Okay, middle school students, it’s the first Tuesday in February.
This means that by law and custom, we must spend the morning reading though the Wikipedia article List of Common Misconceptions, so you can spend the rest of your lives being a little less wrong.
The guests at every party you’ll ever attend thank us in advance.
‘It was hell. People went around saying glass was a slow-flowing liquid. You folks these days don’t know how good you have it.’”
It just occurred to me that my museum visits as a child deceived me. That hundred year old glass didn’t flow! Lies! They’ve found panes upside down and sideways (with respect to thickness differentials) too.
Reading through the misconceptions page I discover that meteorites are not hot when they hit the earth! And after all this time thinking I could use them to finish off trolls.
My first year Geology lecturer said that apart from wanting to avoid contaminating the sample, the best reason to avoid touching fresh meteorites with your bare hands is the risk of freezer burn.
The new XKCD is highly relevant.
Wait, the mouseover says:
It just occurred to me that my museum visits as a child deceived me. That hundred year old glass didn’t flow! Lies! They’ve found panes upside down and sideways (with respect to thickness differentials) too.
Reading through the misconceptions page I discover that meteorites are not hot when they hit the earth! And after all this time thinking I could use them to finish off trolls.
My first year Geology lecturer said that apart from wanting to avoid contaminating the sample, the best reason to avoid touching fresh meteorites with your bare hands is the risk of freezer burn.