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What are some commonly known facts that are too bizarre for you to believe to be true? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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For me it is the fact that our blood contains iron. I earlier used to believe the word stood for some 'organic element' since I couldn't accept we had metal flowing through our supposed carbon-based bodies, till I realized that is where the taste and smell of blood comes from.

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[–] [email protected] 53 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

From Wikipedia on bones:

Bone matrix is 90 to 95% composed of elastic collagen fibers, also known as ossein,[5] and the remainder is ground substance.[6] The elasticity of collagen improves fracture resistance.[7] The matrix is hardened by the binding of inorganic mineral salt, calcium phosphate, in a chemical arrangement known as bone mineral, a form of calcium apatite.[9]

So the statement is a bit faulty, not only because of the relative low amount of calcium in our bones, but also because it appears as a mineral. We distinguish between salts and metals because of their chemical properties being quite different (solubility, reflectiveness, electrical conductivity, maleability and so on).

Edit: I do realize the point of the comment was not to be entirely factual, so if I am allowed as well I would say science is pretty metal.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We also distinguish between metals and non-metals by field of study. Ask an astronomer which elements are metals sometime.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How so? I thought they were mostly determined by their positions in the table of periodic elements.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Lol, they are. In astronomy anything heavier than Helium. is considered a metal.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallicity

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Well TIL. It makes sense that from an astronomical perspective the use of metal as a qualitative distinction of material properties makes less sense than as a distinction of mass.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the reality injection!

The statement was glib but even the partial truth of it made me wonder when I first learned it.