A list of the top 10 scientists of all time.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1726) Newton was a polymath who made investigations into a whole range of subjects including mathematics, optics, physics, and astronomy. In his Principia Mathematica, published in 1687, he laid the foundations for classical mechanics, explaining law of gravity and the Laws of Motion.



 Louis Pasteur (1822 – 1895) Contributed greatly towards the advancement of medical sciences developing cures for rabies, anthrax and other infectious diseases. Also enabled process of pasteurisation to make milk safer to drink. Probably saved more lives than any other person.



 Galileo (1564 – 1642) Creating one of the first modern telescope, Galileo revolutionised our understanding of the world successfully proving the earth revolved around the sun and not the other way around. His work Two New Sciences laid ground work for science of Kinetics and strength of materials.

 Marie Curie (1867 – 1934) Polish physicist and chemist. Discovered radiation and helped to apply it in the field of X ray. She won Nobel Prize in both Chemistry and Physics.




 Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) Revolutionised modern physics with his general theory of relativity. Won Nobel Prize in Physics (1921) for his discovery of the Photoelectric effect, which formed basis of Quantum Theory.




 Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882) Developed theory of evolution against a backdrop of disbelief and scepticism. Collected evidence over 20 years, and published conclusions in On the Origin of Species (1859).




Otto Hahn (1879-1968) – German
Chemist who discovered nuclear fission (1939). Pioneering scientist in the field of radio-chemistry. Discovered radio-active elements and nuclear isomerism (1921). Awarded Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1944)



Nikola Tesla (1856 –1943) – Work on electro-magnetism and AC current. Credited with many patents from electricity to radio transmission.





 James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) – Made great strides in understanding electro-magnetism. His research in electricity and kinetics, laid foundation for quantum physics. Einstein said of Maxwell, “The work of James Clerk Maxwell changed the world forever.”


 Aristotle (384BC – 322BC) Great early Greek scientist who made many researches in the natural sciences including botany, zoology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, and meteorology, geometry
 

The Dark Side of the Nobel Prizes

For more than 100 years, the Nobel Prizes have recognized the finest in human achievements, from literature and science to the Nobel Peace Prize, which is given "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses," according to the last will and testament of founder Alfred Nobel.
 But the origins of the Nobel Prizes, and the life of Alfred Nobel, tell a very different story, one tainted by the deaths of untold thousands of people.
 Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden. His father, Immanuel Nobel, was an inventor and engineer who struggled financially for much of his life. Forced to declare bankruptcy, Immanuel left Sweden and began working in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he impressed the czar ith one of his inventions — submerged explosive mines that could thwart a naval invasion.

Finally achieving a measure of success, Immanuel brought his wife and eight children to St. Petersburg. His sons were given a formal education, and Alfred shined under strict Russian tutelage, mastering several languages as well as chemistry, physics, poetry and natural sciences.
Because the elder Nobel disapproved of Alfred's interest in poetry, he sent his son abroad to further his training in chemistry and engineering. While studying in Paris, Nobel met Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero, who in 1847 invented nitroglycerin, the oily, liquid explosive made by combining glycerin with nitric acid and sulfuric acid.
Innovation from tragedy
Though nitroglycerine was considered too unsafe to have any practical use, the Nobel family — which now had several profitable enterprises in Russia and Sweden — continued to investigate its potential for commercial and industrial uses.
But their inquiries had tragic results: In 1864, Alfred's younger brother Emil and several other people were killed in an explosion at one of their factories in Sweden. The disaster encouraged Alfred to try to find a way to make nitroglycerin safe. Success didn't come easily: Early experiments included the creation of "blasting oil," a mixture of nitro and gunpowder, which resulted in several deadly explosions and once killed 15 people when it exploded in a storeroom in San Francisco.
Finally, in 1867, Alfred Nobel found that by mixing nitroglycerin with diatomaceous earth (known as kieselguhr in German), the resulting compound was a stable paste that could be shaped into short sticks that mining companies might use to blast through rock. Nobel patented this invention as "dynamite," from the Greek word dunamis, or "power."
The invention of dynamite revolutionized the mining, construction and demolition industries. Railroad companies could now safety blast through mountains, opening up vast stretches of the Earth's surface to exploration and commerce. As a result, Nobel — who eventually garnered 355 patents on his many inventions — grew fantastically wealthy.
'Merchant of death'
Dynamite, of course, had other uses, and it wasn't long before military authorities began using it in warfare, including dynamite cannons used during the Spanish-American War. Though he's widely credited with being a pacifist, it's not known whether Nobel approved of dynamite's military use or not.
Nonetheless, he found out what others thought of his invention when, in 1888, his brother Ludvig died. Though some journalistic error, Alfred's obituary was widely printed instead, and he was scorned for being the man who made millions through the deaths of others. Once French newspaper wrote "Le marchand de la mort est mort," or "the merchant of death is dead." The obituary went on to describe Nobel as a man "who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before."
Nobel was reportedly stunned by what he read, and as a result became determined to do something to improve his legacy. One year before he died in 1896, Nobel signed his last will and testament, which set aside the majority of his vast estate to establish the five Nobel Prizes, including one awarded for the pursuit of peace.

"GREAT ATTITUDE"

Once a bird asked a Bee, after a continuous hard-work, you prepare the honey.
But a man steals the honey. Do you not feel sad?
Then the Bee replied: Never…
Because a man can only steal my honey not the art of making honey..!!

Heart Touching Story…..with a Moral

A doctor entered the hospital in hurry after being called in for an urgent surgery. He answered the call asap, changed his clothes & went directly to the surgery block.

He found the boy’s father pacing in the hall waiting for the doctor.

On seeing him, the dad yelled: “Why did you take all this time to come? Don’t you know that my son’s life is in danger? Don’t you have any sense of responsibility?”

The doctor smiled & said: “I am sorry, I wasn’t in the hospital & I came as fast as I could after receiving the call…… And now, I wish you’d calm down so that I can do my work”

“Calm down?! What if your son was in this room right now, would you calm down? If your own son dies now what will you do??” said the father angrily

The doctor smiled again & replied: “I will say what Job said in the Holy Book “From dust we came & to dust we return, blessed be the name of God”. Doctors cannot prolong lives. Go & intercede for your son, we will do our best by God’s grace”

“Giving advises when we’re not concerned is so easy” Murmured the father.

The surgery took some hours after which the doctor went out happy, “Thank goodness!, your son is saved!” And without waiting for the father’s reply he carried on his way running. “If you have any questions, ask the nurse!!”

“Why is he so arrogant? He couldn’t wait some minutes so that I ask about my son’s state” Commented the father when seeing the nurse minutes after the doctor left.

The nurse answered, tears coming down her face: “His son died yesterday in a road accident, he was at the burial when we called him for your son’s surgery. And now that he saved your son’s life, he left running to finish his son’s burial.”

MORAL : Never judge anyone….. because you never know how their life is & what they’re going through”

A Color Symphony

You will need

A flat tray (like a cookie baking tray)
Food coloring (at least 3 different colors)
Whole milk – low fat milk will not work for this experiment
Liquid soap used for washing dishes

What to do

Carefully pour the milk into the tray so that it just covers the bottom
Add about 6-8 drops of different colored food coloring onto the milk in different spots
Add about 5 drops of the liquid soap onto the drops of food coloring and watch the show!
To clean up, simply pour the colored milk down the drain. (don’t drink it!)

How does it work?

So you know where the color comes from, but why milk and liquid soap? The main job of dish soap it to go after fat and break it down. Usually the fat is on dishes from the food we eat, but fat is also in whole milk. When you drop the liquid soap onto the tray, it tried to break down the fat in the milk. While it was doing that, it caused the colors to scatter and mix creating a very colorful display. Have fun!

MAKE IT AN EXPERIMENT

The project above is a DEMONSTRATION.

To make it a true experiment, you can try to answer these questions:
1. What liquid dish soap works the best?
2. Does the shape of the tray affect the reaction?

Bend Water With Static Electricity

You will need

A dry plastic comb                                   

 What to do

1. Turn on the faucet and slowly turn down the water until you have a VERY thin stream of water flowing.
2. Take the plastic comb and brush it through your hair ten times.
3. Now slowly bring the comb close the the flowing water, (without actually touching the water)
If all goes well, the stream of water should bend towards the comb! Magic you ask? Not really.

How does it work?

When you brushed that comb through your hair, tiny parts of the atoms in your hair, called ELECTRONS, collected on the comb. These electrons have a NEGATIVE charge. Remember that, its important. Now that the comb has a negative charge, it is attracted to things that have a POSITIVE charge. It is similar to the way some magnets are attracted to certain metals.
When you bring the negatively charged comb near the faucet it is attracted to the POSITIVE force of the water. The attraction is strong enough to actually pull the water towards the comb as it is flowing! If you want to try another experiment with your comb, tear up pieces of tissue until they are as a small as you can get them…I mean really small! Then charge your comb again by brushing it through your hair, and bring it close to the tiny pieces of tissue. If the pieces are small enough they will jump off the table to the comb the same way that the water was pulled to the comb.It is all thanks to the wonders of static electricity.
MAKE IT AN EXPERIMENT
The project above is a DEMONSTRATION. To make it a true experiment, you can try to answer these questions:
1. Does water temperature affect how much the water bends?
2. Does the size of the comb affect the static power?
3. Does the amount of moisture in that air affect the static power? Try it after someone has taken a shower in the room.
4. Does the material that the comb is made of affect the static power?

Make a Battery from Potato

Introduction:
Batteries generate electricity through a chemical reaction between two different electrodes and one electrolyte. Use of Copper and Zinc electrodes and Sulfuric acid as electrolyte is a proven method for this process. We are wondering if we can use any other liquid as electrolyte? This gave us the idea of using a potato as electrolyte. After all a fresh potato has a lot of juice that may serve our purpose as electrolyte.

Problem:
 Can Potato be used to generate electricity?
Hypothesis:
Potato juice contains many water soluble chemicals that may cause a chemical reaction with one or both of our electrodes. So we may get some electricity from that.
 

Material: For this experiment we use: A fresh potato Copper Electrode Zinc Electrode A Digital or Analog Multimeter to measure Voltage or Current of produced electricity. Alligator clips/ Leads

Procedure:

We insert copper and zinc electrodes in to the potato, close but not touching each other. We use Clip leads to connect our electrodes to the Multimeter to measure voltage between two electrodes or current passing through the multimeter. For this experiment we removed the shell of a broken AA battery for our Zinc electrode. (Make sure to test your multimeter by connecting its Positive and Negative wires to each other that should show no current and no voltage).

Record And Analyze Data:

A digital multimeter showed 1.2 volts between the electrodes, but the analog multimeter showed a much smaller value. In other words even though the voltage between electrodes is 1.2 Volts, the speed of production of electricity is not high enough for an analog multimeter to show the exact voltage. (Analog multimeter gets its power from our potato to show the voltage, but digital Multimeter gets its power from an internal battery and does not consume any of the electricity produced by our potato, that is why it shows a larger and more accurate value).

We repeated this experiment with some other fruits and all resulted almost the same. In all cases the produced voltage is between 1 and 1.5 volts, and in all cases they do not produce enough current to turn on a small light.  Another thing that we learned from this experiment is that creating electricity and making a battery is easy, the main challenge is producing a battery that can continue to produce larger amount of electricity for larger amount of time.    By connecting multiple potato batteries you can make enough electricity to light-up a super bright light emitting diode (Included in the kit).

LoL Jokes !!!

Little Boy

 

Son: "My math teacher is crazy". 

Mother: "Why?" 

Son: "Yesterday she told us that five is 4+1; 

today she is telling us that five is 3 + 2."

Jokes!!!

Wife or Girlfriend 

A physicist, a mathematician and a computer scientist discuss what is better: a wife or a girlfriend.  

 

The physicist: "A girlfriend. You still have freedom to experiment." 

The mathematician: "A wife. You have security." 

The computer scientist: "Both. When I'm not with my wife, she thinks I'm with my girlfriend. With my girlfriend it's vice versa. And I can be with my computer without anyone disturbing me..."

Jokes!!

 

Applying For A Job

There are three people applying for the same job. 

One is a mathematician, 

one a statistician, 

and one an accountant. 

The interviewing committee first calls in the mathematician. 

They say "we have only one question. What is 500 plus 500?"

 The mathematician, without hesitation, says "1000." 

The committee sends him out and calls in the statistician. 

When the statistician comes in, they ask the same question. 

The statistician ponders the question for a moment, and then answers "1000... I'm 95% confident." 

He is then also thanked for his time and sent on his way. 

When the accountant enters the room, he is asked the same question: "what is 500 plus 500?" 

The accountant replies, "what would you like it to be?" 

They hire the accountant.

Layered Liquids

Have you ever heard the phrase "oil and water don’t mix"? First we will test that expression, then look at interesting combinations of several other liquids.
Oil and Water
You will need the following materials:
• ¼ cup (60 ml) water
• ¼ cup (60 ml) vegetable oil
• a small glass
• food coloring
First pour the water into the glass. Add a couple of drops of food coloring and mix. Next add the oil. What do you see? Which layer is on top?

Tightly cover the glass with plastic wrap or your hand (if it's big enough). While holding the glass over a sink (in case you spill), shake the glass so that the two liquids are thoroughly mixed. Set the glass down and watch what happens. Do oil and water mix?

The word “miscibility” describes how well two substances mix. Oil and water are said to be “immiscible,” because they do not mix. The oil layer is on top of the water because of the difference in density of the two liquids. The density of a substance is the ratio of its mass (weight) to its volume. The oil is less dense than the water and so is on top.

The next experiment examines the miscibility and density of several liquids.

Layered Liquids

You will need the following materials:

• ¼ cup (60 ml) dark corn syrup or honey
• ¼ cup (60 ml) dishwashing liquid
• ¼ cup (60 ml) water
• ¼ cup (60 ml) vegetable oil
• ¼ cup (60 ml) rubbing alcohol
• a tall 12 ounce (350 ml) glass or clear plastic cup
• two other cups for mixing
• food coloring

Take the 12 ounce glass. Being careful not get syrup on the side of the glass; pour the syrup into the middle of the glass. Pour enough syrup in to fill the glass 1/6 of the way.

After you have added the syrup or honey, tip the glass slightly and pour an equal amount of the dishwashing liquid slowly down the side of the glass. Does the dishwashing liquid float on top of the syrup or sink to the bottom?

Next mix a few drops of food coloring with water in one of the mixing cups. Color the rubbing alcohol a different color in another mixing cup.

Be careful to add the next liquids VERY SLOWLY. They are less viscous (i.e., not as thick) and mix more easily than the previous liquids. We don't want them to mix. Tip the glass slightly, and pouring slowly down the side of the glass, add first the colored water, then the vegetable oil, and finally the colored rubbing alcohol.

On a piece of paper, make a sketch of the glass and its liquids, labeling the position of each liquid in your glass.

Why do the liquids stay separated? Can you think of several ways that the liquids in the glass are different? Try to describe some properties that differ in each of the liquids in the glass.

One property that is different in all of the liquids is color. Another property unique to each liquid is thickness (viscosity).

The property of the liquids that is responsible for the layering effect is density. Can you guess what the relationship is between the density of a liquid and its position in the glass?

Another property that keeps the liquids separate is that some of them are immiscible liquids, in other words they do not mix with each other. As you proved in the first experiment, oil and water are immiscible liquids. On the other hand, water and rubbing alcohol are miscible and will mix with each other. Water and the dishwashing liquid will also mix.

Stir up the liquids in the glass and watch what happens to the layers. Have any of the layers mixed (are they miscible in each other)? Wait a few minutes and look again. Have any of the other liquids separated?

Alternate procedure: Rainbow in a glass.

You will need the following materials:

• four different colors of food coloring (e.g. red, yellow, green, blue)
• five tall glasses or clear plastic cups
• ¾ cup (180 g) of granulated sugar
• a tablespoon for measuring
• 1 cup (240 ml) water

In the first glass, add one tablespoon (15 g) of sugar. In the second glass, add two tablespoons of sugar, three in the third glass, and four in the last glass. Then add three tablespoons (45 ml) of water to each glass, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. If the sugar in any of the glasses will not dissolve, add one more tablespoon (15 ml) of water to all of the glasses, and stir again. When the sugar is completely dissolved, add two or three drops of red food coloring to the first glass, yellow to the second, green to the third, and blue to the last glass.

In the remaining glass we will create our rainbow. Fill the glass about a fourth of the way with the blue sugar solution. Next, carefully add the green solution to the glass. Do this by putting a spoon in the glass, just above the level of the blue solution. Slowly pour the green solution into the spoon, raising the spoon to keep it just above the level of the liquid, until the glass is half full. Add the yellow solution, and then the red one in the same manner. What do you notice about the colored solutions?

The amount of sugar dissolved in a liquid affects its density. The blue solution has the most sugar dissolved in it and is therefore the densest. The other solutions are less dense than the blue solution, so they float on top of it. The densities of the solutions should be very close however, and the solutions are miscible, so you will see that the layers do not form well defined boundaries as in the first experiment. If done carefully enough, the colors should stay relatively separate from each other. What do you think will happen if you stir up the liquids in the glass?

Funny Post About Science.

Did you know that there are 206 bones in the adult human body and there are 300 in children (as they grow some of the bones fuse together).
Flea's can jump 130 times higher than their own height. In human terms this is equal to a 6ft. person jumping 780 ft. into the air.
The most dangerous animal in the world is the common housefly. Because of their habits of visiting animal waste, they transmit more diseases than any other animal.
Snakes are true carnivorous because they eat nothing but other animals. They do not eat any type of plant material. The world's largest amphibian is the giant salamander. It can grow up to 5 ft. in length. 100 years ago: The first virus was found in both plants and animals. 90 years ago: The Grand Canyon became a national monument & Cellophane is invented. 80 years ago: The food mixer and the domestic refrigerator were invented. 70 years ago: The teletype and PVC (polyvinyl-chloride) were invented. 60 years ago: Otto Hahn discovered nuclear fission by splitting uranium, Teflon was invented. 50 years ago: Velcro was invented. 40 years ago: An all-female population of lizards was discovered in Armenia. 30 years ago: The computer mouse was invented. 20 years ago: First test-tube baby born in England, Pluto’s moon, Charon, discovered. 10 years ago: First patent for a genetically-engineered mouse was issued to Harvard Medical School. 5 years ago: The first successful cloning of human embryo 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. There are no poisonous snakes in Maine.
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 largest man-made lake in the U.S. is Lake Mead, created by Hoover Dam. 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 first coast-to-coast telephone line was established in 1914. 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 largest meteorite crater in the world is in Winslow, Arizona. It is 4,150 feet across and 150 feet deep. The human eye blinks an average of 4,200,000 times a year. Skylab, the first American space station, fell to the earth in thousands of pieces in 1979. Thankfully most over the ocean.  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 originally 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 sloth's spend about 80% of their lives sleeping. The starfish species, Porcellanaster ivanovi, has been found to live in water as deep as 24,881 feet (7,584 meters). The tentacles of the giant Arctic 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 can last for about a week. If you could throw a snowball fast enough, it would totally vaporize when it hit a brick wall. 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. The seeds of an Indian Lotus tree remain viable for 300 to 400 years. The only letter not appearing on the Periodic Table is the letter “J”. Velcro was invented by a Swiss guy who was inspired by the way burrs attached to clothing. Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt. October 10 is National Metric Day. If you stretch a standard Slinky out flat it measures 87 feet long. The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket. Super Glue was invented by accident. The researcher was trying to make optical coating materials, and would test their properties by putting them between two prisms and shining light through them. When he tried the cyano-acrylate, he couldn't get the prisms apart. No matter its size or thickness, no piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times. A car traveling at 80 km/h uses half its fuel to overcome wind resistance. Knowledge is growing so fast that ninety per cent of what we will know in fifty years time, will be discovered in those fifty years. According to an old English system of time units, a moment is one and a half minutes. The typewriter was invented in 1829, and the automatic dishwasher in 1889. The wristwatch was invented in 1904 by Louis Cartier. When glass breaks, the cracks move at speeds of up to 3,000 miles per hour. By raising your legs slowly and laying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand. Ten minutes of one hurricane contains enough energy to match the nuclear stockpiles of the world. Most gemstones contain several elements. The exception? The diamond. It's all carbon. Diamonds are the hardest substance known to man. Which of the 50 states has never had an earthquake? North Dakota. When hydrogen burns in the air, water is formed. Sterling silver contains 7.5% copper. Cars were first made with ignition keys in 1949. J.B Dunlop was first to put air into tires. Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone, also set a world water-speed record of over seventy miles an hour at the age of seventy two. It is energy-efficient to turn off a fluorescent light only if it will not be used again within an hour or more. This is because of the high voltage needed to turn it on, and the shortened life this high voltage causes. The Earth's equatorial circumference (40,075 km) is greater than its polar circumference (40,008 km). Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world. Due to gravitational effects, you weigh slightly less when the moon is directly overhead. The Earth's average velocity orbiting the sun is 107,220 km per hour. There is a high and low tide because of our moon and the Sun. The United States consumes 25% of all the world’s energy. Flying from London to New York by Concord, due to the time zones crossed, you can arrive 2 hours before you leave. There is enough fuel in a full tank of a Jumbo Jet to drive an average car four times around the world. The surface speed record on the moon is 10.56 miles per hour. It was set with the lunar rover. If you could drive to the sun -- at 55 miles per hour -- it would take about 193 years The moon is one million times drier than the Gobi Desert. Just twenty seconds worth of fuel remained when Apollo 11's lunar module landed on the moon. A Boeing 707 uses four thousand gallons of fuel in its take-off climb. The planet Saturn has a density lower than water. So, if placed in water it would float. Since 1959, more than 6,000 pieces of 'space junk' (abandoned rocket and satellite parts) have fallen out of orbit - many of these have hit the earth's surface. It takes 70% less energy to produce a ton of paper from recycled paper than from trees. Every year in the US, 625 people are struck by lightning. Hawaii is moving toward Japan 4 inches every year. The rocket engine has to supply its own oxygen so it can burn its fuel in outer space. The North Atlantic gets 1 inch wider every year. Oxygen is the most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, waters, and atmosphere (about 49.5%) A stroke of lightning discharges from 10 to 100 million volts & 30,000 amperes of electricity. A bolt of lightning is about 54,000°F (30,000°C); six times hotter than the Sun. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe (75%). The average distance between the Earth & the Moon is 238,857 miles (384,392 km).  The moon is 27% the size of the Earth. The Earth weighs 6.6 sextillion tons, or 5.97 x 1024 kg. The center of the Sun is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million °C). Sunlight takes about 8 minutes & 20 seconds to reach the Earth at 186,282 miles/sec (299,792 Km/sec). The highest temperature on Earth was 136°F (58°C) in Libya in 1922. The lowest temperature on Earth was -128.6°F (-89.6°C) in Antarctica in 1983. Sunlight can penetrate clean ocean water to a depth of 240 feet. The average ocean floor is 12,000 feet. The temperature can be determined by counting the number of cricket chirps in fourteen seconds and adding 40. House flies have a lifespan of two weeks. Chimps are the only animals that can recognize themselves in a mirror. Starfish don't have brains. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes. Shrimp's hearts are in their heads. Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie. The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.  Porcupines float in water. An ostrich's eye is bigger that its brain.  An iguana can stay under water for twenty-eight minutes. The common goldfish is the only animal that can see both infra-red and ultra-violet light. It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. The pupil of an octopus' eye is rectangular. Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. The leg bones of a bat are so thin that no bat can walk. Ants cannot chew their food, they move their jaws sideways, like scissors, to extract the juices from the food. Hummingbirds are the only animals able to fly backwards. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur. A cat's jaws cannot move sideways. Armadillos get an average of 18.5 hours of sleep per day. Armadillos can walk underwater. There are more beetles than any other kind of creature in the world. Certain frogs that can survive the experience of being frozen.  Only humans sleep on their backs. The human brain is 80% water. Everyone's tongue print is different. As an adult, you have more than 20 square feet of skin on your body--about the same square footage as a blanket for a queen-sized bed. In your lifetime, you'll shed over 40 pounds of skin. 15 million blood cells are produced and destroyed in the human body every second. Every minute, 30-40,000 dead skin cells fall from your body. The brain uses more than 25% of the oxygen used by the human body. If your mouth was completely dry, you would not be able to distinguish the taste of anything. There are more living organisms on the skin of a single human being than there are human beings on the surface of the earth. Muscles are made up of bundles from about 5 in the eyelid to about 200 in the buttock muscle. Muscles in the human body (640 in total) make up about half of the body weight. The human body has enough fat to produce 7 bars of soap. The human head is a quarter of our total length at birth, but only an eighth of our total length by the time we reach adulthood. Most people blink about 17,000 times a day. Moths have no stomach. Hummingbirds can't walk. Sea otters have 2 coats of fur. A starfish can turn its stomach inside out. A zebra is white with black stripes. The animal with the largest brain in relation to its body is the ant. The largest eggs in the world are laid by a shark. A crocodile’s tongue is attached to the roof of its mouth. Crocodiles swallow stones to help them dive deeper. Giraffes are unable to cough. Sharks are immune to cancer. Despite the hump, a camel’s spine is straight. Cheetah's can accelerate from 0 to 70 km/h in 3 seconds. A giraffe's neck contains the same number of vertebrae as a human. The heart of giraffe is two feet long, and can weigh as much as twenty four pounds. On average, Elephants sleep for about 2 hours per day. Lobsters have blue blood. Shark's teeth are literally as hard as steel. A mosquito has 47 teeth. Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen make up 90% of the human body. Seventy percent of the dust in your home consists of shed human skin Fish are the only vertebrates that outnumber birds. A cockroach can live for several weeks without its head. The average human produces a quart of saliva a day -- about 10,000 gallons in a lifetime Elephants have been known to remain standing after they die. The embryos of tiger sharks fight each other while in their mother's womb, the survivor being the baby shark that is born. Ants do not sleep. Nearly a third of all bottled drinking water purchased in the US is contaminated with bacteria. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over 1 million descendents. An Astronaut can be up to 2 inches taller returning from space. The cartilage disks in the spine expand in the absence of gravity. The oldest known fossil is of a single-celled organism, blue-green algae, found in 3.2 billion year-old stones in South Africa. The oldest multicellular fossils date from ~700 million years ago. The earliest cockroach fossils are about 280 million years old. Healthy nails grow about 2 cm each year. Fingernails grow four times as fast as toenails. 20/20 vision means the eye can see normally at 20 feet. 20/15 is better; the eye can see at 20 feet what another eye sees at 15 feet. The average person has 100,000 hairs on his/her head. Each hair grows about 5 inches (12.7 cm) every year. There are 60,000 miles (97,000 km) in blood vessels in every human.