10 amazing science facts that will blow your mind
Impress your friends with these amazing facts about the world we live in.
1. Infants have approximately 100 more bones than adults.
At birth, babies have about 300 bones, with cartilage between many of them. This extra flexibility allows them to pass through the birth canal and grow quickly. Many of the bones fuse with age, leaving 206 bones in an average adult skeleton.
2. During the summer, the Eiffel Tower can be 15 cm taller.
When a substance is heated, its particles move more and it takes up more space – this is referred to as thermal expansion. A drop in temperature, on the other hand, causes it to contract again. The mercury level inside a thermometer, for example, rises and falls as the volume of the mercury changes in response to the ambient temperature. This effect is most noticeable in gases, but it also occurs in liquids and solids such as iron. As a result, large structures such as bridges are designed with expansion joints that allow them to expand and contract without causing damage.
3. The Amazon rainforest produces 20% of the world's oxygen.
Our atmosphere is composed of roughly 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, with trace amounts of other gases present. The vast majority of living organisms on Earth require oxygen to survive, and they convert it to carbon dioxide as they breathe. Plants, thankfully, constantly replenish our planet's oxygen levels through photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide and water are converted into energy during this process, releasing oxygen as a byproduct. The Amazon rainforest, which covers 5.5 million square kilometers (2.1 million square miles), cycles a significant portion of the Earth's oxygen while also absorbing large amounts of carbon dioxide at the same time.
4. Some metals are so reactive that they explode when they come into contact with water.
Certain metals, such as potassium, sodium, lithium, rubidium, and cesium, are so reactive that they oxidize (or tarnish) almost instantly when exposed to air. When dropped in water, they can even cause explosions! All elements strive to be chemically stable or to have a complete outer electron shell. Metals tend to shed electrons in order to accomplish this. Because alkali metals have only one electron on their outer shell, they are eager to pass this unwanted guest on to another element via bonding. As a result, they readily form compounds with other elements and do not exist independently in nature.
5. A teaspoonful of neutron stars weighs 6 billion tons.
A neutron star is the detritus of a massive star that has depleted its fuel. The dying star explodes as a supernova, while its core collapses in on itself due to gravity, resulting in the formation of a super-dense neutron star. Astronomers use solar masses to measure the mind-bogglingly large masses of stars and galaxies, with one solar mass equaling the mass of the Sun (that is, 2 x 1030 kilograms/4.4 x 1030 pounds). A typical neutron star has a mass of up to three solar masses packed into a sphere with a radius of about ten kilometers (6.2 miles), resulting in some of the densest matter in the known universe.
6. Every year, Hawaii moves 7.5cm closer to Alaska.
The Earth's crust is divided into massive chunks known as tectonic plates. These plates are constantly moving due to currents in the Earth's upper mantle. The hotter, less dense rock rises before cooling and sinking, creating circular convection currents that act like giant conveyor belts, slowly shifting the tectonic plates above it. Hawaii is located in the center of the Pacific Plate, which is slowly drifting northwest towards the North American Plate, returning to Alaska. The speed of the plates is comparable to the rate at which our fingernails grow.
7. Chalk is composed of trillions of microscopic plankton fossils.
Coccolithophores, tiny single-celled algae, have existed in Earth's oceans for 200 million years. They, unlike any other marine plant, surround themselves with minuscule calcite plates (coccoliths). Conditions were ideal for coccolithophores to accumulate in a thick layer coating ocean floors in a white ooze just under 100 million years ago. As more sediment accumulated on top, the pressure compressed the coccoliths to form rock, resulting in chalk deposits such as the Dover White Cliffs.
Coccolithophores are one of many prehistoric species that have been preserved as fossils, but how do we know how old they are? Rock forms in horizontal layers over time, with older rocks at the bottom and younger rocks near the top. Paleontologists can estimate the age of a fossil by studying the type of rock in which it was discovered. Carbon dating determines the age of a fossil more precisely by using the rate of decay of radioactive elements such as carbon-14.
8. In 2.3 billion years, Earth will be too hot for life to exist.
The Sun will continue to get brighter and hotter over the next hundreds of millions of years. Temperatures will be high enough in just over 2 billion years to evaporate our oceans, rendering life on Earth impossible. Our planet will be transformed into a vast desert, similar to Mars today. Scientists predict that as the Sun expands into a red giant over the next few billion years, it will eventually engulf Earth entirely, signaling the end of our planet.
9. Infrared cameras have a difficult time detecting polar bears.
Thermal cameras detect heat loss as infrared, but polar bears are experts at heat conservation. A thick layer of fur keeps the bears warm.
10. Light travels from the Sun to the Earth in 8 minutes and 19 seconds.
Light travels at a speed of 300,000 kilometers (186,000 miles) per second in space. Even at this breakneck speed, the 150 million or so kilometers (93 million miles) between us and the Sun takes a long time to travel. And eight minutes is still a long time in comparison to the five and a half hours it takes the Sun's light to reach Pluto.
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