This is actually our third list of science facts, but here we have focussed especially on lesser-known trivia. Hopefully you will find at least a handful of items here that are completely new to you. Be sure to add your own fascinating facts to the comments. If you wish to read the previous lists of facts, they are: Top 20 Amazing Science Facts, and Another 15 Amazing Science Facts.
1. An iceberg contains significantly more total heat energy than a burning match. The reason is the sheer size of the iceberg. [Source]
2. Caves breathe. They inhale and exhale great quantities of air when the barometric pressure on the surface changes, and air rushes in or out seeking equilibrium. [Source]
3. While the chances of being struck by a meteor are extremely slim, there have been a number of documented cases: On June 21, 1994, Jose Martin of Spain was driving with his wife near Madrid when a 3-pound (1.4-kilogram) meteor crashed through his windshield, bent the steering wheel and ended up in the back seat. Martin suffered a broken finger while his wife was uninjured. [Source]
4. When a new queen bee emerges in a hive, she “pipes” (repeatedly sings a G# or A note) to incite her worker bees to fight for her if another queen in the hive needs killing. You can listen to the piping in the youtube clip above. All bees pipe the same note – but Africanized bees pipe more frequently and louder. You can hear another clearer example here. The difference in pitch between the video clip and the sound file is cause by compression and quality of recording devices.
5. There is a current scientific hypothesis that the sun has a companion which is currently about 1-1.5 light years away. It is believed that it has an elliptical orbit which, every 26 million years, sends matter towards the earth causing mass Extinction events. It was the discovery of these seemingly regular events that gave rise to the hypothesis in the first place. The star is predicted to be most likely a red or brown dwarf and has been named Nemesis or “Death Star”. [More]
6. Fulgurite is the name for fossilized lightning. They are natural hollow glass tubes formed in quartzose sand, or silica, or soil by lightning strikes and are formed when lightning with a temperature of at least 1,800 degrees Celsius instantaneously melts silica on a conductive surface and fuses grains together. The image above is a fulgurite.
7. When Anders Celsius (1701–1744) created the celsius scale, he invented it upside-down with 0 ℃ being the boiling point of water and 100 ℃ being the freezing point. It was reversed in the year of Celsius’ death by Carolus Linnaeus.
8. When dropped on a very hard, rigid surface, glass balls and steel balls will bounce higher than rubber ones. The reason is that rubber balls deform significantly on impact, flattening onto the surface, and then springing back. In the process of this squashing, some energy is lost. [Source - physics.illinois.edu]
9. 65 Million years ago, a meteor impact in Chicxulub, Mexico caused megatsunamis thousands of feet high. It is believed by some scientists that this impact was the single cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs. [More]
10. Sound travels much faster through a steel than it does air: Sound travels at 5100 m/s through steel, 1480 m/s through water and 330 m/s through air.
11. Most icebergs are salt-free water caused by mainland glaciers. Some sea-water icebergs do exist – they are green. When an icebergs pics up sea-water, it can create green stripes. Additionally, normal water that freezes more rapidly in the ‘berg can cause blue stripes. These are quite stunning to see and the picture above is a good example of this effect. Click the image above for a larger view; and no, it isn’t photoshopped. Here’s proof.
12. The cracking sound of a whip is actually a sonic boom – this is because the tip of the whip travels faster than the speed of sound. The whip is the first man made device capable of exceeding the sound barrier.
13. At this moment, the earth is in the middle of an ice age which began around 2.58 million years ago. We are in an interglacial period which started between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago and may last for a further 50,000 years before global glaciation begins again. [Source - NASA]
14. The Nintendo gaming software company first opened its doors to business in 1889 as “Nintendo Koppai”. Its first product? Playing cards. [Why is this item on the list? Computer science.]
15. The world’s first nuclear reactor was built in a squash court beneath a Chicago football stadium on December 2, 1942. While it only generated enough power to light a flashlight, it proved that nuclear power was feasible.
#14 seems a little out of place in this list.
it says its there for computer science…
thats crazy about nintendo, sure some of the graphics looked like it was from that era but interesting
Is there any evidence whatsoever for the Death Star?
Surely there would be some way to measure the gravity potential, radiation emission or red/blue shift from a massive body this close to us. I think this theory is bunk. The displacement of asteroids happens as our solar system travels through the galactic belt as we orbit the super massive black hole at the centre of the milky way.
Funny, I’ve read about most of these in the last few days. Some are new, all interesting of course.
stunt all you have to do is watch star wars new hope, what else happened to alderaan???
btw… interesting fact. the force your body exerts when you sneeze propels the boogers and what-not to over 100 mph.
#5 will be my new line to girls
#4 will be my new line to girls
Thank god that Carolus Linnaeus fixed Celsius’ dumb idea of having 100 ℃ being the freezing point and 0 ℃ being the boiling point. We don’t need any more needlessly confusing things like electrons and protons with currents.
Great list, I love these types of lsts.
Ihe only drawback on this one was #5. Is the interesting fact the fact that they are speculating? I ask as there seems to be no evidence for a brown dwarf orbiting the sun apart from extintion events.
why did you feel the need to delete my comment
never been first before! x
That iceberg is stunning! I wonder why I’ve never seen a picture of one like that before… Are they very rare?
Next you’ll join the rabble that think the world is round.
good stuff, but is 14 really anything related to science?
I dont mean to be picky but in thermodynamics heat is considered as an energy transfer. So to say that it contains heat doesnt make much sense:-p.
‘That iceberg is stunning! I wonder why I’ve never seen a picture of one like that before… Are they very rare?’
Does nobody else think it looks photoshopped?
If number 5 is a speculation, what’s it doing on a list about “facts”?
Tis also interesting when you compare with recent studies:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090730141552.htm
Which indicate that no more than 2 or 3 comets could have struck the Earth in the last 500 million years as opposed to strikes every 25 million years.
ooh i like your thinking
you are confusing matter with comets. matter could mean gamma radiation which would kill almost everything on the planet (exception would be those living in water as the sea would provide a barrier as would those under the ground)
i don't buy the sister sun theory but i do buy the occasional events in which the sun emits massive ejections or the magnetic field -produced from the earths liquid iron core would be switched off for a time causing massive amounts of radiation to get in.
The Celcius scale one reminds me that in the UK it’s commonplace to use the Celcius scale in the winter and Farenheight in the summer – in the winter people will say “It’s going to be freezing tonight – below zero”, in the summer we say “What a scorcher – nearly ninety!”. I’ve had to make a conscious effort to use Celcius in the summer because it felt so silly using a mix of scales.
#5 is BS. it’s hypothesis, speculation, and not scientific fact as the title of the list implies.
#8 is very counterintuitive but i suppose it can happen if the collision is perfectly elastic(absolutely no denting or shattering of either the ball or the surface).
as for #13 i predict there will be a global warming… debate which shall ensue soon.
and jfrater could you please direct us to your sources for #’s 8 + 13? i would like to know more, thank you. i love your lists but i have some tiny problems with this one
#5. Using “there is speculation….” in a scientific “facts” list seems a bit odd, doesnt it?. Otherwise a pretty good list although many are not very surprising
This is supposed to be a list of lesser known science facts, and then there is number 14. what is scientific about “14. The Nintendo gaming software company first opened its doors to business in 1889 as “Nintendo Koppai”. Its first product? Playing cards.” Nintendo is neither a scientific fact, nor is it a company devoted to scientific research.
#5-thats just dumb. even if it is fact, the entry starts with “there is speculation”. obviously, if there is only speculation, then it is not a scientific fact…
i really love getting in interstellar travels…just hoping it will become the science fact soon
nice list!
Grade A stuff. I’m uqneutsionbaly in your debt.
‘he invented it upside-down with 0 ℃ being the boiling point of water and 100 ℃ being the freezing point.’
Um. You mean he invented it with 0 ℃ being the boiling point of water and 100 ℃ being the freezing point, and it was later inverted in the year of Celsius’ death by Carolus Linnaeus.
Good list, though the playing cards one is extremely out of place :/
that is so cool!Now i have more science facts to confuse my classmates with!
When I saw the photo of the iceberg I thought it was an “artwork” by Christo.
a kid in germany this year got hit in the forearm by a meteor
UNLUCKY
#5 is a fact, but the fact is that there is a speculation of another star. The fact isn’t that there is another star. Only that there is a speculation makes it interesting enough to put it here on the list.
#8 is simply not true, I’d like to see your evidence/sources.
Another great list. BTW Is #9 really little known? I thought most people knew that one
Some of you people are just ridiculous. Why do you all feel the need to pick everything apart. I thought the list was a lot of fun. Thanks JFrater
5. Well, its a fact that there is speculation?
Anyway, cool list! I love these ones cause they expand my trivia knowledge.
Something new to mull over for today.
I had heard of number 5 before, but sounds more like a crack theory than anything else. I enjoyed the iceberg picture which looks extremely awesome. I would like to see that one in person.
Nice list, JFrater!
@blitz17 (5): I heard that it’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open because your eyeballs would pop out.
Daddy, I want an iceberg just like that one. DADDY!!!!
Sweet list, Nintendo and all.
xoxox
F.
@stefan (27):
Lucky bastard. What wouldn’t I give to be hit in the forearm by the meteor.
@Sam, have to agree it is very beautiful, but it does look like it has been photoshopped. :S
Love the new look, keep up the great work the number of visitors must have increased?.
@Sam (16): The first time I saw one of these pictures was on one of cracked’s “images you won’t believe aren’t photoshopped” lists. Made me giggle. It does look really cool.
#14 isn’t a science fact…but interesting none the less
Numbers 9 and 13 are not facts. It is absolutely ludicrous to state that “x number of million years ago . . .” That is pure speculation.
Rolo – No#9 IS little-known as it is patently UNTRUE!
At best the Chicxulub Meteorite performed the role of “coup-de-gras” – It weas the bullet that helped finish the job.
JFrater got this one HORRIBLY wrong!
Without writing a thesis it boils down thus: There have been MANY meteor strikes which seem to lie IN CONJUNCTION with Dinosaur extinction events – there was more than one!
There was one at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, one (possibly two) during the Jurassic, one at the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary and another about mid-Cretaceous: NONE of them killed off the dinosaurs – they re-built, re-radiated and re-established each time – with a subsequent arising of new species and genera.
FACTORS ONE & TWO: Fast-forward to the end of the Cretaceous: 75 million years ago (75MYA) there were about 8-12 Hadrosaur species with Corythosaurus, Prosaurolophus, Lambeosaurus and Maiasaura making up 55% of the large herbivore niche; there were about 5 or 6 species of Ceratopsians with Torosaurus, Centrosaurus, Stryracosaurus and Chasmosaurus making up the remainder of large herbivores: there were 3 or 4 large (7-metres-plus) predatory therapods and about 7 more in the 3 – 7-metre range. By the time of Chicxulub those numbers had dropped to 1 Hadrosaur (Saurolophus) making up 70% of all Hadrosaurs and 15% of large herbivores with Triceratops making up 95% of all Ceratopsians and 85% of large herbivores – this is called SPECIES PAUCITY and EQUABILITY.
FACTOR THREE: Land bridges opened up world-wide allowing Dino’s to reach other continents – - – taking their parasites and diseases with them and encountering the indigenous ones – these ‘pandemics’: several leading palaeontologists have theorised and provided data to affirm – created massive die-offs across the globe; or POPULATION DESTRUCTION – which combined with Factor One – could have proved catastrophic (but these had also happened previously (if you want proof of Population Destruction – check what Rinderpest did to Africa’s antelope populations after it was introduced there by the Asian cattle Kitchener used to haul his cannon up the Nile to Khartoum)
FACTOR FOUR: The COSMIC BULLET: Chicxulub! The dinosaur genera were reeling under the two factors above, plus several other minor factors such as some habitat destruction due to shifting ocean levels and so on.
However, Chicxulub set off massive firestorms, tsunami and earthquakes world-wide which, in turn set off – - – -
FACTOR FIVE: Megavolcanism. Just as a bullet fired into a body will leave a small entry wound on impact and a big one on exit – so did Chicxulub. Of course the meteorite didn’t ‘punch through’ the earth – it’s too big! However it DID set off massive earthquakes – especially along the west coast of India (which was, then almost DIRECTLY OPPOSITE the Chicxulub impact point – and India itself was, as Australia is now – an island continent). These set off massive volcanism – especially in western India creating what is now known as the Deccan Traps – a lava field 500,00 square kilometres and in places up to 2,000 metres thick.
These four factors – along with several minor ones led to the extinction of dinosaurs – as we traditionally view them:
Species Paucity + Equability + Migratory Pandemic + Chicxulub + Volcanism = ALMOST total wipeout.
NOT Total – Not ALL of the dinosaurs went extinct: the Avian branch of SuperOrder Dinosauria is still with us – - – BIRDS are dinosaurs and if not in the first half of this century – then almost certainly by the end of it Order Aves (Birds) will be relegated to Family Aves under Suborder Theropoda which will be under SuperOrder Dinosauria.
Even THIS convincing concatenation of factors is still a theory – though, to date the best one so far; and the one generally accepted as most likely by the palaeontological community – No I’m not a palaeontologist as well; but I AM a ‘gifted amateur’ with many links to that community, a teacher in dinosaurian studies at schools as workshops (Primary and Secondary) and have written two dinosaur books and with a third on the drawing board.
Bottom line: NO ONE THING KILLED OFF THE DINOSAURS!
Some very interesting points have been made here, it is refreshing to see that your site gets quality visitors.
#1 is WRONG
Heat is the process of energy transfer from one body or system to another due to a difference in temperature. Therefore an object cannot contain heat. It may contain energy which can transfer out of the object in the form of heat. The source article uses incorrect terminology. You cannot compare a match with an iceberg.
If the statement refers to the rate of energy being given off in the form of heat then it is possible. If this is what you were was being claimed then the statement should read “The rate that an iceberg releases energy, in the form of heat, is greater than a burning match. The reason is the sheer size of the iceberg.”
Yeah, the MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO stuff is nonsense. Welcome to the new mythology, people.
Oh dear! It looks like this list has been well and truly flayed in a rather gruesme manner!
I did find @Shagrat’s(41) ‘rant’ to be extremely interesting, if a little on the angry side. Thanks for that! :\
@Shagrat : You should go meet Ross from Friends. You two would get along just fine!
Btw the reason the Celsius scale wasn’t changed when Anders Celsius was still alive was because he was a wacko, and all his colleagues were scared of point out the flaw. So they just waited until he died. Or so I’ve heard!
Some very interesting points raised here, which has got me thinking!
Ive heard the Ice Age one before. Im sure it *****es people off to think that we are actually in an Ice Age rather than in global warming. Or, if we are in global warming its probably good, because now were getting closer to the norm.
@Shagrat (41): Not horribly wrong – just a tad too simplistic, I agree. It wasn’t only the birds that made it either, was it? Pretty sure crocs, coelocanths, a myriad of insects, and sharks lived through that particular decimation. Probably some I’ve missed too.
I take issue with #5 – hypothesis is not fact, and I haven’t been able to find any supporting evidence at all. Even the cyclical nature of extinction events is up in the air. There are many that do NOT fit into any discernible pattern.
#14 is not a science fact.
#14 doesn’t have anything to do with science. come on
Whatcha thinking air conditioners hire?
Sorry to be a pest, but how exactly is the Nintendo fact considered “Science”? Sounds more like a choice for a busines-based list.
Thousands of years ago, this list would be
#1: the earth is round
#2: Gravity holds us on the ground
#3: Earth orbits around the sun
GOD THIS LIST *****ING SUCKS. none of this is even new *****.
I imagine the list creator is likely under age. I am surprised that this list was acceptable to “listverse.com”. The few facts above are well known and the rest is just speculation/hypothesis. I won’t even start with the “Unknown scientific Nintendo fact”XD
I’ve been surfing the web since the nineties, and never comment on anything. This is probably the eighth or ninth time in over ten years. I’m soooooo disappointed in Listverse. You are a daily bookmark stop for me, and this list (hopefully written by a child) was constructed very poorly. Reminds me of someone’s personal blog that was lost in translation.
Who proof reads this stuff? Come on guys. Even your most boring, unexciting lists blow this one out of the water. The bee clip at the beginning….scroll,scroll..read scroll…scroll…OH, that’s what that clip is for….
Had to check my URL to make sure I wasn’t at The Onion.
Great list! The iceberg looks beautiful!
@D. Sharp (56): It was written by JFrater, the maker of the site.
My brother showed me how to do number 12 just while ago while we were cleaning rugs outside, it was pretty cool. I liked this list, keep it up.
No way! JFrater, what’s up dude! This list is yours!
I didn’t mean to sound like such a a**hole, but damn…
This list is not even close to being listverse worthy. I love this site, and visit every day like I said earlier this is slopped together poppy*****(don’t know what it means, but it sounds cool).
Pleeeease tell me you let your kid or little bro/sis use your name and all will be forgiven. Pleeeeeeeease.
)
lets get some better list