Interesting site which resolves these facts:

Spacecraft heat up on re-entry because of the friction of the atmosphere
Everest is the highest mountain in the world
Pressure cookers force steam into the food, cooking it quicker
A lightning conductor works by safely conducting the lightning to ground
and more.

Well I found it amusing and informative.

Heh, even this site gets some things wrong. The highest mountain in the world is in the Pacific Ocean.
Plus the "senses" thing is a little hokey. Then they write that lighting rods do act the way that people think.

There are lots of scientific things that people get wrong, though

Quote: Originally Posted by Bionic Heh, even this site gets some things wrong. The highest mountain in the world is in the Pacific Ocean. Plus the "senses" thing is a little hokey. Then they write that lighting rods do act the way that people think. There are lots of scientific things that people get wrong, though

I have to admit that I was mainly interested in the friction and pendulum And of course the term "world" is rather vague.

With science, you can prove or disprove anything. It all depends on what point of angle you look at it from.

I know there is a mountain in Hawaii that is taller than Mount Everest if you count its underwater part.

I'm not fully buying into his explination of the space shuttle. Yes compression will heat the air in the region of the sonic shock wave away from the shuttles skin but the air behind that is still impinging on the shuttle with tremendous force. Hence causing lots of heat right at the skins surface. The shock wave doesn't magically make all the air behind it dissapear, it just reduces the speed difference between the shuttle and the air by a little.

I remember reading that the very common belief that humans only use 10% of their brains is very wrong or atleast misinterpreted. You can use 100%, but just not at the same time, just as you can not excercise every muscle in your body at the same time. I still see shows on the Discovery show saying it as it is commonly mistaken.

Quote: Depends on what you mean by highest. The highest mountain in the world is not Everest, it is Chimborazo in Ecuador. Everest is the highest above sea level, true, but Chimborazo (at only 20,700 feet (6,310m) is the furthest from the centre of the earth by some 2150m. That makes it the highest mountain! Search at google.com/search?q=chimborazo+centre+earth to verify this.

What? If sea level is 0 and Mt Everest is about 29k Miles about 0, would it still be furthest away from the core?

ADD:

Quote: There are five body senses................ but the sense of balance is detecting an external force - gravity

Technically, we cant feel Gravity. Shouldnt Empathy Be considered A Sense? Empathy is something you can feel. What about Emotion? Sure you can feel emotion, Love happiness, sadness, anger..etc. What about the "6th sense" Refering to the fact people can feel spritual being, But remember that 6th sense Is NOT science, That is going into theology (beleif systems..etc) Or the feeling you get when you feel connected to someone (this might be emotion though)

I get what it is saying about senses. Senses, could be defined as a way of the mind reflecting reality in a manner we can deal with. (ummm....I think you only know what I mean if you've heard of the holographic theory of reality) But I don't think emotion is anything that could be considered a "sense". Emotion does not provide any way of knowing where you are, what something is, or any enviremental knowledge...(it's hard for me to talk about this with out being in the same room as some one). I think the sense of spacial placement is a good example of something that could be considered a sixth sense. If you close your eyes and walk, you could get some idea of the distance you traveled or your distance to other objects.

Quote: Originally Posted by Nerdz What? If sea level is 0 and Mt Everest is about 29k Miles about 0, would it still be furthest away from the core?

Well, we could be talking absolute distances and heights from a base of that mountain.

Quote: Originally Posted by Nerdz Technically, we cant feel Gravity. Shouldnt Empathy Be considered A Sense? Empathy is something you can feel. What about Emotion? Sure you can feel emotion, Love happiness, sadness, anger..etc. What about the "6th sense" Refering to the fact people can feel spritual being, But remember that 6th sense Is NOT science, That is going into theology (beleif systems..etc) Or the feeling you get when you feel connected to someone (this might be emotion though)

C'mon...emotions? Feeling emotions and feeling a rock are different meanings of the word...But then again, I suppose a psychiatrist could ask "But how does the rock make you feel? Emotionally?"