SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/penny-train

What happens if you leave a penny on a railroad track and a train hits it?

The train flattens the penny and keeps going without a bump.

  1. The penny gets flattened ✔
  2. The train derails
  3. The penny shoots out like a bullet

Why: A train weighs thousands of tons and a penny weighs practically nothing. The massive steel wheels just crush the soft copper and zinc flat.

Huh, didn't know that: It is incredibly dangerous and illegal to trespass on train tracks to try this.

The dad joke
What do you call a train that eats a lot? A chew chew train.
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Sources

  1. Scientific American: Can a penny derail a train? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-a-penny-derail-a-train/

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