Uphaa has a great post about 12 old wives’ tales that simply aren’t true (despite a lot of people believing them). Here’s my take on it:
1) Chewing gum and bubble gum take seven years to digest (False)
I never really understood how anyone could believe this myth. I mean if you think about it for a minute - where would it stay? Why would it stay for seven years and not metal (which I assume is harder to digest) or glue (which is stickier)?
So don’t worry - if you swallow gum it’ll probably be gone by tomorrow (providing you go to the loo).
2) The only man-made structure that you can see from space is the Great Wall of China (False)
If by space you mean “low-Earth orbit”, then yes, you can see the Great Wall of China - but you can see lots of other things too - the Giza Pyramids for example. If you mean the moon, you can’t see the Great Wall from there - sorry.
3) If you drop a penny from the Empire State Building, it could hit and kill someone on the street below (False)
A penny’s maximum/terminal velocity isn’t particularly high, so even if it was thrown off somewhere twice as high as the Empire State Building it would only do enough damage to hurt someone and possibly give them a few stitches (if they’re unlucky). Also, apparently on the top part of the Empire State Building, there’s an updraft and so a penny thrown off would get blown on to one of the ledges below - not the street/a passer-by’s head. Watch the video below (in the full post) to see this all explained.
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