13 scientific facts that will expand your knowledge of the world

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Sometimes scientists make such amazing discoveries that even science fiction novels are inferior to them. Our selection of unusual scientific facts will help you broaden your horizons and once again make sure that the world around us is interesting and multifaceted.

1. Children have about 70 more bones than adults

Newborns usually have about 270 bones, most of which are very small. This makes the skeleton more flexible and helps the baby pass through the birth canal and grow quickly. Many of these bones grow together as they grow older. An adult skeleton has an average of 200-213 bones.

2. The Eiffel Tower grows 15 centimeters in summer

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

When the steel heats up, it begins to expand and takes up more volume. This is called thermal expansion. Conversely, a drop 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 damage.

3.20% oxygen is generated in the Amazon rainforest

The Amazon rainforest covers 5.5 million square kilometers. The Amazonian jungle produces a significant portion of the oxygen on Earth by absorbing huge amounts of carbon dioxide, which is why they are often called 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, so they can catch fire with lightning speed on contact with air, and if they are immersed in water, they even explode.

5. A teaspoon of a neutron star will 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 nuclei 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, while their radius does not exceed 10-20 kilometers.

6. Every year Hawaii approaches Alaska by 7.5 cm

The earth's crust consists of several huge parts - tectonic plates. These plates are constantly moving with the top layer of the mantle. Hawaii is located in the middle of the Pacific Plate, which slowly drifts northwestward toward 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 on Earth it will be too hot for life on it

Our planet will eventually become an endless 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 more than two billion years from now, temperatures will be so high that the oceans that make the Earth habitable will evaporate. The entire planet will turn into an endless desert. As scientists predict, in the next several billion years, the Sun will turn into a red giant and completely swallow the Earth - the planet will definitely come to an end.

8. Polar bears are almost impossible to detect with a thermal imager

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

9. Light will take 8 minutes 19 seconds to get from the Sun to the Earth

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

10. If you remove all 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, which proportionally take up more space. This is because electrons move in waves. They can exist only where the crests and troughs of waves fold in a certain way. The electrons do not stay at one point, their location can be anywhere within the orbit. And therefore they take up a lot of space.

11. Stomach juice can dissolve razor blades

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

12. Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise

Scientists have many versions of why this is happening. Most likely: because of the huge asteroids that influenced its course in the past, or because of the strong circulation of air currents in the upper atmosphere.

13. A flea can accelerate faster than a space shuttle

Jumping fleas reach mind-boggling heights - 8 centimeters per millisecond. Each jump gives the flea an acceleration of 50 times the acceleration of the spacecraft.