Misconceptions You Learned in School - mental_floss on YouTube (Ep.1)

Hi, I'm Elliot, and this is Mental Floss on YouTube

Today I'm going to talk about some misconceptions that you may have learned in school. Okay, because Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution, but it was never its own colony

The area was disputed between the province of Pennsylvania and Maryland until 1776

It did get its own assembly in the early 1700s, but it was still owned and governed by Pennsylvania

Misconception number two, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. Many inventors contributed to what would eventually become the light bulb, including Humphrey Davy, Joseph Swan, and Charles Stern

But Edison did create an incandescent light bulb that would stay lit for multiple hours

He then patented it and successfully marketed it, which is why a lot of people give him credit for the invention

But why are we giving him credit when we could be giving a man named Humphrey Davy credit

Misconception number three, toilet water flushes differently in different hemispheres because of the Coriolis effect

The direction of water going down a drain is not different in the northern and southern hemispheres In fact the direction is primarily affected by the shape of the toilet or the sink and this has nothing to do with the Coriolis effect which describes how objects that move on a rotating surface like the Earth deflect a bit in one direction

This applies to larger things like air and currents, but not things that are as minuscule

as toilets. Misconception number four, thousands panicked when they heard the War of the Worlds on the radio

Documentaries and textbooks sometimes report that millions were listening to Orson Wells performing a radio version of H.G. Wells, the war of the world

The truth is, we don't know. Many sources and studies disagree on this. On the night that the radio program aired in 1938, a study showed that only 2% of 5,000 households were even listening

and many of those listening knew that it was just a radio play. Still, hysteria was reported in many newspapers, and Orson Wells did apologize the next day

Around 300 people sent letters of complaint. Egg on their face, am I right

Misconception number five. Diamonds are made from coal. Most diamonds have actually been on earth for much longer than coal has

That's pretty much all I need to say to prove that this isn't true. most diamonds are actually formed around 100 miles below ground out of carbon

Then, many years later, they magically appear in mall jewelry stores all over the country

Misconception at number six, Christopher Columbus believed that the earth was flat

Actually Columbus knew that the earth was round and he didn prove that it was either The fact that the earth was round was pretty much common knowledge in Europe for at least 200 years before he set sail This myth came from the biography a history of the life and voyages of Christopher Columbus

by Washington Irving. Irving essentially made it up to make his story more interesting

More like lyography. Am I right? Misconception at number seven, George Washington chopped down his father's cherry tree

This story also came from a biography. It was first seen in the fifth edition

of The Life of Washington by Parson Weems, which was published seven years after Washington died

In the book, Washington actually removes the bark from the tree, which evolved into the story that we know today

Unfortunately, Weems' book is not considered a very good or credible source. Even at the time it was written, a reviewer called it 80 pages of his entertaining and edifying matter

as can be found in the annals of fanaticism and absurdity. That's one's snarky colonial critic

I like him. Misconception number eight, irregardless is not a word. Sorry, guys, but this is kind of how words and definitions are made

People say them enough and then they get put in the dictionary. So, irregardless can be found in the dictionary along with words like selfie and hashtag

Because we're just going down. According to Miriam Webster Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century It fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927 Misconception number nine you born with all of the brain cells that you ever have You may have learned this in school because it was the belief for a very

long time. And yes, most of a person's brain cells get formed even before they're born

but some are created during infancy as well. And scientists now know that we create around 1,400

new brain cells a day. So the next time someone tells you to not do something because it kills

brain cells, just tell them, it's okay. I'll grow some more. They'll be like, what

Misconception number 10, sunflowers follow the sun. Sunflower buds do this, but not actual

sunflowers. According to the National Sunflower Association, once the flower opens into the

radiance of yellow petals, it faces east. No one knows why. However, it is likely a defensive response

Facing south or west could result in sun scalding of seeds during very hot days. In other news

there's a National Sunflower Association, which begs the question, why is there a National Sunflower

association. Thanks for watching Misconceptions on mental floss on YouTube, which is made with the

help of all of these super nice people. If you have a topic for an upcoming misconceptions episode

that you would like to see, leave it in the comments, and I will see you next week. Goodbye