Saidit, what's your favorite fun fact?

submitted by Hellojoshua from self.AskSaidIt

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[–]magnora7 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (11 children)

Electrons move through a wire at about a centimeter an hour. The signal travels in the empty "holes" where electrons can go, and the holes can travel at 1/3 the speed of light. But the electrons only move 1 cm per hour. That still blows my mind.

[–]Noding 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

My mind is blown right now

[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

I remember being like what when my phys teacher told me that in high school. It's like if you move a 1 meter long stick the atoms don't move 1 meter, but the signal does. http://wiki.c2.com/?SpeedOfElectrons

Edit: Edited for clarity.

[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

Thanks this part did it for me:

Wondering how electrons can be so slow and still have electricity go so fast? Imagine a long plastic tube filled with ping-pong balls. You gently press on the ball at one end so that a different ball falls out the other. Both the information that you had pressed, and the energy to dislodge the ball, travel much faster than the ball you pressed.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Want something which will really screw with your mind? https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/21122/if-i-move-a-long-solid-stick-can-i-send-message-fastest-than-light.

Turns out that the atoms in the stick move as a matter wave with a speed limited by the speed of light, with the surprising consequence that the rigidity of a material is limited by the speed of light.

[–]magnora7 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Yeah the shock wave moves down the stick at the speed of sound in that material. In extremely rigid materials the speed of sound approaches the speed of light, but can never surpass it.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It's why a perfectly rigid material is impossible.

[–]magnora7 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Good point. I suppose anything that's "material" and has rest mass can't travel at the speed of light by definition

[–]magnora7 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yes exactly. I like the analogy of a row of movie seats. If there's an empty seat at one end of the row, if everyone stands up and moves one seat over, the empty seat moves to the other end, but the people only moved one seat. So the hole moved quickly while the people moved slowly.

[–]Hellojoshua[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Whaaaat?!?

[–]magnora7 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yup, this even says millimeters per hour. Crazy, right? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_electricity#Electric_drift

[–]i_cansmellthat 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

There is research that suggests a poor sense of smell is linked to psychopathy.

[–]magnora7 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

And smell is the sense most strongly associated with memory due to its location in the brain, I wonder if the two are related...

[–][deleted] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

There's a bacteria in soil that affects our happiness/neurotransmitters https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm

[–]magnora7 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Oh wow I didn't know that. I have heard people talk about the benefits of being barefoot in soil though.

[–]Hellojoshua[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Crazy.

[–]intifan 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

Everybody knows it, but it's still my favorite: duck penises are shaped like corkscrews.

[–]i_cansmellthat 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

I didn't know. Part of me wants to verify this, but I don't want to search it.

[–]intifan 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Call me the devil on your shoulder, there are slow motion videos of such things. Yes, because they're that fast.