--- title: Science Myths that You Still Believe... description: "To most people, science is fascinating! The pursuit and passing down of knowledge are characteristics that are fundamentally ingrained in the human psyche. This particular aspect of humanity is what has allowed us to come from hunter-gatherers living off the land to driving around in cars and living in air-conditioned buildings almost overnight, from an evolutionary standpoint at least. Sadly, as is the case with any scholarly pursuit, the crystal-clear waters of scientific infallibility have become polluted with the sludge of misinformation. As we now live in a world where anyone can share anything with anybody at the touch of a button, traditional methods of proving something beyond reasonable doubt are treated with less respect than rumours started on the most popular podcast in the world, and some schools are still forced to teach creationism as actual science. It is little wonder that we are all walking around casually believing things that are either not true or are fundamentally flawed. In the spirit of trying to filter those polluted waters, we have put together this list of scientific myths that people still believe in the hope that we can maybe, just maybe, make the world an infinitesimally more educated place.\n\n## Light is not affected by gravity\n\nIf you took your physics education no further than high school, then it is likely you were told that light is not affected by gravity. Whilst this knowledge might be enough to land you a GCSE or high school diploma, there is a problem. That being that this simply is not true. Not only that, but physicists have known that it is not true since it was disproved by Arthur Eddington in 1919.\n\nObviously, it's not good enough to say that something is false and then just move on, so, without turning this into a physics lecture, we shall go into a little more detail. Whilst it is pretty much universally understood that the gravitational pull of a black hole is such that nothing, including light, can escape its clutches, the physics behind black holes is so mind-bendingly complex that the average person is simply forced to accept this fact and move on with their lives. This, coupled with the fact that none of us are ever likely to see a black hole, renders them fairly useless when trying to prove something in a way that the majority of people will understand. Fortunately, there is a way of disproving this myth that is both a little easier to understand and a little closer to home.\n\nThe Earth, although it is fairly massive, does not have enough of a gravitational pull to have an effect on light. Or, at least, not enough of an effect for our purposes. However, the Sun does.\n\nThe gravitational effect of the Sun is so great that it actually interferes with the fabric of space itself. Therefore, although an uninterrupted beam of light will always travel in a straight line, should it pass through one of these altered areas of space, it will bend towards the gravitational source. This concept has been expertly summarized and simplified in a comment on \"physics.stackexchange.com,\" which reads thusly:\n\n> \"When you think about how gravity affects light, you really need to think in terms of general relativity, which describes gravity as the effect of curved space-time on moving particles. Summarized by John Wheeler, mass tells space how to curve and space-time tells mass how to move. When we apply this to light we start with the fact that light travels in straight lines. However, when we have a large mass (say the Sun), it curves space around it, so our light ray will follow a straight line in this curved space-time. This path will appear bent to us and leads to the phenomena of gravitational lensing.\"\n\nAs an interesting side note, it is the phenomena of gravitational lensing which has allowed scientists to prove the existence of dark matter, even if they don't seem to have any idea as to exactly what it is.\n\n## Humans only have five senses\n\nThe belief in this next myth seems to stem largely from both an inadequate school system and the shockingly low levels of self-awareness that most people have. If you paid attention during your first years of school, you will probably know that humans have five senses: Touch, sight, smell, hearing, and taste. If this list fills you with the nostalgic warmth of familiarity, then ask yourself how? How are you feeling that warmth? Not through any of the five senses we already listed, so temperature detection or thermoception brings us up to 6. But, it doesn't stop there. The sense of balance, or your vestibular sense, is pretty important as well. Not only does this sense allow you to remain upright, it also tells you whether or not you are moving and how fast. So, are there any more? Well, yes. How about proprioception? This sense allows you to know exactly where all of your body parts are at any given time without looking and, without it, you would struggle to do anything at all. Depending on which medical professionals you believe, we as humans are equipped with anything from 10 to 50 different senses. Whilst the longer lists are often incredibly pedantic and include things that could very easily be grouped together, there are definitely at least twice as many senses as most people think there are.\n\nIf this entry has left you disbelieving or angry, then you are playing right into our hands.\n\n## Water is a good conductor of electricity\n\nThe validity of this next myth depends largely on how you define water. If, like most of the world, you define water as the stuff that comes out of your tap (or faucet for US viewers) when you turn it on, then yes, that stuff conducts electricity very well indeed. If, however, you take water in its purest form, hydrogen, oxygen, and nothing else, then it is actually a very poor electrical conductor. So, what's the difference? Simply put, the water that comes out of your tap contains a lot of impurities, and it is these impurities that conduct electricity.\n\nAccording to Science ABC:\n\n> \"Water's ability to conduct electricity hinges on the presence of ions—charged particles. There are no ions in pure water, like fully deionized or distilled water. Without ions, there is no medium for charge movement, resulting in these types of water being non-conductive. This is because the absence of impurities and ions in such water prevents the flow of electric current.\"\n\nHowever, before you start devising an experiment to test this theory at home, it is important to note that, outside of laboratory conditions, it is very difficult to obtain completely pure water. Even brief contact with your skin will contaminate the compound with salt, and it will then become slightly conductive. You cannot, for example, fill your bathtub with pure water and start making underwater toast.\n\n## Different areas of your tongue taste different things\n\nIn 1901, German scientist David Hänig released a mouth watering paper. In this paper, he outlined the research he had undertaken in the realm of taste, a largely unstudied area at the time. According to his research, although the surface of the tongue was capable of detecting all five main flavor groups, there were certain areas that were slightly more receptive to each than others. Excited by his findings, which incidentally are still believed to be largely correct, he produced a line graph to make them more easily understood by those without a scientific background. Unfortunately, because of the way this graph was presented, it gave the appearance that certain areas of the tongue were solely responsible for detecting certain flavors. Things only got worse in the 1940s when Edwin Boring further simplified the image and misrepresented its meaning in his book \"Sensation And Perception In The History Of Experimental Psychology\".\n\nThis version of the diagram caught on in a big way and, chances are, you have seen it at least once in a high school textbook. According to neuroscientist and taste expert Brian Lewandowski:\n\n> \"The tongue map's simplicity lends to its appeal. It's an easy-to-understand figure that appears to provide some insight into how taste works without any need to get into cell biology.\"\n\nAlthough this scientific falsehood is still taught in schools everywhere, the simple truth is that all areas of your tongue can detect all flavors. It's just that some areas are slightly more receptive to individual ones than others.\n\n## There are only three primary states of matter\n\nIn this episode, we could quite legitimately be accused of being, shall we say, less than kind to the various educational institutions around the world. However, in our defense, they really do bring it on themselves, as this next piece of School-taught misinformation proves. Unless you were fortunate enough to have a physics teacher who was prepared to step outside the narrow boundaries of the curriculum and teach you some actual facts rather than, as seems to increasingly be the case, simply how to pass an exam, you will have grown up believing that there are only three states of matter. These are, of course, solid, liquid, and gas. Sadly for the intelligence quotas of students everywhere, this is not the case. Whilst some curricula are now grudgingly talking about the existence of plasma, there is at least one other state that never gets a mention at all: Bose–Einstein condensate. So, what is this? Well, according to Merriam-Webster.com, \"a state of matter that occurs when a set of atoms is cooled almost to absolute zero in which a statistical description of the positions of the atoms implies that they physically overlap each other and in effect form a single atom.\" Or, if this is a little technical for you, you may prefer this description from the \"Tough Science for Kids\" handbook:\n\n> \"In a BEC, atoms stop behaving like individual particles and start acting like one big group.\"\n\nUnlike your regular solid, where atoms maintain their distinct identities and locations within a structured lattice, atoms within a Bose-Einstein condensate lose their individuality by occupying the same quantum state, rendering them indistinguishable from each other. This results in a unique state where everyday rules of physics no longer apply, and visual descriptions fail to adequately convey the phenomenon's true nature. Its properties and behaviour, such as atoms moving in unison and overlapping in space, are better described using statistical mechanics and quantum physics far beyond the curriculum of primary education.\n\nWhile this all sounds very impressive, are there actually any potential real-world applications? Well, yes. Aside from potentially allowing us to prove until now theoretical ideas in the field of quantum physics, BECs can be used to make atom lasers. These incredible pieces of technology have the potential to make more accurate atomic clocks, ranging and navigation systems, as well as the next generations of computer chips and integrated circuits.\n\nIf you think that sounds complicated, then you may be alarmed to hear that, according to Google, there could potentially be a further 17 states of matter that we haven't touched on at all. Maybe we will cover them all individually in another video.\n\n## You will explode in a vacuum\n\nTime to spread the blame around a little. With regards to this entry, it is mainly Hollywood that is responsible for this erroneous belief among the masses. If you've seen Total Recall, Outland, or Farscape and for some reason chosen to use these as reliable scientific sources, then you may be under the impression that, should you be exposed to the vacuum of space, you will violently explode or blow up like a balloon. Whilst these fates might make for more interesting viewing, reality is slightly different.\n\nSo, what would actually happen? Well, nothing good. According to an article on the Harvard website:\n\n> \"Upon sudden decompression in a vacuum, expansion of air in a person's lungs is likely to cause lung rupture and death unless that air is immediately exhaled. Decompression can also lead to a possibly fatal condition called ebullism, where reduced pressure of the environment lowers the boiling temperature of body fluids and initiates the transition of liquid water in the bloodstream and soft tissues into water vapor. At minimum, ebullism will cause tissue swelling and bruising due to the formation of water vapor under the skin; at worst, it can give rise to an embolism, or blood vessel blockage due to gas bubbles in the bloodstream.\"\n\nThe general consensus seems to be that, should you, say, get accidentally ejected from the airlock of your spacecraft, then you should be able to survive for about a minute. Although death is pretty much certain, so is something else: you will not explode.\n\n## Schrodinger's cat is not a real experiment\n\nAnyone who has seen the television show The Big Bang Theory will be familiar with Schrödinger and his cat. For any of you who haven't, here is a brief description.\n\nIn 1935, renowned physicist Erwin Schrödinger proposed a \"thought experiment\" which helps to explain, in simple terms, the theory that a particle governed by quantum rules can exist in more than one state until it is observed. The idea of the thought experiment goes something like this:\n\nIf you were to take a cat, a vial filled with poison, and a radioactive atom, place them all in a box that you can seal completely with the radioactive atom and the glass vial arranged in such a way that, within a given time period, there is exactly a 50% chance that the atom will decay and break the vial, killing the cat, then, once that given amount of time was up, the cat would theoretically exist as both alive and dead. Until you opened the box and checked, there would be no way of knowing its true state.\n\nPretty straightforward, right? Well, as scientific thought experiments go, yes. The trouble is, as a quick Google search will tell you, there seem to be an inordinate amount of people who believe that this is actually a real experiment. We're quite serious, if you google Schrödinger's cat, the \"People also ask\" suggestions include the following:\n\nHas anyone tried Schrödinger's cat? And is Schrödinger's cat a real experiment?\n\nAnd that's just on Google. If you dig a little deeper into the Internet, you will find at least one site, satirical we hope, that lists instructions as to just how you might go about carrying out this experiment. Not only would doing so be fairly grim, it would serve no scientific purpose. Furthermore, as far as we understand it, doing this as a practical experiment would be impossible. Even if you just happened to have the poison and some radioactive material kicking around and did not like your cat, creating a box capable of truly concealing the well-being of the occupant from any method of discovery apart from opening the lid would be a logistical nightmare at best. We have said this before in many scripts over the years, but this time we really do mean it. Please! Please! Do not try this at home.\n\n## Key Takeaways\n\n- Light is affected by gravity, bending towards massive objects like the Sun.\n- Humans have more than five senses, with estimates ranging from 10 to 50.\n- Pure water is a poor conductor of electricity; impurities in tap water enable conductivity.\n- All areas of the tongue can detect all flavors, contrary to the 'tongue map' myth.\n- There are more than three primary states of matter, including plasma and Bose-Einstein condensate.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n### Is light affected by gravity?\n\nYes, light is affected by gravity. The gravitational pull of massive objects like the Sun can bend the path of light, a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing.\n\n### How many senses do humans have?\n\nHumans have more than the commonly known five senses. Depending on the source, humans are equipped with anywhere from 10 to 50 different senses.\n\n### Is water a good conductor of electricity?\n\nTap water is a good conductor of electricity due to impurities, but pure water is a very poor electrical conductor.\n\n### Can different areas of the tongue taste different things?\n\nNo, all areas of the tongue can detect all flavors. Some areas are slightly more receptive to individual flavors than others.\n\n### Are there only three primary states of matter?\n\nNo, there are more than three states of matter. Besides solid, liquid, and gas, there are also plasma and Bose-Einstein condensate, among others.\n\n### What happens to a human in a vacuum?\n\nA human in a vacuum would not explode but would likely suffer lung rupture and ebullism, leading to death within about a minute.\n\n### Is Schrödinger's cat a real experiment?\n\nNo, Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment proposed by Erwin Schrödinger to illustrate quantum mechanics, not a real experiment.\n\n### What is gravitational lensing?\n\nGravitational lensing is the bending of light caused by the gravitational effect of a massive object, such as the Sun, which curves the fabric of space-time.\n\n### What is a Bose-Einstein condensate?\n\nA Bose-Einstein condensate is a state of matter that occurs when atoms are cooled almost to absolute zero, causing them to overlap and behave as a single atom.\n\n### What is ebullism?\n\nEbullism is a condition that occurs in a vacuum where reduced pressure lowers the boiling temperature of body fluids, causing them to transition into water vapor.\n\n## Sources\n\n- [Original Side Projects video: Science Myths that You Still Believe...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jvLyTGgce0)\n- [Hero image source](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Indiana_Academy_of_Science_2024_jeh.jpg) by Jim.henderson / openverse, by-sa.\n\n## Related Coverage" url: https://sideprojects.pub/article/science-myths-you-still-believe.md canonical: https://sideprojects.pub/article/science-myths-you-still-believe datePublished: 2026-06-17 dateModified: 2026-06-17 author: - name: Simon Whistler url: https://sideprojects.pub/author/simon-whistler publisher: Side Projects image: "https://media.sideprojects.pub/cdn-cgi/image/width=1600,height=900,fit=cover,quality=80,format=auto/articles/4jvLyTGgce0/hero.jpg" type: Article contentHash: e1992bcbc5ba8fa80e112ce3b078d06728756116dcea18d56debeb428e8d8f2e tokens: 4416 summaryUrl: https://sideprojects.pub/article/science-myths-you-still-believe.md.summary.md --- To most people, science is fascinating! The pursuit and passing down of knowledge are characteristics that are fundamentally ingrained in the human psyche. This particular aspect of humanity is what has allowed us to come from hunter-gatherers living off the land to driving around in cars and living in air-conditioned buildings almost overnight, from an evolutionary standpoint at least. Sadly, as is the case with any scholarly pursuit, the crystal-clear waters of scientific infallibility have become polluted with the sludge of misinformation. As we now live in a world where anyone can share anything with anybody at the touch of a button, traditional methods of proving something beyond reasonable doubt are treated with less respect than rumours started on the most popular podcast in the world, and some schools are still forced to teach creationism as actual science. It is little wonder that we are all walking around casually believing things that are either not true or are fundamentally flawed. In the spirit of trying to filter those polluted waters, we have put together this list of scientific myths that people still believe in the hope that we can maybe, just maybe, make the world an infinitesimally more educated place. ## Light is not affected by gravity If you took your physics education no further than high school, then it is likely you were told that light is not affected by gravity. Whilst this knowledge might be enough to land you a GCSE or high school diploma, there is a problem. That being that this simply is not true. Not only that, but physicists have known that it is not true since it was disproved by Arthur Eddington in 1919. Obviously, it's not good enough to say that something is false and then just move on, so, without turning this into a physics lecture, we shall go into a little more detail. Whilst it is pretty much universally understood that the gravitational pull of a black hole is such that nothing, including light, can escape its clutches, the physics behind black holes is so mind-bendingly complex that the average person is simply forced to accept this fact and move on with their lives. This, coupled with the fact that none of us are ever likely to see a black hole, renders them fairly useless when trying to prove something in a way that the majority of people will understand. Fortunately, there is a way of disproving this myth that is both a little easier to understand and a little closer to home. The Earth, although it is fairly massive, does not have enough of a gravitational pull to have an effect on light. Or, at least, not enough of an effect for our purposes. However, the Sun does. The gravitational effect of the Sun is so great that it actually interferes with the fabric of space itself. Therefore, although an uninterrupted beam of light will always travel in a straight line, should it pass through one of these altered areas of space, it will bend towards the gravitational source. This concept has been expertly summarized and simplified in a comment on "physics.stackexchange.com," which reads thusly: > "When you think about how gravity affects light, you really need to think in terms of general relativity, which describes gravity as the effect of curved space-time on moving particles. Summarized by John Wheeler, mass tells space how to curve and space-time tells mass how to move. When we apply this to light we start with the fact that light travels in straight lines. However, when we have a large mass (say the Sun), it curves space around it, so our light ray will follow a straight line in this curved space-time. This path will appear bent to us and leads to the phenomena of gravitational lensing." As an interesting side note, it is the phenomena of gravitational lensing which has allowed scientists to prove the existence of dark matter, even if they don't seem to have any idea as to exactly what it is. ## Humans only have five senses The belief in this next myth seems to stem largely from both an inadequate school system and the shockingly low levels of self-awareness that most people have. If you paid attention during your first years of school, you will probably know that humans have five senses: Touch, sight, smell, hearing, and taste. If this list fills you with the nostalgic warmth of familiarity, then ask yourself how? How are you feeling that warmth? Not through any of the five senses we already listed, so temperature detection or thermoception brings us up to 6. But, it doesn't stop there. The sense of balance, or your vestibular sense, is pretty important as well. Not only does this sense allow you to remain upright, it also tells you whether or not you are moving and how fast. So, are there any more? Well, yes. How about proprioception? This sense allows you to know exactly where all of your body parts are at any given time without looking and, without it, you would struggle to do anything at all. Depending on which medical professionals you believe, we as humans are equipped with anything from 10 to 50 different senses. Whilst the longer lists are often incredibly pedantic and include things that could very easily be grouped together, there are definitely at least twice as many senses as most people think there are. If this entry has left you disbelieving or angry, then you are playing right into our hands. ## Water is a good conductor of electricity The validity of this next myth depends largely on how you define water. If, like most of the world, you define water as the stuff that comes out of your tap (or faucet for US viewers) when you turn it on, then yes, that stuff conducts electricity very well indeed. If, however, you take water in its purest form, hydrogen, oxygen, and nothing else, then it is actually a very poor electrical conductor. So, what's the difference? Simply put, the water that comes out of your tap contains a lot of impurities, and it is these impurities that conduct electricity. According to Science ABC: > "Water's ability to conduct electricity hinges on the presence of ions—charged particles. There are no ions in pure water, like fully deionized or distilled water. Without ions, there is no medium for charge movement, resulting in these types of water being non-conductive. This is because the absence of impurities and ions in such water prevents the flow of electric current." However, before you start devising an experiment to test this theory at home, it is important to note that, outside of laboratory conditions, it is very difficult to obtain completely pure water. Even brief contact with your skin will contaminate the compound with salt, and it will then become slightly conductive. You cannot, for example, fill your bathtub with pure water and start making underwater toast. ## Different areas of your tongue taste different things In 1901, German scientist David Hänig released a mouth watering paper. In this paper, he outlined the research he had undertaken in the realm of taste, a largely unstudied area at the time. According to his research, although the surface of the tongue was capable of detecting all five main flavor groups, there were certain areas that were slightly more receptive to each than others. Excited by his findings, which incidentally are still believed to be largely correct, he produced a line graph to make them more easily understood by those without a scientific background. Unfortunately, because of the way this graph was presented, it gave the appearance that certain areas of the tongue were solely responsible for detecting certain flavors. Things only got worse in the 1940s when Edwin Boring further simplified the image and misrepresented its meaning in his book "Sensation And Perception In The History Of Experimental Psychology". This version of the diagram caught on in a big way and, chances are, you have seen it at least once in a high school textbook. According to neuroscientist and taste expert Brian Lewandowski: > "The tongue map's simplicity lends to its appeal. It's an easy-to-understand figure that appears to provide some insight into how taste works without any need to get into cell biology." Although this scientific falsehood is still taught in schools everywhere, the simple truth is that all areas of your tongue can detect all flavors. It's just that some areas are slightly more receptive to individual ones than others. ## There are only three primary states of matter In this episode, we could quite legitimately be accused of being, shall we say, less than kind to the various educational institutions around the world. However, in our defense, they really do bring it on themselves, as this next piece of School-taught misinformation proves. Unless you were fortunate enough to have a physics teacher who was prepared to step outside the narrow boundaries of the curriculum and teach you some actual facts rather than, as seems to increasingly be the case, simply how to pass an exam, you will have grown up believing that there are only three states of matter. These are, of course, solid, liquid, and gas. Sadly for the intelligence quotas of students everywhere, this is not the case. Whilst some curricula are now grudgingly talking about the existence of plasma, there is at least one other state that never gets a mention at all: Bose–Einstein condensate. So, what is this? Well, according to Merriam-Webster.com, "a state of matter that occurs when a set of atoms is cooled almost to absolute zero in which a statistical description of the positions of the atoms implies that they physically overlap each other and in effect form a single atom." Or, if this is a little technical for you, you may prefer this description from the "Tough Science for Kids" handbook: > "In a BEC, atoms stop behaving like individual particles and start acting like one big group." Unlike your regular solid, where atoms maintain their distinct identities and locations within a structured lattice, atoms within a Bose-Einstein condensate lose their individuality by occupying the same quantum state, rendering them indistinguishable from each other. This results in a unique state where everyday rules of physics no longer apply, and visual descriptions fail to adequately convey the phenomenon's true nature. Its properties and behaviour, such as atoms moving in unison and overlapping in space, are better described using statistical mechanics and quantum physics far beyond the curriculum of primary education. While this all sounds very impressive, are there actually any potential real-world applications? Well, yes. Aside from potentially allowing us to prove until now theoretical ideas in the field of quantum physics, BECs can be used to make atom lasers. These incredible pieces of technology have the potential to make more accurate atomic clocks, ranging and navigation systems, as well as the next generations of computer chips and integrated circuits. If you think that sounds complicated, then you may be alarmed to hear that, according to Google, there could potentially be a further 17 states of matter that we haven't touched on at all. Maybe we will cover them all individually in another video. ## You will explode in a vacuum Time to spread the blame around a little. With regards to this entry, it is mainly Hollywood that is responsible for this erroneous belief among the masses. If you've seen Total Recall, Outland, or Farscape and for some reason chosen to use these as reliable scientific sources, then you may be under the impression that, should you be exposed to the vacuum of space, you will violently explode or blow up like a balloon. Whilst these fates might make for more interesting viewing, reality is slightly different. So, what would actually happen? Well, nothing good. According to an article on the Harvard website: > "Upon sudden decompression in a vacuum, expansion of air in a person's lungs is likely to cause lung rupture and death unless that air is immediately exhaled. Decompression can also lead to a possibly fatal condition called ebullism, where reduced pressure of the environment lowers the boiling temperature of body fluids and initiates the transition of liquid water in the bloodstream and soft tissues into water vapor. At minimum, ebullism will cause tissue swelling and bruising due to the formation of water vapor under the skin; at worst, it can give rise to an embolism, or blood vessel blockage due to gas bubbles in the bloodstream." The general consensus seems to be that, should you, say, get accidentally ejected from the airlock of your spacecraft, then you should be able to survive for about a minute. Although death is pretty much certain, so is something else: you will not explode. ## Schrodinger's cat is not a real experiment Anyone who has seen the television show The Big Bang Theory will be familiar with Schrödinger and his cat. For any of you who haven't, here is a brief description. In 1935, renowned physicist Erwin Schrödinger proposed a "thought experiment" which helps to explain, in simple terms, the theory that a particle governed by quantum rules can exist in more than one state until it is observed. The idea of the thought experiment goes something like this: If you were to take a cat, a vial filled with poison, and a radioactive atom, place them all in a box that you can seal completely with the radioactive atom and the glass vial arranged in such a way that, within a given time period, there is exactly a 50% chance that the atom will decay and break the vial, killing the cat, then, once that given amount of time was up, the cat would theoretically exist as both alive and dead. Until you opened the box and checked, there would be no way of knowing its true state. Pretty straightforward, right? Well, as scientific thought experiments go, yes. The trouble is, as a quick Google search will tell you, there seem to be an inordinate amount of people who believe that this is actually a real experiment. We're quite serious, if you google Schrödinger's cat, the "People also ask" suggestions include the following: Has anyone tried Schrödinger's cat? And is Schrödinger's cat a real experiment? And that's just on Google. If you dig a little deeper into the Internet, you will find at least one site, satirical we hope, that lists instructions as to just how you might go about carrying out this experiment. Not only would doing so be fairly grim, it would serve no scientific purpose. Furthermore, as far as we understand it, doing this as a practical experiment would be impossible. Even if you just happened to have the poison and some radioactive material kicking around and did not like your cat, creating a box capable of truly concealing the well-being of the occupant from any method of discovery apart from opening the lid would be a logistical nightmare at best. We have said this before in many scripts over the years, but this time we really do mean it. Please! Please! Do not try this at home. ## Key Takeaways - Light is affected by gravity, bending towards massive objects like the Sun. - Humans have more than five senses, with estimates ranging from 10 to 50. - Pure water is a poor conductor of electricity; impurities in tap water enable conductivity. - All areas of the tongue can detect all flavors, contrary to the 'tongue map' myth. - There are more than three primary states of matter, including plasma and Bose-Einstein condensate. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Is light affected by gravity? Yes, light is affected by gravity. The gravitational pull of massive objects like the Sun can bend the path of light, a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. ### How many senses do humans have? Humans have more than the commonly known five senses. Depending on the source, humans are equipped with anywhere from 10 to 50 different senses. ### Is water a good conductor of electricity? Tap water is a good conductor of electricity due to impurities, but pure water is a very poor electrical conductor. ### Can different areas of the tongue taste different things? No, all areas of the tongue can detect all flavors. Some areas are slightly more receptive to individual flavors than others. ### Are there only three primary states of matter? No, there are more than three states of matter. Besides solid, liquid, and gas, there are also plasma and Bose-Einstein condensate, among others. ### What happens to a human in a vacuum? A human in a vacuum would not explode but would likely suffer lung rupture and ebullism, leading to death within about a minute. ### Is Schrödinger's cat a real experiment? No, Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment proposed by Erwin Schrödinger to illustrate quantum mechanics, not a real experiment. ### What is gravitational lensing? Gravitational lensing is the bending of light caused by the gravitational effect of a massive object, such as the Sun, which curves the fabric of space-time. ### What is a Bose-Einstein condensate? A Bose-Einstein condensate is a state of matter that occurs when atoms are cooled almost to absolute zero, causing them to overlap and behave as a single atom. ### What is ebullism? Ebullism is a condition that occurs in a vacuum where reduced pressure lowers the boiling temperature of body fluids, causing them to transition into water vapor. ## Sources - [Original Side Projects video: Science Myths that You Still Believe...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jvLyTGgce0) - [Hero image source](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Indiana_Academy_of_Science_2024_jeh.jpg) by Jim.henderson / openverse, by-sa. ## Related Coverage