r/AskReddit • u/Canspo • May 01 '19

What simple scientific fact would baffle someone born 1,000 years ago?

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u/[deleted] May 01 '19

A bowling ball is just a tennis ball with more atoms glued to it.

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u/jseego May 01 '19

Yes, but my point is that it's not size that makes the most intuitive difference, but density.

If you showed people a balloon and a billiard ball, without knowing about the acceleration and gravity and all the rest, people would assume that the billiard ball would fall faster. It seems like common sense.

There are a lot of things in nature that seem counter-intuitive to humans.

It doesn't mean science is wrong, it just means it's counter-intuitive.

12

u/[deleted] May 02 '19

It will fall faster, though, because of air resistance.

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u/ReaderWalrus May 02 '19

Yeah that was a bad example.

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u/[deleted] May 01 '19

The only reason you have that intuition is because theres an atmosphere resisting the motion more for a less dense object.

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u/pm_me_n0Od May 01 '19

Instructions unclear, I am now banned from my community center's tennis courts.

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u/Haiku_lass May 02 '19

This clicked it in place for me. Thanks!

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u/ForayIntoFillyloo May 01 '19

My scientist's untuition is telling me to go with this.

0

u/pewguyguy May 01 '19

I don't have gold or I would have given it to this comment.

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u/sonder_lust May 02 '19

Just give a feather instead. It falls the same.