› added 2 years ago

137

TIL that when floating ice melts, the water level actually stays the same. Apparently the difference in density between water and ice is exactly 1:1 to the percentage of the ice that floats above the water(aka is not displacing water)

Read more exploratorium.edu

via reddit.com

RML6 TIL that the founder of Mitsubishi was an actual Samurai.
5YE8P TIL about the "Squirrel Cage Jail" in Iowa, a three-story rotary jail that actually turned (and could cut off your limbs if you hung them out of the cage when it turned). It took five minutes for it make one revolution.
VMy9B TIL chess was originally known as chaturaṅga, literally four divisions [of the military] in Sanskrit. The pieces represented infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariotry and would later evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook.
aeAA TIL British soldiers call their SA-80 rifle “the Civil Servant” because “it doesn’t work and can’t be fired.”
8a4Oa TIL That to communicate through the network, trees send chemical, hormonal and slow-pulsing electrical signals, which scientists are just beginning to decipher.