Table 7 Facts and their Corresponding Affirmations

Fact A

Stomach acid can dissolve razor blades

A study in 1997 confirmed that our gastric juices can indeed dissolve razor blades, albeit slowly. This is possible due to simple chemistry: The lining of our stomach secretes hydrochloric acid, which dissolves many metals. Razor blades are made of steel, which is an alloy of iron, and are therefore readily dissolved by hydrochloric acid. The study concluded that, if you were to swallow a razor blade, the best time for surgery would be 15 h or so after ingestion. This is because by this time the blade will have become fragile and could be broken and removed in a piecemeal fashion

(WC = 102; FRE = 53.4; FKGL = 10.8)

Fact B

It is not safe to talk on landline telephones when there is a thunderstorm.

It is, in fact, not safe to talk on a landline during a thunderstorm. The current in a lightning bolt can exceed 100,000 volts. Electrical wires are good transmitters of electricity, so when lightning strikes a house, it has the potential to move through the interconnected cables. Usually, the energy is simply absorbed into the ground, but it is possible for the current to travel through the landline’s cables and shock the person on the end of the phone line

(WC = 80; FRE = 55.7; FKGL = 10.5)

Fact C

Dogs can smell cancer

Dogs perform better than state-of-the-art screening tests at detecting people with lung and breast cancer. This has been tested in a scientific setting. Cancer patients have traces of chemicals (like alkanes and benzene derivatives) in their breath, which dogs can detect in concentrations as small as a few parts per trillion. A study at the University of California showed that dogs correctly detected 99% of lung cancer breath samples and made a mistake with only 1% of samples from healthy controls

(WC = 81; FRE = 48.4; FKGL = 11.5)

Fact D

We are taller in the morning than in the evening

We are taller in the mornings than the evenings due to the compression of our spine over the course of the day. When you are standing or sitting, there is pressure on the intervertebral discs, which causes water to be expelled. At night, when the spine is horizontal, water is reabsorbed by the disks. In 1935, De Puky measured 1216 participants between 5 and 90 years old, and found the average person was more than half an inch shorter in the evening than they were in the morning

(WC = 87; FRE = 53.2; FKGL = 10.9)