10 Widely Common Myths on the Internet Even to this Day

by Unbelievable Facts6 years ago

6 Myth: Caffeine causes dehydration.

Caffeine never leads to dehydration
Caffeine never leads to dehydration. Image Credit: Pixabay

Fact: There is no evidence that suggests that caffeine causes dehydration.

Tea, coffee, soda, and chocolate are widely consumed for the caffeine in them. Even though caffeine is legal and its use is unregulated in many countries, some people have a misconception that caffeine has undesirable side effects including dehydration. This misconception arose in 1928 when people started noticing that consumption of caffeinated beverages led to increased urination. Now more urination meant that you are losing more water from your body. Hence, caffeine gained the reputation of being a diuretic and a dehydrating substance.

But Lawrence Armstrong, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Connecticut and director of the Human Performance Laboratory, says, “The truth of the matter is, a small increase in urine output has little to do with dehydrating the body.” Increased urination doesn’t mean you are losing more liquid from a body. The logic is simple. If you drink more water, you will urinate more. That doesn’t necessarily mean you should stop drinking water! The same applies to caffeinated beverages. (source)

7 Myth: Adding salt to a pot of water on the stove while cooking will make it boil faster.

Adding salt to boiling water does not make the water boil faster
Adding salt to boiling water does not make the water boil faster. Image Credit: Anello Family Seafood

Fact: The difference is negligible when it comes to home cooking.

The belief that salt makes water boil faster is an old wive’s tale. It’s not completely a myth. The tale has a truth to it, but it is so little that it is almost negligible. Lesley-Ann Giddings, an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Middlebury College in Vermont, says, “If you’re adding 1 teaspoon (less than 3 grams) of salt to a liter (34 fluid ounces) of water, it doesn’t really make so much of a difference.” In layman terms, the difference in the time required to boil when salt is added is only a few seconds.

The myth arose from the fact that less heat is required to increase the temperature of saltwater than freshwater. So even though saltwater has a higher boiling point, it boils faster as the temperature increases faster in saltwater. Moreover, in order to notice a difference in the boiling times, a lot of salt needs to be added to the water. This is not the case when it comes to cooking or home activities. Hence, adding a pinch of salt to boil your eggs or any other vegetable faster doesn’t work.(source)

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8 Myth: Bananas grow on trees.

Banana plants are not trees
Banana plants are not trees. They are actually herbs. Image Credit: Ramesh NG via Wikipedia

Fact: The banana plant is actually a herb.

When we talk about bananas, we normally say that bananas grow on trees. But in reality, a banana plant is not actually a tree. According to Purdue University’s Center for New Crops and Plant Products, they are large herbs. When the stem of a banana plant is cut, there is no wooden trunk within. The entire stem is made of leaves that overlap and intertwine to form a strong column. The stem is so strong that it can grow up to a height of 40 feet, making it one of the tallest herbs to grow on Earth.

Even though the banana plant is a herb, the banana itself is a fruit and not a herb.(source)

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9 Myth: Sunflowers always face towards the sun.

Sunflowers do not follow the sun once they are fully grown
Sunflowers do not follow the sun once they are fully grown. Image Credit: Pixabay

Fact: Grown-up sunflowers point in one fixed direction all day long. However, young sunflowers, before growing flower heads, do track the sun.

In school, we are taught about a phenomenon known as heliotropism. Heliotropism makes flowers follow the sun across the sky. One of the most commonly known flowers that follow the sun is the sunflower. But there’s a misconception that lies in this statement. It is true that sunflowers follow the sun but only when they are young.

Younger sunflowers have green “bracts” with leaves just below the flower that faces the Sun. It is quite obvious why young sunflowers would portray heliotropism. They are trying to maximize photosynthesis. But as the sunflowers get mature, they start to develop seeds. The weight of the seeds make them droop and they stop displaying heliotropism. Throughout their lifecycle, they end up facing towards the east. (source)

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10 Myth: People in the Middle Ages in Europe believed that the Earth was flat.

No educated person from the third century B.C. onward believed that the Earth was flat
No educated person from the third century B.C. onward believed that the Earth was flat. Image Credit: National Ocean Service

Fact: No educated person in the history of Western Civilization from the third century B.C. onward believed that the Earth was flat.

The belief that people in the Middle Ages thought the Earth to be flat instead of spherical is just a myth of modern times. Virtually all scholars held the viewpoint that the Earth is, in fact, spherical. Since the 14th century, almost no one in the academic circle believed the Earth to be flat. According to Stephen Jay Gould, an American paleontologist, biologist, and historian of science, “There never was a period of ‘flat Earth darkness’ among scholars (regardless of how the public at large may have conceptualized our planet both then and now).” The Greeks were the first to spread the knowledge of the Earth being spherical. And the majority of the Medieval scholars accepted the Greek knowledge and accepted the round shape of the Earth into their cosmology.

So, Galileo didn’t have to actually fight against all the scholars to prove that the Earth is, in fact, spherical. (source)

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