# Great science facts **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 1, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272 "2013-05-01T23:50:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/141 "2013-05-07T11:46:52Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > It’s safe to connect a fully charged car battery to your tongue with jumper cables. You won’t get a lethal shock, but the jumper cable clamp will probably pinch right through your tongue. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/142 "2013-05-07T14:17:10Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > You won’t get a lethal shock, but the jumper cable clamp will probably pinch right through your tongue. 😃 “Not lethal” is not the same as “safe.” How can this possibly be safe (clamp trauma notwithstanding)? I would think the tongue presents rather low resistance and a car battery would be able to deliver a lot of amps. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/143 "2013-05-07T14:48:45Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > on the subject of the distance to the moon, for a long time i’d assumed it was rather close by, reinforced by the models of the solar system we were shown in primary school. it’s actually rather far away - to scale, a basketball would have to be about 7 meters away from a tennis ball. how far away would Mars be? I once drew the solar system in CAD and was impressed by the distances. Here is a to scale view of the Earth and moon I threw together: earth radius is R6378 km, moon radius R1738 km, distance to moon from earth 378000 km. [Earth/Moon](http://dmf109.smugmug.com/Other/Random-stuff/i-qncxrtp/0/L/Earth%20Moon-L.jpg) Values are from [here](http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/moonfact.html) ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/144 "2013-05-07T14:52:52Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > “Not lethal” is not the same as “safe.” How can this possibly be safe (clamp trauma notwithstanding)? I would think the tongue presents rather low resistance and a car battery would be able to deliver a lot of amps. Ever touched a 9-volt battery to your tongue? It tingles a lot, on the verge of being painful, but I’m not aware of anyone having died from it. 12 volts is only a bit higher. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/145 "2013-05-07T14:55:30Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > I once drew the solar system in CAD and was impressed by the distances. > > Here is a to scale view of the Earth and moon I threw together: earth radius is R6378 km, moon radius R1738 km, distance to moon from earth 378000 km. > > [Earth/Moon](http://dmf109.smugmug.com/Other/Random-stuff/i-qncxrtp/0/L/Earth%20Moon-L.jpg) > > Values are from [here](http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/moonfact.html) Ok, this is fun. Here is the Sun (left) and earth and moon (right). [Wow!](http://dmf109.smugmug.com/Other/Random-stuff/i-WWJmLNR/0/X2/Sun%20Earth%20Moon-X2.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/146 "2013-05-07T16:17:08Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > to scale, a basketball would have to be about 7 meters away from a tennis ball. how far away would Mars be? On the scale where 7m represents the average Earth-Moon distance, Earth-Mars distance ranges from about 1 to 7 km, with an average around 4 km. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/147 "2013-05-07T16:48:11Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > hmm, perhaps I’m misremembering. I do know that several of the electronics books I own refer to the incident as The Mistake. Maybe you’re thinking of the polarity of magnets and of the earth? What we call the north pole of a compass needle points to the north pole of the earth. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/148 "2013-05-07T16:49:09Z")
> [@Danja](#): > > Like **Xema** said, this doesn’t make statistical sense. If you predefine some sequence and then distribute, then you have an astronomically small chance of getting that sequence. But if, as in your statement, you simply deal a hand of cards, then it’s nonsensical to state the probability after the fact because there is a 100% chance that you will get _some_ sequence, and a 100% chance that it was the one that you drew. You and Xena seem to be missing the point. Of course the sequence wasn’t specified before the deal. Neither was the sequence of events that led to the creation of the world. ---
**Author:** ![jharvey963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/149 "2013-05-07T22:42:35Z")
One fact I actually learned on The Dope: water pressure is dependent ONLY on depth, not on volume. Let’s say you have a 6" square pipe, 20 feet tall, completely full of water. The pressure on the lowest inch of one side of that pipe is equal to the the pressure on a 6" by 1" section of the Hoover Dam, 20 feet below the water level. The fact that you have an immense volume of water behind the dam doesn’t matter. The pressure is the same! J. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/150 "2013-05-08T01:45:23Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Neither was the sequence of events that led to the creation of the world. But the essential point is: that sequence was not one that arose randomly. Nor was it “directed”. ---
**Author:** ![what\_do\_I\_type\_here](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a5b964/32.png) [@what\_do\_I\_type\_here](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/what_do_I_type_here)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/151 "2013-05-08T02:46:23Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I do. It swallows 8 spiders every night. The average person swallows 8 spiders only because I swallowed 56,000,000,000 spiders once. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/152 "2013-05-08T02:56:49Z")
not that big a feat when you consider the size of a baby spider, _or is it_? ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/153 "2013-05-09T02:16:33Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > But the essential point is: that sequence was not one that arose randomly. Nor was it “directed”. No, that’s not the essential point. The essential point is that neither scenario is particularly noteworthy unless viewed in hindsight. ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/154 "2013-05-09T03:40:29Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Ever touched a 9-volt battery to your tongue? It tingles a lot, on the verge of being painful, but I’m not aware of anyone having died from it. 12 volts is only a bit higher. Agreed, I always test my nine volt batteries that way. On the other hand, I remember reading about the lowest voltage electrocution according to a friend’s medical text book. The person accidentally killed himself by piercing his chest in two places with electrodes and then wiring them to a 12 V model train transformer. ETA: Don’t try this at home! ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/155 "2013-05-09T03:42:59Z")
> [@JWT\_Kottekoe](#): > > The person accidentally killed himself by piercing his chest in two places with electrodes and then wiring them to a 12 V model train transformer. > > ETA: Don’t try this at home! What would possess one to try it _anywhere?_. Sticking electrodes in my chest and running current through them isn’t something I regularly have to be talked out of doing. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/156 "2013-05-09T03:49:52Z")
_Accidentally_?! ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/157 "2013-05-09T03:51:35Z")
I looked for a cite and couldn’t find it. As I recall, and this is something I read \>40 years ago, the victim was using this as an “autoerotic device.” ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/158 "2013-05-09T04:58:30Z")
> [@JWT\_Kottekoe](#): > > I looked for a cite and couldn’t find it. As I recall, and this is something I read \>40 years ago, the victim was using this as an “autoerotic device.” I’m normally a big fan of cites and the pursuit of knowledge, but in this case that may be for the best. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/159 "2013-05-09T05:56:39Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Door hinge. You must have the weirdest accent. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272/160 "2013-05-09T07:51:05Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > hmm, perhaps I’m misremembering. I do know that several of the electronics books I own refer to the incident as The Mistake. [Obligatory XKCD link](http://xkcd.com/567/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-science-facts/657272.md?page=9)