Interesting Science Facts

there are 206 bones in the adult human body and 300 in children (as they grow some of the bones fuse together).
the smallest bone in the human body is the stapes or stirrup bone located in the middle ear. It is approximately .11 inches (.28 cm) long.
the longest cells in the human body are the motor neurons. They can be up to 4.5 feet (1.37 meters) long and run from the lower spinal cord to the big toe.
the blue whale can produce sounds up to 188 decibels. This is the loudest sound produced by a living animal and has been detected as far away as 530 miles.
the poison arrow frogs of South and Central America are the most poisonous animals in the world.
a new born blue whale measures 20-26 feet (6.0 - 7.9 meters) long and weighs up to 6,614 pounds (3003 kg).
the Virginia opossum has a gestation period of only 12-13 days.
the Stegosaurus dinosaur measured up to 30 feet (9.1 meters) long but had a brain the size of a walnut.
the human eye blinks an average of 4,200,000 times a year.
It takes approximately 12 hours for food to entirely digest.
human jaw muscles can generate a force of 200 pounds (90.8 kilograms) on the molars.
the Skylab astronauts grew 1.5 - 2.25 inches (3.8 - 5.7 centimeters) due to spinal lengthening and straightening as a result of zero gravity.
an inch (2.5 centimeters) of rain water is equivalent to 15 inches (38.1 centimeters) of dry, powdery snow.
tremendous erosion at the base of Niagara Falls (USA) undermines the shale cliffs and as a result the falls have receded approximately 7 miles over the last 10,000 years.
40 to 50 percent of body heat can be lost through the head (no hat) as a result of its extensive circulatory network.
a large swarm of desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) can consume 20,000 tons (18,160,000 kilograms) of vegetation a day.
the largest telescope in the world is currently being constructed in northern Chile. The telescope will utilize four - 26 ft. 8 in. (8.13 meters) mirrors which will gather as much light as a single 52 ft. 6 in. (16 meters) mirror.
the Hubble Space Telescope weighs 12 tons (10,896 kilograms), is 43 feet (13.1 meters) long, and cost $2.1 billion to build.
the longest living cells in the body are brain cells which can live an entire lifetime.
the largest flying animal was the pterosaur which lived 70 million years ago. This reptile had a wing span of 36-39 feet (11-11.9 meters) and weighed 190-250 pounds (86-113.5 kilograms).
the Atlantic Giant Squid's eye can be as large as 15.75 inches (40 centimeters) wide.
armadillos, opossums, and sloths spend about 80% of their lives sleeping.
the starfish species, Porcellanaster ivanovi, has been found to live in as deep as 24,881 feet (7,584 meters) of water.
the tentacles of the Arctic giant jellyfish can reach 120 feet (36.6 meters) in length.
the greatest tide change on earth occurs in the Bay of Fundy. The difference between low tide and high tide can be as great as 54 ft. 6 in. (16.6 meters).
the highest temperature produced in a laboratory was 920,000,000 F (511,000,000 C) at the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor in Princeton, NJ, USA.
the most powerful laser in the world, the Nova laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA, USA, generates a pulse of energy equal to 100,000,000,000,000 watts of power for .000000001 second to a target the size of a grain of sand.
the fastest computer in the world is the CRAY Y-MP C90 supercomputer. It has two gigabytes of central memory and 16 parallel central processor units.
the heaviest human brain ever recorded weighed 5 lb. 1.1 oz. (2.3 kg.).
the deepest part of the ocean is 35,813 feet (10,916 meters) deep and occurs in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. At that depth the pressure is 18,000 pounds (9172 kilograms) per square inch.
the largest cave in the world (the Sarawak Chamber in Malaysia) is 2,300 feet (701 meters) long, 980 feet (299 meters) wide, and more than 230 feet (70 meters) high.
the hottest planet in the solar system is Venus, with an estimated surface temperature of 864 F (462 C).
the ears of a cricket are located on the front legs, just below the knee.
the first electronic digital computer (called ENIAC - the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) was developed in 1946 and contained over 18,000 vacuum tubes.
the leg muscles of a locust are about 1000 times more powerful than an equal weight of human muscle.
the cosmos contains approximately 50,000,000,000 galaxies.
there are between 100,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000,000 stars in a normal galaxy.
sound travels about 4 times faster in water than in air.
scientists have discovered that copper pollution of the atmosphere occurred about 2500 years ago. This was discovered by analyzing ice cores from Greenland. The pollution was attributed to the Romans who used copper for military purposes and to produce coins.
hydrofluoric acid will dissolve glass.
in a full grown rye plant, the total length of roots may reach 380 miles (613 km).
in a full grown rye plant, the total length of fine root hairs may reach 6600 miles (10,645 km).
a large sunspot will last for about a week.
if you could throw a snowball fast enough, it would totally vaporize when it hit a brick wall.
the seeds of an Indian Lotus tree remain viable for 300 to 400 years.
boron nitride (BN) is the second hardest substance known to man.
the female Tarantula Hawk wasp paralyzes a large spider with her sting. She then lays her eggs on the motionless body so that her developing young have a fresh supply of spider meat to feed on.