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Not all facts seem intuitive. Some take people by surprise or feel strange even after knowing them for a while. The reasons for this may vary from limited knowledge of the area, something having very different features from other things of a similar kind, to our senses perceiving something in such a way that it is tempting to the mind to draw some false conclusions, as is the case with various optical illusions, such as one line looking shorter than the other when that isn’t the case. People are sharing these kinds of facts, answering one Redditor’s question: “What’s something that sounds completely illogical but is actually correct?”

More info: Reddit

#1

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online Aluminum is infinitely recyclable and one of the worlds most recycled metal

ComplexSolid6712 , La Mary Anne Report

#2

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online Saudi Arabia imports camels from Australia

goth_mary , Wolfgang Hasselmann Report

#3

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online Sloths can hold their breath under water longer than dolphins

havoc_ado , Javier Mazzeo Report

#4

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online Mail is still delivered via donkey to a place at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

jetmech725 , David Selbert Report

#5

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online The double-slit experiment in quantum physics, where you're firing electrons at a barrier with two slits. Logic suggests you should see two lines on a screen behind the barrier, but instead, you get a pattern like waves interfering with each other, implying each electron goes through both slits simultaneously.

Yet, if you observe which slit they go through, the electrons revert to acting like particles, forming only two lines, as if they 'know' they're being watched. It's a mind-bending phenomenon that sounds illogical but is scientifically proven.

Hindsight_DJ , wiki commons Report

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#6

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online Sharks existed before Saturn’s rings did.

Moakmeister , Gerald Schömbs Report

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Head_on_a_Stick
Community Member
3 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The earliest fossil evidence for sharks is from 450 million years ago but the evidence in question is just a few scales that seem to be shark-like. A recent study suggests that Saturn's rings are no older than 400 million years: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adf8537 Both "facts" might be wrong though. Isn't science great?

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#7

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online You hear your own voice differently than others, that's why a lot of people get shocked when they listen to their own recordings.

purpleoyster67 , Andrea Piacquadio Report

#8

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online Water expands when frozen but almost everything else contracts when frozen

tsmitty24 , Simon Berger Report

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#9

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online Cashews grow on the outside of a cashew apple

NoFinish4978 , Quang Nguyen Vinh Report

#10

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online Inflammable means flammable

hexagon_son , www.pexels.com Report

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Aerial Wombat
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People also ask What is difference between flammable and inflammable? Flammable and inflammable do not mean the same thing. If something is flammable it means it can be set fire to, such as a piece of wood. However, inflammable means that a substance is capabble of bursting into flames without the need for any ignition.

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#11

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online There is a nerve that connects your brain to your larynx (voice box), but first it goes down your neck, into your chest, and under your aorta before coming back up.

Giraffes also have it despite the length of their necks.

Symnestra , camilo jimenez Report

#12

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online The US Army tried a "Camel Corps" in the Southwest, in the early 19th century, mostly as pack animals or using for mail service, as far West as southern California; when the Civil War interrupted their experiment, they sold the camels off, but some escaped. As a result there were feral camels at one point in the Angeles National Forest.

ThaneOfCawdorrr , إبن الصحراء Report

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bigoldthor
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I heard they tried to breed to ensure their survival, but they just couldn't get over the hump.

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#13

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online Both the moon and Sun are about 400 times farther from Earth than the sizes of their respective diameters. This means that the moon will block out, or “eclipse,” anything behind it that has the same ratio. This is the “cosmic coincidence” that makes solar eclipses possible.

Seed_Is_Strong , Sebastian Voortman Report

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geezeronthehill
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Luna used to orbit a lot closer. It is gradually moving away from us. Eventually the eclipses will not be total. Not in our time, however.

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#14

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online Spaces between words weren’t introduced until the 7th to 9th centuries, with more widespread adoption occurring in the 10th century.

Goddamnpassword , Dominika Roseclay Report

#15

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online It took decades after the invention of the can to invent the can opener.

theTenebrus , cottonbro studio Report

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Mad Dragon
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The first cans were made of wrought iron (like fences) and lined with tin. The suggested method of opening (according to the manufacturer) was a hammer and chisel.

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#16

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online One day on Venus is longer than one year on Venus.

SuvenPan , Kevin Gill Report

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bigoldthor
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To be specific, one day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days, while one year on Venus takes only about 225 Earth days. Meaning it travels around the sun faster than it rotates on its own axis.

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#17

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online We live closer in time to the reign of Cleopatra than she did to the building of the pyramids.

caughtinfire , wiki commons Report

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geezeronthehill
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cleopatra ruled Egypt at the very end of true Egyptian history. After the time of Alexander the great. She was Macedonian Greek by heritage.

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#18

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online If you have 23 people together in a room there is a 50% chance that 2 of them share a birthday (same day and month, not necessarily the same year).

realmofconfusion , Robert Anderson Report

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LizzieBoredom
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is a 100% chance that while you're busy doing statistics, someone eats your cake.

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#19

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online Hmm, did you know that technically speaking, a strawberry isn't a berry, but a banana is? Sounds weird, but it's true!

eva_curls_ , Phong Thanh Report

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Pedantic Panda
Community Member
3 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And a peanut is not a nut. (Edited. Thank you Impasta) And Stonehenge is not a henge. Meanings of words change over time, more so than names.

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#20

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online If your mayonnaise is too thin add more oil to thicken it. Emulsions are weird.

_BlueFire_ , Sara Cervera Report

#21

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online When magnesium is burned, the ashes weigh more than the magnesium.

whatintheactualfeth , Geoffrey McKim Report

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Pedantic Panda
Community Member
3 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because you're adding Oxygen. The ash is Magnesium Oxide. But some mass will be lost as smoke so will only work in a closed environment.

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#22

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online That your skin lacks the receptors to feel wet.

Odd_Will_3557 , Ron Lach Report

#23

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online The western end of the Panama Canal is the Atlantic Ocean and the eastern end is the Pacific Ocean.

gbrell , wiki commons Report

#24

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online That 1,000,000 (one million) seconds is ~11.6 days, and 1,000,000,000 (one billion) seconds is ~31.7 years.

jfincher42 , Maël BALLAND Report

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Zaphod
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And one trillion seconds is 31710 years.The scary thing about that is the US national debt passed 34 trillion dollars on Dec 29, 2023. For reference, it was 1 trillion dollars in 1981.

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#25

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online There are more hydrogen atoms in a single water molecule than there are stars in the entire solar system.

AlmostSane67 , Pixabay Report

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#26

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online "Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is a complete, grammatically correct sentence in the English language.

Eclectophile , Pixabay Report

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Pedantic Panda
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For those seeing clarification; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo#:~:text=%22Buffalo%20buffalo%20Buffalo%20buffalo%20buffalo,linguistic%20constructs%20through%20lexical%20ambiguity.

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#27

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online Hmm, did you know that lighters were invented before matches? Sounds kinda weird, right?

eva_curls , Thomas Despeyroux Report

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arthbach
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It totally depends on what you mean by 'matches'. Lighters were brought out in 1824, and friction matches in in 1827. However, the first self-lighting match was created in 1805. by Jean Chancel.

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#28

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online If you somehow managed to fold one piece of paper 42 times, its thickness will actually be equal to the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

SlapDatBassBro , NASA Report

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Head_on_a_Stick
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The record so far is 12 folds. And the sheet was 1.2 kilometres long to start with. For "normal" sized paper the limit is 7 folds.

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#29

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online Babies will sleep in longer if you put them to bed earlier

Romnonaldao , Pixabay Report

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Spannidandoolar
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My experience shows that babies will do whatever they flipping please regardless of what science seems to think

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#30

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online The speed of light is constant on all reference frames

Key_Card4539 , Pixabay Report

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Head_on_a_Stick
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The practical effect of this is that time in the rest of the universe appears to speed up as the observer approaches the speed of light (in a vacuum). But the speed varies in different media: https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/speedoflight/index.html This is why a blue glow can be seen in the pools containing radioactive rods in nuclear power stations (Cerenkov radiation, caused by particles travelling faster than light can in the water).

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#31

31 Facts That Took People By Surprise When They First Heard Them, As Shared Online You can’t know both what the exact position and the exact momentum of a quantum particle will be.

HyperConnectedSpace , Gerd Altmann Report

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Apatheist Account2
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is Heisenberg's uncertainty principle - almost. It's actually the speed, not momentum (although they are related). In order to measure its velocity, one has to know its position; but to measure its position more accurately, the less accurately one knows its velocity.

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