counterintuitive examples in science counterintuitive examples in science

He asked Lewis and Clark to keep an eye out for them. Things can get worse before getting better, or vice versa. Information about your use of this website will be shared with Google and other third parties. Beyond a certain threshold of intelligence and skill, the efficacy bottlenecks quickly become your ability to communicate, get along with others, prioritize, focus, structure your thinking in advance, manage your time well, etc. Animal Testing Is Necessary. But who would have thought that rain moves mountains? Supercooled water can be found in clouds. 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). The universe is made of stuff we can barely begin to imagine. Our feeble minds can barely scratch the surface of existence, the cosmos, and everything. Here are 13 counterintuitive business truths I've come to know, even if I can't exactly explain why they make sense. The distinction between the two is clear (now). But as an expert on memory, and, in particular, on the malleability of memory, he knows better than to fully trust his recollections As clear and detailed as these memories feel, psychologists find they are surprisingly inaccurate. "If we want to know how the brain makes memory and uses memory, we need to make people do things like learn stuff and then remember it. And not only expanding, but expanding faster and faster. This can push students into a seeking explanation mode, setting the stage for discovery. If water didn't have this property, life on Earth as we know it probably wouldn't exist. More dangerous than defying common sense, though, was Galileos defiance of the Catholic Church. Something that came up in another thread, the Mpemba effect i.e. An aircraft can trigger freezing, causing potentially hazardous icing-up of aircraft surfaces. But scientists have also believed rain can erode a landscape quickly enough to essentially suck the rocks out of the Earth, effectively pulling mountains up very quickly. And besides, researchers are continuously learning new things. If you detect which slit the photons go through, you dont get any interference pattern. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Even more disturbing is the fact that carbon dioxide lingers in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. A counterintuitive proposition is one that does not seem likely to be true when assessed using intuition or gut feelings. The drug is the first of its kind and replicates the signaling of two . the opposite of what makes sense. Weve already changed the climate for the rest of this century. undergraduate science education course with their teaching practice experience in local classrooms. Check out these facts that are just plain counterintuitive - you'll be surprised at some of the things people do every day! that warm water will freeze faster than cold water. Contrary to most students expectations, the temperature will drop. A look at a few examples of counter-intuitive conclusions will illustrate these problems. The research team found that the global warming potential of a single-use kraft paper bag was the highest, over 80 times that of reusable plastic bags. It does not store any personal data. The second and third are a given. This doesn't really belong in this thread with the hard science examples, but I think it's a nice little verbal/logic trick to drop on people at a dinner party. Natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires are often attributed by the media to global warming. Reference-frame invariance of the speed of light. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission. But being counterintuitive for counterintuitives sake? As humans moved from continent to continent, large animals that had thrived for millions of years began to disappearmastodons in North America, giant kangaroos in Australia, dwarf elephants in Europe. For example, it would sound odd to say some event in the Andromeda Galaxy caused a car to crash. 1. If you are willing to push through a bit of added stress in the short term . This is correct for most substances, but due to the nature of the water molecule it is different and actually expands. How many (and whose) lives would you bet on yourtheory? It's Time for 20 Percent Talent. . Weve had more than 400 years to get used to the idea, but its still a little unsettling. Place a thermometer in a test tube of cyclohexane so that its scale remains visible from 0oC upwards. Maybe not. Did the funder lean on the researchers to get a favorable result for dairy farmers? What is another word for counterintuitive? Here are 16 pleasant yet perplexing reminders that you may not know as much as you believe. 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. It seems intuitive to me that causal relationships rapidly weaken as the distance (both spatial and temporal) between two events increases. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Counterintuitive definition: (of an idea, proposal , etc) seemingly contrary to common sense | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples It took a world famous experiment to bring this into common knowledge. Supercooled liquids have everyday uses improving the taste of frozen foods. What is the most surprising and counterintuitive finding in science that you can think of? The initial boiling produces steam, flushing the air from the flask, which is then sealed. Why are motorcycles less fuel-efficient than cars? Stir gently, recording the temperature at known intervals until the temperature drops to near zero. It and subsequent ambitious and painstaking epidemiological studies have shown that ones risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, certain kinds of cancer and other health problems increases in a dose-dependent manner upon exposure to delicious food. Some temperature changes are counter-intuitive, as can be shown by simple investigations. Since it is necessary to keep heating in order to turn the solid into liquid or liquid into vapour, they assume the temperature must keep rising during the change of state. We spread salt on icy roads and paths to melt the ice. The reduced pressure below the piston allows the atmospheric pressure above it to push it back down. In any science, though, you have areas of inquiry where there is not an existing theory that makes precise predictions. I can't remember the source, but paraphrasing it was something like "The Greeks couldn't have discovered special relativity, but I couldve convinced them it was true." 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. These questions make students aware of the inadequacies of their own thinking by exposing them to situations whose outcomes are inconsistent with what they would expect. A counterintuitive proposition is one that does not seem likely to be true when assessed using intuition, common sense, or gut feelings.. Scientifically discovered, objective truths are often called counterintuitive when intuition, emotions, and other cognitive processes outside of deductive rationality interpret them to be wrong. 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. PBS space time on the quantum eraser https://youtu.be/8ORLN_KwAgs. A good example is pedagogical use of discrepant events (Gonzlez-Espada et al 2010)counter-intuitive science demonstrations. 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). Attributing any disaster to a century-long trend is very hard to prove. Whereas the exceptions tend to have a narrower list of plausible explanations. This is the so-called Simpson's . When students compare their predictions with what actually happens to temperature in these scenarios, there will be lots to think about and discuss. There are no "machine values.". A red light for "go" and a . 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. Further rogue credentials revealed by Levitts online C.V. include an undergraduate degree from Harvard, a research fellowship with the American Bar Foundation, membership in the Harvard Society of Fellows, a fellowship at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a stint as a consultant for Corporate Decisions, Inc.. Science can be glorious; it can bring clarity to a chaotic world. You need some fancy equipment, like a thing that makes a cohesive beam of photons and a thing that splits a cohesive beam of photons, but other than that its not impossible to do in your home lab. How can I stop being frustrated while reading? But on balance, human taste preferences evolved during times of scarcity, when it made sense for our hunter-gatherer ancestors to gorge on as much salt and fat and sugar as possible. Read the temperature; a little below 100oC, so the water has stopped boiling. 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.. Bell's theorem and general quantum weirdness. Sometimes different people having different ideas; sometimes the same person having different ideas at different times. Does the replication debate have a diversityproblem? Like hot water freezing faster than cold. Its kind of deflating, isnt it? 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. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Counterintuitive definition: Contrary to what intuition or common sense would indicate. The details require careful consideration, but basically, were surprising. When treating someone badly makes him like you more instead of less, this is an example of something that is counterintuitive. Listed below are several particularly surprising findings from the field of psychology. Most students, and probably most adults, assume that the interaction of salt and ice somehow causes a temperature rise, melting the ice. An oldie but a goodie: the fact that a pendulum's period of oscillation is independent of the mass hanging from it. For example,when intuition systematically leads people to make consequentially bad decisionsit can be important to document that and understand why. Pouring over further portions of cold water causes repeated re-boiling while the temperature gradually drops to around 30oC, or even lower. Although if you didn't enjoy science classes at school, it's difficult not to be astonished by scientific facts as an adult. You don't say who you're target audience is, so it's hard to tell. If youre in a happy, optimistic, ambitious mood, check the weather. For me, its got to be the delayed choice quantum eraser experiment. 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). Upal [2] labelled this as the minimal counterintuitiveness effect or the MCI-effect. Science seems to always challenge our intuitive understanding of the world. Test your knowledge - and maybe learn something along the way. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Explanations may be beyond most at age 1114, but the experiments can still be fun. Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection can be inspiring: perhaps youre awed by the vastness of geologic time or marvel at the variety of Earths creatures. Gender Identity Is More Nature Than Nurture. Counterintuitive, right? Scripture said that the Sun revolved around the Earth, and the Holy Office of the Inquisition found Galileo guilty of heresy for saying otherwise. Self-knowledge / self-deception is probably another one of those areas where the relationship between research findings and peoples intuitions has deeper, substantive significance. 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. 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. Why, then, did scientists in Singapore come to the conclusion that plastic bags are better than paper and cloth bags? Cultures as diverse as the Babylonians, Han Dynasty China, and the Maya each developed sophisticated belief systems and mathematics to divine the purported influence of the planets and stars on people's personalities and events on Earth ( Boxer, 2020 ). Every once in a while, a dolt drops a gem. (of an idea, proposal, etc) seemingly contrary to common sense. The relationship between pressure and boiling point is also relevant in pressure cookers and when freeze-drying food. Common sense does not always follow . Likewise, a series of short arti-cles on counter intuitive problems can be found 11. Use an ice/salt bath to supercool purified water in a clean test tube containing a clean thermometer. Common sense does not always follow this route, and may include social biases, assumptions, and even a lack of facts. First, let mesay what I thinkcounterintuitiveisnt. darkmighty 7 yr. ago. 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For the general public that have not had the opportunity to be exposed to the process of science, one of the most counterintuitive things is this: Logic and Common Sense are not the same thing. When thats your multiplier, you dont need much massa smidgen of plutonium is plentyto create enough energy to destroy a city. Theyre also likely to suggest a liquids temperature drops while it solidifies. Our analysis reveals that student success in arriving at counter-intuitive . 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. Science is amazing. Ritual sacrifice is described in the Bible, Greek mythology and the Norse sagas, and the Romans accused many of the people they conquered of engaging in ritual sacrifice, but the evidence was thin. Most students will correctly say that to freeze a liquid, you need to cool it. counter-intuitive meaning: 1. Press J to jump to the feed. Students are familiar with everyday examples of freezing, melting and boiling, but are likely to think temperature always falls during freezing and rises during melting or boiling. I hate it and will tell you why in 5 minutes. But big scientific discoveries are by nature counterintuitive and sometimes shocking. Even in the 21st century, its quite possible to die of consumption. 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. Kim Scott, once the head of Google's AdSense and . Get the best of Cracked sent directly to your inbox! Our personal epistemology (philosophy of knowledge) is often based on intuition, which can be mistaken. Most people who haven't studied physics still don't appreciate this. A heavier object does fall faster. 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. Ask children about this and they will never believe it. The reality is not so simple. 5. A quick test shows that is false. Beyond the reach of formal theory, scientists develop educated guesses, hunches, and speculations based on their knowledge and experience. And here's an example from the April 1979 issue of Scientific American that describes a factual . The meaning of COUNTERINTUITIVE is contrary to what one would intuitively expect. 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. Once all the liquid has frozen, no more energy is released, so continued cooling with iced water causes the temperature to start falling again. And when you are talking about something that (a)people reflect on and wonder about and (b) is not already well settled, then chances are pretty good that people have had multiple, potentially contradictory ideas about it. 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. One can win or lose for the wrong reason. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Similar misconceptions occur with freezing. Here you can ask any question you have about being a scientist, what's new in a field, what's going to happen in a field, or are curious about how we got to this point. When we were in school, we always thought that we were pretty smart kids. To address this issue, this study examines high school students' cognitive responses to three counterintuitive physics problems. Here are ten of the biggest threats to our . Introducing a delay function to our simple negative feedback loop will produce an unexpected oscillation (a counterintuitive behavior). Somehow, gum made out of tree bark is still softer than Bazooka. While intuition and misconceptions continue to be of great interest to mathematics and science educators, there has been little research, much less consensus or even internal consistency, in statistics curriculum . It has long been believed by the medical and scientific community that the gender identity of . 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. The counterintuitive has its place. Our ape ancestry conflicts with every cultures creation myth and isnt particularly intuitive, buteverything weve learnedsince thenin biology, geology, genetics, paleontology, even chemistry and physicssupports his great insight. But other human foiblesthe desire to be accepted, time pressure, conflicts of interest (e.g., expectations of funding sources), interfere and can compromise that ideal. We have just begun to see the effects of human-induced climate change, and the predictions for whats to come range from dire to catastrophic. Maybe; maybe not. Cookie Policy So its counterintuitive to me to observe that we dont call the results of the double slit experiment counterintuitive.. Columbus' contemporaries didn't think the world was flat but he was still kind of crazy because he thought the Earth was a lot smaller than it really is (and basically lucked into finding the New World). Technically it's small things act according to an equation that is very wavelike in this instance and very particle like in this other instance, but the first sentence is close enough. Counterintuitive is one reason. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. For example, let's say a company invested in IoT systems to gain an edge in data-driven insights. 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. 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. Im not at all surprised you thought of this before I did. So true! In social and personality psychology that isthe majority of what we are studying. This counterintuitive approach applies also to minimalism. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Sure, some tasty things are healthyblueberries, snow peas, nuts and maybe even (oh, please) red wine. In a final example of counterintuitive findings, Live Science now claims that brain size didn't . We find two distinct sets of thermoelectric property (TEP) curves, where one set of TEPs has higher ZT curves over the whole operating temperature range, but its maximum conversion efficiency is smaller than that of the other set. The screen does not change. The Earth is not the center of the universe. That contradicts a lot of your experience, doesn't it? It is because that 2-Points and 3-Points have different weights in the two players' stats, so a direct comparison cannot be made. I recall a quote that expressed this idea quite nicely. While 93% of scientists were in favor of animal research, merely 52% of the public agrees. Delivered to your inbox! What is 'counterintuitive'? Examples of Counterintuitive in a sentence. -Mark Crislip. Dont trust your intuitions. So we have an extra source of intuitions the intuitions of people who are living the phenomena that we study. What prevents the temperature dropping further until the liquid is completely frozen? The definition of counterintuitive is something that goes against what you believe would be logical, or something that goes against common sense. A look at a few examples of counter-intuitive conclusions will illustrate these problems. They are also found in reusable hand-warmers these use supercooling to store heat for later use. 12 Essential Life Tips That Are Counterintuitive But True. One way to fascinate, engage, arouse curiosity, motivate, and stimulate intellectual development in learning scientific concepts is to use counterintuitive questions. The basic premise is this. What are examples of counterintuitive? In order to enjoy things you always need to think about the negative side of them. The temperature drops as expected, but the water unexpectedly boils again for a while. Also. If so, perhaps general physics would be a place to go. Water sprayed into the cylinder condenses the steam, creating a vacuum. Beyond the reach of formal theory, scientists develop educated guesses, hunches, and speculations based on their knowledge and experience. What is the meaning of counterintuitive science?