Random Fun Facts That Will Amaze You - Part 11

At Be Amazed, we like to ask some of life’s biggest questions such as “will I die if I consume coke and mentos at once”, “why do humans have chins?” and “how long can I hold in a fart before I explode?” Let's explore a whole host of quirky things you never knew about your body!

Why Nails On A Chalkboard Drives Us Insane?

There are very few sounds that are as universally hated as the cringe inducing screeching of nails being dragged down a chalkboard. The only sounds that arguably have similar affects are a fork scraping on a plate, a piece of chalk on slate or a heavy metal chair being dragged across a tiled floor.

But what is it about those scraping sounds that make them so unbearable to our sensitive ears? Thankfully, researchers embarked on a project to get to the bottom of that burning query back in 1986. In their study, the trio hypothesized that it was the high pitched sounds that caused us to recoil in horror, so they isolated the sounds between low, middle and high frequencies.

After playing those recordings to test subjects, they found that they were actually completely wrong. Removing the high frequencies didn’t make the sounds any more bearable, but remarkably removing the middle frequencies did. Then they made an even more surprising discovery.

It turns out the sound waves associated with primate warning cries, particularly chimpanzees are spookily similar to the aversive, middle frequency sound waves produced by fingernails on a chalkboard! So, the reason why we can’t stand the sound so much could well be because it triggers in us an unconscious, automatic primal response that we’re hearing a shrill warning cry!

What If You Drink Coke After Eating Mentos?

We all heard about the old "diet coke & mentos" experiment. Unscrew the cap, drop in a row of minty candy and watch as an impressive geyser of soda erupts into the air like a volcano that has been dormant for many years. The science behind it is pretty simple.

Although the mentos look smooth, they actually have a rough outer coating which breaks the bonds between the carbon dioxide gas and water in the diet coke, creating carbon dioxide bubbles which cause the eruption.

Cool Science Experiment - Original Mentos Diet Coke Geyser by Sick Science!

Thankfully, it’s just an urban myth that the same reaction can happen inside your body. That’s because the rough coating on the candy starts to dissolve pretty much as soon as you put it onto your tongue. Putting mentos into your stomach and then chugging a glass of coke would most likely just result in a particularly wicked bout of burping.

The only danger there lies in the fact that some people might not be able to belch enough to release the gas before the pressure gets too much. In that case, you might end up with some nasty stomach aches or in a worst case scenario a small rupture, but that’s pretty unlikely because most people would vomit before that ever happened.

Trying to gobble down the mentos and coke at the same time and holding the mixture in your mouth will probably just cause you to spew out foaming coke all over the place. So no, it won’t kill you but it’s still a stupid idea!

Why Do We Cry?

Whether it’s that one scene in your favorite movie, overwhelming joy or the crushing pain of high school heartbreak, it’s not hard to set us off in a flood of salty tears, but why do we do it? Crying can be scientifically defined as the shedding of tears in response to an emotional state. The non-emotional shedding of tears even has its own name: "lacrimation".

It all has to do with the biological processes of the "lacrimal system", which comprised of a "secretory system" that produces your tears and an "excretory system" that drains them. When a tear is produced from the lacrimal gland that sits in between your eyeball and eyelid, you spontaneously blink which spreads the tear across the eye as a thin film of liquid.

Ever wondered why your nose runs when you cry? That’s because the tear you have just produced usually drains neatly off down the lacrimal punctum which is like a sink plug before draining through your nose. But when you’re having a real good cry, the lacrimal drainage system can’t deal with the large incoming volume of tears and they end up cascading over your eyelids and down your cheeks.

We actually produce three different types of tear: those are known as "basal", "reflex" and "psychic" tears. Your basal tears keep your cornea nourished and lubricated, while reflex tears help to wash out any irritations from foreign particles or vapors. When you suddenly cry while cutting onions, you are producing reflex tears!

Psychic or "crying" tears are the ones we produce in response to strong emotions like sadness, anger, pleasure or physical pain. Those tears even contain a natural painkiller called "leucine enkephalin", which could explain why people say a good cry makes everything better.

Can You Die From A Broken Heart?

When beloved actress Carrie Fisher died on December 27th, 2016, the world went into collective mourning. But the tragedy was only doubled when her mother Debbie Reynolds also died suddenly the following day. At the time, the general consensus was that Ms Reynolds had died of a broken heart, but is that even medically possible?

The term “heartbreak” is used to refer to the emotional and physical symptoms of being “broken hearted”, but we all know that your heart doesn’t actually break, but the resulting stress can be just as detrimental to your well being.

According to Australian heart surgeon Dr. Nikki Stamp, that kind of stress can increase your heart rate and blood pressure, make your heart work faster, make your blood "sticky" and damage your immune system. And that’s not all. When we get caught up in heartbreak, it’s easy to forget to look after ourselves.

Binging on comfort foods and staying in bed for days on end is bound to have its own negative implications. Those symptoms may seem inconsequential, but there’s actually a genuine medical condition doctors use to refer to death by broken heart: “taktsubo cardiomyopathy”.

In those rare cases, a massive rush of adrenaline in an acutely stressful event can cause something similar to a heart attack. The condition was first described in Japan in 1990 after a patient’s heart was said to resemble a Japanese octopus pot called a "taktsubo". Not everyone who suffers "taktsubo" will die, but it has certainly been recognized as a very real condition.

What Happens If You Eat an Entire Tube of Toothpaste?

After brushing your teeth twice a day for an entire lifetime, you must eat a whole load of toothpaste. But guzzling down an entire tube of the stuff is a one way ticket to the E.R.

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, if you happen to swallow a significant amount of toothpaste that crucially doesn’t contain the ingredient fluoride, you’ll probably survive. As long as you chug a load of water or milk and don’t induce vomiting, the worst consequence you’ll face is a wicked stomach ache.

Fluoride based toothpaste, on the other hand, is a whole different kettle of fish. Fluoride which is a naturally occurring mineral is highly toxic in large doses. If you were to eat a whole tube of fluoride toothpaste, you’d need to call the Poison Control Center immediately.

A whole host of nasty side effects could include stomach pain, intestinal blockage, convulsions, diarrhea, difficulty breathing, drooling, shock, tremors, weakness, vomiting and even heart attack. Basically, you’re about to have a really, really bad day.

Water or milk is a good first line of defense, but you’ll need to take a trip to the E.R. Once you arrive there, you’ll probably receive a dose of activated charcoal to prevent the rest of poison from being absorbed, calcium as an antidote to the poison and a bunch of tests and fluids. Or you could just use toothpaste like a normal person.

How Long Can You Hold Your Poop Before You Explode?

Ever found yourself in a tricky situation where you realize you need to poop at the most inconvenient moment? Maybe you’re trapped in a car during a long desert road trip, or you’ve just arrived at a hot date's place for dinner.

If you concentrate hard enough, you even might be able to hold it for so long that it feels like it has disappeared altogether, but just how long should you hold your poop? It might be a taboo subject, but pooping is essential to help flush harmful toxins out of the body.

After you eat, it takes about 6-8 hours for food to pass through your stomach and small intestine. From there, it enters your large intestine AKA the colon for further digestion, absorption of water and, finally, the elimination of undigested food.

The colon is about 5 feet long and 3 inches in diameter, and it takes about 36 hours for food to move through the entire thing. All in all, it takes a grand total of 2-5 days for food to be digested and turned into poop, depending on the individual.

It’s not actually essential to go for a number 2 every day, in fact a “normal” poop schedule can range from 3 times a day three times a week! But going several days without dropping off any timber or deliberately holding it in could cause all sorts of problems.

When stool hits part of the rectum, it sends a signal to your brain telling you that you probably need to unload. According to Niket Sonpal, an assistant clinical professor at New York’s Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, it’s pretty hard to hold poop anyway, because you have to tighten the powerful voluntary sphincters.

Even when you think your poop has suddenly disappeared, there’s a chance it may actually have become impacted as you become more and more constipated. And the longer it stays, the harder it gets.

Eventually, your stomach might look permanently bloated as the pressure builds so much that it’s impossible to hold flat. You’ll probably need laxatives to help relieve the blockage, or in worst case scenario it may even need to be manually removed by a medical professional.

Sonpal admits that he’s never heard of anyone literally exploding or dying from fatal poop-holding, but the embarrassment of removal should be enough to put you off! It’s always nice when someone pulls a stool out for you, but not like that!

Popping Pimples Is Actually a Really Bad Idea

Picture this: you wake up for your first day of school, stumble over to the mirror and freeze: staring right back at you is a mountainous, bright red pimple. What do you do? Pop it, of course! For many people, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as popping a ripe pimple, but this is a really bad idea.

You might be thinking: “but what about those professional pimple poppers on TV?” When performed properly, extractions can clear certain types of pimples. But bad techniques combined with attempts to pick non-pickable pimples can be a total recipe for disaster!

The thing is, acne is your body’s response to blocked pores and bacteria. The red bump you see on your skin is actually the body’s way of saying “hey, I’m doing something about it leave it alone!”. When you pop a pimple, you’re forcefully pushing the contents bacteria, oil and debris out of the bump, tearing the skin and creating a fresh wound in the process.

Instead of fixing the problem, you might even end up forcing some of that nasty goop down even further into the skin which will only result in an even larger pimple. Plus, you’re inevitably introducing new bacteria and dirt from your finger as you press on the zit.

As if all that wasn’t bad enough already, that satisfying pimple pop could spawn more spots as the bacteria, oil and debris is spread onto the skin. All those things can also increase your risk of leaving a scar, which is going to hang around far longer than the pimple ever would’ve.

How Long Can You Hold Your Farts Before You Blow up?

Farting is a fact of life. But we all know it isn’t considered “acceptable” in most social settings, which means everyone has had to perfect the art of holding one in at some point. At the grocery store, during class, walking down the aisle on your wedding day, you name it.

But how long can you keep it all bottled up until the cork pops off? When your body needs to get rid of natural gas build up, there are two ways it can come out: either as a belch, or as “flatulence” that escapes via the back door.

Burping is usually caused by something known as "air aphasia" which results from the air you swallow while talking or chewing gum, but farting is a little more complex. Sometimes, bacteria or food ferments in the stomach, leading to acidity and gas.

People who suffer from intolerances like lactose or gluten are also bigger "farters" but even those with stronger stomachs can have trouble digesting cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and asparagus. Believe it or not, you pass gas 10-20 times a day sometimes without even realizing it!

No matter how hard you try to clench those buns, the floodgates will inevitably open when you get distracted by something else. Fart holding might not be particularly harmful; but be warned any sort of build up in your lower gastrointestinal tract will eventually push upward and clause bloating, discomfort and even "trapped wind" in your midsection.

Exploding like a cartoon character is also unlikely, but there is one exception that refers to people with obstructions in their colons. According to Dr Lisa Ganjhu at NYU Langone Medical Centre, an obstructed colon can “blow up like a balloon because of the blockage” to the point where it could even burst! To be on the safe side, follow the age old advice: “better out than in!”

Why Are Humans The Only Animals With Chins?

Here’s a conversation starter that’s sure to make anyone’s head spin: you know that knobbly thing under your mouth? It’s totally unique to us! Scientists have been scratching their chins over the origins of the human chin for years, but it still remains a total mystery.

The chin isn’t just the lower part of your face: it’s a term used to describe that little piece of bone extending from the jaw. You might think chimpanzees and gorillas our closest genetic cousins have chins, but instead of poking forward like ours, their lower jaws slope down and back from their front teeth. Even other ancient hominids like the Neanderthals lacked chins, their faces simply ended in a flat plane.

Over the last century, the ideas proposed by scientists to explain why we evolved chins have ranged from helping us chew food to speaking. But James Pampush from Duke University says otherwise. According to Pampush, the chin is in the wrong place to help reinforce the jaw for chewing. He also doubts that the tongue generates enough force for the chin to be necessary in helping us speak.

Instead, the chin might actually be something called a “spandrel” which is basically an evolutionary by product left behind from some other feature changing. Perhaps the human face shrank over time as our posture changed and our faces shortened, or maybe it’s a remnant from a period of longer jaws.

But the spandrel thesis isn’t easy to prove, because it’s hard to find evidence to test if something is an evolutionary by product especially if it serves no real purpose. At least it’s there to rest on when you’re feeling bored!

How Long Can You Hold Your Pee Before You Burst?

We’ve all found ourselves in that awkward position where you suddenly realize you need to pee but the nearest restroom is out of order. Holding your pee is an art form that takes practice, and the more you think about it the more you need to go! But just how long can you hold on until you literally burst?

The truth is, how long you can hold your pee varies greatly from person to person. It all comes down to bladder control. The bladder is the organ that receives urine from the kidneys via thin, muscular tubes called the "ureters".

The bladder is muscular and expandable: it fills with urine as the kidneys continually filter the liquid, until it reaches full capacity. At that point, fibers that are designed to detect a stretch in the bladder send signals to the brain which say “hey, you need to pee, buddy.”

When you finally reach the restroom to relieve yourself your brain tells the bladder to contract, which squeezes the urine causing it to travel to the urethra and out of the body. Your bladder actually expands to change size as you grow older.

For example, the average person’s bladder between the ages of 11-15 can hold between 165-225ml, but an adult bladder can hold up to 300-400ml of pee! Typically, a person pees about 8 times each day and no more than one a night after hitting the sack.

How much and how often you pee depends on how much you drink and other factors like convenience, but you should aim to go at least every 3-4 hours. Basically, you should never intentionally hold your pee longer than you have to.

Walking around with a full bladder could result in bladder dysfunction, risk of UTI’s or damage to the urinary tract structures. In some rare cases, it is even possible for a person’s bladder to rupture due to deliberate urinary retention. It’s true what they say: when you got to go, you got to go!

Does Cracking Your Knuckles Really Cause Arthritis?

It’s a classic old wive's tale: “don’t click your knuckles dear, you’ll get arthritis like me when you’re older!” Here’s the truth: while cracking your knuckles might aggravate the people around you, it certainly won’t increase your chances of developing arthritis.

That oddly satisfying “pop” you hear when you crack your knuckles isn’t anything “cracking” at all. The sound is actually caused by bubbles bursting in the synovial fluid, which helps lubricate your joints. When you pull the bones apart, either by stretching the fingers or bending them backward the space between the joints increases.

That causes the gases dissolved in the synovial fluid bathing the joint to form microscopic bubbles that merge into larger bubbles and get popped by additional fluid rushing in to fill the enlarged space.

Once the joints have been “cracked” you won’t be able to do it again for around fifteen minutes as the space returns to its normal size and more gases dissolve in the fluid, creating more bubbles that are ripe for popping.

But even if knuckle cracking doesn’t cause arthritis like your grandma told you, it’s still a habit you should think about ditching. While rare, there have been a few isolated cases of self-inflicted injuries like minor sprains caused by knuckle cracking, but more than that it’s super-irritating! But If you’re not one to care what others think, then crack on!

Why Do We Blink?

Our body is such a refined, well oiled machine that many of its processes happen without you even realizing it. One such process is blinking. You might suddenly become aware of it now, but on any normal day you probably blink without even realizing it.

Unless you’re Hannibal Lector, you’ll likely blink every two to three seconds 28,800 times per day, each time for just 40-200 milliseconds at a time! But what’s it all for? The main reason we blink is to coat the cornea, the outermost tissue in the eye with a layer of tears, to keep it moist and free of irritants that might damage it.

Because blinking is a reflex that we have little control over, it’s hard to imagine what would happen if we just stopped blinking altogether. Your corneas would probably get painfully dry, which might even result in some eyesight problems. There’s a lot of coordination that goes into blinking, but scientists are still learning the details about what actually happens every time we briefly close our eyes.

There are even distinctive eye movements called “saccades” that only happen when you blink. Those movements realign the eyeballs obliquely along the field of vision, which means that when you open your eyes after a blink, you’re probably still staring at the thing you were looking at before.

What’s even more impressive is what doesn’t happen when you blink: light doesn’t dim, images don’t get blurry and you don’t lose focus. One study from 2012 even speculated that the brain uses blinks to take mini breaks! If only each blink actually felt like a nap.

I hope you were amazed at these weird and wonderful trivia facts. If you want to find out more interesting facts, you might want to take a look at our whole fun fact series. Thanks for reading!