top10 science magical facts who blow your mind

1.The Eiffel Tower can be 15 cm taller during the summer.                                                                                                   

2. 20% of Earth's oxygen is produced by the Amazon rainforest.                                                                                           

3. Babies have around 100 more bones than adults. 

4. A neutron star is the remnants of a massive star that has run out of fuel. The dying star explodes in a supernova while its core collapses in on itself due to gravity, forming a super-dense neutron star. Astronomers measure the mind-bogglingly large masses of stars or galaxies in solar masses, with one solar mass equal to the Sun’s mass (that is, 2 x 1030 kilograms/4.4 x 1030 pounds). Typical neutron stars have a mass of up to three solar masses, crammed into a sphere with a radius of approximately ten kilometers (6.2 miles) – resulting in some of the densest matter in the known universe.                                                                                                             

5. The Earth’s crust is split into gigantic pieces called tectonic plates. These plates are in constant motion, propelled by currents in the Earth’s upper mantle. The hot, less-dense rock rises before cooling and sinking, giving rise to circular convection currents, which act like giant conveyor belts, slowly shifting the tectonic plates above them. Hawaii sits in the middle of the Pacific Plate, slowly drifting northwest towards the North American Plate, back to Alaska. The plates’ pace is comparable to the speed at which our fingernails grow.                                                                         

6. In space, light travels at 300,000 kilometers (186,000 miles) per second. Covering the 150 million-odd kilometers (93 million miles) between the Sun and us takes considerable time, even at this breakneck speed. And eight minutes is still minimal compared to the five and a half hours it takes for the Sun’s light to reach.         

                                                                                                                   7.     

Venus is the only planet to spin clockwise.

Our Solar System started as a swirling cloud of dust and gas which eventually collapsed into a spinning disc with the Sun at its center. Because of this common origin, all the planets move around the Sun in the same direction and on roughly the same plane. They also all spin in the same direction (counterclockwise if observed from ‘above’) – except Uranus and Venus. Uranus spins on its side, while Venus defiantly spins in the complete opposite direction. The most likely cause of these planetary oddballs is gigantic asteroids which knocked them off course in the distant past.                                                                                                         

A flea can accelerate faster than the Space Shuttle.

A jumping flea reaches dizzying heights of about eight centimeters (three inches) in a millisecond. Acceleration is the change in speed of an object over time, often measured in ‘g’s, with one g equal to the acceleration caused by gravity on Earth (9.8 meters/32.2 feet per square second). Fleas experience 100 g, while the Space Shuttle peaked at around 5 g. The flea’s secret is a stretchy rubber-like protein that allows it to store and release energy like a spring.                        

Chalk is made from trillions of microscopic plankton fossils.

Tiny single-celled algae called coccolithophores have lived in Earth’s oceans for 200 million years. Unlike any other marine plant, they surround themselves with minuscule plates of calcite (coccoliths). Under 100 million years ago, conditions were just right for coccolithophores to accumulate in a thick layer coating ocean floors in a white ooze. As further sediment built up on top, the pressure compressed the coccoliths to form rock, creating chalk deposits such as the white cliffs of Dover. Coccolithophores are just one of many prehistoric species that have been immortalized in fossil form, but how do we know how old they are? Over time, rock forms in horizontal layers, leaving older rocks at the bottom and younger rocks near the top. By studying the type of rock in which a fossil is found, paleontologists can roughly guess its age. Carbon dating estimates a fossil’s age more precisely, based on the decay rate of radioactive elements such as carbon-14.

Polar bears are nearly undetectable by infrared cameras

Thermal cameras detect the heat lost by a subject as infrared, but polar bears are experts at conserving heat. The bears keep warm due to a thick layer of blubber under the skin. Add to this a dense fur coat, and they can endure the chilliest Arctic day.