counterintuitive examples in science counterintuitive examples in science

Below you, an entire other world operates, Many interesting behind-the-scenes bits have happened during the 20 years of telling tales about our favorite trailer-park residents. i was somewhat surprised to realize that matthias mehl and i actually did survey lay people (only 61 of them though, we were young and naive. In a final example of counterintuitive findings, Live Science now claims that brain size didn't . Maybe not. The universe is made of stuff we can barely begin to imagine. 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. Students can reverse the experiment starting with frozen cyclohexane and warming it in a beaker of hot water, recording temperatures until it returns to about 15oC. At room temperature, the thiosulfate is a supercooled liquid it is below its freezing point, but has remained liquid. 3. If something is counterintuitive it means it's the opposite of intuitive in other words it's not easily understood in an instinctive, unconscious way. Somehow, gum made out of tree bark is still softer than Bazooka. Although if you didn't enjoy science classes at school, it's difficult not to be astonished by scientific facts as an adult. Dont trust your intuitions. Sometimes different people having different ideas; sometimes the same person having different ideas at different times. Bobs never bought Christmas seals he told me he wouldnt know what to feed them, When the Coen Brothers needed someone to show The Dude how to really roll, they could turn to only one man: Hall of Fame professional bowler Barry Asher. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". King Solomon, who could be considered an early scientist because of his powers of observation and analysis of natural phenomena like plants, beasts, birds, reptiles and fish (I Kings 4:33) and of geophysical cycles (Ecclesiastes 1:5-7), urged youth to gain knowledge, but to build it on the foundation of wisdom. It has long been believed by the medical and scientific community that the gender identity of . Before repeating such claims, one should investigate funding sources. At what point is the marginal product maximum? Although if you didn't enjoy science classes at school, it's difficult not to be astonished by scientific facts as an adult. Clamp the funnel above a beaker. Special relativity, then, is a perfectly reasonable and elegent way to formalize this notion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGXqFOO8utA. Know that a sense of humor can be just as essential as understanding; you should also check out all these pretty funny science jokes--we we were not expecting these punchlines. Every once in a while, a dolt drops a gem. This is a simple demonstration, but even post-16 students often struggle to explain the results. University of Chicago cosmologist Michael S. Turner ranks dark energy as the most profound mystery in all of science.. The temperature will stay constant while the liquid solidifies. After the previous experiment, students may predict that it rises. Nevertheless, in their own worldview, the results should seem surprising. Even as an adult, I am constantly confronted with new scientific advancements and discoveries that don't always line up with my preconceived notions. Counterintuitive definition: (of an idea, proposal , etc) seemingly contrary to common sense | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples undergraduate science education course with their teaching practice experience in local classrooms. Likewise, a series of short arti-cles on counter intuitive problems can be found Counterintuitive claim: Prices are determined by supply and demand. The other thing about counterintuitive is that it makes the idea seem more impressive. I recall a quote that expressed this idea quite nicely. I suppose this might still be categorized as trying to be counterintuitive, though I think it is more about striving for nuance. Here's a 1974 example from the American Philosophical Quarterly in which "counterintuitive" describes a dubious situation: "The formulas offered by Day lead to results so counter-intuitive that they had best be called simply false.". In my opinion, quantum mechanics by far. There are many other examples of counterintuitive occurrences in nature and science. What?!? I would not claim thatthis describes all instances of counterintuitive, but I thinkit describes a lot of them. This can push students into a seeking explanation mode, setting the stage for discovery. Once recorded on the screen it is no longer in superposition. Typically, increasing the voltage in a circuit . The world will end in a whimper. A look at a few examples of counter-intuitive conclusions will illustrate these problems. Students know that melting and boiling involve heating. Pouring over further portions of cold water causes repeated re-boiling while the temperature gradually drops to around 30oC, or even lower. 9. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Sunny days make people happier and more helpful. The first truth actually relates to that very subject: the how and why of . Since these researchers are moyboys, readers should take that into account. And what we think of asmemories are merely storieswe tell ourselves anew each time we recall an event. The rest comes in two flavors of dark, or unknown stuff: dark matter, at 23 percent of the universe, anddark energy, at a whopping 73 percent: Scientists have some ideas about what dark matter might beexotic and still hypothetical particlesbut they have hardly a clue about dark energy. Whereas the exceptions tend to have a narrower list of plausible explanations. When students compare their predictions with what actually happens to temperature in these scenarios, there will be lots to think about and discuss. So, one year you make 50%, the next you lose 33% and you think you're . If something is counterintuitive it means its the opposite of intuitive in other words its not easily understood in an instinctive, unconscious way. Charles Darwinstarted life as a creationistand only gradually came to realize the significance of the variation he observed in his travels aboard theBeagle. Cool to well below 0oC, being careful to avoid disturbing it. Science is amazing. So, the temperature stays constant. 1. Say youre about to die and are packing some supplies for the afterlife. 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). Supercooling can be linked to the previous topic. Please report trolls and incorrect/misleading comments. (Counterintuitive framing is also a great way to sell a lot of books .) The human genome (the genetic code in each human cell) contains 23 DNA molecules . Every once in a while, a dolt drops a gem. 2, the fused probability assignment for any proposition is obtained by multiplying the BPAs supporting that proposition by their weights and . and mturk didnt exist.) Something that is counter-intuitive does not happen in the way you would expect it to: 2. I've spoken before about my daily routines and how I like to exercise and meditate very day. How can I stop being frustrated while reading? However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Starting Early: The Benefits of Teaching Counterintuitive Concepts in Childhood. Explanations may be beyond most at age 1114, but the experiments can still be fun. This can push students into a seeking explanation mode, setting the stage for discovery. If intuitions vary widely and so do results, across contexts and populations then we run the riskthat placing too much valueon counterintuitive findings will do more to incentiverhetorical flash than substantive discoveries. Definition of Counterintuitive. Then you are doing classical field theory and are trying to find a first order equation and out pops spinors and the clifford algebra in a completely classical scenario. Accountable replications at Royal Society Open Science: A model for scientificpublishing, The replication price-drop in socialpsychology, Reflections on SIPS (guest post by Neil Lewis,Jr.), Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science. The Aztecs slaughtered tens of thousands of people to inaugurate the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan; after sacredMayan ballgames, the losing team was sometimes sacrificed. For me that brings up the question: what do we mean when we say something is counterintuitive?. First of all, you need to understand what does counterintuitive mean. 5 Are counterintuitive findings more valuable? In front of your students, half fill the flask with tap water. Read our privacy policy. Yet many psychological studies have reported findings that are absolutely counterintuitive and that seem illogical. COPYRIGHT 2005-2023 Cracked is published by Literally media Ltd., How Hugh Grant Found New Life in Guy Ritchie Action-Comedies, Jeff Bridges Dude-est Roles That Arent The Dude, Best Retired South Park Characters And If They Should Return, 15 Riveting Items of Trivia That Fell Into Our Laps This Week, 34 COUNTERINTUITIVE FACTS FROM THE WORLD OF SCIENCE, 15 Incredible Inventions That Were, Technically, Gigantic Failures, 5 Elaborate Mysterious Projects Carried Out Literally Underground, 15 Trivia Tidbits About Trailer Park Boys, 15 Bits Of Trivia So Powerful, They Would Have Instantly Vaporized Our Ancestors, Every Purposefully Corny Joke from Norm Macdonalds Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget, Ranked, I Was the Bowling Consultant on The Big Lebowski. So when we started reading about these "facts" that are supposedly counterintuitive, we just couldn't believe them. (Counterintuitive framing is also a great way to sell a lot of books.). You 100% wouldn't do it unless parachutes existed but because they do.people go skydiving and accidents happen. We should also revisit why we think counterintuitive is valuable. Cow farts make methane, weve heard. One moose, two moose. The paper in the Journal of Dairy Science says that Research was supported by Dairy Management Inc. (Rosemont, IL) and asserts that The authors have not stated any conflicts of interest. What does that mean? But they have not been informed of a long path of logical inference that tells us much more about the wall then our macroscopic senses do on a daily basis. 1. I'm not saying that we need to teach the undergrads QFT to make them understand, but you can give them a little, "if you take QFT you'll see how spin pops out of the classical theory of fields before you even make them quantum!" All the good ones! The time between two objects colliding due to gravity is inversely proportional to the sum of the two masses. What did Malcolm Gladwell actually say about the 10,000 hourrule? Theyre also likely to suggest a liquids temperature drops while it solidifies. So its counterintuitive to me to observe that we dont call the results of the double slit experiment counterintuitive.. Water sprayed into the cylinder condenses the steam, creating a vacuum. In 1948, the Framingham Heart Study enrolled more than 5,000 residents of Framingham, Massachusetts, to participate in a long-term study of risk factors for heart disease. But who would have thought that rain moves mountains? Coke was originally supposed to make you smarter or something. A number of experimental psychology studies have found support for Boyer's hypothesis. And the hot water freezing faster than cold water isn't a real effect. Animal Testing Is Necessary. Place a thermometer in a test tube of cyclohexane so that its scale remains visible from 0oC upwards. Don't ever get too comfortable with the status quo, always be willing to blow it up and start . I don't think this is right. Nglish: Translation of counterintuitive for Spanish Speakers. There is general agreement that it refers to a violation of previously held knowledge, but the precise definition seems to vary with every author and study. Accessed 4 Mar. The consequences are already apparent:glaciers are meltingfaster than ever, flowers are blooming earlier (just askHenry David Thoreau), and plants and animals are moving to more extreme latitudes and altitudes to keep cool. Identify whether they are grounded in hearsay, assumption, intuition or groupthink. 99+% of the time they come back safe and sound, but that's less than 100%. Honestly, take a moment to consider what the natural environment and current technologies are capable of. Like hot water freezing faster than cold. counter-intuitive meaning: 1. The intuitive part points to the fact that when we label something counterintuitive, we are usually not talking about contradicting a formal, well-specified theory. The most common example of Bernoulli's principle is that of a fluid flowing through a horizontal pipe, which narrows in the middle and then opens up again. One must not just take the word of a powerful consensus. In our day-to-day lives we often speak of cause and effect as if there was a distance constraint. Don't be surprised if none of them want the spotl One goose, two geese. Laura Helmuth Since QM and even the two items you mentioned seem to be beyond them, you could try the culinary route. Be wary of scientific "facts" that are untrue (unlike the very real 34 on just this list). First, let mesay what I thinkcounterintuitiveisnt. If you were to drop another earth on itself it would appear to accelerate towards earth at 19.6 m/s2. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. But astronomers do know that, thanks to these dark parts, the universe is expanding. Science can be glorious; it can bring clarity to a chaotic world. Small things act like waves except for the times they don't. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 10. (Military) intelligence collected about enemy espionage. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. Perhaps the best example is quantum physics where many scientists believe that some quantum processes do not have any cause whatsoever. 12 Essential Life Tips That Are Counterintuitive But True. It takes honesty and courage to report findings that dont make sense or go against common knowledge.. Continue boiling for at least 30 seconds while a student confirms that the thermometer reads about 100oC as expected. Weve already changed the climate for the rest of this century. Papers from physics journals (free or otherwise) are encouraged. It's the standout example from the study of risk factors(specifically risk compensation) and works mostly because the audience isn't looking at the whole meaning of the word 'skydiving'. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Similarly, we understand boil the kettle to mean heat the water to boiling point, not turn it into steam. That two objects of different mass fall at the same rate. Of course, it does not have to be that way. What is the meaning of counterintuitive science? 8. I realize I'm preaching to the converted in this subreddit, but it's always worth remembering the difference to help understand others' view of science. Self-knowledge / self-deception is probably another one of those areas where the relationship between research findings and peoples intuitions has deeper, substantive significance. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. To address this issue, this study examines high school students . If you were an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, youd have your servants slaughtered and buried adjacent to your tomb. Your Privacy Rights Half fill a funnel with small ice cubes or crushed ice. Thats what makes this discovery such an exciting breakthrough, as it strongly supports the notion that atmospheric and solid earth processes are intimately connected.. In the stock market, if you buy and stock for $50 and it goes up to $75 you make 50%. A couple of coins for the ferryman? Now I wonder what my intuitions are about the meaning of the word counterintuitive, and what sort of information about the way the word is used might contradict those intuitions. I tend to think of intuitions as thoughts that pop into our heads as the result of conditioned reflexes, even if that conditioning is part of scientific training. 4. | Things that taste good are bad for you. It is because that 2-Points and 3-Points have different weights in the two players' stats, so a direct comparison cannot be made. There again is the problem of unknowns, and of unknown unknowns. This is correct for most substances, but due to the nature of the water molecule it is different and actually expands. ~45 kJ/mol vs ~.08 kJ/molK (~8 kJ/mol to get from boiling point to freezing point at STP). There are too many reasons you might observe good with good: because of methodological artifacts like self- and informant-report bias, because of shared broad-spectrum causes, or because of common mechanisms (which is usually what youre looking for). Was the double-slit experiment counterintuitive? Examples of Counterintuitive in a sentence. Counterintuitive is one reason. The mass-independent pendulum's period of oscillation is a consequence of the same pull from the force of gravity to every object regardless of its mass. What is the life expectancy of a tea cup pig? Cookie Policy 2.In Fig. Science is amazing but it can also be frightening and mind-boggling at times. Here are ten of the biggest threats to our . Fit a 250 ml round-bottom flask with a 2-hole bung carrying a 110oC thermometer, a short glass tube, and a short length of rubber tubing with a sealing clip. Whatever the cause of this early wave of extinctions, humans are driving modern extinctions by hunting, destroying habitat, introducing invasive species and inadvertently spreading diseases. If water didn't have this property, life on Earth as we know it probably wouldn't exist. You can pay the farmer, or you can pay the doctor. The Machiavellian adage that it's better . Welcome to Forum 2.1 the upgrade to Version 2.1.2 of SMF, Started by Turbonegro, September 28, 2011, 07:45:31 AM. You don't say who you're target audience is, so it's hard to tell. Everything you probably think of when you think of the universeplanets, stars, galaxies, black holes, dustmakes up just 4 percent of whatever is out there. Things can get worse before getting better, or vice versa. Check out these facts that are just plain counterintuitive - you'll be surprised at some of the things people do every day! There's that Galileo who said heavy things don't fall faster than light things. They performed experiments on bags. Freud might have been wrong in the details, but one of his main ideasthat a lot of our behaviors and beliefs and emotions are driven by factors we are unaware ofturns out to be correct. Seeing your assumptions of physical reactions are wrong by watching a golf ball hit a wall at 1000 frames per second and watching it compress and ripple is powerful. The meaning of COUNTERINTUITIVE is contrary to what one would intuitively expect. Thomas Jefferson saw mastodon bones from Kentucky, for example, and concluded that the giant animals must still be living somewhere in the interior of the continent. Im not at all surprised you thought of this before I did. This is why it irritates me that we lie to undergrads about these things so much. 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. If I walk into it's solid, and I can't see through it. The influenza virus mutates so quickly that last years vaccination is usually ineffective against this years bug. Even more disturbing is the fact that carbon dioxide lingers in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. The power explained by the equation really rests in the c, or the speed of light (186,282 miles per second) times itself, which equals 34,700,983,524. Sometimes it clearly is. Cognitive science. Something that came up in another thread, the Mpemba effect i.e. In everyday language freezing or melting involves cooling or heating, but in science the term refers only to the changing physical state. The trigger words exciting breakthrough should signal caution. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. When we heard that Barack Obama had chosen to sleep on his decision to authorize the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, we were pleasantly . Maybe; maybe not. Ultimately, everything in the universe will drift farther and farther apart until the universe is uniformly cold and desolate. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Concubines were sacrificed in China to be eternal companions; certain Indian sects required human sacrifices. Contrary to most students expectations, the temperature will drop. 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.. So the intuitive in counterintuitive could refer to the intuitions of experts. Ask children about this and they will never believe it. The universe might be uncaused. It can be loosely stated that the particle that looped around and came back is not the "same particle" that left, since they have different topological character. PBS space time on the quantum eraser https://youtu.be/8ORLN_KwAgs. It's a macroscopic effect of quantum mechanics. The effort to solve it has mobilized a generation of astronomers in a rethinking of physics and cosmology to rival and perhaps surpass the revolution Galileo inaugurated on an autumn evening in Padua. So the intuitive in counterintuitive could refer to the intuitions of experts. Example: "What do you eggheads mean this wall is mostly empty space at a molecular level. Bad news that cult recovery group just might be a cult, Theres a little bit of The Dude in a lot of Jeff Bridges performances, The English actor found the good side of being bad. Viscosity of gases increases with increasing temperature. In any case, Sowey's characterization of striking examples groups together "counterintuitive" examples (such as example 3 in his Section 4.2) and "intuitive" examples/analogies (such as example 6a in Section 4.6 or example 1 in Section 4.5). Nature: The anus is a sophisticated organ. Conclusion. To save this word, you'll need to log in. Counterintuitive means contrary to what seems intuitively right or correct. NTU Singapore scientists report that plastic bags could be eco-friendlier than paper and cotton bags in cities like Singapore, Removal of dairy cows may reduce essential nutrient supply with little effect on greenhouse gas emissions, Thinning and prescribed fire treatments reduce tree mortality, Protective effect of mandatory face masks in the publicrelevant variables with likely impact on outcome were not considered, Ground-breaking discovery finally proves rain really can move mountains, The Bible gives a good general principle: Test all things; hold fast what is good (. Astrology is one example of counterintuitive pseudoscience. Cookie Settings, Kids Start Forgetting Early Childhood Around Age 7, Archaeologists Discover Wooden Spikes Described by Julius Caesar, Artificial Sweetener Tied to Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke, Study Finds, 5,000-Year-Old Tavern With Food Still Inside Discovered in Iraq, The Surprisingly Scientific Roots of Monkey Bars. Laura Helmuth is the science and health editor at Slate. Supercooled water can be found in clouds. He used a telescope to provide evidence for the heliocentric theory, and some of his contemporaries were so disturbed by what the new invention revealedcraters on a supposedly perfectly spherical moon, other moons circling Jupiterthat they refused to look through the device. Quote from: thelatinist on September 28, 2011, 10:31:22 AM, Quote from: Chew on September 28, 2011, 09:49:10 AM, Quote from: Turbonegro on September 28, 2011, 07:45:31 AM, Quote from: Will Nitschke on September 28, 2011, 06:34:28 PM, Member: League of Extraordinarily Evil Gentlemen, Sci Fi Geek, fencer, free thinker, dog friendly. In everyday language 'freezing' or 'melting' involves cooling or heating, but in science the term refers only to the changing physical . Normally things contract, which makes intuitive sense. The basic premise is this. While 93% of scientists were in favor of animal research, merely 52% of the public agrees. show them that the results went the other way. Why are motorcycles less fuel-efficient than cars? Counterintuitive. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/counterintuitive. Does the replication debate have a diversityproblem? Gender Identity Is More Nature Than Nurture. They can also reinforce enthalpy changes, and bond breaking or making, for ages 1618. This points out the need to test the statements of scientists. A counterintuitive proposition is one that does not seem likely to be true when assessed using intuition or gut feelings. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". But in social and personality psychology we studyphenomena that regular peoplereflect on and speculate about too. What does it mean when your boyfriend takes long to reply? This is your Brain on Psychology This is your Psychology on Brain (a guest post by RobChavez), Data analysis is thinking, data analysis istheorizing. I guess as the material increases in temperature there will be some point where the conducting electrons will begin colliding in such a manner as to increase the resistance of the material. It has been said that the path to hell is paved with good intentions. Here are ten of the biggest threats to our peace of mind. This counterintuitive approach applies also to minimalism. Milgram famously did that with his obedience experiments. It would take several generations to sink in. 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. Very few scholars saw it as a real description of the universe.. It's not so unintuitive with topological arguments. Bobs never bought Christmas seals he told me he wouldnt know what to feed them. Suppose Im promoting a research idea. Protective effect of mandatory face masks in the publicrelevant variables with likely impact on outcome were not considered (PNAS). There's a whole lot about water we are still just learning now, and a lot of (fairly important) properties it has that are shared by only a few other substances in special circumstances. Reference-frame invariance of the speed of light. The concept of extinction took a while to sink in. Weve had more than 400 years to get used to the idea, but its still a little unsettling. Do you ever feel like the world is against you? It leaves little room in the public consciousness for social scientific work that is incremental, for work that shores up and teases apart, for work that complicates, for work on the boundary conditionsthose fragile social and mental habitats upon which decisions turn. ( kantrntjutv) adj. How many (and whose) lives would you bet on yourtheory? There are no "machine values.". IE throughout learning undergraduate quantum mechanics you hear "spin is a completely quantum mechanical phenomenon that doesn't exist outside of quantum mechanics." Edit: for more information check out Schwarz's Quantum Field Theory and Topology. What is 'counterintuitive'? 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. Melting sodium thiosulfate crystals, then cooling them to a state well below the melting point causes the supercooled liquid to freeze rapidly when a crystal of sodium thiosulfate is added, or the mixture is stirred. But our love affair comes at a cost.