🦸 Science Myth Busters
Some ideas feel true but are not. Scientists test everything — so let's bust some myths together, with a try-it-yourself activity for each one.
❌ "Heavier objects always fall faster than lighter ones."
✅ What is really true: In a vacuum, all objects fall at the same rate. In air, only air resistance makes some things fall more slowly.
A feather falls slowly because air pushes it, not because it is light. On the Moon, a feather and a hammer dropped together land at the same time!
🔬 Try it yourself
Drop a flat sheet of paper and a scrunched-up paper ball. Same paper, but one falls much faster — because of air, not weight!
❌ "Plants eat soil to grow."
✅ What is really true: Plants make their own food using light, water and air. Soil provides support and minerals, not food.
A plant growing in water (hydroponics) proves soil is not the food. Most of a tree's mass actually comes from the air!
🔬 Try it yourself
Grow a bean in a jar with cotton wool and water only — it still sprouts and grows.
❌ "Batteries store electricity inside them."
✅ What is really true: Batteries store chemical energy, which is changed into electrical energy when the circuit is complete.
A battery is like a little energy factory that only works when it is connected in a complete loop.
🔬 Try it yourself
Connect a battery to a bulb with a switch. The bulb uses the energy only while the switch is closed.
❌ "Cold things like ice give out cold."
✅ What is really true: Cold is the absence of heat. Heat always flows from the warmer object to the cooler one.
When you hold ice, heat flows out of your warm hand into the ice — your hand is not receiving cold, it is losing heat.
🔬 Try it yourself
Hold an ice cube in your hand. Your hand feels cold because heat is leaving your hand, not because cold is entering it.
❌ "We can see things because our eyes send out rays."
✅ What is really true: We see objects because light from a source reflects off them into our eyes.
Turn off every light in a room and you cannot see anything — your eyes do not shine, they receive light.
🔬 Try it yourself
In a fully dark room, nothing is visible. Shine a torch at an object and you see it because the light bounces to your eyes.
❌ "Shadows are caused by dark objects."
✅ What is really true: Shadows are caused by light being blocked. The object simply stops the light.
A completely transparent object makes almost no shadow — because the light passes through.
🔬 Try it yourself
Shine a torch through a clear plastic sheet: almost no shadow. Shine it at cardboard: a dark shadow. The object only blocks light.
❌ "Boiling water bubbles are made of air."
✅ What is really true: The bubbles in boiling water are water vapour — water that has changed into a gas.
The bubbles rise from the bottom where the water is hottest, showing water turning into gas throughout the liquid.
🔬 Try it yourself
Boil water with adult help and watch the bubbles form from the bottom — they are water in gas form, not air.
❌ "All metals are magnetic."
✅ What is really true: Only some metals — mainly iron, steel, nickel and cobalt — are attracted to magnets. Aluminium, copper, gold and silver are not.
Test a coin collection: some coins are magnetic and some are not, depending on the metal.
🔬 Try it yourself
Test a magnet on different metal objects at home: the fridge door, a can, a coin. Which ones attract?
Every myth-buster is teacher-reviewed — and learning to question what "everyone knows" is exactly what scientists do.