Science inspires us to unravel the mysteries that surround us. Children, both younger and older, are always curious about nature and science, and this is one such subject that people love to learn and explore while putting their minds to the test and playing. If you are a stickler for collecting science facts, what you will read over the next few minutes will blow your mind. While you will be surprised by this information, it establishes beyond doubt the immense power of science. Without much ado, then, let us begin on this fascinating journey and learn some fantastic science facts.
Table of Contents
1. A Million Pounds- that is the weight of a cloud
Clouds have always been associated with being light and floaty. How would you react if you were told that the average cumulus cloud weighs as much as 1.1 million pounds? Now, that would be perhaps the weight of a fully loaded jet! As they say, never judge a book by its cover- or, in this case, a cloud by its weight!
2. You are traveling at 2.7 Million MPH through the Universe
Well, you may think you are standing still, but the fact is that you are traveling at 2.7 MPH through the universe if you add up the speed of the rotating earth, the earth moving around the sun, the sun moving in the Milky Way and the Milky Way moving through the universe! Now, that statistic is enough to give you a bit of vertigo.
3. Hippos create their sunscreen
During summertime, the first thing you do is to go looking around for sunscreen. If you were a Hippo, you could have created your sunscreen. The pigment on their skin helps absorb harmful UV rays.
4. Day on Venus is longer than a year
How often have you wished your day was more extended when living on planet Earth? Turns out that a day on Venus is longer than a year. Here is the maths. Venus takes 243 Earth days to rotate once, while it takes 224.7 Earth days to complete an orbit around the sun. Now, isn’t that a fun statistic?
5. It can rain diamonds
Isn’t this the rain you’d like to get drowned in? Except that this isn’t on planet Earth! Research says that pressure on planets such as Neptune, Uranus, and Saturn can lead to the crystallization of carbon atoms, turning them into diamonds!
6. By the time you see anything, it has already happened
Among the unbelievable science facts is that while we may think we are seeing things live, the truth is that it takes 50 milliseconds for visual information to process in your brain. Effectively, it means that it has already taken place by the time you see anything.
7. Infants have more bones than adults
Now, one would think things grow as an infant grows into an adult. It turns out that this is not the case with bones. An infant is born with as many as 300 bones, while an adult has 206 bones.
8. Human bones are four times stronger than concrete
Speaking of human bones, it will help to know that a cubic inch of bone can bear a load of as much as 8626 Kilograms, making it four times as strong as concrete.
9. 25 million human cells every second
The human body produces as many as 25 million new cells every second. Now, that means that in 15 seconds, the number of cells produced is higher than that of the United States population. Now, that is some prolific work, wouldn’t you admit?
10. 2000-14000 teeth
While you may think 32 teeth are an awful lot to care for, did you know snails have as many as 2000-14000 teeth? This is when most of them are herbivores!
11. A single bolt of lightning can cook 20000 toasts
A single bolt of lightning has 1 Billion Joules of energy! That is enough energy to cook 20000 toasts.
12. Dynamite from peanuts
How easily we undermine the value of peanuts! Yet how would you react if you were told peanuts help manufacture dynamite? Here is how the oil extract from peanuts is processed to make glycerol. Glycerol, in turn, is used to make nitroglycerin, which is an essential component of dynamite.
13. North Pole has one sunrise each year
Aren’t we lucky to witness as many as 365 sunrises in a typical year? If you were at the North Pole, you couldn’t say this. This is because you would experience 1 sunrise a year on Spring Equinox, i.e., March 21st.
14. 3000 years and going strong
What if all your food products could last 3000 years and still be going strong? Well, there is one such product- honey! It sure takes the cake when it comes to its shelf life.
15. Blue-blooded creature- Octopus
How often have you wished that you were royalty, in other words, that you had blue blood throbbing in your veins? Well, it turns out that some species of Octopus have this privilege. The blue in their blood is due to hemocyanin, which carries oxygen from the lungs to the bloodstream and then to the cells of the octopus’s body.
16. Hot water freezes faster than cold water
If you needed ice right away, you might imagine that cold water would work faster than hot water. Turns out it is quite the opposite. Scientists believe that hot water has velocities of water particles with a specific disposition that allows them to freeze early.
17. Humans have genes from other species
How proud we feel of our human genes! Implicit in this pride is the fact that we like to think that human beings are superior to other species. How would you react if you knew that our genome consists of as many as 145 genes that have jumped from bacteria, fungi, other single-celled organisms, and viruses?
18. Triple Boil
Did you know that there is a specific temperature and pressure known as triple boil where materials exist as gas, liquid and solid simultaneously. Triple boil is different for different materials. For water, for instance, triple boil is achieved at 0.1 degree Celsius and at a pressure of 0.006 atm.
19. Colour blindness genes are more likely to be found on the X chromosome
Now, that makes men more likely to be colorblind than women!
20. 1.3 million Earths can fit inside the sun.
Yes, that is exactly how large the sun is. All you need to do is to divide the volume of the sun by the volume of the earth and you will have your answer!
For more such fun science facts for students, do keep watching this space. At Pragyanam, one of the best CBSE schools in Gurgaon, we make sure we make learning fun and turn our students into learners for life. It is of little surprise then that the school is preferred by parents when it comes to school admissions.
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