# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674 "2020-04-13T03:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 496
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9913 "2024-07-15T20:09:33Z")
Right. The only common batteries nowadays that are truly “batteries” are the 9Vs. The original electrical meaning of “battery” is closer to what we now call “battery packs”. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9914 "2024-07-15T20:15:51Z")
Franklin was the person who first realized the symbiotic relationship between plants and animals. His scientist friend Joseph Priestly told Franklin about how a plant would mysteriously renew used up air in sealed containers. And Franklin wrote him back about how everyone on the planet owes a debt to all plants, from the greatest tree to the tiniest vine for making our air breathable. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9915 "2024-07-16T01:59:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The only common batteries nowadays that are truly “batteries” are the 9Vs. Most EV batteries have multiple cells. Sometimes tens of thousands of them. ---
**Author:** ![DETXL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/detxl/32/19366_2.png) [@DETXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DETXL)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9916 "2024-07-16T08:22:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The original electrical meaning of “battery” is closer to what we now call “battery packs” See also our term “mailbag,” a bag for carrying the “mail,” or (from the OED) > A bag or packet of letters or dispatches for conveyance by post (more fully **mail of letters** ). In later use chiefly: the postal matter (or a quantity of letters, packages, etc.) conveyed in this manner ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9917 "2024-07-16T11:50:50Z")
Nanotubes (NTs) were all the rage about a decade ago. The first NTs were made of carbon. Other researchers developed NTs made of other materials. One group in China made NTs out of copper. Since the chemical symbol for copper is Cu, this made for a rather unfortunate abbreviation. > **[Structural and electronic properties of chiral single-wall copper nanotubes](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014SCPMA..57..644D/abstract)** > > The structural, energetic and electronic properties of chiral ( n, m) (3⩽ n⩽6, n/2⩽ m⩽ n) single-wall copper nanotubes (CuNTs) have been investigated by using projector-augmented wave method based on density-functional theory. The (4, 3) CuNT is... ---
**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:** [July 16, 2024, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9918 "2024-07-16T12:38:24Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Most EV batteries have multiple cells. Sometimes tens of thousands of them. I’m not aware of any that are built around a single cell. The voltage produced by a single electrochemical cell is generally between 1 and 4 volts, depending on the chemistry being used; if you wanted to use a single cell to provide the 100-400 kilowatts of power used in an electric vehicle, you’d need to move many tens of thousands of amps of current, and the cables would be impossibly stout. Instead, the cells are arrayed in series to produce several hundred volts, reducing the current requirement to something manageable. Within the propulsion battery pack, many cell stacks are also arrayed in parallel with each other, because making one single series battery stack that’s capable of providing hundreds of amps would require very large cells that would be difficult to cool during use and during charging. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9919 "2024-07-16T13:21:31Z")
It was Alessandro Volta who invented the Volt [citation needed] and he called the thing that made it a [voltaic pile](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaic_pile), which you have decided to translate as a stack: a lot of elements (layers) of copper, zinc and an electrolyte in between, conected in parallel. When you connect those parallel elements in series you get a battery. Small batteries are still called _pila_ in Italian and Spanish and _pile_ in Frech. More or less, anyway. Plus what [Luigi Galvani](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Galvani) did with frog’s legs, which is also interesting. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9920 "2024-07-16T22:38:40Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Plus what [Luigi Galvani](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Galvani) did with frog’s legs I zinc I might have heard of that guy. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9921 "2024-07-16T23:24:46Z")
That pun is revolting. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9922 "2024-07-17T00:19:58Z")
Watt? ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9923 "2024-07-17T02:13:01Z")
It made me twitch ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9924 "2024-07-17T02:20:24Z")
Ohm my god, after reading these puns my head hertz. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9925 "2024-07-17T05:40:40Z")
Ohm, you need more resistance. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9926 "2024-07-17T05:50:44Z")
Danny Kaye’s body double for the movie _Knock On Wood_ was future Doctor Who Jon Pertwee. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9927 "2024-07-17T08:32:55Z")
Apparently some of ze Germans [don’t like people named Kevin](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevinismus)? I don’t like Kevin Hart either, but that’s because I don’t think he’s funny. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9928 "2024-07-17T15:35:42Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > the first time I heard about Duluth was as the town Bob Dylan grew up in He was born in Duluth, but grew up and went to school in Hibbing, MN (part of the Iron Range). People here always think it’s so cool that he’s from the area, but he rarely, if ever mentions Duluth or Hibbing. Duluth even named a street after him. I don’t think he cared. Rumor has it, that he performed in a high school talent show in Hibbing and he was booed off the stage! ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9929 "2024-07-17T15:40:57Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > He was born in Duluth, but grew up and went to school in Hibbing, MN (part of the Iron Range). People here always think it’s so cool that he’s from the area, but he rarely, if ever mentions Duluth or Hibbing. Duluth even named a street after him. I don’t think he cared. Dang, I knew this, I read several Dylan biographies, but I always confuse Duluth and Hibbing. > [@TRC4941](#): > > Rumor has it, that he performed in a high school talent show in Hibbing and he was booed off the stage! The story I remember heaving heard or read was that the principal cut the cord because he thought it was infernal noise, just like Pete Seeger allegedly tried at the 1965 Newport Festival when Dylan went electric. Though that story probably is apocryphal, it’s a fact that Dylan initially was a rocker turned folkie turned rocker again, he didn’t start in folk. In his high school year book, he stated under “goal in life”: “to join Little Richard’s band”. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9930 "2024-07-17T15:46:38Z")
He listened to an Odetta record and immediately bought an acoustic guitar. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9931 "2024-07-17T15:48:06Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Apparently some of ze Germans [don’t like people named Kevin](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevinismus)? I don’t like Kevin Hart either, but that’s because I don’t think he’s funny. Perhaps the American version of “Kevinismus” would be the trend for African-Americans to give their children French, Islamic or African (sounding) names, often with a variant spelling? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9932 "2024-07-17T15:56:25Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > He listened to an Odetta record and immediately bought an acoustic guitar. He probably stole that album, as he was infamous for “borrowing” records from friends and acquaintances and never giving them back. Assholish behavior, for sure, but what would his career have been without all those musical influences he soaked up like a sponge? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=495) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=497)