14 Lies That We Have Believed To Be True All Our Lives

The world that we have around us has changed a lot and so have the facts that we know and the way we get to know them. With visual media becoming more and more common, pictured conveying messages is a thing that can get you a lot of info that stays in your brain without you even realising. So, here’s a look at 14 such pics that may break some conceptions that you have had for a large part of your life.

1. You fall in space. Not fly!

You may have been told your entire childhood and even a better part of your adulthood too that people when they go to space, can fly because there’s no gravity. But, in reality, there is a gravitational pull that is present around anyone who’s out there.

Actually when in space are in a state of relative free fall, which means that the objects around you, which are heavier, as shown in the picture are falling, and when your motion is put relative to that, humans appear to fly.

2. Napoleon was not short

There’s a conception among the people who have heard enough about Napoleon Bonaparte, you may have heard that he was a man of not that tall stature. As per the popular belief, he was 5 feet 2 inches at the time of death.

But, if a group of theorists is to be believed, it was a miscommunication between the English people and the French that meant that what the French considered to be an inch, was actually longer than what was measured to be the length of an inch in England.

3. Your Coke when in a bottle and can is different

You may not find it to be unless obviously, you are a connoisseur of Coca Cola, but there’s a difference in the beverage that you are served in a bottle when compared to that of the can. And, there’s proper science behind it.

In order to maintain a level of consistency and reduce the level of variance in the taste and composition of the drink, when it is exposed to different conditions when placed in a bottle and can, there’s a slight difference in the making of the beverage. And, that’s the reason behind the difference in taste.

4. Want to pull out a towel off a store shelf? Don’t.

If you visit a store and like a towel and want to instantly place in your shopping bag, think twice before doing it and call for help. While it may not seem so, but the towels in the stores are placed in a particular way that may not call for it being pulled out of a shelf.

The stores do it in order to keep the stocks fresh and let only a couple of towels out of each lot to be out on the shelves and be touched by the people. It is a smart tactic and may not be known by many of us who go to the stores every day.

5. Oblate spheroid? That’s the shape of the earth.

There’s an ongoing debate between two groups of geography and astronomy enthusiasts about the shape of the earth, that weather it is round or flat. But, factually to the disappointment of the fans of both the groups, the shape of our planet is neither of those.

It is an oblate spheroid. Our planet, that is popularly represented as a perfectly spherical body in books and journals, but the actual, the poles of the earth are flat and around the middle, which is the equator region, there’s a slight bulge, which gets the planet the name that it is.

6. Hello Kitty, are you a kitty?

People who love cats may in all probabilities have had a Hello Kitty accessory in their closet. And they would love it, but as much as it is loved, it has to be told to those people that this popular icon is not a cat in reality. And, it is not anyone else, but the owner of the brand that has Hello Kitty under it said it.

“Hello Kitty is a cheerful and happy little girl with a heart of gold,” told the owner. It is indeed a human and the cat lovers, may be forced to rethink about their affinity with this brand.

7. Diamonds are compressed trees

One of the most precious gems in existence, diamond is just a compressed tree. As crazy as it must sound, the diamond that you have may very well be made out of a common tree that got buried under the surface of the earth millions of years ago.

The process of making a diamond is really complex and happens over a long period of time, and the basic constituent unit of a diamond chunk is carbon. The same thing that trees and all the other vegetation that you see around.

8. Potato chip, are you an impostor?

Contrary to the popular belief, the smooth chips that you eat and cherish for it being made out of fried potato. But, there are a lot of other ingredients that go into the making of chips that go unnoticed.

That one chip that you eat is generally made out of 40 per cent potato chunks, with the rest of it being just starch, flour and water all mixed together to make a smooth chip. These chips look pretty and the ones made purely out of potato are crude and do not have smooth edges.

9. Pavements are not made of individual blocks

When this fact is told to you, you may feel that your whole life has been a lie. But, it is true that the pavements and footpaths that you see made up of interlocking concrete blocks may very well not be made out of actual individual bricks put together.

In many cases, there are slabs of cement and concrete laid down and there are moulds that are used to carve out the shape of the bricks which in turn make it look like each brick was laid out in sync and one at a time.

10. That flying moth didn’t eat your fabric

Moths have been notoriously named to be the insects that ruin fabrics by feeding off them, especially clothing items made out of wool. But, it is the younger ones of the lot that cause the damage and not the flying ones.

While the ones with the wings may scare you the most, but in reality, it is the younger breed of the moths, which do not have wings and are young, are indeed the ones that ruin your clothes by feeding off of it.

11. Owls have long legs

As it may look from a cursory glance, there’s more to an owl’s body than what meets the eye. Literally. What we seen in the pictures of owls is only the tip of the iceberg and the legs that you see of the owls are not that they actually are.

Owls indeed have long legs and they are covered by the massive set of the wings that they have on their bodies. The end of their long legs have claws that help them prey and get food for their survival.

12. If you have a secret, tell it to a goldfish

Many people may not know this but the goldfish that may be floating around in your aquarium could potentially be your best secret keeper or the listener to your rant as they can indeed remember things for up to 6 months.

Contrary to the popular belief which has been around there for a long time that goldfish cannot remember things for more than 3 seconds, they can have a memory that can potentially linger around in their minds for up to 6 months.

13. Chupa Chups are Spanish

As popular may it be in the United States of America, the brand Chupa Chups, mainly known for its confectionery items, is based out of Barcelona in Spain. The company that is immensely popular among people from all over and is conceived to be an American brand, was started out in Spain.

The gentleman who started off the brand as a lollipop company in Pilona, Spain, was named Enric Bernat. The brand name comes in from the popular Spanish verb, ‘chupar’ which means to ‘suck’.

14. Cleaning your nose, don’t use your thumb, because you can’t

The human body is indeed an interesting thing and the way that it functions and has certain things that are impossible to do makes it even more interesting for us to explore in. And, one such fact about the body is that you can’t stick your thumb into your nose.

You may try as much as you want to and use as much force as you would want, it is not possible to put your thumb into your nose.

Image credits: Talescart