101 Amazing Earth Facts
DOOManiac
Worst. Critic. Ever. Join Date: 2002-04-17 Member: 462Members, NS1 Playtester
Worst. Critic. Ever. Join Date: 2002-04-17 Member: 462Members, NS1 Playtester
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">stolen from Blue's News</div>Saw this on Blue's News today. Thought it was pretty neat.
<a href='http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/101_earth_facts_030722-1.html' target='_blank'>101 Amazing Earth Facts</a>
Most of it will be already known to anyone w/ a college or perhaps even a good high school level of science knowledge, but there are a few neat things in there that I didn't know about.
Such as:
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--><b>70. Were Earth and the Moon separated at birth?</b>
Not quite. But leading theory holds that our favorite satellite was carved partly from Earth shortly after the Earth formed. A Mars-sized object slammed into our fledgling planet. The impactor was destroyed. Stuff flew everywhere and a lot of it went into orbit around Earth. The Moon gathered itself together out of the largely vaporized remains of the collision, while Earth hung in there pretty much intact.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--><b>28. Do things inside Earth flow?</b>
You bet. In fact, scientists found in 1999 that molten material in and around Earth's core moves in vortices, swirling pockets whose dynamics are similar to tornadoes and hurricanes. And as you'll learn later in this list, the planet's core moves in other strange ways, too.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--><b>58. What is the fastest surface wind ever recorded?</b>
The fastest "regular" wind that's widely agreed upon was 231 mph (372 kph), recorded at Mount Washington, New Hampshire, on April 12, 1934. But during a May 1999 tornado in Oklahoma, researchers clocked the wind at 318 mph (513 kph). For comparison, Neptune's winds can rage to 900 mph (1,448 kph).<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That same tornado was on the path to hitting my neighborhood, but luckily (for me anyway) it swerved sharply a few beforehand and tore up half of Moore (suburb of Oklahoma City) instead. Amazingly, I think only 2 people died throughout this thing, which is pretty amazing considering the short notice before it hits you.
<a href='http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/101_earth_facts_030722-1.html' target='_blank'>101 Amazing Earth Facts</a>
Most of it will be already known to anyone w/ a college or perhaps even a good high school level of science knowledge, but there are a few neat things in there that I didn't know about.
Such as:
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--><b>70. Were Earth and the Moon separated at birth?</b>
Not quite. But leading theory holds that our favorite satellite was carved partly from Earth shortly after the Earth formed. A Mars-sized object slammed into our fledgling planet. The impactor was destroyed. Stuff flew everywhere and a lot of it went into orbit around Earth. The Moon gathered itself together out of the largely vaporized remains of the collision, while Earth hung in there pretty much intact.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--><b>28. Do things inside Earth flow?</b>
You bet. In fact, scientists found in 1999 that molten material in and around Earth's core moves in vortices, swirling pockets whose dynamics are similar to tornadoes and hurricanes. And as you'll learn later in this list, the planet's core moves in other strange ways, too.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--><b>58. What is the fastest surface wind ever recorded?</b>
The fastest "regular" wind that's widely agreed upon was 231 mph (372 kph), recorded at Mount Washington, New Hampshire, on April 12, 1934. But during a May 1999 tornado in Oklahoma, researchers clocked the wind at 318 mph (513 kph). For comparison, Neptune's winds can rage to 900 mph (1,448 kph).<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That same tornado was on the path to hitting my neighborhood, but luckily (for me anyway) it swerved sharply a few beforehand and tore up half of Moore (suburb of Oklahoma City) instead. Amazingly, I think only 2 people died throughout this thing, which is pretty amazing considering the short notice before it hits you.
Comments
reposting...
not from /.
world is gona end.
gg, man, gg.
and, yujs, very cool <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->86. How much gold has been discovered worldwide to date?
More than 193,000 metric tons (425 million pounds). If you stuck it all together, it would make a cube-shaped, seven-story structure that might resemble one of Donald Trump's buildings. First you'd have to find all those rings that have gone down the drain.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->
98. What is feldspar?
A better question might be, "Who but a geologists could love feldspar?" It happens to be the most common mineral in Earth's crust. But I couldn't find anything about it that most of us really need to know.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
A 1999 study showed that <b>African dust finds its way to Florida </b>and can help push parts of the state over the prescribed air quality limit for particulate matter set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The dust is kicked up by high winds in North Africa and carried as high as 20,000 feet (6,100 meters), where it's caught up in the trade winds and carried across the sea. <b>Dust from China makes its way to North America, too</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Wow.
Yes, but observing the process is less interesting than watching paint dry. Rocks called iron-manganese crusts grow on mountains under the sea. The crusts precipitate material slowly from seawater, growing about 1 millimeter every million years. Your fingernails grow about the same amount every two weeks. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So, rocks DO grow ... meh!
The gravity on Mars is 38 percent of that found on Earth at sea level. So a 100-pound person on Earth would weigh 38 pounds on Mars. Based on NASA's present plans, it'll be decades before this assumption can be observationally proved, however.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Doom 3 marine must be terribly out of shape, considering how little he can jump.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->101. Will Earth always be here?
Astronomers know that over the next few billion years, the Sun will swell so large as to envelop Earth. If we're still here, we'll probably fry and the planet will be vaporized. There's a chance, however, that the changing mass of the Sun will cause Earth to move into a more distant and pleasant orbit. One mathematical calculation shows it would be theoretically possible for humans to engineer such a move before it's too late.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I thought it was now widely believed that the earth would indeed move out of orbit and avoid being swallowed up. But that may be right indeed - the article is two years old.
We canna do it captain! We just DON'T HAVE THE POWAH! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
The gravity on Mars is 38 percent of that found on Earth at sea level. So a 100-pound person on Earth would weigh 38 pounds on Mars. Based on NASA's present plans, it'll be decades before this assumption can be observationally proved, however.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Doom 3 marine must be terribly out of shape, considering how little he can jump.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->101. Will Earth always be here?
Astronomers know that over the next few billion years, the Sun will swell so large as to envelop Earth. If we're still here, we'll probably fry and the planet will be vaporized. There's a chance, however, that the changing mass of the Sun will cause Earth to move into a more distant and pleasant orbit. One mathematical calculation shows it would be theoretically possible for humans to engineer such a move before it's too late.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I thought it was now widely believed that the earth would indeed move out of orbit and avoid being swallowed up. But that may be right indeed - the article is two years old. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Lol
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Oh ****! suns coming right at us! *starts up earths motor engineered in the far future* weeeee lets fly away to another star! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--><!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
On average, about 100. Those are just the ones that hit the ground, though. During any given minute, there are more than a thousand thunderstorms around the Earth causing some 6,000 flashes of lightning. A lot of it goes from cloud-to-cloud. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I like this one. What's larger, 100 lightning strikes a second or 6000 flashes a minute?
We canna do it captain! We just DON'T HAVE THE POWAH! :D <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Actually, according to the very same article, <a href='http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planetearth/earth_move_010207.html' target='_blank'>we do</a>.
Yes, but observing the process is less interesting than watching paint dry. Rocks called iron-manganese crusts grow on mountains under the sea. The crusts precipitate material slowly from seawater, growing about 1 millimeter every million years. Your fingernails grow about the same amount every two weeks. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So, rocks DO grow ... meh! <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well oi best get down and start growr usn's summ rockers hurr hurr.