Counterintuitive behavior means that actions intended to produce a desired outcome may generate opposite results. Read the temperature; a little below 100oC, so the water has stopped boiling. Reference-frame invariance of the speed of light. The time between two objects colliding due to gravity is inversely proportional to the sum of the two masses. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Most professors don't even seem to want to give a hint of the truth behind things. * What gives you instant joy is almost always harmful i. Which includes ourselves, since social and personality psychologists are all human beings too. Our feeble minds can barely scratch the surface of existence, the cosmos, and everything. At what point is the marginal product maximum? It's just something that's easy to observe in a real experiment because the enthalpy of fusion is much greater than the enthalpy of heating (for a lack of a better term). Terms of Use These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Some temperature changes are counter-intuitive, as can be shown by simple investigations. Its just that the difference is so small with less massive its insignificant. Hospitals are infested with antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus bacteria that can turn a small cut into a limb- or life-threatening infection. Patients who received tirzepatide in a recent clinical study lost more than 20% of their body weight (52 pounds, or 23.6 kg). 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Thats true even for flashbulb memories, the ones that feel as though theyve been burned into the brain: Like millions of people, [neuroscientist Karim] Nader has vivid and emotional memories of the September 11, 2001, attacks and their aftermath. So when we started reading about these "facts" that are supposedly counterintuitive, we just couldn't believe them. I am writing a report with some counterintuitive and surprising findings, and need some examples to show that our intuitive understanding can be totally wrong (So that they don't feel stupid for having pursued a goal without checking if their assumptions were correct). Paleontologists have identified five points in Earths history when, for whatever reason (asteroid impact, volcanic eruptions and atmospheric changes are the main suspects), mass extinctions eliminated many or most species. For the past 151 years, sinceOn the Origin of Specieswas published, people have been arguing over evolution. What is the most surprising and counterintuitive finding in science that you can think of? It takes honesty and courage to report findings that dont make sense or go against common knowledge.. Water will trickle into the beaker as ice melts. No matter how your results turned out, you can convince your audiencethat they once thought the opposite. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. There are no "machine values.". One must not just take the word of a powerful consensus. Test everything, and cling to what is good. Third year of physics, and the first time I heard that, it boggled my mind, still kinda does, but I'm more used to it now. Perhaps the best example is quantum physics where many scientists believe that some quantum processes do not have any cause whatsoever. Off the top of my head I'm going to guess that some of the energy the conducting electrons "receive" from the source will be dissipated to "heat up" the material. A look at a few examples of counter-intuitive conclusions will illustrate these problems. A couple of coins for the ferryman? One thing I have to explain is why, if my idea is so great, people didnt consider it earlier. It must be curtailed! The research team found that the global warming potential of a single-use kraft paper bag was the highest, over 80 times that of reusable plastic bags. Record the temperature. The distinction between the two is clear (now). Ask children about this and they will never believe it. Cool to well below 0oC, being careful to avoid disturbing it. These ideas, be it physics or biology, can be considered counterintuitive in that they often present themselves in ways that are counter to ones intuitive notions1). Both these theories have been debated for decades because the measurements required to prove them are so painstakingly complicated. Some flowers, maybe, or mementos of your loved ones? Also. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Antibiotics and vaccines have saved millions of lives; without these wonders of modern medicine, many of us would have died in childhood of polio, mumps or smallpox. Here are ten of the biggest threats to our . Something that is counter-intuitive does not happen in the way you would expect it to: 2. Somehow, gum made out of tree bark is still softer than Bazooka. To offset the emission equivalent to equal that of the creation of one single-use plastic bag, a reusable plastic bag would need to be reused four times. How many (and whose) lives would you bet on yourtheory? Nevertheless, in their own worldview, the results should seem surprising. After the fact. The temperature will stay constant while the liquid solidifies. It made Einstein furious. Honestly, take a moment to consider what the natural environment and current technologies are capable of. Our feeble minds can barely scratch the surface of existence, the cosmos, and . There is enough DNA in the average person's body to stretch from the sun to Pluto and back 17 times. Coke was originally supposed to make you smarter or something. Testing hypotheses by experiment is supposed to be the hallmark of science. In our day-to-day lives we often speak of cause and effect as if there was a distance constraint. In everyday language freezing or melting involves cooling or heating, but in science the term refers only to the changing physical state. Check out these facts that are just plain counterintuitive - you'll be surprised at some of the things people do every day! Clamp the tube in a beaker of ice and water. Other low melting point compounds, such as ice, octadecanoic (stearic) acid or ethanamide (acetamide), can replace cyclohexane to show that constant temperature during melting and freezing is a general principle, not unique to cyclohexane. It took a world famous experiment to bring this into common knowledge. How could something so obvious be wrong? Concubines were sacrificed in China to be eternal companions; certain Indian sects required human sacrifices. Don't ever get too comfortable with the status quo, always be willing to blow it up and start . 5y. Science seems to always challenge our intuitive understanding of the world. Learn more. This is technically false though. We spread salt on icy roads and paths to melt the ice. It has long been believed by the medical and scientific community that the gender identity of . This is correct for most substances, but due to the nature of the water molecule it is different and actually expands. Say youre about to die and are packing some supplies for the afterlife. Previously, she was a senior science editor at Smithsonian magazine. Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection can be inspiring: perhaps youre awed by the vastness of geologic time or marvel at the variety of Earths creatures. 2.In Fig. | READ MORE. This can push students into a seeking explanation mode, setting the stage for discovery. The mechanics of climate change arent that complex: we burn fossil fuels; a byproduct of that burning is carbon dioxide; it enters the atmosphere and traps heat, warming the surface of the planet. Get the best of Cracked sent directly to your inbox! For example, you probably wouldntsay that the double-slit experiment was counterintuitive; youdsay it falsified classical mechanics. To address this issue, this study examines high school students' cognitive responses to three counterintuitive physics problems. 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Science is amazing. The more familiar I get with special relativity the less strange it seems; I'm not sure if quantum intuition is attainable, but grasping why relativity is true is, I think, possible. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". The trigger words exciting breakthrough should signal caution. (But its true in other sciences too, probably more than we appreciate.) To freeze a liquid you must cool it down, but what happens to the temperature when the liquid solidifies? This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Was the double-slit experiment counterintuitive? Every once in a while, a dolt drops a gem. It's understandable why we get it wrong though because our intuition is based on living in a world with air resistance. Simine Vazire has a great post contemplating how we should evaluate counterintuitive claims. Galileo demonstrated that balls of different weights land at the same time when dropped from a height, neglecting air resistance. To reach their conclusions, the team carried out a life cycle analysis of five types of bags to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with their production, distribution, transportation, waste collection, treatment, and end-of-life disposal. Advertising Notice And just generally weird stuff that you know of. Sprinkle a little salt over the ice, and watch the temperature. For example, a delay between the time a discrepancy is observed and a corrective action is taken will result in an oscillation in room temperature (see Figure 6.6). Calling it a "remarkable orifice," author Mary Roach said, "No engineer could design something as multifunctional and fine-tuned as an anus. Counter Intuitive Thinking Examples . Theyre also likely to suggest a liquids temperature drops while it solidifies. I don't think this is right. Whenever you are doing physics and all the sudden some entirely new deep topic in mathematics is automatically spit out. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Maybe not. Most students will correctly say that to freeze a liquid, you need to cool it. The waters temperature is now above its new, lower boiling point, so it boils again. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Something that is counter-intuitive does not happen in the way you would expect it to: 2. There have been mass extinctions in the past, and were probably in one now. Google is famous for its "20 percent time," the rough percentage of time that employees can dedicate to ancillary endeavors, research interests, or new ideas. University of Chicago cosmologist Michael S. Turner ranks dark energy as the most profound mystery in all of science.. This counterintuitive approach applies also to minimalism. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. If you are willing to push through a bit of added stress in the short term . Why does salt cause the ice to melt? Whereas the exceptions tend to have a narrower list of plausible explanations. There again is the problem of unknowns, and of unknown unknowns. They can also reinforce enthalpy changes, and bond breaking or making, for ages 1618. When students compare their predictions with what actually happens to temperature in these scenarios, there will be lots to think about and discuss. Professor White added, Production of some essential nutrients, such as calcium and many vitamins, decreased under all reallocation scenarios that decreased greenhouse gas emissions, making the dairy removal scenarios suboptimal for feeding the US population.. The contradictory ideas might even have made their way into cultural wisdom like birds of a feather flock together versus opposites attract.. Definition of Counterintuitive. From the decisions we make to the way we deal with people, life is full of lessons that are completely counterintuitive. | Common sense does not always follow this route, and may include social biases, assumptions, and even a lack of facts. I think there is a logic to wanting to call just about anything counterintuitive. The logic goes as follows. A heavier object does fall faster. But if, after the experiment, you go back and erase the information about which slit each photon went through, then the interference pattern magically appears on the screen. I recall a quote that expressed this idea quite nicely. Adding crystals or stirring seeds the crystallisation process. Invert the flask, so the thermometer bulb is in the hot water. You're not alone! The gauge shift comes from the particle looping around a topological defect (the magnetic field threading the plane, effectively making the space into a punctured plane), in effect changes the topological quantum number (electric/magnetic charge) of the particle, since the punctured plane is not homotopically trivial. 2, the fused probability assignment for any proposition is obtained by multiplying the BPAs supporting that proposition by their weights and .