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What's a scientific fact that sounds made up but is 100% real?
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gsv programming.dev gsv@programming.dev
Joined: 2025-03-23
#52 · Quote Reply

Clouds.

  • polar stratospheric clouds play an important role in creating the ozone hole
  • the highest clouds on earth are about 80 km high
  • in the mid-latitudes most rain is cold rain, that means it leaves the clouds as ice and melts on the way down
  • pure water droplets without an aerosol inside (cloud condensation nucleus) freeze at about -40°C, sea salt aerosols make cloud droplets freeze at about -38°C, …

And there’s much more to be found.

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bizarroland lemmy.world bizarroland@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-08
#53 · Quote Reply

Which science class did you learn that science fact in? Chemistry? Physics?

I mean, there is such a field as political science.

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Tollana1234567 lemmy.today Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-04
#54 · Quote Reply

There are more hydrogen atoms in a single molecule of water than there are stars in the solar system. :P

you mean the galaxy, a solar system usually has 1 star.

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CheeseNoodle lemmy.world CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-14
#55 · Quote Reply

you mean the galaxy, a solar system usually has 1 star.

And a water molecule has 2 hydrogen atoms...

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NorthWestWind lemmy.world NorthWestWind@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-11
#56 · Quote Reply

you mean the galaxy, a solar system usually has 1 star.

Yeah and how many hydrogen atoms are there in a SINGLE water molecule?

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Tollana1234567 lemmy.today Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-04
#57 · (edited) Quote Reply

Also trees existed before bacteria did. So when a tree died it just fell over and sat there for a while. Never decomposing

that isnt true, there was no decomposing fungi, bacteria that evolved yet at the time of the carbiniferous peroid, and those "tree" were actually gigantic gametophytes(posessing half the chromosomes) of early bryophytes. the actual first tree dint evolve til after that peroid.

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fallaciousBasis lemmy.world fallaciousBasis@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-01-03
#58 · Quote Reply

Time derivatives! Rate of change in position is called velocity Rate of change in velocity is called acceleration Rate of change in acceleration is called jerk Rate of change in jerk is called snap Rate of change in snap is called crackle Rate of change in crackle is called pop

Don't forget jitter, now!

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finallymadeanaccount lemmy.world finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-12-31
#59 · Quote Reply

Voyager is fantastic, but it’s still way, way closer to the solar system than anything else. An excerpt from Wikipedia: At this rate, it would need about 17,565 years to travel a single light-year.[78] To compare, Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun, is about 4.2 light-years (2.65×105 AU) distant. If the spacecraft was traveling in the direction of that star, it wo...

This is why I don't get excited to hear about the discovery of 'Earth-like planets' 182 light years away.

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deadbeef79000 lemmy.nz deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz
Joined: 2023-06-17
#60 · (edited) Quote Reply

[deleted]

It'd be remarkably fortuitous if bacteria evolved to break down wood before wood existed.

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otter lemmy.dbzer0.com otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2023-11-18
#61 · Quote Reply

Australia is wider than the moon. If earth had the size of a football (soccer), the moon would be about 7m away. If the sun had a diameter of 1m, Neptune would be 5.6km away. In that scale model, the next star would be placed in the outer planets. Space is insanely big.

7 meters?

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otter lemmy.dbzer0.com otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2023-11-18
#62 · Quote Reply

Time derivatives! Rate of change in position is called velocity Rate of change in velocity is called acceleration Rate of change in acceleration is called jerk Rate of change in jerk is called snap Rate of change in snap is called crackle Rate of change in crackle is called pop

Wait, what. 🤩

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otter lemmy.dbzer0.com otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2023-11-18
#63 · Quote Reply

Red grapefruits were originally created by planting yellow grapefruit near a radioactive source with the express purpose of creating mutations in the plant.

Commies! They're in your fruits!

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otter lemmy.dbzer0.com otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2023-11-18
#64 · (edited) Quote Reply

I mean, there is such a field as political science.

Yeah, and "Communication" is a major, too. Point? I expect you also hold that Statistics isn't blatant sorcery, too?

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state_electrician discuss.tchncs.de state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de
Joined: 2023-06-12
#65 · Quote Reply

7 meters?

I looked up the circumference of a football and it said about 70cm. As the moon is about 10 times the circumference of the earth away, that'd put the moon at 7m away.

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threelonmusketeers sh.itjust.works threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-06-10
#66 · Quote Reply

Time derivatives! Rate of change in position is called velocity Rate of change in velocity is called acceleration Rate of change in acceleration is called jerk Rate of change in jerk is called snap Rate of change in snap is called crackle Rate of change in crackle is called pop

And if I recall correctly

  • Rate of change in pop is called lock
  • Rate of change in lock is called drop
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Tar_Alcaran sh.itjust.works Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-10-06
#67 · Quote Reply

you mean the galaxy, a solar system usually has 1 star.

Some have more than one, and no solar system has zero stars, so the average is greater than one.

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slazer2au lemmy.world slazer2au@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-30
#68 · Quote Reply

Red grapefruits were originally created by planting yellow grapefruit near a radioactive source with the express purpose of creating mutations in the plant.

So that's where Oxygen Not Included got the idea from.

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🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 pawb.social Kolanaki@pawb.social
Joined: 2024-10-06
#69 · Quote Reply

Snakes have two dicks.

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DokPsy lemmy.world DokPsy@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-18
#70 · Quote Reply

you mean the galaxy, a solar system usually has 1 star.

If memory serves, binary star systems are more common but the statement was specifically on the system around Sol

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Tar_Alcaran sh.itjust.works Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-10-06
#71 · Quote Reply

I was taught glass is a supercooled liquid. If you look at window panes that are over 100 years old they are thicker at the bottom than at the top because they slowly flow down due to gravity.

You were taught wrong. It's from how the glass was made, and sometimes it's thicker on top, or on the sides, depending on how it was installed. Glass doesnt sag.

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threelonmusketeers sh.itjust.works threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-06-10
#72 · Quote Reply

Don't forget jitter, now!

Which one is jitter?

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threelonmusketeers sh.itjust.works threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-06-10
#73 · (edited) Quote Reply

If you took all the DNA from every cell of one person and laid it in a straight line they would die

Relevant xkcd: How long would you survive with no DNA?

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Tar_Alcaran sh.itjust.works Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-10-06
#74 · Quote Reply

I am the sexiest person you have ever met in your life.

Hi Sarah!

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Alcan lemmy.world Alcan@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-05-22
#75 · Quote Reply

The sun feels warmer when it's farther away. (I'm not completely sure if this only happens in the north hemisphere)

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threelonmusketeers sh.itjust.works threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-06-10
#76 · Quote Reply

There's more ships in the ocean by weight than there's fish. [edit] See my other comment below, probably more accurate to say the total weight of all ships is around the same as the total weight of all ocean fish.

By how much?

(And how do we know this?)

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threelonmusketeers sh.itjust.works threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-06-10
#77 · Quote Reply

Snakes have two dicks.

"Hemipenis"

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OldQWERTYbastard lemmy.world OldQWERTYbastard@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-21
#78 · Quote Reply

"Hemipenis"

See also: Brodozer and Pavement Princess.

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potoooooooo 🥔 lemmy.world ivanafterall@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-20
#79 · Quote Reply

Time derivatives! Rate of change in position is called velocity Rate of change in velocity is called acceleration Rate of change in acceleration is called jerk Rate of change in jerk is called snap Rate of change in snap is called crackle Rate of change in crackle is called pop

This explains the sounds when I move to get up, these days.

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potoooooooo 🥔 lemmy.world ivanafterall@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-20
#80 · Quote Reply

Commies! They're in your fruits!

Commies and fruits have been bedfellows for a long time.

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StillAlive piefed.world StillAlive@piefed.world
Joined: 2025-11-09
#81 · Quote Reply

Sharks are older than fire. Sharks existed before there was enough O2 in the atmosphere to sustain a fire.

What. The. Fuck.

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JustTesting lemmy.hogru.ch JustTesting@lemmy.hogru.ch
Joined: 2023-06-25
#82 · (edited) Quote Reply

By how much? (And how do we know this?)

From an old XKCD What-If, which put it at 2.15 gigatons ships vs 2 gigatons fish. But that uses quite old numbers.

Looking at up to date data from the UN there's 2.4 gigatons of ships. Note that this is dead-weight tonnage, so fully loaded. Empty is probably more like ~0.5 gigatons, so it'd depend on how fully loaded the ships are.

And a quick search turns up this paper which references several estimates for fish biomass form other papers, which would put fish biomass somewhere between 0.4 and 4.9 gigatons depending on estimate.

So I put it too strongly saying "more", it'd be more accurate to say fish biomass and ship mass is within the same order of magnitude. Also note that it's only fish, not like plankton, shrimp, etc.

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Airowird lemmy.blahaj.zone Airowird@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2025-07-01
#83 · Quote Reply

There's more ships in the ocean by weight than there's fish. [edit] See my other comment below, probably more accurate to say the total weight of all ships is around the same as the total weight of all ocean fish.

In or on?

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RunawayFixer lemmy.world RunawayFixer@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-09-02
#84 · Quote Reply

Which one is jitter?

None of those, but I think a series of irregular jerks could be considered jitter.

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towerful programming.dev towerful@programming.dev
Joined: 2023-06-30
#85 · Quote Reply

Chainsaws.

I fuckin knew it!

5
Nastybutler lemmy.world Nastybutler@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-24
#86 · (edited) Quote Reply

We were taught wrong. That is an artifact of how the glass was made. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-fiction-glass-liquid/

That article doesn't contradict what I was taught, just that the reason for the melted appearance of old glass isn't due to this state, as that would take longer than the universe has existed to reach that effect, but due to old glass making techniques. We weren't taught wrong, just given the wrong timeframe for it to happen. Doesn't change the fact that glass isn't a solid. Don't know why my original comment is currently negative. I guess I'm taking the down votes earned by my chemistry teachers back in the 90s.

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andallthat lemmy.world andallthat@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-19
#87 · Quote Reply

Snakes have two dicks.

Like a... bifurcated one similar to their tongue or they have two in different parts of their body? And do females also have two holes?
Are snake threesomes a thing?

So many questions!

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andallthat lemmy.world andallthat@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-19
#88 · Quote Reply

This explains the sounds when I move to get up, these days.

Is it snap? You might have to slow down your rate of jerk

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AnyOldName3 lemmy.world AnyOldName3@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-12
#89 · Quote Reply

In reply to an earlier post

That article never says amorphous solids are liquids, and repeatedly says they're solid. Your claim is like saying modern TVs aren't true TVs because they're really HD TVs as if HD contradicts the TVness of something. It's just nonsense.

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Zacryon feddit.org Zacryon@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-07-10
#90 · (edited) Quote Reply

In reply to an earlier post

Sounds like a usefull skill for the next all you can eat buffet.

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Zacryon feddit.org Zacryon@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-07-10
#91 · Quote Reply

In reply to an earlier post

That's okay. We're not on reddit and just have a lighthearted chat without corporate interests in it.

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Lumisal lemmy.world Lumisal@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-03-16
#92 · Quote Reply

In reply to an earlier post

Gonna need a fact check on this one.

Are we counting the gas of Jupiter or just the solid core? Same for the others

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asdfasdfasdf lemmy.world asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-25
#93 · Quote Reply

In reply to an earlier post

From what I read, red grapefruit like Ruby Red existed naturally, but the atomic mutations only made them more red / not fade over time.

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BradleyUffner lemmy.world BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-11
#94 · (edited) Quote Reply

In reply to an earlier post

I think you might actually be thinking of the Pitch Drop Experiment?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_drop_experiment?wprov=sfla1

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harambe69 lemmy.dbzer0.com harambe69@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2024-10-03
#95 · Quote Reply

The universe is jerking it

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Deconceptualist leminal.space Deconceptualist@leminal.space
Joined: 2025-06-29
#96 · Quote Reply

And if I recall correctly Rate of change in pop is called lock Rate of change in lock is called drop

When the fuck could those possibly be useful? 😆🙃

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blueduck piefed.social blueduck@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-10-19
#97 · Quote Reply

Gonna need a fact check on this one. Are we counting the gas of Jupiter or just the solid core? Same for the others

Whole planets. You do have to cant Saturn because the rings don’t fit

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harambe69 lemmy.dbzer0.com harambe69@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2024-10-03
#98 · Quote Reply

What. The. Fuck.

The real facts are in the sub-comments

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Zier fedia.io Zier@fedia.io
Joined: 2023-06-17
#99 · Quote Reply

Hi Sarah!

Heyyy!!!

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Zier fedia.io Zier@fedia.io
Joined: 2023-06-17
#100 · Quote Reply

In reply to an earlier post

Everyone who has met me.

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Zier fedia.io Zier@fedia.io
Joined: 2023-06-17
#101 · Quote Reply

In reply to an earlier post

It's been a week, did you forget me already???

0
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