Science and Technology - Bizarre Facts Page 1

Bizarre Fact #1:
Did you know...
A cesium atom in an atomic clock that beats over nine billion times a second.

Bizarre Fact #2:
Did you know...
A Chinese Scientist discovered that the Earth is round during the Han Dynasty by measuring the sun and moon's path in the sky. He recorded this fact down in the imperial records but went unnoticed until it was unearthed recently but Chinese archaeologists.

Bizarre Fact #3:
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A cubic yard of air weighs about 2 pounds at sea level.

Bizarre Fact #4:
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A galactic year is 250 million Earth-years. This is the time it takes for our solar system to make one revolution around the Milky Way Galaxy.

Bizarre Fact #5:
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A jiffy is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. Thus the saying, I will be there in a jiffy.

Bizarre Fact #6:
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A meteor has only destroyed one satellite, which was the European Space Agency's Olympus in 1993.

Bizarre Fact #7:
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African Baobab tree's circumference can reach 180 feet. If the trunk is hollow, 20 people would be able to fit inside of it.

Bizarre Fact #8:
Did you know...
At lift off, US space shuttles weight about 4.5 million pounds.

Bizarre Fact #9:
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Australia has had stamps that actually look like gems. In 1995 and 1996 they used a special technology to make the stamps look like diamonds and opals.

Bizarre Fact #10:
Did you know...
Automobile building is the largest manufacturing industry in the world.

Bizarre Fact #11:
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Back in 1919 the Russian transplant pioneer Serge Voronoff made headlines by grafting monkey testicles onto human males.

Bizarre Fact #12:
Did you know...
Bamboo plants can grow up to 36 inches in a day.

Bizarre Fact #13:
Did you know...
Before air conditioning was invented, white cotton slipcovers were put on furniture to keep the air cool.

Bizarre Fact #14:
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By weight, the sun is 70% hydrogen, 28% helium, 1.5% carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, and 0.5% all other elements.

Bizarre Fact #15:
Did you know...
Central air conditioners use 98% more energy than ceiling fans.

Bizarre Fact #16:
Did you know...
Construction workers hard hats were first invented and used in the building of the Hoover Dam in 1933.

Bizarre Fact #17:
Did you know...
Copper is the second most used metal in the world.

Bizarre Fact #18:
Did you know...
Cubic Zirconia is 55% heavier than real diamonds.

Bizarre Fact #19:
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Diamonds were first discovered in the riverbeds of the Golconda region of India over 4,000 years ago.

Bizarre Fact #20:
Did you know...
Enough paper is recycled in the USA every day, that a 15 mile long train of boxcars could be filled up with paper.

Bizarre Fact #21:
Did you know...
Every 25 miles a car produces one pound of pollution.

Bizarre Fact #22:
Did you know...
Every day, the Hubble telescope transmits enough data to fit 10,000 standard computer disks.

Bizarre Fact #23:
Did you know...
Every second, 630 steel cans are recycled.

Bizarre Fact #24:
Did you know...
Google receives more than 200 million search queries a day, more than half of which come from outside the United States. Peak traffic hours to google.com are between 6 a.m. and noon PST, when more than 2,000 search queries are answered a second.

Bizarre Fact #25:
Did you know...
Hydrogen is the most common atom in the universe.

Bizarre Fact #26:
Did you know...
If all the gold sitting in the oceans and seas were mined, every person on this plant would get about 20 kilograms of gold each.

Bizarre Fact #27:
Did you know...
In 1903 Mary Anderson invented the windshield wipers.

Bizarre Fact #28:
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In Australia, a dust-devil is called a "willy-willy."

Bizarre Fact #29:
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In February 1878, the first telephone book was published in New Haven, Connecticut. The book was one page long and had fifty names in it.

Bizarre Fact #30:
Did you know...
In Johannesburg, the average car will be involved in an accident once every four years.

Bizarre Fact #31:
Did you know...
In only eight minutes, the Space Shuttle can accelerate to a speed of 27,000 kilometres per hour.

Bizarre Fact #32:
Did you know...
In the Netherlands, there are special traffic lanes for bicycles. There are approximately 17,000 kms of cycle lanes with special bicycle traffic lights.

Bizarre Fact #33:
Did you know...
In the United States, the most frequent month for a tornado to occur is in May.

Bizarre Fact #34:
Did you know...
In the wild, the poinsettia flower can reach a height of 12 feet, and have leaves that are eight inches across.

Bizarre Fact #35:
Did you know...
It takes eight and a half minutes for light to get from the sun to earth.

Bizarre Fact #36:
Did you know...
It takes the Hubble telescope about 97 minutes to complete an orbit of the Earth. On average, the Hubble uses the equivilent amount of energy as 30 household light bulbs to complete an orbit.

Bizarre Fact #37:
Did you know...
It takes the Hubble telescope about 97 minutes to complete an orbit of the Earth. On average, the Hubble uses the equivilent amount of energy as 30 household lightbulbs to complete an orbit.

Bizarre Fact #38:
Did you know...
It would take twenty new mid-size cars to generate the same amount of pollution that a mid-size 1960's car did.

Bizarre Fact #39:
Did you know...
Japan uses the most energy per year than any other country.

Bizarre Fact #40:
Did you know...
Just by recycling one aluminum can, enough energy would be saved to have a TV run for three hours.

Bizarre Fact #41:
Did you know...
Musk is extracted from the bottom of a civet, and is used as an ingredient to make perfumes.

Bizarre Fact #42:
Did you know...
Natural gas does not have any odor. In order to detect a gas leak, some gas companies add a chemical that smells similar like rotten eggs.

Bizarre Fact #43:
Did you know...
On average, there is about three molecules of ozone for every 10 million air molecules.

Bizarre Fact #44:
Did you know...
On September 7, 1997, the first flight of the F-22a occurred.

Bizarre Fact #45:
Did you know...
One tree can filter up to sixty pounds of pollutants from the air each year.

Bizarre Fact #46:
Did you know...
Orville Wright, a pilot, was involved in the first aircraft accident. His passenger, a Frenchman, was killed.

Bizarre Fact #47:
Did you know...
Research indicates that plants grow healthier when they are stroked.

Bizarre Fact #48:
Did you know...
Roses generally need around 6 hours of sunlight to grow properly.

Bizarre Fact #49:
Did you know...
The Central African raffia palm is known to have the longest leaves. The leaves can measure up to 82.5 feet long.

Bizarre Fact #50:
Did you know...
The external tank on space shuttles is not painted. It is the only part of the shuttle that is lost after launch, so it is not necessary to worry about metal corrosion.