# What inaccurate or flawed history, science, etc. lessons was I taught in school as a kid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 18, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924 "2010-05-18T19:38:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/161 "2010-05-20T20:41:50Z")
> [@robby](#): > > No. > > Someone actually calculated how long it would take ordinary glass to measurably flow at room temperature (such that you could detect thicker glass at the bottom of a window pane, for example) and came up with a length of time “well beyond the age of the universe.” An analysis in the American Journal of Physics (May 1998 – Volume 66, Issue 5, pp. 392-395) actually came up with a figure of 10[sup]32[/sup] (100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) years to see _any_ measurable changes at room temperature. > > I don’t think you’re going to get your “puddle of glass” on the Moon in any time period as short as a million years. The Sun will likely expand into a red giant first, or more likely, your sculpture will be destroyed by meteorites (micro- or otherwise). > > [Cite](http://www.glassnotes.com/WindowPanes.html). Another beautiful theory slain by an ugly fact. ---
**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 20, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/162 "2010-05-20T21:20:27Z")
On the taxonomy of pandas, it should be noted that bears and raccoons are pretty closely related in the first place (closer than either is to, for instance, cats or dogs), so it’s not like the classification was ever all _that_ wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/163 "2010-05-20T21:23:53Z")
> [@gitfiddle](#): > > heavy metals in the body could never be removed because heavy metals don’t bond with any other elements, so say now we’ve learned that there are ways (snip!) Wait a minute. Are you including things that were taught “in good faith” but later superseded by fresh discoveries and inventions? By “in good faith” I mean that the teaching folk were up-to-date on their science and tech, and were communicating it clearly enough. ---
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/164 "2010-05-20T21:28:54Z")
> [@Trans Fat Og](#): > > Wait a minute. Are you including things that were taught “in good faith” but later superseded by fresh discoveries and inventions? > > By “in good faith” I mean that the teaching folk were up-to-date on their science and tech, and were communicating it clearly enough. Indeed. I’m trying to get an idea how our knowledge of the world has changed since I was a kid (i.e. the time when my only job was to be soak up what teachers told me and pour it all back into tests). ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/165 "2010-05-20T21:30:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > My favorite example: Every single elementary school science book will talk about the “Six Simple Machines”. Except of the six they list, only three are really distinct, and I could come up with about a dozen other distinct simple machines that they don’t list. The wheel is just a special case of a level, and the wedge and the screw are just special cases of the inclined plane, but the hydraulic ram, for instance, can be constructed without use of any of the other simple machines. Yeah, Chronos, I’ve wondered about that one too. I’d like your specific take on the endlessly repeated meme about five physical senses that we have in common. _ **- Jack** _ ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/166 "2010-05-20T21:48:11Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Might I add: > Galileo was persecuted by Church authorities because they thought his views about the solar system were dangerous to Christian faith (or contradicted the Bible, or were new and scary, or because they were not comfortable with the implication of a bigger universe), and he courageously stood up to them because of his love of the truth. > Note: I am not denying the fact that Galileo was tried and punished (though rather leniently, by the standards of the time), ostensibly because of his astronomical views; I am denying the motivations that are usually ascribed on each side. Now and then, you can probably make a few dollars by betting people on how Galileo died. There are loads of people (including, I’d wager, some SDMB regulars) who believe he was beheaded or burned at the stake. In reality, he died of old age while living under loose house arrest. ---
**Author:** ![notsoheavyd3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85e7bf/32.png) [@notsoheavyd3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notsoheavyd3)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/167 "2010-05-20T21:51:27Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I think that was more of an urban legend than anything taught in schools. And I’m pretty sure it was that we use only 10% of our brainpower (whatever “brainpower” is). I’ve heard the “We only use 10% of our brain” when I was in school. Actually, isn’t that true in a way? It was my understanding (layman’s understanding of neurology) that our brains consist of many types of cells. The cells that do the “thinking” are the neurons and they make up about 10% of the brain if you go by cellular count. ---
**Author:** ![notsoheavyd3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85e7bf/32.png) [@notsoheavyd3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notsoheavyd3)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/168 "2010-05-20T21:56:40Z")
I can add a few more that I heard in school for anybody that cares. Edison brought electricity to the masses. (Of course leaving out Westinghouse and Tesla.) The reason we use AC and not DC is if we used DC it would take several minutes after you flipped the light switch for the light to come on. (Note, actually this was said in a presentation given by the local electric company. For anybody that cares both parts of it are wrong.) The Mongols were basically a bunch of uncivilized, undisciplined, marauding savages. (Come to think of it that’s how the barbarians were portrayed as well. It’s amazing to think of that and then realize the Mongols produced a guy like Subutai) ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/169 "2010-05-20T21:59:08Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > In early elementary school you learn that Columbus sailed the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria and discovers America. Then many years later, from the same school system, you learn that he **actually** never set foot in North America proper, but rather what he “discovered” was Hispaniola and Cuba. 😕 I went to a fairly crappy elementary school back in the 70s, and I was never taught that Chris C. set foot on North America. It was always clear that he was basically confused and lucky; he got credit mostly for setting the European colonization/conquest of the Americas in motion rather than accomplishing much his ownself. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/170 "2010-05-20T22:02:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > On the taxonomy of pandas, it should be noted that bears and raccoons are pretty closely related in the first place (closer than either is to, for instance, cats or dogs), so it’s not like the classification was ever all _that_ wrong. Well, it was thought that pandas were more closely related to raccoons than they were to bears, which was (later found to be) wrong. And even with the modern classification, raccoons, _et al._, are still closer to, say, pinnipeds, than they are to bears (and bears and raccoons are both fairly close to dogs, really…). The generally-accepted cladogram for these groups looks something like this (excluding fossil groups): Caniformia | ±-----Canidae (Dogs) | | ±-----Ursidae (Bears) | | ±-----Pinnepedia (seals, etc.) | | Musteloidea (red pandas, skunks, weasels, raccoons) So yeah, bears and raccoons are fairly closely related (I personally wouldn’t go so far as to say “pretty closely”, though, since, to me, that implies a sister-group relationship). They are all arctoid caniforms, after all! ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/171 "2010-05-20T22:09:45Z")
According to my runner-coach brothers, one “old bad idea” that’s still in full display is the idea that stretching before exercise helps prevent injury. They tell me it’s been basically proven that what you want is warmup before and stretching after. Yet when I went to my work-HS’s basketball game, the opposing team counted off stretches before hand, none of which would have worked anyway. Hey coach! You can’t adequately stretch your leg muscles in ten-second half-baked positions, with some of the kids bouncing through them. Even from my little knowledge, it was a complete :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/172 "2010-05-20T22:11:17Z")
**Chronos** said: > [@](#): > > The wheel is just a special case of a leve[r], and the wedge and the screw are just special cases of the inclined plane, but the hydraulic ram, for instance, can be constructed without use of any of the other simple machines. > > Oops, typo. That should say “the wheel is just a special case of a _lever_”. In any sense in which a wheel can be considered a machine (that is, something with mechanical advantage), you actually have multiple wheels connected on the same axle and in contact with different things. You seem to be looking at how a wheel acts as a conveyance, and ignoring the element of the _axle_. That is the component that allows the wheel to remain attached to the structure and still rotate fully. A round object will roll, but it is the axle that makes it what we consider a wheel. **AClockworkMelon** said: > [@](#): > > If Pluto’s a planet then so are all the other larger-than-Pluto objects in the Solar System. Fine by me. **Blake** said: > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by gitfiddle > > I’m almost certain I was also taught that the appendix had no function. Don’t we now believe that it stores bacteria for digestion? > > Not for digestion, but there is some evidence that it serves as a reservoir of normal gut flora that can’t be scoured by illness or poisoning. Kind of like a seed bank of gut flora. Interesting. Is that a function keeping it from going away completely? **Tethered Kite** said: > [@](#): > > And that anyone who said _snuck_ for _sneaked_ was poorly educated. I was taught that _dove_ was the past tense of _dive_. Then I was taught that _dived_ was the correct word, and “_dove_\* is not a word”. Then I was confused. \*Dove, not the bird or the bar of soap that are pronounced “duv”, but “dohv”, as in “he dove into the pool”. **Pleonast** said: > [@](#): > > Yes, but when the phrase “the sun burns hydrogen” appears in elementary school textbooks, the students typically assume that means combustion with oxygen. And at least when I was in school, the teachers didn’t know better either. I’d argue they don’t even know that “fire burns” means combustion with oxygen. **Tethered Kite** said: > [@](#): > > Just in case you don’t mind someone a little older chiming in I’m still stinging over the scolding I got from a Sociology 101 prof when I questioned his comment about tabula rasa. That would have been in 1972. You want to explain what you are alluding to here? ---
**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 20, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/173 "2010-05-20T22:20:11Z")
> [@](#): > > I’d like your specific take on the endlessly repeated meme about five physical senses that we have in common. - Jack They’re more five categories of senses, rather than distinct senses per se. In particular, a lot of different things are lumped together under “touch”. And not much attention is paid to the internal senses, like the sense that tells you that your elbow is bent, or that you need food, or the like. **Darwin’s Finch** , I didn’t realize that about the pinnipeds. Thanks for the new information! Where do cats fit in? ---
**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 20, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/174 "2010-05-20T22:23:02Z")
**Irishman** , I’m not sure I understand your objection re: wheels, since I did indeed mention the axle, and a wheel used just for rolling a vehicle isn’t even a “machine” at all. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/175 "2010-05-20T22:28:11Z")
> [@notsoheavyd3](#): > > I’ve heard the “We only use 10% of our brain” when I was in school. Actually, isn’t that true in a way? It was my understanding (layman’s understanding of neurology) that our brains consist of many types of cells. The cells that do the “thinking” are the neurons and they make up about 10% of the brain if you go by cellular count. Our brain consists of gray and white matter, CSF, and structural things like meninges. I assume you’re talking about gray matter. The ratio of the two is very close and depends on age (and having certain disorders), but you usually have more gray matter. Say a 1.3:1 ratio, a bit far from 1:9. Also, gray and white matter are BOTH the neuron, just two different parts of it (the soma and the axon respectively). > [@notsoheavyd3](#): > > I can add a few more that I heard in school for anybody that cares. > > Edison brought electricity to the masses. (Of course leaving out Westinghouse and Tesla.) > > The reason we use AC and not DC is if we used DC it would take several minutes after you flipped the light switch for the light to come on. (Note, actually this was said in a presentation given by the local electric company. For anybody that cares both parts of it are wrong.) Edison was a dick. He was rather belligerent to Tesla and Westinghouse. He was so convinced that DC was superior that he electrocuted an elephant to death using AC because he could. ---
**Author:** ![notsoheavyd3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85e7bf/32.png) [@notsoheavyd3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notsoheavyd3)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/176 "2010-05-20T22:36:14Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Our brain consists of gray and white matter, CSF, and structural things like meninges. I assume you’re talking about gray matter. The ratio of the two is very close and depends on age (and having certain disorders), but you usually have more gray matter. Say a 1.3:1 ratio, a bit far from 1:9. Also, gray and white matter are BOTH the neuron, just two different parts of it (the soma and the axon respectively). I think this is what I was thinking of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glial\_cells#Numbers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glial_cells#Numbers) > [@](#): > > Edison was a dick. He was rather belligerent to Tesla and Westinghouse. He was so convinced that DC was superior that he electrocuted an elephant to death using AC because he could. Well Westinghouse kind of got his revenge. He probably laughed when they took Edison’s name off the company:) (Got to say screwing over Tesla was one of the stupidest things Edison ever did.) ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/177 "2010-05-20T22:37:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **Darwin’s Finch** , I didn’t realize that about the pinnipeds. Thanks for the new information! Where do cats fit in? Cats would be in Feliformia, which is the sister clade to Caniformia, both within Carnivora. So, taking the cladogram back a couple steps gives us this: Carnivora | | ±------ **Feliformia** (civets, cats, hyenas, mongooses) | **Caniformia** | ±-----Canidae (Dogs) | | ±-----Ursidae (Bears) | | ±-----Pinnepedia (seals, etc.) | | Musteloidea (red pandas, skunks, weasels, raccoons) ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/178 "2010-05-20T22:47:17Z")
Before plate tectonics was widely accepted, I remember a science text book _and_ a movie(elementary level) that said the mountains on Earth were created because the planet was once all molten, and as it cooled, the surface wrinkled. In the movie, they demonstrated this by baking an apple, then setting it on a table. As it cooled, ridges form, akin to mountains. :rolleyes: My dad, a government geologist who graduated in the 1940’s, still is sceptical about plate tectonics. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/179 "2010-05-20T22:51:55Z")
> [@notsoheavyd3](#): > > I can add a few more that I heard in school for anybody that cares. > > The reason we use AC and not DC is if we used DC it would take several minutes after you flipped the light switch for the light to come on. (Note, actually this was said in a presentation given by the local electric company. For anybody that cares both parts of it are wrong.) > > ) We actually use AC [because it’s dangerous.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/199/what-physically-happens-to-someone-electrocuted-in-the-electric-chair)😃 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924/180 "2010-05-20T23:01:00Z")
> [@AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](#): > > Another beautiful theory slain by an ugly fact. you’ll get your puddle much faster if you put the bottle on mercury. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inaccurate-or-flawed-history-science-etc-lessons-was-i-taught-in-school-as-a-kid/539924.md?page=10)