funfact.wiki
AboutGuidelinesTermsPrivacyContact

Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the movie Avatar, humanity invades the planet Pandora ... | funfact.wiki | funfact.wiki
In the movie Avatar, humanity invades the planet Pandora to obtain a room-temperature superconductor called "Unobtanium"—literally "un-obtain-ium," the unobtainable material. In real physics, a room-temperature superconductor remains an equally elusive holy grail.
  • Avatar
  • Superconductor
  • Physics
  • Film
0
DiscussionHistory

Related Cards

Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, The Avengers, and countless other films share the same hidden scream. Recorded in 1951 for "Distant Drums," this sound effect—called the "Wilhelm scream"—became an inside joke among sound designers.
  • Star Wars
  • The Lord of the Rings
  • The Avengers
  • Film
  • Scream
0
Hollywood used the fake name 'Alan Smithee' whenever a film director refused credit. Over 100 works bore this name from 1969 to 2000. A movie about this pseudonym was made, but its actual director also demanded his name be removed — so it too was released as an Alan Smithee film.
  • Hollywood
  • Film
  • Alan Smithee
  • Film director
0
Hot water can freeze faster than cold — a phenomenon called the Mpemba effect. Known since Aristotle but still unexplained, it was named after Tanzanian student Erasto Mpemba, whose question physicist Denis Osborne took seriously enough to research together.
  • Water
  • Mpemba effect
  • Aristotle
  • Physics
  • Ice
0
In 1818, Siméon Denis Poisson argued that if light were a wave, a bright spot should appear at the center of a circular object's shadow — which he thought was absurd. But when Arago actually ran the experiment, the bright spot appeared, proving light's wave nature.
  • Siméon Denis Poisson
  • Light
  • Wave
  • Shadow
  • Physics
  • Diffraction
0
A train's left and right wheels share one axle, always spinning together. Yet turns are possible because the wheels are conical. On a curve, centrifugal force shifts the train, changing each wheel's contact diameter and allowing a smooth turn.
  • Train
  • Wheel
  • Physics
0