Interesting scientific facts. The most interesting facts in nature, science and technology

1. Raindrops are usually depicted as teardrops, but they are not. They are spherical.

2. In the process of sublimation solid turns immediately into a gas, bypassing the liquid state. For example, this will happen if you throw dry ice into a fire.

3. Gorillas sleep in nests - they make them from soft foliage and curved branches. Males tend to nest on the ground, while females nest in trees.

4. Champagne sizzles not because of carbon dioxide in it - it hisses due to the contact of gas with dirt and dust. In a perfectly smooth glass without a single molecule of dust, champagne would not fizz at all.

5. Most of the process of digestion does not take place in the stomach, but in the small intestine. That is why a person can suffer from bulimia, while maintaining excess weight for some time.

6. The red juice that comes out of the steak is not blood. This is myoglobin close relative blood. By the time the steak reaches the counter, there is almost no blood left in it.

7. For those who want to contribute to the protection environment It is better to use plastic bags rather than paper bags. The production process for the production and recycling of paper bags requires significantly more energy than the production of plastic. And in landfills, paper bags take up significantly more space.

8. The coat of polar bears is actually transparent, not white, as it seems. And the skin is black, not white color. And in warm, humid environments, polar bear fur can turn greenish due to algae.

9. Allergies to pets, as a rule, are not caused by animal hair, as is commonly believed, but by particles of their dead skin or saliva. Regular thorough bathing of the animal can relieve allergy symptoms.

10. Map of the tongue, according to which sour, sweet, salty and bitter tastes are perceived different zones language is considered invalid. This theory was debunked in 1901 by German scientists, who based their evidence on the fact that any taste is recognized by any area of ​​the tongue, based on practical experiments.

11. Many put a shell to their ear to hear the sea. The sound you hear is actually the noise of your own blood in your veins! You can use any cup-shaped object to hear this effect.

12. While a person is alive, his brain - Pink colour. Only after the brain dies does it turn gray. Therefore, the description of the brain as " gray matter' is a bit wrong.

13. Mercury is not the only liquid metal. Gallium, Cesium and Francium are metals that are in a solid state when room temperature, but even in the hand they begin to melt from the temperature of the human body.

14. Dolphins don't drink sea water. It can make them sick or even die. They satisfy all their drinking needs through the consumption of food containing liquid.

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Some parents say to the baby: "You are the light of my life." But did you know that if you were light, you would fly around everything the globe 7.5 times per second! If you became sound, you could fly around the Earth in 4 hours! If we lived on Jupiter, our day would consist of only 9 hours. It’s good that on Earth a day lasts 24 hours, because we need to do so much during the day! These are just a few entertaining scientific facts that can interest both an inquisitive child and an adult.

What is science?

Science is an organized and consistent study that includes observation, collection of scientific facts, experiments, verification of results and explanation of natural and man-made phenomena. This is an area that gives us the opportunity to better understand the world around us and create good things for the benefit of man and all living beings.

Ordinary scientific facts

Now that you know what we are talking about, here are some interesting scientific facts:

  • If you stretch the chain of human DNA, its length will be the distance from Pluto to the Sun and back.
  • When a person sneezes, the speed of the air they exhale is about 160 km/h.
  • A flea can jump to a height that is 130 times its own height. If the flea were a 1.80 m tall human, it could jump 230 m.
  • Electric eel produces electricity voltage of 650 volts. Touching him is the most powerful shock that a person can experience.
  • It takes light particles photons 40,000 years to travel from the core of the Sun to its surface, and only 8 minutes to reach the Earth.

Scientific facts about the earth

Earth is our home. To take care of her, we need to know important information about her:

  • The age of the Earth is from 5 to 6 billion years. The Moon and the Sun are about the same age.
  • Our planet is made up primarily of iron, silicon, and a relatively small amount of magnesium.
  • Earth is the only planet in the solar system that has water on its surface, and the atmosphere is 21% oxygen.
  • The surface of the Earth is made up of tectonic plates placed on the mantle - a layer located between the Earth's core and the surface. This structure of the earth's surface explains earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
  • About 8.7 million species of living organisms live on Earth. Of these, 2.2 million species live in the ocean, while the rest live on land.
  • ¾ of the Earth's surface is covered with water. When astronauts first saw Earth from space, they saw mostly water. Hence the name "blue planet".

Facts about the environment

Why do the seasons change? What happens to trash after we throw it away? What causes the weather to be hot or cold? This and much more children learn in the lessons of natural history at school. Consider some of the facts that convince us of what a beautiful planet we live on.

  • Plastic completely decomposes in the ground in 450 years, and glass in 4,000 years.
  • Every day, 27,000 trees in the world are used just to make toilet paper.
  • 97% of all water on Earth is salty and unusable. 2% of water is in glaciers. Therefore, only 1% of water is usable.
  • The meat processing industry contributes the most to global warming. In second place among global problems- deforestation. About 68% existing species plants are likely to die out soon.
  • The population of the Earth is more than 7 billion people. This figure is expected to reach 8 billion by 2025.
  • Unfortunately, 99% of the existing species of living organisms, according to scientists, will become extinct.

Interesting facts about animals

The animal kingdom is beautiful and amazing. It has tame otters, powerful eels, singing whales, giggling rats, sex-changing oysters, and many other equally amazing representatives. Here are some facts about animals that your child will surely enjoy:

  • Octopuses have three hearts. An even stranger fact: lobsters urinary tract are on the face, and turtles breathe through the anus.
  • In seahorses, males produce offspring, not females.
  • The kakapo parrot has a strong, pungent odor that attracts predators. That is why kakapo are under the threat of extinction.
  • A squirrel plants more trees than the average person in a lifetime. How can this be? The fact is that squirrels hide acorns and nuts underground, and then forget exactly where they hid them.
  • Lions are hunted mainly by lionesses. Lions intervene only when necessary.

Interesting Plant Facts

Plants green our planet, produce oxygen, make the Earth habitable. Trees and plants are probably the most useful among the living inhabitants of the Earth. Here are some interesting facts about plants:

  • Like humans, plants recognize other plants of their species.
  • In total, there are more than 80,000 edible plants on Earth. Of these, we eat about 30.
  • Humanity is rapidly destroying forests. About 80% of all forests have already been destroyed.
  • The oldest tree in the world (sequoia) is located in the USA, in the state of California. His age is 4843 years.
  • Height of the tall tree in the world - 113 m. It is also located in California.
  • The largest tree in the world is an aspen growing in the USA, in the state of Utah. Its weight is 6,000 tons.

Facts about space

sun, stars, planets, Milky Way, constellations and everything that is in the Universe is located in vacuum space. We call it space. Here are some interesting facts about him:

  • The Earth is tiny compared to the Sun, which is 300,000 times larger.
  • The entire cosmos is absolutely silent, because sound does not propagate in a vacuum.
  • Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system. The temperature on the surface of Venus is 450°C.
  • The force of gravity changes the weight of a person on different planets. For example, the force of gravity on Mars is lower than on Earth, so an 80 kg person on Mars would only weigh 31 kg.
  • Since there is no atmosphere or water on the Moon, nothing can erase the traces of the astronauts who set foot on its surface. Therefore, traces will probably remain here for another hundred million years.
  • The temperature of the core of the Sun - the closest star to the Earth - is 15 million degrees Celsius.

Facts about famous scientists

For a long time, people thought that the Earth was flat, that the change of seasons depended on the mood of the gods, and that diseases were caused by devilry. This continued until the great scientists proved otherwise. Without them, we would still be living in ignorance.

  • Albert Einstein was a genius, but his talents were revealed rather late. After the death of the scientist, his brain was the object of numerous studies.
  • Nicolaus Copernicus refuted the theory that the Earth is the center of the universe. He developed a model solar system with the sun at its center.
  • Leonardo da Vinci was not only an artist. He was also an outstanding mathematician, scientist, writer and even a musician.
  • Archimedes invented the law of fluid displacement while taking a bath. It's funny that, according to legend, he jumped out of the bath with a cry of "Eureka!" He was so excited that he forgot that he had no clothes on.
  • Marie Curie, the woman chemist who discovered radium, was the first person in the world to win the Nobel Prize twice.

Scientific facts from the world of technology

Technology is the engine of progress. We are so dependent on technology in Everyday life that it even scares. Here are some interesting facts about technical devices that we encounter on a daily basis:

  • First computer game appeared in 1967. It was called "brown box" (translated from English - "brown box"), because that's what it looked like.
  • The world's first computer, ENIAC, weighed over 27 tons and occupied an entire room.
  • The Internet and the World Wide Web are not the same thing.
  • Robotics is one of the most relevant scientific fields today. However, back in 1495, Leonardo da Vinci drew the world's first diagram of a robot.
  • The Camera Obscura is a prototype camera that influenced the development of photography. She was used in Ancient Greece and China for projecting images onto the screen.
  • Exists interesting technology, according to which plant waste is used to generate methane, which, in turn, can be used to generate electricity.

Scientific facts from the engineering industry

Engineering helps create beautiful things - from houses and cars to electronic gadgets.

  • Most high bridge in the world - the Millau Viaduct in France. It is located at an altitude of 245 m, supported by beams suspended on cables.
  • The Palm Islands in Dubai can be called modern miracle Sveta. These are man-made islands floating on the water.
  • The world's largest particle accelerator is located in Geneva. It was built to assist the research of more than 10,000 scientists and is located in an underground tunnel.
  • The Chandra Space Observatory is the world's largest X-ray telescope. It is also the largest satellite launched into space.
  • Today, the most ambitious project in the world is the New Valley in Egypt. Engineers are trying to turn millions of hectares of desert into farmland. Imagine what would happen if we could green the Earth in the same way! Our planet would return to its original purity!

Science is a wonderful field of study that inspires many people. All you need to do is get your child interested in it. And who knows, maybe your child will grow up to be a second Einstein.

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Why was the Canadian study on the impact of pornography viewing on sex life not completed?

In 2009, researchers at the University of Montreal attempted to conduct a study on the impact of pornography viewing on the sex life of men in their 20s and 30s. Within its framework, 20 men were interviewed. However, the goal was not achieved, as scientists could not find a single man who had never seen porn to make comparisons.

Physicists Ralph Alfer and Georgy Gamov before the publication of a work on primary nucleosynthesis - formation chemical elements during the Big Bang - they invited Hans Bethe as co-authors only to have their names formed beautiful combination from first three letters of the Greek alphabet. For brevity, the scientific community calls this article “αβγ paper”. Some calculations for the work were made on a computer by Ralph Herman, who was offered to change his surname to Delter and also get on the list of authors, but he refused.

Which institution besieged Leningrad employees starved to death with access to bread and potatoes?

By the beginning of World War II, the All-Union Institute of Plant Growing, founded by Nikolai Vavilov, had the largest collection of seeds in the world from more than one hundred thousand plant samples. During the siege of Leningrad, the staff of the Institute heroically preserved the collection in the absence of electricity and interruptions in heating. Only in the winter of 1941-1942, five Virovtsy died of starvation, refusing to consider stocks of cereals and potatoes as food. And in the summer, employees managed to sow the necessary samples under artillery fire. Rats got into some of the boxes, and there were cases of theft through broken windows, but in general, for the collection, these losses turned out to be insignificant.

Which concept promotes the absence of contradictions between faith and the theory of evolution?

Among the followers of various denominations, there are many adherents of theistic evolutionism. This concept recognizes the scientific view of the origin of the universe, the origin of life on Earth and evolution, but driving force these processes announces God. Inconsistencies in religious texts (for example, the creation of the world by God in 6 days), theistic evolutionists explain that, in the light of the undeniable evidence of modern scientific theories religious texts should not be interpreted literally, but allegorically. Of all denominations, theistic evolutionism received the most consistent and official support from the Catholic Church: back in the mid-20th century, Pope Pius XII stated that evolution should be considered a serious hypothesis, and in 1996 John Paul II said that this is more than a hypothesis, and that between there is no contradiction between the theory of evolution and the doctrine of faith.

What Catholic priests made scientific discoveries that contradicted religious dogmas?

There are many scientists among Catholics who made discoveries that directly contradicted religious dogma. Moreover, they were not just believers, but also served as priests. The most famous such person is Nicolaus Copernicus, he served as a canon in the diocese of Warmia and became famous for his theory of the heliocentric system of the universe. Catholic Church subsequently banned his teaching and censored his writings. Another example from the 20th century is the Belgian Georges Lemaitre, who received the rank of abbot and worked at many universities. He became the author of the theory of the expanding universe independently of the Soviet mathematician Fridman, and subsequently his reasoning formed the basis of the Big Bang theory.

What is being investigated in the longest continuous laboratory experiment in history?

In 1927, Thomas Parnell, a professor at the Australian University of Queensland, set up an experiment to demonstrate to students the liquid properties of bituminous tar, a substance that is solid in its normal state. After heating the resin, he poured it into a stoppered glass funnel and closed the top, and three years later he cut off the bottom of the funnel, allowing droplets to form. The first drop fell in 1938, the next ones fell at about the same interval - a total of 9 drops have been recorded to date. This experience is considered the longest continuous laboratory experiment in history.

Who and how proved that described in Old Testament Exodus of Jews from Egypt is theoretically possible?

American scientists at computer model proved the theoretical possibility of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. As described in the book of Exodus, Moses led his people to a place where the sea waters parted. Computer calculations have shown that in one place in the Nile Delta, a passage with walls of water on the sides can form if the wind blows in a certain direction at a speed of 100 km / h for 12 hours.

How did Mendeleev discover the periodic law?

There is a widespread legend that the idea of periodic table chemical elements came to Mendeleev in a dream. Once he was asked if this was so, to which the scientist replied: “I’ve been thinking about it for maybe twenty years, and you think: I sat and suddenly ... it’s ready.”

Why is spinach overrated for its iron content?

In terms of iron content - 2.7 mg per 100 grams - spinach is not a champion among vegetables. but long time spinach was thought to be exceptionally rich in iron. This misconception was born in the late 19th century from two sources. One American researcher came up with a figure of 2.9 mg, but forgot to put a comma, and in the published study it was 29 mg. Regardless of him, a scientist from Switzerland announced an even higher figure - 35 mg, but he received such a result based on the analysis of dry spinach. The mistake was revealed only half a century later.

What science is often referred to as "the science of sophomores and white rats"?

Psychology is sometimes called "the science of sophomores and white rats" because many experiments are done on these two categories. Most research psychologists work in universities, so it is easiest for them to attract students for research.

Whose Nobel medals were hidden from the Nazis in dissolved form?

IN Nazi Germany was prohibited from accepting Nobel Prize after the 1935 Peace Prize was awarded to the opponent of National Socialism, Karl von Ossietzky. German physicists Max von Laue and James Frank entrusted the custody of their gold medals to Niels Bohr. When the Germans occupied Copenhagen in 1940, the chemist de Hevesy dissolved these medals in aqua regia. After the end of the war, de Hevesy extracted the gold hidden in aqua regia and gave it to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. They made new medals and re-handed them to von Laue and Frank.

What is the danger of using dihydrogen monoxide?

Since the 1990s on websites and in mailing lists often there are calls to ban the use of dihydrogen monoxide. They list the numerous dangers that this substance causes: it is the main component of acid rain, it accelerates the corrosion of metals, it can cause short circuit etc. Despite the danger, the substance is actively used as an industrial solvent, food additive, nuclear power plants, and enterprises dump it in huge quantities into rivers and seas. This joke - after all, dihydrogen monoxide is nothing but water - should teach critical perception of information. In 2007, a New Zealand MP bought it. He received a similar letter from a voter and forwarded it to the government, demanding that the dangerous chemical be banned.

Among all the elements known to science under normal conditions, only two are found in a liquid state - bromine and mercury.

The Swedish chemist Karl Scheele can be called the record holder for the number of chemical elements discovered by him. Thanks to him, we learned about the existence of tungsten, barium, molybdenum, manganese, chlorine, fluorine and oxygen. Scheele is followed by his compatriots Karl Mosander and Jakob Berzelius, the Englishman Humphrey Davy and the Frenchman Paul Lecoq de Boisbaudran. Each of these chemists discovered four elements. The share of the above scientists accounts for about 1/4 of all currently known elements.

In the history of chemistry, there is a list of false discoveries of chemical elements, which includes 250 names. Thus, the discovery of more than 100 rare earth elements was announced, of which only 15 correspond to the truth.

Two elements were originally detected in the solar atmosphere using spectral methods, and only after that they were discovered in terrestrial materials. We are talking about technetium and helium.

The prevalence of chemical elements on our planet differs significantly from the distribution in the Universe. For example, silicon and oxygen lead on Earth, and helium and hydrogen lead in space.

In the process of boiling, water molecules move at a speed of 650 m/s.

The service life of plastic bearings is an order of magnitude longer than babbit bearings. Plus, they're eight times cheaper, and they're lubricated with water instead of oil.

Capron is considered an excellent substitute for non-ferrous metals. Bushings made of kapron, bearings, parts for machine tools, presses and textile machines do not require lubrication, are corrosion resistant, have a low coefficient of friction, are silent, much more durable and lighter than metal counterparts. In addition, they have a relatively low cost.

Nylon thread is 10 times more wear-resistant than cotton and 2.5 times stronger than silk. The thread, whose thickness is 1 mm, is able to withstand the weight of an adult (up to 75 kg).

To produce 100 tons of natural rubber, 100 people must work on the plantation for five years.

The cost of artificial leather is 15-20 times lower than natural. Labor costs for its production are almost a hundred times less.

Chemists have created a new fiber - vinol. It absorbs moisture like cotton. Vinol thread can be used in surgery, it dissolves without a trace in the human body a few hours after surgery. Vinol will give durable tires to airplanes and cars. And the fishermen will receive strong ropes and fishing tackle. Vinol does not rot and is not afraid of moisture.

Up to the second half of XVII centuries in Venice threatened the death penalty who will reveal the secrets of the production of mirrors. The Venetian state had a monopoly on the manufacture of mirrors.

Alexander Mikhailovich Butlerov - the creator of the theory of the chemical structure of organic compounds, a brilliant experimenter and an outstanding theorist, also known as the founder of rational Russian beekeeping. Beekeeping was not just a hobby for him. For writing the book “Bee, her life. Rules of sensible beekeeping” he was awarded a prize from the Free Economic Society. In the spring of 1882, at the All-Russian Exhibition held in Moscow, Butlerov organized an exemplary apiary, where he personally acted as a consultant-guide.

The ancient Babylonian mathematicians, who lived two millennia BC. e., there were tables for calculating volumes and areas, negative numbers, the symbol for zero, and the multiplication table. In addition, they already then solved equations of the fourth degree with almost the same methods that are used now. They knew about the so-called Pythagorean theory.

Armenian scientist, mathematician of the 6th century David the Invincible compiled the first ever textbook arithmetic problems. One of the copies of this problem book is still preserved in the Yerevan repository of ancient manuscripts.

The first mention of the mathematical signs "plus" and "minus" is found in a textbook on arithmetic by Johann Widmann, dated 1489. Until that moment, these signs were designated by the initial letters of their names.

Idea to designate decimals with a comma belongs to the French mathematician François Vieta.

The first mention of the famous theorem on sides right triangle found in Babylonian cuneiform texts written 1200 years before Pythagoras.

The famous French scientist Alexi Clairaut already at the age of ten studied higher mathematics, at the age of twelve he made the first scientific discovery, and by the age of eighteen became an adjunct at the Paris Academy of Sciences.

The eminent Italian scientist Bonaventura Cavalieri suffered from gout. During the next attack of the disease, he diligently studied mathematics, and the pain receded.

eight centuries before new era on the sides of the imperial throne, on which Theophilus sat, golden statues of lions were installed. When the emperor ascended the throne, they stood up, growled and again fit into place. Apparently, the ancient mechanics managed to make excellent automata.

In the Roman Colosseum, they found a cavity in which a giant elevator was once installed to lift wild animals and gladiators from the dungeons to the arena. The movement of the elevator was carried out with the help of a gate, on which 60 people worked.

For 48 years, every 6 weeks, George Westinghouse patented his new invention.

In the writings of the Greek writer Philo of Byzantium, who lived more than two thousand years ago, the oldest description of a water pump was found. However, he did not describe the first, but only an improved double-acting pump.

In order to unravel the mystery of the electromagnet, Faraday had to constantly carry a model of an electromagnet in his pocket for nine years and give it different positions, concentrating on the solution.

Mu is an Indian unit of distance, meaning the limits of audibility of a cow's lowing.

In some cases, the sound can not only be heard, but also seen. So, one Englishman, standing on a hill, happened to see a long narrow shadow moving towards him through the whole valley. As soon as she reached him, the Englishman felt a strong push and heard a powerful explosion. Subsequently, it turned out that a few miles from where he was standing, there was an explosion of a gunpowder warehouse. The blast wave compressed the air so that it began to cast a shadow.

In 1500, a Chinese official named Wang Hu decided to use a rocket for human flight for the first time. Invented by him aircraft looked like a seat that two huge dragons were supposed to carry with the help of 47 firework rockets. This attempt was unsuccessful and ended in the death of its inventor.

The term rocket appeared in the 19th century and comes from the word "rock-ketta", which in Italian means a tube, a spindle.

During the time that a passenger of a modern high-speed aircraft lights a cigarette, he will have time to fly through the air 6 km, and during a three-course meal - about 800 km.

In the tenth book of Vitruvius, dated to the 1st century BC. e., there is a description of "taxi". After passing a certain distance, a mechanism connected with the axis of the carriage dropped a pebble into a bronze bowl. The distance traveled was determined by the number of pebbles. Such crews received practical use among the people of that time.

On many ancient Greek and Roman roads, traces on which carriages traveled, and arrows on which oncoming vehicles could pass have survived to this day.

In an ordinary wristwatch, there are parts, a thousand pieces of which weigh only 1 g.

The first nylon watches were made in England. Their gears, axles and springs are not afraid of shaking and dampness. New watches are not inferior in accuracy to ordinary, metal ones.

In 1761, the mechanic Garrison received a huge bonus of 10,000 pounds from the British authorities for being able to bring the accuracy of the chronometer to 30 seconds per day. To date, such accuracy is characteristic of ordinary wrist watch mass-produced by watch factories.

For the first time blotting paper was invented in the middle of the last century. This invention is accompanied curious story. A worker in one of the English paper mills forgot to add glue to the paper pulp. For his oversight, he lost his job. But later it turned out that non-glued paper perfectly absorbs moisture. The enterprising owner of the factory did not fail to take advantage of this property and converted the entire factory production to the production of blotters, which found a large market. Unglued paper replaced the sifted sand, which was sprinkled over everything written in ink.

To compare two different calculation methods, a computer machine calculated the number pi to a hundred thousandth decimal place. This smart machine spent about 8 hours. It would take a person about 30 years to do the same job.

Inventor Emil Berliner produced the world's first record in 1888. The first record is still kept in the National Museum in Washington. In the center of the records of that time there were two holes, they were played from the middle to the edges. It was possible to record only on one side of the disc, and on reverse side was the name. In the first half of the 20th century, chocolate records were sold.

The flame temperature of an ordinary primus stove can reach 2000 degrees.

About a century and a half ago, match heads were made from a mixture of glue, sugar and bartholite salt. Similar matches were lit by dipping them in a container with sulfuric acid.

While you strike a match on the box, the match head heats up to 200 degrees.

The metallic flint used in lighters does not contain a single gram of flint. 70% of its composition is cerium and 30% is ordinary iron. Cerium provides the appearance of sparks that ignite a wick moistened with gasoline.

At the tip of a needle sewing machine develops a pressure of about 5000 atm.

In Peru, on the ruins of one of the ancient palaces, they found a telephone, which is about a thousand years old. It was made from two gourd flasks tied with tight twine.

In the Beijing Temple of Heaven there is a wall erected in 1530. It is interesting because at the opposite end of the wall you can clearly hear everything said into it. The length of the wall is about 200 m and the height is 6 m.

Newborns usually have about 270 bones, most of which are very small. This makes the skeleton more flexible and helps the baby move through the birth canal and grow quickly. As we grow older, many of these bones fuse together. The skeleton of an adult consists of an average of 200-213 bones.

2. The Eiffel Tower grows 15 centimeters in summer

The huge structure is built with temperature expansion joints, thanks to which the steel can expand and contract without any damage.

When steel is heated, it begins to expand and takes up more volume. This is called thermal expansion. Conversely, a decrease in temperature leads to a decrease in volume. For this reason, large structures such as bridges are built with expansion joints that allow them to change in size without being damaged.

3. 20% of oxygen comes from the Amazon rainforest

Flickr.com/thiagomarra

The Amazon rainforest covers 5.5 million square kilometers. The Amazonian jungle produces a significant portion of the Earth's oxygen by absorbing vast amounts of carbon dioxide, which is why they are often referred to as the lungs of the planet.

4. Some metals are so reactive that they explode even on contact with water.

Some metals and compounds - potassium, sodium, lithium, rubidium and cesium - exhibit increased chemical activity, therefore they can ignite with lightning speed upon contact with air, and if they are lowered into water, they can even explode.

5. A teaspoon of a neutron star would weigh 6 billion tons.

Neutron stars are the remnants of massive stars, consisting mainly of a neutron core covered with a relatively thin (about 1 km) crust of matter in the form of heavy atomic nuclei and electrons. The cores of stars that died during a supernova explosion were compressed under the influence of gravity. This is how superdense neutron stars were formed. Astronomers have found that the mass of neutron stars can be comparable to the mass of the Sun, despite the fact that their radius does not exceed 10–20 kilometers.

6. Each year, Hawaii moves closer to Alaska by 7.5 cm.

The earth's crust consists of several huge parts - tectonic plates. These plates are constantly moving along with the upper layer of the mantle. Hawaii is located in the middle part of the Pacific Plate, which is slowly drifting in a northwesterly direction towards the North American Plate, on which Alaska is located. tectonic plates move at the same speed as human nails grow.

7. In 2.3 billion years, Earth will be too hot for life to exist.

Our planet will eventually become a vast desert, similar to today's Mars. For hundreds of millions of years, the Sun has been heating up, getting brighter and hotter, and will continue to do so. In about two billion years or more, temperatures will become so hot that the oceans that make Earth habitable will evaporate. The whole planet will turn into an endless desert. As scientists predict, in the next few billion years, the Sun will turn into a red giant and completely swallow the Earth - the planet will definitely come to an end.


Flickr.com/andy999

Thermal imagers are able to identify an object by the heat it radiates. And polar bears are experts at keeping warm. Thanks to a thick layer of subcutaneous fat and a warm coat, bears are able to endure even the coldest days in the Arctic.

9. It takes light 8 minutes 19 seconds to travel from the sun to the earth.

It is known that the speed of light is 300,000 kilometers per second. But even with such dizzying speed, it will take time to overcome the distance between the Sun and the Earth. And 8 minutes is not so much on a cosmic scale. To reach Pluto sunshine it will take 5.5 hours.

10. If you remove all the interatomic space, humanity will fit in a sugar cube

In fact, more than 99.9999% of an atom is empty space. An atom consists of a tiny, dense nucleus surrounded by a cloud of electrons that occupy proportionally more space. This is because electrons move in waves. They can only exist where the crests and troughs of the waves add up in a certain way. The electrons do not stay at one point, their location can be anywhere within the orbit. That is why they take up a lot of space.

11. Gastric Juice Can Dissolve Razor Blades

The stomach digests food thanks to the caustic hydrochloric acid with a high pH (hydrogen index) - from two to three. But at the same time, the acid also affects the gastric mucosa, which, however, is able to quickly recover. The lining of your stomach is completely renewed every four days.

Scientists have many versions of why this happens. Most likely: due to huge asteroids that have affected its course in the past, or due to the strong circulation of air currents in upper layers atmosphere.

13. A flea can accelerate faster than a space shuttle.

Flea jumps reach breathtaking heights - 8 centimeters per millisecond. Each jump gives the flea an acceleration that is 50 times the acceleration of the spaceship.

And what Interesting Facts do you know?