16 Small Things With Big Impacts

You've heard of the butterfly effect, right? I mean, beyond the title of that Ashton Kutcher movie. It's the saying/theory regarding how the small movement of a butterfly's wings, over time, can grow and turn into a giant, raging tornado. Now, none if this is 100% based in fact, but you get the concept, right? Small events, little movements, tiny inventions, and slight changes can evolve into fundamental changes in our day-to-day lives. Sometimes to the point that we can forget a time that occurred before that small detail spawned.

Without a high college student, modern surgery would never exist. If it weren't for a piece of duct tape, the Watergate Scandal would have never been uncovered. No matter which side of the gun debate you land on, the right for an American citizen to own a gun depended on a single, solitary comma.

Learn more details about these and other small things that led to giant consequences.

16
Entry by Gisele

The East-German Government had no intention of opening the borders on November 9 1989... That night, the spokesman of the Politburo, Guenter Schabowsk

CRACKED COM One little mistake made the Black Death one of the worst pandemics in human history. Europeans were SO superstitious that they believed th

14

CRACRNDOON Ever had surgery? If you have, remember to thank Horace Wells before the doctors put you under. On December 10, 1844, Wells watchedl a oubl

13
Entry by Bennett Rea

The Watergate Scandal was only discovered because a guard found piece of duct a tape on a door lock, removed it, then found another piece later in the

12
Entry by squawkmookie

According to the Supreme Court, the second comma separates the second amendment into a prefatory clause (about a well regulated militia) and an ope

11
Entry by JPK

Pikaia lived during the Middle Cambrian around 500 million years ago and is believed to be the earliest known chordate. Its primitive notochord, a rod

10

Three Letters: WWW Rien In one of the most altruistic acts in human history, Tim Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web (www) to help scientists bet

9
Entry by Arrr0wmanc3r

This is the smallpox virus. It's about 200 to 400 nm long, shorter than the wavelength of visible light. However, in only a few generations it reduced

8
Entry by dritjon

CRACKED cO COM BACEMAKER VADNG VOLTAE POUBLER Dey Ch ay it PACEMAKER Wilson Greaybatch One of the greatest engineering achievements of the last 50 ye

7
Entry by Slacktoo

Hominid primates Homn hah Homo erortus Hocn neanderthalpns Homa saplen 25 million 2.3 milion 1.8 milion 250.000 100.003 VEErs ago VEArN A 400 ears aE

6
Entry by Kittylouise

N Lodestone NW NB W E THE DISCOVERY OF THIS SV MAGNETIC MINERAL S THAT ALIGNS WITH THE NORTH POLE MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR MANKIND TO CHART THE GLOBE. IT

5
Entry by DixonUranus

Napoleon may have lost the Battle of Waterloo because of hemorrhoids. Obviously this made riding horseback extremely painful, and prevented him from p

4
Entry by bumbie

XXX THREE FAILSAFE SWITCHES FAILED in 1961 when a B-52 bomber crashed flying over while North Carolina its releasing HYDROGEN BOMBS North Carolina FOR

3

Woah! That's a long way down. It's a good thing Elisha Graves Otis invented the elevator brake, or, a broken cable would still lead to a sudden drop.

2
Entry by Chan Teik Onn

Walter Hunt Invented the safety pin when he was twisting a wire to think of something to pay off his 15 dollars debt. CRACKED.COM

1
Entry by Jordan Rudow

ZERO One of the greatest accomplishments of humankind, zero made modern physics, chemistry, mathematics, and computer science possible (and, consequen