And this is how I destroyed my knee, Severing my ACL, tearing my medial collateral ligament, and tearing out the meniscus. (among other injuries)

Good Times! lol

Edit, I've hit everything from trees while in mid-air to cows

Spinning the iphone - it is possible to do, i've played with that effect with a tv remote as a kid, trying to flip it over once and catch it. That's when i found out about Dzhanibekov effect. I think that basically more mass lies along the plane in which it is spinning, and it either isn't balanced or isn't precisely stable as it's released, and so there is a net centrifugal force acting on the phone in the direction that it begins to rotate (if you don't do it right), gently at first but the further it goes into its spin the more it reinforces itself and it flips. (that's what i remember from childhood, but the wikipedia article itself is accurate so double check) I'd like to investigate this effect in space/vacuums though, it's still interesting.

The water one - this is just one scientific opinion and i imagine many exist, but i can't find any true source on this. My immediate reaction to his explanation about the uniform electric field is to consider the field projected by the cup - prior warning simplifications are rife. Approximate the electric field emitted by the negatively charged cup as being normal to the surface at any point on the surface. You bring that field towards the water, and if there is indeed a more positively charged side, then it would experience a force in an electric field. We can safely believe that the water molecules will fall facing in all directions (fluid dynamics ensuring a nice distribution of particles within the stream allowing us to believe that), and any that are not pointed exactly parallel to the electric field will experience some kind of force. However water can also have a meniscus, which might encourage the water to "stick together" a bit and head towards the negative source, but i'm not sure about that in a flowing/falling context.

The fundamental point here is that an electric field is introduced to the water which responds by moving towards the source of the field. He hasn't shown me anything to doubt the standard explanation, and i don't understand why he thinks that the molecule wouldn't experience a force if it is as described. Without using electric charge to explain it, and i'm quite certain it isn't magnetic (the only other associated phenomenon), he's basically saying it's magic?

@robbersdog49 got the cane and cereal ones, and the teabag one is of course just the fact that the burning teabag heats nearby air, hot air rises which causes cooler air to rush in from the side and below, which causes a bit of an upwards current of flowing air, and when the remnant of the teabag is light enough, it is lifted by that force. As it burns lower, there's less fuel (paper) and it's less hot, so the force drops, so it only happens when it's nearly ash and very light. The last piece almost doesn't make it.

I suggest that it's most importantly to do with the surface tension of mercury. When the mercury covers any of the sponge's holes it forms a new little surface where the strong surface tension matters. You can tell this by looking at any transparent container of mercury such as old barometers and such. The meniscus bends down at the edge rather than the equivalent container of water where it bends up a little. If you pour out a bunch of mercury on a flat surface it will spread out so it's about half a centimeter deep iirc, i used to play a bit with some as a kid. (sometimes in a vac chamber, but not always!)

Here's a thought though. Unfortunately he had parts of the sponge poking out (possibly because of the limits of his container/supply of mercury) and so air could refill the holes in the sponge and allow it to retake its preferred shape. But if it was entirely submerged in the mercury and squeezed, which would be stronger? The springiness of the sponge to want to return to its shape sucking mercury in, or the surface tension of the mercury and the sponge just stays squashed. And i know that packing material is more springy than a bath sponge (or a natural sponge).

Anybody who uses the word "meniscus" in casual conversation has won my eternal approval.

I've been trying for three weeks to use the word "archipelago" in regards to my dog's toilet training failures.

Easier said than done, I can assure you.

I wonder, could it break the meniscus and get inside, and then once inside would it be able to break the surface tension to get back out?

I recently severed my ACL and had multiple rips in the meniscus causing it to ball up under the kneecap as the result of a dirtbike accident! I had to have an ACL replacement where they filet your Groin muscle and graft/screw a part of it place of the old tendon.
After multiple surgeries and chronic pain (which I a facing without drugs), I am hoping to avoid having a knee replacement as a next step.

The whole thing makes me angry at my fate - It's very frustrating!