Science facts

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blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
Facts 1 – 5



1. There are 62,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body – laid end to end they would circle the earth 2.5 times

2. At over 2000 kilometers long, The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth

3. The risk of being struck by a falling meteorite for a human is one occurrence every 9,300 years

4. A thimbleful of a neutron star would weigh over 100 million tons

5. A typical hurricane produces the energy equivalent of 8,000 one megaton bombs

Facts 6 – 10



6. Blood sucking hookworms inhabit 700 million people worldwide

7. The highest speed ever achieved on a bicycle is 166.94 mph, by Fred Rompelberg

8. We can produce laser light a million times brighter than sunshine

9. 65% of those with autism are left handed

10. The combined length of the roots of a Finnish pine tree is over 30 miles



Facts 11 – 15



11. The oceans contain enough salt to cover all the continents to a depth of nearly 500 feet

12. The interstellar gas cloud Sagittarius B contains a billion, billion, billion liters of alcohol [JFrater is planning to move there in the near future]

13. Polar Bears can run at 25 miles an hour and jump over 6 feet in the air

14. 60-65 million years ago dolphins and humans shared a common ancestor

15. Polar Bears are nearly undetectable by infrared cameras, due to their transparent fur

Facts 16 – 20



16. The average person accidentally eats 430 bugs each year of their life

17. A single rye plant can spread up to 400 miles of roots underground

18. The temperature on the surface of Mercury exceeds 430 degrees C during the day, and, at night, plummets to minus 180 degrees centigrade

19. The evaporation from a large oak or beech tree is from ten to twenty-five gallons in twenty-four hours

20. Butterflies taste with their hind feet, and their taste sensation works on touch – this allows them to determine whether a leaf is edible
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
wh7q3-eifel.jpg
 

Walter Oobleck

keeps coming back...or going, and going, and going
Mar 6, 2013
11,749
34,805
He wasn't talking about Dark Matter or Dark Energy, was he?

Possibly. Maybe that was it as it does sound somewhat familiar...if only because what was posted now reminds me of 2001:A Space Odyssey...co-inky-dinky...as I am reading Childhood's End from Clarke and both stories have something like that. Remember in 2001 where the caveman is curious about that big black monolith? And there's another found on the moon? I thought it was cool when I read it as a kid...and then in Childhood's End there is a like-kind exchange with those big mutha spaceships that the Overlords arrive in...so much like Independence Day the film (1978). I wonder if Clarke had in mind the same stuff...dark matter? But yeah, it's mighty curious, science.
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Smerdyakov is/was the member's moniker...the stinking son. Heh! He is/was smart as a whip, sharp as a tack, the son of a doctor I believe. He is/was pre-med I believe, had a pic on his page of him and a skeleton and he wrote/writes poetry. I dunno how much of the old board if any is there on the shelf somewhere...but like his namesake he liked to discuss God or the lack thereof...evolution or the lack thereof. Was it in that thread What is God to you? that bluey lunger started? Or maybe in a related thread in Social Groups? The way I understand it and remember it...this...matter...is in space. He tried to explain it to me and I thought it was fascinating that there is...according to my understanding...something...some matter or something that is as yet unexplained. Matter might be the wrong word for it. But my imagination saw places in the universe...perhaps they are unaffected by things. There is/was sense that these things are waiting...that their use...their meaning or reason for being...is not understood. But that quantum physics part of the equation sounds familiar. smerdyakov you around?
I think you are having flashbacks Walter Oobleck!
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Facts 1 – 5



1. There are 62,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body – laid end to end they would circle the earth 2.5 times

2. At over 2000 kilometers long, The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth

3. The risk of being struck by a falling meteorite for a human is one occurrence every 9,300 years

4. A thimbleful of a neutron star would weigh over 100 million tons

5. A typical hurricane produces the energy equivalent of 8,000 one megaton bombs

Facts 6 – 10



6. Blood sucking hookworms inhabit 700 million people worldwide

7. The highest speed ever achieved on a bicycle is 166.94 mph, by Fred Rompelberg

8. We can produce laser light a million times brighter than sunshine

9. 65% of those with autism are left handed

10. The combined length of the roots of a Finnish pine tree is over 30 miles



Facts 11 – 15



11. The oceans contain enough salt to cover all the continents to a depth of nearly 500 feet

12. The interstellar gas cloud Sagittarius B contains a billion, billion, billion liters of alcohol [JFrater is planning to move there in the near future]

13. Polar Bears can run at 25 miles an hour and jump over 6 feet in the air

14. 60-65 million years ago dolphins and humans shared a common ancestor

15. Polar Bears are nearly undetectable by infrared cameras, due to their transparent fur

Facts 16 – 20



16. The average person accidentally eats 430 bugs each year of their life

17. A single rye plant can spread up to 400 miles of roots underground

18. The temperature on the surface of Mercury exceeds 430 degrees C during the day, and, at night, plummets to minus 180 degrees centigrade

19. The evaporation from a large oak or beech tree is from ten to twenty-five gallons in twenty-four hours

20. Butterflies taste with their hind feet, and their taste sensation works on touch – this allows them to determine whether a leaf is edible

as per # 15 - I do not think polar bears have transparent fur, but it probably does block the heat. The skin under their fur is actually black.
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
as per # 15 - I do not think polar bears have transparent fur, but it probably does block the heat. The skin under their fur is actually black.
I doubt they could state that a polar bears fur is transparent if it isn't, Neese. What's interesting is why polar bears look white if their fur is not white. It's because the fur reflects light.
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
I doubt they could state that a polar bears fur is transparent if it isn't, Neese. What's interesting is why polar bears look white if their fur is not white. It's because the fur reflects light.
I guess I will just have to go up to Churchill and find out for myself - it just sounds ridiculous to me but what do I know :umm:
 

Jordan

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I guess I will just have to go up to Churchill and find out for myself - it just sounds ridiculous to me but what do I know :umm:

It is not actually white—it just looks that way.

Each hair shaft is pigment-free and transparent with a hollow core that scatters and reflects visible light, much like what happens with ice and snow.

Polar bears look whitest when they are clean and in sunlight, especially just after the molt period, which usually begins in spring and is complete by late summer. Before molting, oils from the seals they eat can make them look yellow.


Source: Fur and Skin | Polar Bears International
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
It is not actually white—it just looks that way.

Each hair shaft is pigment-free and transparent with a hollow core that scatters and reflects visible light, much like what happens with ice and snow.

Polar bears look whitest when they are clean and in sunlight, especially just after the molt period, which usually begins in spring and is complete by late summer. Before molting, oils from the seals they eat can make them look yellow.


Source: Fur and Skin | Polar Bears International
Polar bear fact sheet | Critical species | Wildlife & habitat | Science & policy | Critical species | Issues
Thanks Jordan - I had to go Google polar bears!

(I liked that part in your link about polar bears turning green in zoos)
:alien: :apple: :kiwi-fruit: - should have left them like that for St. Paddy's Day (Just Kidding)
 

Grandpa

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2014
9,724
53,642
Colorado
No man-made structures can be seen from space.

Somewhere I read that the Great Wall can be seen from space.

While the Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure, it's not the largest living organism, since it's made up of a multitude of species. I've alternately read that a sequoia tree, or an aspen complex, or a banyan complex is the largest living organism on the planet.

Another from Cosmos. We don't actually touch each other. The atoms and molecules in our bodies repel, the cellular nerve endings are stimulated, but actual contact does not take place at the atomic level. The atoms themselves, of which we're comprised, are mostly empty space.