Most Popular Myths of the Modern Times

Do you know the facts or are you living with the widely accepted myths.Just see those listed here and find out for yourself.

• Chewing gum, if swallowed, remains inside your body for seven years.

Whoever came up with this did a really good job of it.First of all he bought himself seven years before anyone could know that this isn't a fact.

Even though chewing gum takes longer to break down but it is still excreted like any other undigested food item within a day or two.

• A woman's breast implants may explode on an airplane due to low air pressure

The implants may expand a little on an airplane but the decompression isn't enough to cause them to burst and

if such condition ever occured ,the implants might just last longer than the people on the plane.Same goes for the inflatable bras.

• The asteroid impact immediately wiped out the dinosaurs from the Earth

The asteroid impact was largely responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs but it wasn't an instantaneous process.The after effects of the impact ,like earth quakes,acid rain and a dust cloud that would have blocked sunlight from reaching ground level for years may be,were responsible for ending the dinosaurs' reign on Earth.

• It is possible to resurrect the dinosaurs by using their DNA's and cloning them

Just think, if that were possible wouldn't there be Jurassic parks in every corner of the world.There are just too many complications for this too be done.

• Eating carrots improves eyesight

Maintaining a well-balanced diet, including carrots, can protect your eyesight, but won't make it any better.

• Drinking coffee helps you sober up quickly

No amount of black coffee you drink or showers you tale will lead to a quick sobriety.Only time can sober you up  at a rate of 0.015 percent of blood alcohol content per hour.Thats the rate at which  body can process alcohol.

• Freezing a failing  hard drive will repair it

This one isn't completely wrong.Though the process wouldn't magically repair the drive but it will keep it working long enough to copy the content to a different drive.When the drive is making clicking noises ,it is generally due to expanding over heated metal parts and cooling shrinks it back to normal for it to mount properly.

• Drinking alcohol will keep you warmer

Even though it might make you feel warmer initially but alcohol actually lowers your core body temperature as it sends the blood to the skin making you feel warmer but actually reducing the core temperature.

• A bullet fired into the gas tank of a car will blow it up

Don't believe everything you see in movies.For a gas tank to catch fire, the gas should spray out in a fine mist and come into contact with the ignition source and the bullet doesn't produce sparks and car's ignition is at the other end.

• Even a small hole in a flying aircraft can cause it to rip apart

Another myth made famous by the movies.Even a hole as big as the plane's window won't cause it to rip apart  and will allow the plane enough time for a safe landing even though a passenger might be sucked out of the hole in that period due to decompression.

• There is a dark side of the Moon

Even though one side of the moon is not visible from Earth due to tidal locking but actually each side of the moon is illuminated for an equal time by the sun.

• Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice

In fact its quite the opposite.Lightning favors certain location particularly the high ones. The Empire State Building is struck about 25 times every year. 

• Shaving causes hair to grow back thicker or coarser

This belief is due to the fact that hair that has never been cut has a tapered end, whereas, after cutting, there is no taper. Thus, it appears thicker, and feels coarser due to the sharper, unworn edges.

• A penny dropped from a high enough place can kill a person.

A penny not being the most aerodynamic of weapons would be highly affected ,mainly,by air friction and even after falling from the 1,250 ft tall Empire State Building would have enough force only to sting a pedestrian.

• The Great Wall of China can be seen from space

 None of the Apollo astronauts reported seeing any man-made object from the Moon. The misconception is believed to have been popularized by Richard Halliburton decades before the first moon landing

• There is no gravity in space

Gravity is everywhere. It only diminishes with distance but never truly disappears.The astronauts in space feel weightless only because they are in a free fall towards Earth.They don't seem to be in free fall due to their horizontal motion.

• Food picked up from the ground before 5 seconds is safe to eat.

This is a misconception.Germs can stick to a food item immediately on contact.Though all germs are not harmful, so if the food item is tasty people still will keep following the five second rule.

• Males think about sex every seven seconds.

This is an over statement and a gross one even if we consider that evolutionarily males are driven to reproduce.

• Edison invented the light bulb.

Though it was Edison who made a practically usable version of it but he didn't invent it.Different versions of it had been already invented earlier.

• An adult brain does not grow

Most of human's brain development occurs during childhood, but it isn’t the end of it. Neurons continue to grow and change well into the adult years.

• Hair and fingernails keep growing even after death

Hair and fingernails appear to be growing after death due to the continuous shrinking of the rest of the body i.e the skin and muscles etc.

• Humans use only about 10% of their brain

Another one of media's favorite.But actually most of the cerebral cortex is used by the humans even during sleep.

How many of these did you believe?
Heard any other than these?