Stuff You Thought Were True
1. Water drains clockwise in the northern hemisphere
People often say that water drains down a plug clockwise in the northern hemisphere, and anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere. This is due to the coriolis effect: The effect that the spinning Earth has on objects in motion as seen by an observer on the Earth.
This all sounds good, but the spin of the Earth has no effect on which way the water drains down the plug. You can push it to go one way, and push it to go the other. Try it the next time you're in the bath
Coriolis effect
2. When an object enters the atmosphere it is heated by friction
People think that the friction of air causes an object entering the atmosphere causes the object to heat up.
Most of the heat is actually causes by the compression of air in front of the object which causes the temperature to rise slowly.