What has this world gone too...

[swiftgates24]

I was in social studies the other day taking a test and...the teacher was talking and he said it was impossible for more than one star in a solar system?

Every heard of a binary system?

Basically I want to know what other scientific mistakes you've heard in every day life

Edited October 6, 2012 by swiftgates24

[zapy97]

well a binary solar sytstem is actualy quite possible if one star is massive and the other a dwarf star so it isn't impossible

[swiftgates24]

That's my point; the TEACHER said it was impossible, not me.

[Rainbow Dash]

lol ur teacher is a dumb : p But seriously if he is a teacher for christ sake and doesnt no anything about space, even though its social studies, he sldnt be a teacher.

[ddavis425]

One mistake that I've heard was when we were talking about gravity formulas in our math class; someone said that in space you would use 0 for the gravity in the formula, since there is no gravity in space (false, of course, there is plenty of gravity in space).

[Person012345]

He said it's impossible to have more than one star in a galaxy? No, I must have misunderstood, no-one is that ignorant.

[Awaras]

He said it's impossible to have more than one star in a galaxy? No, I must have misunderstood, no-one is that ignorant.

I knew a guy that believes in the flat earth theory... Every time I think 'no one can be that ignorant' I just set my self up for disappointment...

[phoenix_ca]

Flat earth? Man, that one was figured-out way back in ancient Egypt. I mean, seriously...yeesh.

My real, every-day life has been (thankfully) largely devoid of such scientifically inept statements. I usually have to go on the internet to find irrational crazies. (I guess it might have something to do with the country I live in, which has historically been dominated by rationality, humanism, and secularism...or a least more so than our southern neighbours...at the level of public policy. Mind, that is changing...and it makes me annoyed. -.- )

That said I ran into many more scientifically illiterate persons when I went to university than I typically encountered in my Catholic high school. (Yeah, the irony of that statement isn't lost on me.) Your social studies teacher...well, that title is probably indicative of the problem. Sociology is woefully unscientific at the best of times. O.o

[bsalis]

Ehem...

I was in social studies -snip-

Need I say more? (actually I do since there's a 10 character minimum rule)

[Aescwulf]

" the whole universe is made up of atoms " <---- WRONG with the discovery of dark energy, dark matter and anti -matter amongst other things. Makes the science text book wrong in so many ways and they won't be updating it anytime soon so any current people wanting to major in science is going to go on believing that the universe is full of atoms.

[phoenix_ca]

The known universe is full of atoms. Now, we can't account for a lot of the energy and mass out in the universe, and that opens up quite a few questions in astrophysics, but declaring the previous notions of atomic structure and the composition of what we can observe as "WRONG" is woefully simplistic and reactionary, such that it should not be taken seriously.

Also, "dark energy" and "dark matter" haven't been "discovered" so much as they are place-holder terms for "something, we know not what". We know there's...something there, because there are holes in our current theories, but knowing there is a something on the other side of the fence is much different from knowing the nature of that something. It's an "known unknown", so-to-speak.

Edited October 5, 2012 by phoenix_ca

[Awaras]

" the whole universe is made up of atoms " <---- WRONG

Well, that should read "the whole VISIBLE universe is made up of atoms".

[Aescwulf]

I wasn't talking about just the visible universe I was talking about the universe everything.

If I can find something to support my claim which I watched from a documentary then I will post it

http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_matter.html

Today the universe is 72% dark energy it's the stuff that's pushing the universe out wards

23% dark matter and only 4.6% atoms

And in my step brothers text book it just says the whole universe is made up of ordinary atoms and matter which was in my text book when I was in school aswell

Edited October 5, 2012 by Aescwulf

[Person012345]

" the whole universe is made up of atoms " <---- WRONG with the discovery of dark energy, dark matter and anti -matter amongst other things. Makes the science text book wrong in so many ways and they won't be updating it anytime soon so any current people wanting to major in science is going to go on believing that the universe is full of atoms.

First, noone claims the universe is made up of only atoms. There are things like neutrinos and so on.

Second, Anti-matter is made up of atoms. The atoms are just made of antiprotons and positrons instead of protons and electrons.

Third we don't know what dark matter is made of, and dark energy is energy (and again we know very little about it, pretty much all we know is that it's there). And if you count dark energy as part of the "makeup", then you should also include regular energy which isn't made up of atoms either.

[Person012345]

And in my step brothers text book it just says the whole universe is made up of ordinary atoms and matter which was in my text book when I was in school aswell

Quite probably you misunderstood it or it was simplified.

[nhnifong]

You know, I don't know the first thing about "social studies" even though they teach it in elementary school. So If I became a science teacher in a school, I would probably say dumb things about other races, and politics, and relationships. It just helps to turn the tables and imagine yourself in a similar situation.

Of course, if you were hinting that traditional education is unimpressive, I totally agree, but I doubt it ever was. It's just that we have superior ways to research topics and educate ourselves now and when someone tries to teach, it looks funny that they are not as smart as a smartphone.

[Accelerando]

My first high school "physics" teacher in senior year was an absolute fool. He gave us ridiculous projects like "build a model rocket that you have to buy with your own money or fail the project, and launch it" that didn't involve even the slightest bit of scientific note-taking or experimentation. We just got out into the field and launched the Goddamn rocket.

As if to add insult to the fact that we had to pay for the things ourselves or absolutely get zero out of six hundred points for the assignment, he docked us two hundred points for each and anything that went wrong yet was outside of our control, such as if the wind blew our rocket into a tree. "You should have prepared better," he would say; "you should have built your rocket better! This is how things are gonna be in the business world!" notwithstanding that we were in what was ostensibly a high school science class using rockets built from model kits that we had nothing given to us to go on aside from the instructions provided with the kit, which we had followed to the letter.

But that wasn't the most depressing part of his class from a scientific standpoint. The real morbid hilarity came when we were discussing the basic physics of light, and I brought up the topic of solar sails. Said he,

"...Some scientists think that it may be possible for light hitting a surface to exert force on it..."

Go back and read that again, and then consider that the existence of radiation pressure was fully verified over 100 years ago in Russia, and has been considered a viable form of spacecraft propulsion for decades, and you'll start to understand what a joke of a physics teacher this guy was.

It didn't stop there. Every now and then he went off on tangents about his belief in the JFK conspiracy theory, or fawned over his poster of his yellow Ferrari to the class. At the end of each month or thereabouts he would always show us a movie on the old TV the school provided. His usual way of introducing the video was, "If you pay attention, there's lots of physics in here." What was his usual faire? Magic shows. David Copperfield. The movie Armageddon.

I'm glad I transferred out of that class before the year ended.

Edited October 5, 2012 by Accelerando

[colmo]

There are binary systems with planets:

http://scienceblogs.com/SETI/2011/09/15/kepler-16-exoplanets-around-bi/

[zapy97]

my 7th grade history teacher said our sun for the earth would super nova at the end of its life, but actually it would expand slowly engulf the earth, and i believe as far as mars then it would slowly shrink back to a cinder cloud

later edit...

People assume that time is a straight progression of cause to effect but actually from a non-linear non-subgective view point it is more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey, stuff

Edited October 5, 2012 by zapy97

[Person012345]

We don't fully understand the nature of time, really.

[zapy97]

We don't fully understand the nature of time, really.

i know it is a doctor who quote i just couldn't resist adding

[RedDwarfIV]

@Accelerando

Suddenly, Ms Swinney doesn't sound so bad at her job.

http://uk.ratemyteachers.com/anne-swinney/172027-t

[Seanoog]

The known universe is full of atoms. Now, we can't account for a lot of the energy and mass out in the universe, and that opens up quite a few questions in astrophysics, but declaring the previous notions of atomic structure and the composition of what we can observe as "WRONG" is woefully simplistic and reactionary, such that it should not be taken seriously.

Also, "dark energy" and "dark matter" haven't been "discovered" so much as they are place-holder terms for "something, we know not what". We know there's...something there, because there are holes in our current theories, but knowing there is a something on the other side of the fence is much different from knowing the nature of that something. It's an "known unknown", so-to-speak.

Well Said..

As for the OP, an his/her's teachers comments. lol

But we must remember, that Primary/High School teachings, are commonly "inaccurate".

Example been: In science, I was taught, light only travels straight, fine comment to make at GCSE level. An was correct for passing Triple Award Science.

But trying saying that to an Engineering/Physist lecture, an watch them laugh at you.

Its True, that light generally travels in stright lines, but wormhole theory specifies that light can be bent, when a powerful force is acted upon it.

An dont even get me started on Bible's (In many differnet forms.)

As a Catholic myself, I believe in my faith, but I think the Creational Concepts, hold more truth.

Just my 2 Pence.

[AHO]

My first high school "physics" teacher in senior year was an absolute fool. He gave us ridiculous projects like "build a model rocket that you have to buy with your own money or fail the project, and launch it" that didn't involve even the slightest bit of scientific note-taking or experimentation. We just got out into the field and launched the Goddamn rocket.

But that wasn't the most depressing part of his class from a scientific standpoint. The real morbid hilarity came when we were discussing the basic physics of light, and I brought up the topic of solar sails. Said he,

"...Some scientists think that it may be possible for light hitting a surface to exert force on it..."

Go back and read that again, and then consider that the existence of radiation pressure was fully verified over 100 years ago in Russia, and has been considered a viable form of spacecraft propulsion for decades, and you'll start to understand what a joke of a physics teacher this guy was.

It didn't stop there. Every now and then he went off on tangents about his belief in the JFK conspiracy theory, or fawned over his poster of his yellow Ferrari to the class. At the end of each month or thereabouts he would always show us a movie on the old TV the school provided. His usual way of introducing the video was, "If you pay attention, there's lots of physics in here." What was his usual faire? Magic shows. David Copperfield. The movie Armageddon.

I'm glad I transferred out of that class before the year ended.

As if to add insult to the fact that we had to pay for the things ourselves or absolutely get zero out of six hundred points for the assignment, he docked us two hundred points for each and anything that went wrong yet was outside of our control, such as if the wind blew our rocket into a tree. "You should have prepared better," he would say; "you should have built your rocket better! This is how things are gonna be in the business world!" notwithstanding that we were in what was ostensibly a high school science class using rockets built from model kits that we had nothing given to us to go on aside from the instructions provided with the kit, which we had followed to the letter.

Wow... Just wow... I'm really glad I haven't had any teachers like this is all I can say..

[Festivefire]

have you ever had a chem teacher tell you that glass is a super-cooled liquid? there full of it if they have. this was believed until about twenty years ago, so maybe they learned it that way, but its not true.