Common sense versus science

I saw a discovery about a month ago that the most aerodynamic shape in some cases can be a rough surface. That's not where common sense might lead one. No one would guess that some people would miss a gorilla in a video if the person was intent enough on counting passes of a ball until a study was done. That might defy common sense also. Zimbardo found that many normal people with regular good morals can act like torturers if confronted by an authority figure. Many had guessed differently than that conclusion. Common sense may even be that if one puts ones' fingers in a finger trap they will come out easier and faster with hard pulling. Until you study it.

Common sense is fine. But it can be trumped.

It can be trumped but cannot be ignored. Common sense can and does come out on top of science, and much science drives from common sense.

Other examples...

That your own eyes don't lie, has been proven wrong again and again. Classic belief that "seeing something with your own eyes" even with no attempted bias, still puts innocent people in jail.

Scientist have been able to replicate producing false memories.

Here's another common one that may temporarily fool common sense. Turn right to go right in a car. Turn right on a motorcycle to go left. You'll learn that one quickly though.

Edit- Face may want to argue that the last could be more complicated., but that's good enough for the example. : )

Common sense is also Occam's Razor. The right answer
is usually the obvious common sense answer.

Quote: rxwine

Turn right to go right in a car. Turn right on a motorcycle to go left.

I guess you had to be there. I'm still thinking about it and anticipate this could be a "duh" moment.

Quote: chickenman

I guess you had to be there. I'm still thinking about it and anticipate this could be a "duh" moment.

I never cared to study it much, because it just "makes sense", but here's my elementary explanation.

Motorcycles work by centrifugal and centripetal force. Imagine rolling a tire down a hill. If it's going slowly, it wobbles and turns easily. The slow rotation gives low c+c forces. Once it get's cooking, though, it's almost impossible to knock over. Even if it hits a rock and tumbles, it'll right itself and keep going. It's the c+c forces that right it. It wants to go straight because of them.

A motorcycle wheel experiences the same thing. If you're going straight and turn your bars to the right, the inertia of the bike and your body goes left, just like in a car. The bike leans to the left as a result. But, since the tires want to go straight, they'll also pull to the left to straighten back up again.

Turn right to go left.

Duh. ;)

This is just wordplay then. To make a right turn turn the handle bars to the right. Right? I get that the wheel will then have a tendency to straighten out once the force on the handlebars is lessened. Blah.

Quote: chickenman

This is just wordplay then. To make a right turn turn the handle bars to the right. Right? I get that the wheel will then have a tendency to straighten out once the force on the handlebars is lessened. Blah.

No, turn the bars to the left lol. You really do turn the opposite way you want to go.

Imagine going down the road in your car. You turn to the right. Which way do you feel force pushing you? If you turn right, your body gets pushed to the left from inertia. Your fuzzy dice swing to the left, your drink spills out the left side of your cup...everything gets "pushed" to the left when you go right.

Now you're on a bike. When you turn the bars to the right, that same force pushes everything to the left. The wheel is touching the ground, so it stays put. Everything above it leans to the left. Leaning makes the tire lay on its side, and because of the c+c, it wants to right itself. The only way it can do that is to come in line with the lean. So it goes to the left, the way everything is leaning, to do so.

Turn right to go left lol.

Don't try to imagine it on a bicycle. The speeds are too low and the wheels too light to do the same thing. But I assure you, it is not some weird illusion or wordplay. If you're going 2 miles an hour and barely balanced, yes, you turn left to go left. But once you're at speed, say, above 12mph, you turn right to go left, and vice verse.

I'd be convinced by now, if I hadn't been before, that all motorcycle enthusiasts harbor some sort of death-wish ;)