comprehensible. Any experts in probability on here?
98elise said:
Girls are born with every egg they will ever produce.
This means that when a woman is pregnant with a daughter, she is also carrying the eggs that will one day be her grandchildren.
Some material crosses the umbilical cord so you can find DNA from the mother in their children. This means that when a woman is pregnant with a daughter, she is also carrying the eggs that will one day be her grandchildren.
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