Bees, magic, explosions and the potty dance, myths busted
Ever wondered if a wasp can still sting if it’s dead or if the potty dance can help keep pee in? Rest easy, because here are four myths that have been answered.
Don’t step on the dead
The best victory dance after killing a menacing wasp is a good old-fashioned stomp to squish out its guts and claim dominance over its venomous stinger. But is the battle against the stinger over once the wasp is dead?
According to one of New Zealand’s Crown Research Institutes, Landcare Research, the safest bet is to keep bare feet far away from dead wasps. The greater concern, however, is probably why anyone would try to step on a wasp with bare feet anyway.
The sac that carries the wasp’s venom still pulses for a short period of time after the wasp dies. There is still a chance the stinger won’t inject the venom post-mortem, but that’s a bet not many are willing to take.
While wasps might be the most annoying, good-for-nothing pests on the planet, there’s no use getting stung due to extreme anger toward a dead wasp.
And voila! Table’s cleared
The trick to swiping a tablecloth without actually clearing the table is a simple physics lesson from Sir Isaac Newton himself. By pulling straight down on the tablecloth — key word down, not out — inertia and friction comes into play.
Newton’s First Law of Motion — an object at rest will remain at rest and an object in motion will remain in motion unless disturbed by an outside force — explains why the items on the table remain at rest, but how does the outside force, aka the moving tablecloth, not disturb the resting objects?
The answer is friction. When rapidly pulling the cloth straight down, friction acts on the objects, but the force is small since the tablecloth is slick, which allows the cloth to slip under the objects. The force is small enough that the inertia of the object is only slightly disturbed. It isn’t magic — just a bit of science.
Doin’ the potty dance
The potty dance has been saving underwear since, well, since whoever cared enough to call awkward fidgeting with a full bladder the potty dance. But does the potty dance actually help hold the urine in?
A test from the hit show “Myth Busters” claims the results can vary from person to person, but generally, it is actually a relaxed state that allows the bladder to hold urine in for a longer period of time.
Moving around can tense up the pelvis and abdominal muscles, which puts extra pressure on the bladder.
Cell phone = gas station inferno?
When a gas company like Exxon posts warnings that using a mobile device at a gas station could cause an explosion, it wouldn’t seem smart to test this theory. The idea is that cell phones can cause sparks to set off and, obviously, sparks and gasoline don’t mix too well.
But since the origins of this myth, it has yet to be proven plausible. The Petroleum Equipment Institute has gone on record saying static electricity can ignite gas vapors, but every gas pump nozzle has a wire that grounds the nozzle to prevent safety hazards.
There is actually a greater chance of setting off a spark by getting in and out of the car while it is filling up with gas than there ever would be by answering a cell phone while refueling.
The incident can occur if the driver gets back in the car while refueling and then exits the car without discharging the static electricity and then touches metal on the nozzle, which causes a spark to ignite the gas vapor. So no, using a cell phone at a gas station doesn’t cause a fire — it’s just you.
Emily Vaartstra can be reached at [email protected]