ForumsThe TavernOld Wives' Tales

3 2604
Moegreche
offline
Moegreche
3,829 posts
Duke

In America, we have old sayings that people go by in reference to little everyday things. However, many of these expressions or bits of advice are just flat wrong - these are generally called "Old Wives' Tales."
I'd like to see how many we can come up with, and I would especially like to see some from other countries! So, say the advice and then explain why it's wrong. I'll start, I've actually got 2:

If you use hot water in an ice tray, it will actually freeze faster than cold water.
This deals with Newton's Law of Cooling that says the greater the temperature difference between two objects, the faster the hot object will cool down. This is true, however the hot object has much farther to go, and as it cools it's rate of cooling also slows down so it will never catch up to already cold water.

Adding salt to water will make it boil faster.
I don't know where this one came from, but it's just silly. Adding stuff to water will just increase the specific heat of it, thus making it take longer to boil.

Okay, next!!

  • 3 Replies
crazynaitor
offline
crazynaitor
2,612 posts
Jester

Sorry umm Moe what do you mean by next?What is this topic for?

knight_34
offline
knight_34
13,822 posts
Farmer

Sorry umm Moe what do you mean by next?What is this topic for?

Sharing Old Wives' Tales with everyone?
Skilltizer
offline
Skilltizer
83 posts
Nomad

Oh well,shall we just abondon it or make into a new one

Showing 1-3 of 3