50 Weird Science Tidbits - 2
Feb 12 at 7:07pm by Aileen
Part 2: Items 11 - 20
In this second installment of weird science facts, I’ll repeat that none of the items in this series are in a particular order of weirdness. Readers are encouraged to offer their favorites in the comments, so that in the end some sort of weird-o-meter ranking applies!
Now let’s get on with the show…
11. If Only We Could Plug Into It!
A cloud to ground bolt of lightning carries between 100 million and 1 billion volts. It can reach 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit - 3-4 times hotter than the surface of the sun!
12. Patching That Ever-Growing Hole
There are lightning strikes somewhere on earth 100 times a second. And every time lightning strikes, it generates Ozone gas. This strengthens the Ozone Layer in the upper atmosphere - you know, the one with the big hole that heightens our need for sunscreen.
13. If It Floats, It Must Be a Witch
The density of the planet Saturn is lower than water, so if you could put it in the ocean it would float!
14. Yet Despite All That Water…
Our own planet Earth is the densest in our entire solar system. It would definitely sink.
15. How Not to Build a Wooden Ship
The Black Ironwood tree (Olea laurifolia) has wood so dense that it can’t float on water.
16. How to Build a Ship of Rock
So, instead of black ironwood, how about volcanic pumice? It’s less dense than water, so it can float.
17. That’s Heavy, Man!
If a piece of a neutron star the size of a dime landed on earth, it would weigh about 100 million tons.
18. Bad Choice for Campfire Wood
The bark of the giant redwood tree is fireproof. In fact, redwoods depend on fire to clear room for their growth, and to enrich the forest soil for seeds to sprout.
19. How to Reach Escape Velocity Without Explosives
The acceleration rate of a flea jumping off a dog is 20 times the acceleration of the space shuttle during launch! Can JPL reverse engineer that?
20. What Did He Say?
Radio waves travel so much faster than sound waves that a person listening to a campaign speech by radio broadcast can hear the words 18,000 kilometers away before a person sitting at the back of the convention hall where the politician is speaking!
Stay tuned for part 3 (units 21-30), and don’t forget to vote for your faves!
The Entire Series:
1-10 of 50 Weird Science Tidbits & Oddities
11-20 of 50 Weird Science Tidbits & Oddities
21-30 of 50 Weird Science Tidbits & Oddities
31-40 of 50 Weird Science Tidbits & Oddities
41-50 of 50 Weird Science Tidbits & Oddities
12 Responses for "50 Weird Science Tidbits - 2"
50 Weird Science Tidbits You Probably Didn’t Know by Science News Review
February 13th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
1[…] Part 2: 11-20 Part 3: 21-30 […]
Stewart Curry
February 19th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
2nitpicking, but on point 15 - just because something doesn’t float, doesn’t mean you can’t make a boat out of it.
Aileen
February 19th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
3Hi, Stewart. Yeah, nobody carves boats out of pumice. I was trying to follow items that sort of go together with a touch of plucky comic relief. We can go ahead and call that “literary license” if cracking a smile is too much trouble. I don’t mind.
Dan
March 12th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
4Buoyancy of an object will determine if it floats and not its density. Ever here of the concrete canoe building competition?
joe
March 12th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
520. If you sit in the bleachers for a baseball game, you can hear the crack of the bat over the radio sooner then the actual sound itself.
Aileen
March 12th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
6Joe:
“20. If you sit in the bleachers for a baseball game, you can hear the crack of the bat over the radio sooner then the actual sound itself.”
Oh, very cool description, I like it better than the political speech!
Aileen
March 12th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
7Dan:
“Buoyancy of an object will determine if it floats and not its density. Ever here of the concrete canoe building competition?”
Didn’t know they had a competition, did know you can make a boat out of it. I used to refurbish sailboats with my next door neighbor back in the ’60s. He’d get them for nothing after they’d sunk at moor, haul them home to dry out, and we’d do the fiberglassing, mast replacement and refinishing. Then we’d sail them in races and sell them after we won… ยง;o)
The only point was the contrast of wood that won’t float versus rock that will. No need to get into the whole “floating iron bar” not-quite-zombie debate in the realm of consciousness studies!
Brett
March 13th, 2008 at 2:31 am
8Want to know something else that’s interesting. A mere teaspoon of black hole matter would weigh as much as our entire planet.
Aileen
March 13th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
9Hi, Brett. I’ve never heard of the idea that there’s matter in a black hole. Mass yes, but the matter went to Saint Elsewhere!
Lee
March 13th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
10Number 15 Good old american Live Oak is also more dense than water.
Aileen
March 13th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
11Oh, I love live oaks! And they’re more familiar to Americans - or at least southerners - than ironwood is. Thanks, Lee!
Kennytic Energy
March 20th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
12I like it when people type at a maximum of 15 lines, i didnt know there were such things as radio waves…awesome.
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