Inventions That Fool Us All

Lots of inventions are made to fool us. Let's take a look at some of the sneakiest inventions made just to bamboozle us!

September 11, 2023・

12 min read

You might think you know it all, but the saying “You learn something new every day” definitely rings true, especially when you’re a Be Amazed fan. There are loads of everyday objects that fool us without us even realizing, and this article will demystify some of them for you!

Cereal Box

There is a simple way to seal your cereal and guarantee the perfect crunch every time. If you roll up the packet, leave the cardboard box open, and hope for the best, you’re doing it all wrong! Not only does that leave your cereal dangerously exposed to the elements, but pesky mice or insects could get in there too, which is not what you want in the morning.

TikTok user KatyBee2020 earned viral fame in 2020 after she shared a fool-proof way to secure your cereal that basically no one knew about. Check it out!

In case you missed it, all you need to do is fold in the two short tabs on either side of the box and one of the longer flaps, leaving the other long tab free. Next, pinch the two sides of the box closed, then, with the remaining tab, tuck the flap into the box, and voila! The result is a sealed box that tapers up into a neat little triangle, which means long-lasting cereal and no more breakfast invaders.

Toblerone

We’ve probably all given or received a Toblerone as a gift before, it is delicious, after all; but how exactly do you go about eating it? Whether nibbling it or biting off a chunk, there’s a much easier way to get your chocolate fix.

For years, we’ve struggled (and failed) to break off the triangle pieces by pulling them towards us, which usually causes a straight-up mess. But fear not people; there’s another way!

There’s no need to prise the bar apart with all your muscle; just push the top of each triangle down and it should snap away from the rest; a firm tap should be enough to do it. This hack was revealed by Kaitlin Crawford back in 2014 and life hasn’t been the same since.

Toilet Paper Patent

This one has less to do with the toilet paper itself, and more to do with the way you hang it; it’s the age-old “over or under debate”. If you’re one of those people who pull your sheets from underneath, here's a newsflash for you: You’re doing it wrong.

Forget how neat and tidy it looks, it’s all about how sanitary it is. Think about it this way; with the ‘under’ method, the toilet paper is basically touching the wall, which could be home to a whole host of grime and bacteria. In case you need any more confirmation about the ‘right’ way, engineer-turned-writer Owen Williams actually tracked down the original 1891 patent for toilet paper, and this diagram speaks volumes.

Heinz 57

An official spokesperson from Heinz has explained that the trick to get the most out of those last few drops is to focus all your attention on the embossed number 57 on the bottleneck. All you need to do is turn the bottle on a 45-degree angle and then hit the sweet spot with a karate-chopping motion using the meaty part of your palm.

Apparently, this simple trick keeps the sauce moving through the neck rather than knocking around in the body of the bottle! Incidentally, the whole "57 varieties" thing is just a ruse for the fact that 57 is the lucky number of the company's founder H.J Heinz.

After Mr. Heinz was inspired by an ad he once saw for "21 styles of shoes" he decided to adopt the slogan, even though the company already offered more than 60 varieties at the time, and nowadays there are more than 5,700 different products to choose from!

Toothpaste

Everyone knows the basic rules of good oral hygiene: brush twice a day for at least two minutes, using a generous line of toothpaste, but one of those things is a total lie. It’s true that adverts usually show a nice dollop of toothpaste that runs along the entire length of the brush, but that’s not necessarily what you should do.

In fact, a pea-sized blob on the end of your toothbrush is more than enough to get your teeth clean. The reason why toothpaste adverts deceive us like this is pretty simple.

Firstly, it looks more attractive; and second, if people are using big blobs of toothpaste two times a day, they’re more likely to need to buy the stuff more often. And here’s another fun fact for your noggin: the blob of toothpaste on your brush even has an official name: a nurdle.

Towel Displays

If you’ve ever been to Bed, Bath & Beyond before, you’ve probably marveled at their immaculate towel displays that somehow reach the ceiling. You might be wondering what kind of neat freak dreamed up such a mean feat but it’s all a front, literally.

If you really thought it was someone’s job to neatly fold and stack such an immense number of towels, think again! These sneaky foam blocks are probably a total lifesaver for employees because it means a single towel on an out-of-reach shelf can be arranged to create the illusion that there’s a total abundance of them.

As if that wasn’t enough, it turns out the big stacks of jeans on display at Old Navy are mostly fake too! Is everything in our lives a lie?! First towels, now jeans; you can’t help but wonder what other store displays aren’t exactly what they seem.

Toilet Plungers

When it comes to a clogged toilet, the first thing you’ll want to reach for is a plunger. But if use the standard cup plunger, the chances are you’ll be working on that baby for a very long time.

The trusty old red cup plunger might work perfectly fine to unclog a sink or a bathtub, but it would be an amateur move to use on a messed-up toilet. What you really need is the flange plunger. The so-called flange is the sleeve-like extension at the end that fits snugly into the opening at the bottom of a toilet.

To use it correctly, make sure there’s enough water in the bowl, angle the plunger over the hole, and then push the handle down and back up repeatedly before flushing. In a pinch, the flange can also fold into the cup to create a standard cup plunger that’s more appropriate for use on a sink, so you don’t even need both types either.

Peanut Butter

Peanut butter is one of the most versatile ingredients in your cupboard, but there’s one drawback if you’re a fan of the more natural kind. The problem with natural nut butter is that you’ll find yourself having to mix in a load of weird, oily liquid that’s collected on the surface every time you open the lid.

That’s because, while non-natural peanut butter uses ingredients like palm oil to help extend its shelf life and stabilize the mixture to prevent separation, natural PB’s lack this ingredient. That means the peanut's own oils separate from the butter itself through a process known as syneresis, especially at warmer temperatures.

But there’s a simple fix not many people know about, just store your natural peanut butter upside down! That way, the oils at the top will be forced to travel back through the butter, mixing right in themselves.

You've Been Pouring Juice Wrong

It’s time to add "pouring juice" to the list of things you’ve been doing wrong all your life. After reaching for a carton of fresh orange juice, most people intuitively put the plastic spout as close to the class as possible.

It makes logical sense until you try to pour it and the juice splatters all over the place as the carton emits an obnoxious glugging sound. But the solution is much simpler than you think.

As so excellently showcased above, all you have to do is turn the carton up the other way, so the spout is furthest away from the glass. There’s actually a scientific reason why one method is better than the other.

Apparently, when you pour with the spout close to the glass it’s the weight of the liquid that pushes it out of the carton, leaving no room for airflow via the pouring hole. As volume in the carton decreases, plenty of newly-formed air bubbles create uneven pressure which results in the familiar glugging sound.

Soda Can Tabs

While soda cans aren’t quite as practical as a bottle, and you don’t get any more bang for your buck, there’s a little-known trick that might just make the can more worthwhile.

Besides helping you crack the bad boy open, those little soda can tabs actually have a secret purpose as a handy straw holder. Next time you crack open a soda, spin the metal tab around over the open hole, stick a straw in it, and your soda experience will be a lot more refreshing.

If you’re already partial to sticking a straw in your can, you’ll know that it can often rise up unexpectedly and stab you in the eye or nostril, so this is one fool-proof way to keep it in place. Plus, there are actually some pretty great benefits to using a straw because soda is notorious for staining your teeth.

Sports Fields

Laying down a roll of fake grass can be a stress-free way to ensure a perfect lawn without having to agonize about keeping it watered, but it’s easy to forget that AstroTurf is also used to cover entire sports fields. No matter how many sports you play, the illusion is so convincing that it can be hard to remember that the ground you’re standing on isn’t real at all.

Students at Southmoreland High School in Pittsburgh got a rude awakening in August 2013 when they found their football field looking like a scrunched-up carpet.

When East Huntington experienced a strong flood that summer, two inches of rain came down at once, burrowing under the playing surface and causing it to buckle, rip apart, and wash away. Considering AstroTurf is something we all know is fake, it does a darn good job of fooling us!

Pot Noodles Secret Gap

Sometimes, cooking seems like such a chore, and that’s precisely why super noodles are such a guilty pleasure. But even your favorite instant meal is totally pulling the wool over your eyes. What’s that secret void at the bottom all about?

There’s actually a pretty feasible reason why so much of the instant noodle cup is just plain old air. Apparently, manufacturers deliberately leave space above and below the noodles to allow the hot water to flow through them and cook them evenly. By the time those agonizing few minutes of waiting are up, the noodles have expanded to full size and you’re none the wiser.

Chinese Food Box Turns Into Plate

On the topic of food packaging, did you know that the classic takeout boxes you get from your favorite downtown Chinese joint are more than just a box? In fact, they’re basically transformers. All you have to do is simply pop out the wire handle, untuck the sides of the takeout box, and watch as it effortlessly becomes an easy-to-use plate.

It might not seem all that ground-breaking, but that means no more greasy hands from digging into the bottom of the box, and less washing up to do afterward; it’s a win-win! Plus, if you don’t happen to finish all the food in one sitting, you can just as easily fold it back into a box and stick it in the fridge for later.

Stamped Concrete

So far, the main takeaway is that you can’t really trust anything to be exactly what it says on the tin these days; not even the ground you walk on, apparently. It might take a moment to wrap your head around, but the guys in the post below really are creating a tiled pavement using a big stencil.

The process is known as stamped concrete, and it’s far more common than you’d think. Stamped concrete can be used for a whole load of projects including sidewalks, driveways, patios, and interior flooring, and it can easily be made to resemble anything from brick to slate and stone.

First, cement is poured evenly over the desired area and smoothed to sweet perfection, then the desired colors are added to the concrete and the stamps or mats using a pigmented product called powder release. Next, the fun part, textured rubber or metal stamps are pressed firmly into the concrete in a repeated pattern to create the full illusion.

Once the concrete is firmly set, it can then be pressure washed and any last-minute fixes can be made before it’s sealed, and voila! You have yourself a tiled pavement that isn’t really made of tiles at all. As if that wasn’t mind-blowing enough, a similar process can be used to create wood-effect flooring … wood that’s actually concrete what’s next?

Stamped concrete isn’t the only way pavements fool us all; just take a look at the mind-blowing image below. What’s going on here may look like something out of The Matrix, but it’s actually pretty simple – what they’re carrying is a quick, cheap, and easy way to achieve the authentic feel of a cobblestone street which is aptly called a cobblestone carpet.

Although they might look like traditional cobbles, these cobblestones are actually attached to a single plastic mat that can be laid in any shape or size. Besides the costs saved on labor and purchasing the materials, a cobblestone carpet is often so seamless that you won’t notice it’s fake at all. Try paying special attention next time you’re walking down the street!

Foil Boxes

It’s a pretty well-known fact that the serrated edge inside aluminum foil boxes can be used to cut single sheets easily, but that still doesn’t stop the whole roll from jumping out and onto the floor.

After a lifetime of battling the box, allow me to introduce you to the secret tab that’s about to change your life completely. In fact, there are two little tabs on either side of the box, and all you have to do is press them inward to lock the roll in place. That way, you can use oodles of foil to your heart's content!

If you were amazed at these inventions that fool us all, you might want to read our article about things you never realized you were doing wrong. Thanks for reading.