Amazing Science Facts


Due to gravitational effects, your weigh slightly less when the moon is directly overhead.


Aluminum cans take 500 years to break down.

Chewing gum or eating sugar cubes while peeling onions will keep you from crying.


After spending hours working at a computer display, look at a blank piece of white paper. It will probably appear pink.


During the day, the cartilage discs in the spine are squeezed like sponges by gravity while you stand or sit. But at night, when you lie down to sleep, the pressure is relieved and the discs swell again. For the same reason, astronauts can be temporarily 50mm (2in) taller after a long spaceflight.

Laika (dog) became the world's first space traveler. Russian scientists sent the small animal aloft in an artificial earth satellite in 1957.


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.


Ice is a mineral and is formally described as such in Dana's System of Mineralogy.


When hydrogen burns in the air, water is formed.


Sound travels faster in liquids than in gases because molecules are more tightly packed. In fresh water, sound waves travel at 1,482 meters per second (about 3,315 mph). That's well over 4 times faster than in air.

There are roughly 4,000 known minerals, although only about 200 are of major importance.


A common old wives tale is that fish grow to the size of the aquarium. Actually they will continue to grow as long as they have a quality environment. To find out, a group of researchers kept several trout in a 3 inch diameter tube. Clean water was constantly circulated through the tube. The trout eventually grew to fill the tube completely!


Approximately 50-100 new minerals are described each year.


40 to 50 percent of body heat can be lost through the head (no hat) as a result of its extensive circulatory network.


The speed of an aircraft is measured by Anemometer


Mineral elements taken from Earth provide the colors. Strontium yields deep reds, copper produces blue, sodium yields yellow, and iron filings and charcoal pieces produce gold sparks. Bright flashes and loud bangs come from aluminum powder.


Diamonds are the hardest substance known to man.


Fingerprints serve a function - they provide traction for the fingers to grasp things.


The adult sperm whale will regularly dive to depths of up to 1200 feet in search of their favorite food the Giant Squid. The pressure at this depth is about 500 lbs per square inch. Scientists still do not know how they can withstand the pressure.


Milk in its natural form has a certain amount of sugar. This sugar is called Lactose.


Sound waves travel the slowest through gases, faster through liquids, and fastest through solids. Temperature also affects the speed of sound.


Lightning does not always create thunder. In April 1885, five lightning bolts struck the Washington Monument during a thunderstorm, yet no thunder was heard.


The remains of diatoms, algae with hard shells, are used in making pet litter, cosmetics, pool filters and tooth polish.


Sound travels through air at 331 meters per second (about 740 mph). But, at 20ÂșC, room temperature, sound travels at 343 meters per second (767 mph).


The waste products are expelled as urine at the rate of about 1.4 litres (2.5 pints) a day.


A light-sensitive compound used in photography is Silver bromide.


Depending upon the amount of salt in the water, sea water freezes at about 28 degrees F.


Organic materials take 6 months to break down.


Talc is the softest of minerals. It is commonly used to make talcum powder.


Proteins are made of Amino acids.