Common Myths You May Still Believe

When I was a kid, I was always told that sitting too close to the t.v will ruin your eyes and cause you to need glasses. I believed it. By the time I was 6, I needed glasses and I pretty much felt I only had myself to blame. Must have been that day I watched Tom and Jerry while sitting too close to the tube. These days though, doctors tell us that sitting too close to the T.V won't harm your vision. In fact they tell us that kids often sit closer to the screen because they can focus faster than adults. A close screen barely effects them at all in fact. Now, what's ON the screen and how it effects their BRAIN may be a different story. But I'm talking eyesight here. Anyway, home many more of those childhood myths are wrong? Let's take a look at what modern science tells us.

  1. Adding salt to water makes it boil faster. It actually takes longer to boil water with salt, but it's such a small difference its impossible to notice.
  2. Cracking your knuckles gives you arthritis. No, doctors now say that no matter how many times your mother and grandmother told you this one, it's not true. Science can find no connection.
  3. Dropping a penny from a tall building will kill someone below. We used to talk about this on on the playground. That a penny dropped from the Empire State Building would go through someones head if it hit them below. Well, it's not true. A penny doesn't have enough mass. It would need to be going much faster.
  4. Your appendix is useless. If you've had your appendix removed, maybe you want to quite reading. But they tell us now that the appendix is home to some helpful bacteria that fight off disease and as kids, it helps us form antibodies and white blood cells.


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