physics

As a child I used to spin myself around and around. When I'd stand still after spinning the room would be moving around and I was convinced that I was witnessing the earth rotating on its axis.

dizzy

I used to wonder why rockets were launched to the moon during the day when the moon was only around at night. Eventually I figured it out -- rockets weren't instantaneous, so by the time they got to the moon it would be night time.

There was another impressive logical leap after this, but I don't remember it. Probably for the best...

dino

when i was a kid i thought the needle on the compass should point direction i was going,
but it always pointed the wrong way!
- couldn't figure that out.

Pete

I used to believe that the boiling water was air passing through the bottom of the pot wich was dilated because of the heat

PonC

I thought that cold was an actual, positive force and not just the absence of heat

terberous

I use to believe that if I poked an sufficient amount of holes unto something, I would acutally be able to make that something disapear...example: A cheese full of holes leaves no cheese at all.

Armando

i used to believe lava and water made electricity

Anon

I used to believe that all the specks of dust that you see flying around in the air (like when looking across a beam of light inside your house) was the "air".

christa

When I was 4, I thought there was a reason for all superstitions. I thought the reason why people didn't step on cracks was because I knew the Earth was round, and so if you tripped on the crack you'd fall off the Earth. So when I was in Disneyland, I accidentally tripped on a crack. "MOMMY, HOLD ME! I'M GONNA FALL OFF THE EARTH!" Turns out I didn't fall off the earth. Instead, I got a bruise.

Somebody

The industrial part of my childhood town had a particular large stormwater runoff drain, at least large enough for one car to drive through, and for many years (I think i was 10 when i started questioning the reality of this gem) i honestly believed that if you stood in the drain you would be cloned. Yes cloned. This was 20 years ago so i guess i must have got the idea from Buck Rogers or some early sci fi crap

Daleen

I used to believe that if I fell over a cliff in a telephone booth that I could safely step out at the last second like Wylie Coyote in Looney Tunes cartoons. Physics changes everything.

Jaloola

When I was about 7 or 8, I thought that as I walked along the sidewalk I was stationary and the Earth was turning beneath me. It was a strange little illusion, but even now if I think about it I can still fall into it...

Paul Martin

In our laundry room there was a single light bulb hanging from the middle of the ceiling. I noticed that my shadow overtook me everytime I walked from one wall to the opposite one, and that really amazed me.
When I was 5 I thought that if I could run fast enough I could get to the opposite wall before my shadow gets there as well.

AnneMarie

I used to believe that when the world turned it went over and under instead of around they way it does, and I thought that when it turned upside down, everyone would fall off. Of course I hadn't realized that if that were to happen, none of us would be here, nor would I have been there then.

deborah

I used to believe that batteries in an appliance (like my old sony walkman) would 'spin' when the item was used.
I spent many hours quickly opening the battery compartment trying to see the batteries turning, but obviously didnt succeed!!

Paul Peej

When I was little, not understanding gravity so well I figured that if I wasn't very careful I would fall right off the planet on account of it's constant spinning.

Kev

Not really Physics this one but...

Iused to believe that living things were made out of cells and non-living things were made out of molecules.

A wonderful theory until you realise that molecules are a LOT smaller than cells!

Bob W.

My sister has an excellent design for a spaceship.

First take a house and tip milk all over it (milk is actually an excellent form of glue), then find out exactly how fast the house is moving, from Heisenburg's Uncertainty Principle, it now follows that the house could be anywhere in the universe.

Note: The reason you have to first tip milk all over the house, is to glue the house up and stop yourself from suffocating if you end up in deep space, rather than on some inhabitable planet.

Anon

Once, I believed that if you put an eraser in the microwave, it'd melt into really cool, gooey rubber. I tried it and nearly blew up the microwave.

Jessica Tinch

I used to think what heated the food in the pan was the boiling water, not the heat under it.

Mario