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Amazing Science Facts

Science is a fascinating subject and presents learners with many amazing things to discover and feel absolutely awed about. Thanks to the progress in science and technology we come to find more and more amazing and mind-boggling facts through intensive research. Read on to find what this fun science facts and trivia holds while also taking a moment to remember that as technology and societies develop so does our understanding of the world around us. What is stated as a ‘fact’ today may be disproved tomorrow. Meanwhile, enjoy these fun science facts while they are around!

1. In an average person’s body there is enough DNA to stretch 17 times from the sun to Pluto and back.

The human genome, the genetic code in each human cell, contains 23 DNA molecules each containing from 500 thousand to 2.5 million nucleotide pairs. DNA molecules of this size are 1.7 to 8.5 cm long when stretched out. There are around 37 trillion cells in the human body and if you uncoil the entire DNA encased in each and every cell and stretch it by putting them end to end, then these would add to a total of 2×1014 meters long or the distance enough for 17 Pluto round trips (1.2×1013 meters/Pluto round trip).

2. There are ten times more bacterial cells than human cells in an average human body.

According to Carolyn Bohach, a microbiologist at the University of Idaho, the bacteria thriving inside a human body would fill half a gallon or 10 times more bacterial cells in the body than human cells. Seriously, though most of these bacteria are needed for our survival; in fact, we couldn’t live without them. Bacteria produce chemicals that help us absorb and make use of energy and nutrients from our food. The bacteria in our digestive system are very important to maintaining immunity as well.

3. It takes a photon around 40,000 years to cover the distance from the core of the sun to its surface; but it takes only 8 minutes to make its way from there to Earth.

Photons travel a distance before being absorbed for a short while and then are released by an atom. The atom scatters it in a new random path or direction. From the core to the sun’s surface (696,000 kilometers) where it escapes into space, a photon will require to make a huge number of jumps. The calculation is not easy but the approximation is that a photon takes between many thousands and many millions of years to drunkenly stray to the surface of the Sun. It is amazing when we realize that the light that reaches us today is energy produced maybe millions of years ago!

4. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth - At over 2000 kilometers long.

Coral reefs consist of huge numbers of individual coral polyps – soft-bodied, invertebrate animals – linked by tissue. The Great Barrier Reef is an interlinked coral polyp system of about 3000 reefs and 900 coral islands. It is divided by narrow passages and is located just beneath the surface of the Coral Sea. It spans more than 2000 km and takes up an area of about 350 000 sq. km. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth and it is also the only one visible from space. But sadly, battered by the effects of climate change, pollution, and manmade disasters this fragile coral colony is beginning to fall apart.

5. Imagine if you knew how many teaspoonful of water there is in the Atlantic Ocean, there is 8 times the number of atoms in a teaspoonful of water than the teaspoonfuls of water in the Atlantic!

How much is a teaspoonful of water? A teaspoon of water is about 5 mL and it contains 2×1023 water molecules, but each water molecule is made up of 3 atoms: two of hydrogen and one of oxygen. If it was possible to lay down each water molecule end to end, only from a teaspoon full, we would end up with a 50 billion km or 10 times the width of our insanely far stretched solar system!

6. The average person walks the distance equivalent of about five times around the world by the time they are 80 years old.

Studies show that a moderately active person takes 7,500 steps per day. If this can be maintained on a daily basis and the person lives to be 80, the distance walked would be around 216,262,500 steps. Calculate that and the results show that the average people with the average stride who lives to be 80 will walk a distance of about 110,000 miles. 110,000 miles is the equal to walking about 5 times around the Earth along the length of the equator.

7. Helium is a superfluid at its lowest temperature. When Helium is cooled to its absolute zero, i.e. -460°F or -273°C, it possesses surprising properties- it flows against gravity and starts running up and over the brim of a glass container!

Helium comes in two distinct liquid states, one of which will totally give you shivers. When Helium is just a few degrees below its boiling point, it will suddenly be able to do things that other fluids can’t. It can drip through molecule-thin crevices, climb up and over the sides of a canister, and stay motionless when its container is spun. No longer a mere liquid, the helium becomes a superfluid—a liquid flowing without friction.

8. A single blood cell takes around 60 seconds to make a complete circuit of the human body!

A normal healthy person has an approximate of 5 liters of blood in their body and the average heart pumps about 70 ml of blood in every beat. A healthy heart beats around 70 times a minute, if we multiply the amount of blood that the heart can pump by the number of beats in a minute we find that it pumps about 4.9 liters of blood, the same amount of blood in our whole body. This would mean that the heart pumps the entire blood volume around the body in just a minute’s time!