Amazing Facts... ANISHA GOEL
General Facts Earth Facts Animals and Birds Plants Scientific Facts Astronomy
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When you get goose pimples and your hair stand, the hair helps to trap air making you feel warmer by keeping in, your body heat.
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Over half the people in Iceland get their hot water from geothermal energy.
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A person who weighs 50 kg on earth will weigh 13,200 kg on Jupiter.
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The compressed air used by scuba divers in their cylinders can occupy the same volume if not compressed.
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On a clear day, a beam of sunlight can be reflected off a mirror and seen up to 40km away.
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The sound energy of 200 pianos is equal to the electrical energy needed to light just one light bulb.
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Sound travels 15 times faster through steel and 4 times faster through water than through air.
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The world's largest and loudest musical instrument is in the Atlantic City, USA. It is an organ of 33,112 pipes that can make a sound as loud as 25 brass bands.
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A piece of buttered toast contains about 315 kJ of energy. With that energy you could,
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Jog for 6 minutes
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Cycle for 10 minutes
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Walk briskly for 15 minutes
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Sleep for 1.5 hours
That amount of energy could,
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Run a car for 7 seconds at 80 kmph
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Run a 60 watt light bulb for 1.5 hours
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Inside the earth it gets 3 degrees hotter every 100m further down.
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The largest lake in the world i.e. the Caspian sea measures about 980 km from North to South and 215 to 440 km in breadth, with an area of 371,800 sq.km.
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The deepest point in the crust is the Mariana's Trench in the Pacific ocean which is 11km below sea level.
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One of the driest places on earth, Africa, Chile in South America gets an average rainfall of only about 0.5 mm.
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The most destructive earthquake occurred in September, 1923 in Japan. 143,000 people lost their lives and the cost of the damage was estimated at 1 billion pounds i.e. $30 billion or Rs.120,000 crores.
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Switzerland is one of the only countries to have no mineral deposit in it.
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The largest known uncut emerald is 5 cm long and 5 cm in diameter.
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Making a simple vase out of the precious stone- Jade, may take more than two years of work.
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The amount of gold in all the oceans together is estimated to be as much as 10 thousand million tonnes.
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Less than 1 gram of gold can be beaten into a sheet of nearly 2 sq.mt.
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The largest hailstone ever, was found in Kansas, USA. It was the size of a melon, 19cm wide and weight 758gms.
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The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia is 2000km long and covers an area of 250,000sq-km. It has been constructed by stony corals over a period of 600 million years and supports more life than any other habitat on earth.
Animals and Birds
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Swifts fly non-stop for their first two or three years until they are old enough to breed. They eat and drink while flying.
Eagles have the best eyesight of all animals and can spot a hare from 3 km away.
Arctic terns fly a distance of 35,000km while going from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back.
Grasshoppers hear with their legs, waving them in the air to tell where a sound is coming from.
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Tiny plants called plankton live in the sea and make nearly three quarters of the earth's oxygen. The biggest is about 1mm across and the smallest is about 50 times smaller.
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The tallest tree is the giant redwood called the Founder's tree, growing in the Humboldt National Forest, California, and is over 110mts high.
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Some of the Sequoia trees in the USA are more than 4000 years old!
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The kelp seaweeds along the Atlantic coast grow as long 6 mts, and the giant kelp of the pacific coast is even longer.
Scientific Facts
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In 1969, the Concorde was the first passenger plane to fly faster than sound.
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The solar challenger was the first solar powered aircraft to cross the English channel in 1981. It's 262 km journey took 5.5 hours
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The longest pipeline in the world is 2856km long and is used for carrying crude oil. It runs from Edmonton, Canada to Buffalo, USA.
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The world's largest hovercraft can carry over 400 passengers and 60 cars, and can travel at the speed of 120kmph.
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The largest machine in the world is a coal digger in Ham Bach, West Germany. It is 220mts long and 85mts high, i.e. as tall as a 30 storey building.
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One of the world's most powerful fire engine is the Oshkosh fire truck, used for aircraft fires. In just 3 minutes, it can spray enough foam to cover a football pitch.
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Moving waves were used to produce electricity by Japan about 35 years ago.
Astronomy
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Astronauts can become about 5cm taller while they are in space due to the absence of gravity
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The first artificial satellite to orbit the earth- Sputnik I, weighed 84kg and was only 58cm across.
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The space shuttle Columbia, USA in 1981 was the first spacecraft that could be used again.
The amount of energy liberated in the form of light in a supernova explosion is so much that the explosion can be seen even during day!