# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 25, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785 "2024-07-25T15:06:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 124
**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:** [May 25, 2025, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2461 "2025-05-25T04:11:55Z")
“Centrifugal Force” is a misnomer. It is not a force, it is a manifestation of inertia. The actual force involved is \*centripetal", which is the force that is preventing the thing from moving in the straight line that it wants to. Like when you swing a sling around, the cords of the sling, along with the pocket material, provide the centripetal force that prevents the rock from moving in a straight line until you release a cord. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2462 "2025-05-25T04:59:45Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > “Centrifugal Force” is a misnomer. It is not a force, it is a manifestation of inertia. Just like gravitational “force”, which is also a manifestation of inertia. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2025, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2463 "2025-05-25T14:15:18Z")
Yes, I know about General Relativity’s geometric interpretation of gravity; but gravity exchanges energy and momentum between masses– isn’t that the textbook _definition_ of a force? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2464 "2025-05-25T15:28:29Z")
That’s the Newtonian interpretation. General relativity uses geometry and frames of reference to describe the inertial motion of matter. It explains the equivalence of inertial and gravitational mass, which Newtonian physics cannot. Circular motion is a special case of general relativity. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2465 "2025-05-25T16:21:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But Lindberg’s landing spot was probably just a big, completely-empty field. No other airplanes, no terminal buildings, no traffic-control tower, etc. That’s assuming everything went as planned - not a sure thing of that endeavor in those days. I would think a windshield would be handy in an emergency landing. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2025, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2466 "2025-05-25T16:29:19Z")
I said centrifugal force, and I meant centrifugal force. It’s exactly as real as gravity, and it’s a lot more natural and convenient to describe what’s happening here in terms of centrifugal force than in terms of centripetal force. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2467 "2025-05-25T16:40:47Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I would think a windshield would be handy Not as handy as the extra fuel tank in front of the cockpit. Because the motor and prop obscured forward vision on early airplanes most pilots would be used to landing while looking off to one side, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2468 "2025-05-25T17:03:53Z")
From this map, the Ohio is flowing southeast to meet the Mississippi’s northeast turn. [![](https://www.waterwaysjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/US-60_map.jpg) ](https://www.waterwaysjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/US-60_map.jpg) The Mississippi has more than 100,000 named inflows. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2469 "2025-05-25T17:09:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But Lindberg’s landing spot was probably just a big, completely-empty field. No other airplanes, no terminal buildings, no traffic-control tower, etc. Apparently he landed at Le Bourget airport, after circling a few times to work out how to avoid the waiting crowds > **[New York-to-Paris Flight](https://www.mnhs.org/lindbergh/learn/aviation/famous-flight)** > > Discover the childhood home of Charles A. Lindbergh, the famed environmental activist, inventor, and aviation pioneer. Explore how ambition, fame, and life on the Mississippi River shaped his complex character. Alcock and Brown chose to land in what they thought was a field, but turned out to be a bog > **[Alcock and Brown - First Transatlantic Flight lands in Connemara](https://connemara.net/alcock-and-brown)** > > The first transatlantic flight was achieved in 1919 with the arrival of a Vickers-Vimy biplane behind the Marconi wireless station 4km south of Clifden Amelia Earhart also landed in a field. > **[When Amelia Earhart landed in Derry field](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-32934928)** > > Northern Ireland's unlikely part in aviation history is revisited in a startling archive radio interview with one of the first people on the scene as Amelia Earhart landed in a country field. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2025, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2470 "2025-05-25T17:15:30Z")
The Mississippi-Missouri river, by any fair measure (i.e., one that doesn’t arbitrarily break it into multiple rivers) is one of the longest in the world. But one of those many tributaries it has is the [shortest known river in the world](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_River), at a mere 201 feet. ---
**Author:** ![Xocomil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xocomil/32/14927_2.png) [@Xocomil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xocomil)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2471 "2025-05-25T21:33:16Z")
Gravity causes objects to change velocity, yes. However, falling under gravity doesn’t _feel_ like acceleration. The gravitational acceleration on the Earth’s surface is about 22 mph per second. That’s 0-60 in less than 3 seconds. In a car you’d feel that a little bit, I think. The same acceleration in a freefall? It doesn’t feel like anything. More urgently, here’s an alarming random fact according to Wikipedia: “It is known that frictional energy losses account for about 20% of the total energy expenditure of the world.” That’s in spite of Diddy’s best efforts. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2472 "2025-05-25T22:09:01Z")
> [@Xocomil](#): > > However, falling under gravity doesn’t _feel_ like acceleration. Although, _standing_ under gravity _does_ feel like acceleration. If you have ever been on a jetliner as it is on its takeoff roll, you feel yourself being forced back into the seat as the plane accelerates up to speed. _That_ is what acceleration feels like: a force applied to a body. You standing on the ground is exactly what acceleration feels like. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2025, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2473 "2025-05-25T22:16:04Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > a jetliner as it is on its takeoff roll Of course it depends on whether it is on a threadmill. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2025, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2474 "2025-05-25T22:21:18Z")
that only applies to 747s ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2475 "2025-05-25T23:42:22Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > most pilots would be used to landing while looking off to one side, anyway. (Now imagining a Sopwith Camel with a drop nose, like the Concorde) [Sopwith\_F-1\_Camel\_USAF.jpg (1600×1090) (googleusercontent.com)](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjATU1tmRW-yP8060RW8BqIIQsikzsJ5jCnuIApkaudgscdRwJk0_SEA5X9oXzKwESlilWIXsGk9HsQCWvIKkpKb_TO_58f_n_OmAo1EZeP3tAcUiKNKq-iy5gyHDwwPGNmmZPzXVkBFNdH/s1600/Sopwith_F-1_Camel_USAF.jpg) ---
**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:** [May 25, 2025, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2476 "2025-05-25T23:44:38Z")
Curse you, Red Baron! ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2025, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2477 "2025-05-26T00:02:10Z")
Worse were the inline engine Aviatiks the Austrians were flying, with their huge radiators. Look like calliopes on the fuselages. [![](https://www.aresgames.eu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/700x_aviatikdI_1.jpg) ](https://www.aresgames.eu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/700x_aviatikdI_1.jpg) ---
**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:** [May 26, 2025, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2478 "2025-05-26T00:43:32Z")
Acceleration only feels like acceleration because it usually can’t be applied evenly: An object is pushed on one surface, the force of which is transmitted through the body being pushed, leading to compression, etc. Ignoring tidal forces gravity acts evenly on every particle of a mass simultaneously, and to a close approximation so does magnetism on magnetically susceptible substances. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2025, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2479 "2025-05-26T10:49:18Z")
The novel _Falling Free_ by Lois McMaster Bujold is about Quaddies, people who have been genetically engineered for zero-G, their legs and feet having been replaced by extra arms and hands. They were born in zero-G and have spent their whole lives there. Then they take a ship to land on a planet. Upon landing, they feel an “acceleration vector” pressing them against the inside of the cabin, which oddly remains constant. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2025, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/2480 "2025-05-26T13:38:57Z")
Today I was reading an article regarding Memorial Day. I was somewhat surprised to learn that the single-day battle that saw the most American deaths was the Civil War Battle of Antietam, in which 3,675 soldiers were killed. (This, of course, included both Union and Confederate deaths.) By contrast, D-Day had about 2,500 American fatalities. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=123) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=125)