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Original poster

There is no sound in space.... and other amazing things you've learned as an adult!

52 replies

CantFindTheBeat · 21/12/2022 18:50

Although I'm quite bright i was a complete drop-out at school.
Therefore facts and knowledge that some people know easily completely amaze me!

Last year I had to really research 'how humans hear' and sound being carried on vibrations was a revelation!

Recently I added 'there is nothing to vibrate off in the solar system, therefore space is completely silent 😲😲😲' to my repertoire.

What have you learned as an adult that has blown your mind (or is it just me?!!).

OP posts:
SirSamVimesCityWatch · 21/12/2022 18:56

Really?? Did you miss "in space, no-one can hear you scream"?

Hillrunning · 21/12/2022 18:59

Sricking to your sound theme. I found out recently that giraffes don't have vocal chords.

CaveMum · 21/12/2022 19:01

I like to think I’m a reasonably intelligent person but Physics is something that has always blown my mind. I love watching all the Prof Brian Cox series about the universe/solar system/forces etc, I feel like I start to get a bit of a grasp of things when I listen to him!

On other matters, may I be the first to mention the fact that pineapples don’t grow on trees - I was 27 when I found that out!

Original poster
CantFindTheBeat · 21/12/2022 19:03

SirSamVimesCityWatch · 21/12/2022 18:56

Really?? Did you miss "in space, no-one can hear you scream"?

I never thought about it!

And if I had, I would have probably thought it meant: it's massive, you're never going to attract a passing policeman!

OP posts:
Original poster
CantFindTheBeat · 21/12/2022 19:07

Hillrunning · 21/12/2022 18:59

Sricking to your sound theme. I found out recently that giraffes don't have vocal chords.

I've just gone down a Google wormhole with this... apparently some scientists now say they DO have vocal cords.... too confusing!

OP posts:
Choconut · 21/12/2022 19:08

I like the youtube video that shows just how small and insignificant the earth is within the universe. It makes me feel a little better about how we are completely ruining it.

icanwearwhatiwant · 21/12/2022 19:10

SirSamVimesCityWatch · 21/12/2022 18:56

Really?? Did you miss "in space, no-one can hear you scream"?

But I always just assumed that meant nobody can hear you scream because there's nobody else around.

PlaitBilledDuckyPuss · 21/12/2022 19:10

The T-Rex is closer in time to the iPhone than it is to the Stegosaurus.

Photosymphysis · 21/12/2022 19:12

Pretty sure that giraffes do have vocal chords and that they communicate via infrasound (sound at pitches too low for humans to hear), and the vibrations travel great distances through the ground (and presumably are conducted through their legs etc).

And, infrasound is often the real reason why people feel uneasy/watched etc in "hauntings".

Thereisnolight · 21/12/2022 19:12

PlaitBilledDuckyPuss · 21/12/2022 19:10

The T-Rex is closer in time to the iPhone than it is to the Stegosaurus.

I did not know that!

Original poster
CantFindTheBeat · 21/12/2022 19:14

Choconut · 21/12/2022 19:08

I like the youtube video that shows just how small and insignificant the earth is within the universe. It makes me feel a little better about how we are completely ruining it.

That's a great video, @Choconut - really impactful.

Now I have to make my head hurt getting to grips with light years 🙈😂

OP posts:
NeonBoomerang · 21/12/2022 19:16

Last time there was one of these threads I copied and pasted the most interesting ones into my notes.

Here goes:

A can of Diet Coke will float in a bath.
A can of Coke will sink in a bath.

The chocolate bit inside a KitKat is made up of other rejected KitKats which have been smashed up.

The number of people who are on the planet today is close to %10 of the number of people who have ever lived. Ever.

Woolly mammoths still walked the Earth whilst the pyramids were being built.

We are closer in time to the Tyrannosaurus Rex than the T-Rex is to the Stegosaurus.

By the time tyrannosaurus’s (Rex or Regina😜) roamed the land, all the stegosaurus’ were already fossils.

The moon is so far from the earth that You could fit all the planets between them if you placed them next to each other

There have only been 80 generations (25 yrs) since the birth of Jesus

Sharks have been around longer than Saturn's rings.
Sharks date back around 450 million years while Saturn's rings are at most 100 million years old. Sharks also predate dinosaurs and trees!

Cleopatra is closer in time to the iPhone than the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza

Cashew nuts grow on apples!

Edinburgh is further was than Liverpool and Bristol.

Thereisnolight · 21/12/2022 19:18

If you like universe-y stuff you might like this too.

PlaitBilledDuckyPuss · 21/12/2022 19:18

The chocolate bit inside a KitKat is made up of other rejected KitKats which have been smashed up.

How did they make the first KitKat?

Original poster
CantFindTheBeat · 21/12/2022 19:18

@CaveMum

I will have to dig out some Brian Cox.

In relation to your user name - I do actually know a fair amount about prehistoric men and beasts due to Nigel Marven!

OP posts:
Sparklefoof · 21/12/2022 19:19

Not me but DH recently....the sun and the moon are not the same planet/star/whatever the correct technical term is. He genuinely thought the moon was basically the sun in night time mode!

MrsMorton · 21/12/2022 19:21

Highly recommend "Storm in a Teacup"
audiobook. The physics of everyday life.

CaveMum · 21/12/2022 19:33

CantFindTheBeat · 21/12/2022 19:18

@CaveMum

I will have to dig out some Brian Cox.

In relation to your user name - I do actually know a fair amount about prehistoric men and beasts due to Nigel Marven!

There are 4 series’ on iPlayer at the moment

Forces of Nature
Adventures in Space and Time
Universe
The Planets

I’d also highly recommend listening to his radio show The Infinite Monkey Cage which mixes science with a bit of comedy. There are hundreds of episodes on BBC Sounds.

I listened to an old one about mathematics the other day and learned a new party trick - if you multiply any 3 digit number by 7 then 11 then 13, the answer is always the first number repeated.

So 359 x 7 x 11 x 13 = 359,359
438 x 7 x 11 x 13 = 438,438

Using that trick you can impress your friends (if they’re easily pleased!)

Original poster
CantFindTheBeat · 21/12/2022 19:34

Sparklefoof · 21/12/2022 19:19

Not me but DH recently....the sun and the moon are not the same planet/star/whatever the correct technical term is. He genuinely thought the moon was basically the sun in night time mode!

Tell him that the moon's gravity controls our tides - that blew my mind!

OP posts:
strictlygoingtomissstrictly · 21/12/2022 21:47

Apparently a smart phone has more computing power than Apollo 11 when it landed a man on the moon.

kilos · 22/12/2022 06:59

PlaitBilledDuckyPuss · 21/12/2022 19:18

The chocolate bit inside a KitKat is made up of other rejected KitKats which have been smashed up.

How did they make the first KitKat?

This, how?!

Ifailed · 22/12/2022 07:11

When dinosaurs were around the Earth was on the other side of the galaxy (milky way).

CaveMum · 22/12/2022 10:03

We are literally stardust - the majority of the elements in our bodies were made when ancient stars went supernova.

www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/are-we-really-made-of-stardust.html

thereisonlyoneofme · 22/12/2022 14:15

Youve put me off my kit kat now, I have a multi pack

WelshNerd · 22/12/2022 14:17

All grapes are clones.