Science Against Intuition

Science and Technology · 10 questions

Things that feel obviously true, and that physics quietly disagrees with.

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1. In a chamber with the air pumped out, a feather and a hammer are dropped together. What happens?

   1. They land at the same moment
   2. The hammer lands well first
   3. The feather hangs in the air
   4. The hammer slows near the floor
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   A) They land at the same moment

2. What is the name of the disputed effect where hot water sometimes freezes before cold water?

   1. The Coriolis effect
   2. The Doppler effect
   3. The Mpemba effect
   4. The Leidenfrost effect
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   C) The Mpemba effect

3. Why does sound not travel through space?

   1. The temperature is far too low
   2. There is no gravity there
   3. Light drowns the sound out
   4. There is no matter to carry the vibration
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   D) There is no matter to carry the vibration

4. What colour are the hairs of a polar bear's coat, in fact?

   1. Bright snow white
   2. Clear and colourless
   3. Pale creamy yellow
   4. Dull silver grey
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   B) Clear and colourless

5. How do scientists judge the claim that glass slowly flows at room temperature?

   1. False; glass is an amorphous solid
   2. True but extremely slow
   3. True only for coloured glass
   4. True after a century
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   A) False; glass is an amorphous solid

6. Ice floats in a glass filled to the brim. As the ice melts, what happens to the water level?

   1. It rises noticeably
   2. It falls noticeably
   3. It barely changes
   4. The glass overflows
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   C) It barely changes

7. Why can lightning strike the same place more than once?

   1. Lightning is purely random
   2. The ground remembers the charge
   3. Clouds never move at all
   4. Tall conductive points are repeatedly favoured
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   D) Tall conductive points are repeatedly favoured

8. The Great Wall of China is the only human structure visible to the naked eye from the Moon.

   1. True
   2. False
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   B) False

9. The number of bacterial cells in a human body is roughly the same order as the number of human cells.

   1. True
   2. False
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   A) True

10. An insulated flask keeps a cold drink cold on a hot day just as it keeps a hot drink hot.

    1. True
    2. False
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    A) True