501 Astonishing Facts E-Book

Sanjeev Garg

• Herausgeber: V&S Publishers
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Seitenzahl: 80

Beschreibung

Interesting and entertaining

Leseprobe

Published by:

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© Copyright: ISBN 978-935-05720-6-1

DISCLAIMER

While every attempt has been made to provide accurate and timely information in this book, neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, unintended omissions or commissions detected therein. The author and publisher make no representation or warranty with respect to the comprehensiveness or completeness of the contents provided.

All matters included have been simplified under professional guidance for general information only without any warranty for applicability on an individual. Any mention of an organization or a website in the book by way of citation or as a source of additional information doesn't imply the endorsement of the content either by the author or the publisher. It is possible that websites cited may have changed or removed between the time of editing and publishing the book.

Results from using the expert opinion in this book will be totally dependent on individual circumstances and factors beyond the control of the author and the publisher.

It makes sense to elicit advice from well informed sources before implementing the ideas given in the book. The reader assumes full responsibility for the consequences arising out from reading this book. For proper guidance, it is advisable to read the book under the watchful eyes of parents/guardian. The purchaser of this book assumes all responsibility for the use of given materials and information. The copyright of the entire content of this book rests with the author/publisher. Any infringement/ transmission of the cover design, text or illustrations, in any form, by any means, by any entity will invite legal action and be responsible for consequences thereon.

Contents

1. Astonishing Planet Earth

2. Unbelievable Facts About Universe

3. Truths About Human Body

4. Fascinating World of Animals

5. Peculiar Birds

6. Surprising Plant Kingdom

7. Facts About People

8. Amazing Facts About Places

9. Wonders of Science & Technology

10. Astonishing Miscellany

PREFACE

In our daily life, we see or hear from others about many fascinating things. Sometimes, they appeartotally unbelievable. This bookpresents 501 such Astonishing Facts.

The book has been presented in ten chapters. These highlight the most peculiar aspects of the earth, universe, human body, animals, birds, plants, people, places, science, technology and many others. The book also shows some additional items. Most of the facts have been illustrated fairly well.

The book has been written in a popular easy appealing language for the common readers, especially children.

I hope it will be appreciated by all readers.

Sanjeev Garg

1. ASTONISHING PLANET EARTH

Booming Sound

Loud booming sounds are produced in deserts when sand slips down the steep faces of the dunes.

How Cold

The average temperature at South Pole is -50°C. In 1983, Russian Vostok Station, east of the South Pole recorded the lowest temperature of-89.2°C.

Magnetic Poles

The North Magnetic Pole is about 1600 km from the true North Pole, while the South Magnetic Pole is about 2570 km from the South Pole (Fig. 1.1).

Geyser

Old Faithful Geyser, Yellowstone, USA regularly shoots thousands of gallons of streaming water high into the air between 37 and 46 m.

Wind Speed

On Antarctica, the speed of the wind sometimes goes beyond 300 km/hr.

Loudest Volcanic Explosion

During the last 3,000 years, the greatest single Volcanic explosion was of Krakatoa (Indonesia) on August 27,1883. It was equivalent to 1,500 mégatonnes of TNT, making it 25 times more powerful than the biggest ever nuclear explosion. Its sound of explosion was heard somewhere in Australia at a remote distance of 4700 km.

Life on Earth

Life on Earth began about 3,500 million years ago, just after 1,100 million years of its origin.

River Nile

Among the 50 big rivers of the world, Nile is 6,650 km long and Amazon 6,450 km long.

Desert Without Rain

Atacama desert of Chile never had any rainfall for about 400 years until 1971. It is considered as the driest plateau across the world.

International Date-line

A traveller crossing the International date-line can actually leave the same day of a week twice (Fig. 1.3).

Sailing Around the Earth

It is possible to sail all the way around the Earth on latitude 60° south.

Rock of Ages

The oldest known rocks, found in Western Australia are about 3,200 million years old — about 3 00 million years younger than the planet itself.

Lowest Hill

The lowest hill of 15 ft height is shown on the official map of Syria. Its name is Bukit Thompson.

Water Cycle

Water which has been evaporated today from the oceans will reach back after a period of 1,000 years (Fig. 1.4).

Ice Thickness

The greatest ice thickness in Antarctic region has been measured to be 4,776 metres i.e., about 3 miles.

Oceans

We see land everywhere on the Earth, but it is a planet whose 71 per cent land mass is covered with water (Fig. 1.5).

Tides

The greatest tides occur in the bay of Fundy.

Iceberg

In 1956, an iceberg from Antarctica came on record-335 km long and 97 km wide much larger than the size of Delhi (Fig. 1.6).

Underground Lake

Most of the lakes are on the land, but there is one under the ground. Its name is Lost Sea. It is in the USA and was discovered in 1905.

Sand Dunes

Sand Dunes in Sahara Desert can attain heights of 1,400 ft. equivalent to many mountains of Earth.

Natural Bridge

Man has made beautiful and long bridges all over the world, but Nature has made bridges of its own. Such a highest natural bridge exists in Sinkiang, China, which is 312 m height with a span of 45 m.

Antarctic Ice Melt

If the ice of Antarctic continent melts, the level of water in the oceans will become so high that the whole world will become flooded.

Sahara

Sahara desert occupies about 1/8 area of the land. It is about 9 million square kilometres.

Sea Level

Due to the global warming effect, the level of water in the Caspian Sea has started rising. This is a warning to human race that any day, the continents may become over-flooded.

2. UNBELIEVABLE FACTS ABOUT UNIVERSE

Giant Star

Antares star is about 420 million kilometres in diameter, which is 300 times the width of the sun.

Black Hole

The gravitational field inside a black hole is so strong that it can swallow anything in the universe, even a passing star and its light. If a book weighing 1 kg is brought to within 6 m of a black hole, it would weigh a million million tonnes.

Lunar Scars

The surface of the moon is pitted with craters of all sizes up to 250 km in diameter. These have been created by meteorites smashing into the surface long ago (Fig. 2.2).

Thunderstorms

At any given moment, there are about 1,800 thunderstorms raging around the world, generating between them about 6,000 flashes of lightning every minute (Fig. 2.3).

Largest Volcano

The largest volcano in the solar system is on Mars Olympus Moons, 600 km wide and 24,000 m high, is nearly three times higher than Mt. Everest.

Sun’s Revolutions

So far, sun has orbited the Galaxy 20 times, because it takes 220 million years to orbit the centre of the Galaxy.

Power Houses

Quassars are stupendous power houses. They give out as much energy as hundreds of galaxies from a volume of space only a light year across.

Meteorite Hit

A meteorite in 1954 badly bruised a woman in Alabama, USA.

Heavenly Missile

In the morning of June 30, 1908, a brilliant fireball blazed through skies over Siberia, exploding above the stony Tunguska river with a force of a 12 megaton bomb. It knocked down trees for up to 30 km around, set the forest ablaze and caused shock waves like an earthquake. It was perhaps the fragment from the head of a comet, about 100-metre across and one million tonnes in weight.

Jupiter

Jupiter planet is mostly made of gases.

Halley’s Comet

Halley ‘ s comet is seen after every 76 years in the sky. It was last seen in the year 1986.

Sea of Rains

The Sea of Rains is situated on the moon. Amazingly it has no water.

Space Record

Astronauts can stay in space for a few days but surprisingly Valley Ryumin of USSR has stayed in space in Salyut-6 for 362 days — almost a year.

Dog in Space

The first living being to go into space was a dog namedLaika on 3rd November 1957.

Sun’s Size

109 Earths would fit side by side across the diameter of the sun.

Life of Sun

The Sun is a 5 billion years old star and is supposed to remain exist for another 5 billion years (Fig. 2.5).

Sirus

Sirus is called Dog Star

Planet’s Name from a God

The planet Jupiter - the largest in the solar system - gets its name from Rome’s supreme God, Jupiter.

A Chip of the Moon

A tiny slice of moon rock is sealed in the stained glass window dedicated to scientists and technicians in Washington Cathedral, USA. The rock was brought to Earth by Apollo-astronauts in 1969.

Planet that Spins Backwards

Unlike other planets in the solar system, Venus spins not from west to east, but from east to west.

The Fastest Moon