13 scientific facts that will expand your knowledge of the world

Sometimes scientists make amazing discoveries so that they are inferior even fiction novels. Our selection of unusual scientific facts can help you expand your horizons and once again convinced that the world around us is interesting and multifaceted.

1. In children, about 70 bones more than adults

In newborns usually about 270 bones, most of which are very small. This makes bones more flexible and helps the child to pass through the birth canal and to grow rapidly. As they get older, many of these bones fuse together. The skeleton of an adult averages 200-213 bones.

2. The Eiffel Tower rises in summer to 15 centimeters

The huge structure built with expansion joints, due to which the steel can expand and contract without any damage.

When steel is heated, it begins to expand and occupies a larger volume. This is called thermal expansion. Conversely, a drop in temperature leads to a decrease in volume. For this reason, large structures, such as bridges, constructed with expansion joints that allow them to vary in size without damage.

3. 20% of the oxygen produced in the tropical forests of the Amazon

Amazon rainforest occupy 5.5 million square kilometers. Amazon jungle produce a substantial portion of the oxygen on Earth by absorbing enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, so they are often called the lungs of the planet.

4. Some metals are so chemically active that explode even when in contact with water

Some metals and compounds - potassium, sodium, lithium, rubidium, and cesium - exhibit improved chemical Activity, however lightning can ignite on contact with air, and omitting them in water - even explode.

5. A teaspoon of a neutron star would weigh 6 billion tons

Neutron stars - remnants of massive stars, consisting mainly of neutron core coated with a relatively thin (about 1 km) bark material in the form of heavy atomic nuclei and electrons. Nucleus of stars who died during the supernova explosion, compressed by gravity. Thus formed superdense neutron stars. Astronomers that the mass of neutron stars can be compared with the mass of the sun, thus that their radius is less than 10-20 km.

6. Each year, close to Hawaii, Alaska 7.5 cm

The Earth's crust is made up of several huge portions - of the tectonic plates. These plates are constantly moving together with the upper layer of the mantle. Hawaii located in the middle of the Pacific plate that slowly drifts in the northwest direction towards the North American plate, which just is Alaska. The tectonic plates are moving with the same speed with which the nails grow in humans.

7. Through 2.3 billion years on Earth will be too hot, so it was possible to life

Our planet will eventually become the vast desert-like Mars today. Hundreds of millions of years, the sun heats, getting brighter and hotter, and will continue to do so. Somewhere in two and a half billion years the temperature becomes so high that the oceans that make Earth habitable, evaporate. The whole planet will become a boundless desert. As scientists predicted, the next few billion years the sun will become a red giant and completely swallow the Earth - the planet definitely come to an end.

8. Polar bear is almost impossible to be detected by the thermal imager

Thermal imagers are able to define the subject of heat, which it emits. And polar bears are experts in preserving heat. Due to the thick layer of fat and a warm coat, the bears are able to tolerate even the coldest days in the Arctic.

9. Light takes 8 minutes 19 seconds to get from the sun to Earth

It is known that the speed of light - 300,000 kilometers per second. But even with such breakneck speed to ensure that the distance between the Sun and Earth, it will take time. And 8 minutes - this is not so much on a cosmic scale. To reach Pluto, sunlight will require 5.5 hours.

10. If you remove all the interatomic space, mankind will fit in a cube of sugar

In fact, more than 99.9999% of the atom - is an empty space. Atom consists of tiny dense core, surrounded by a cloud of electrons that occupy proportionally more space. This is because the electrons are moving in waves. They can only exist where the crests and wave troughs are formed in a certain way. The electrons do not stay at one point, their location can be anywhere within the orbit. And because they take up too much space.

11. Gastric juice is capable to dissolve razor blades

The stomach digests food through caustic hydrochloric acid with a high pH (hydrogen ion exponent) - from two to three. But at the same time, acid attacks and on the gastric mucosa, which, however, is able to recover quickly. The mucous membrane of your stomach is completely updated every four days.

12. Venus - the only planet that rotates clockwise

Scientists have many versions as to why it happens. Most probable: because of huge asteroids that have influenced its course in the past, or because of the strong circulation of air currents in the upper atmosphere.

13. The flea can accelerate faster than the space shuttle

fleas jumping reach staggering heights - 8 centimeters per millisecond. Each jump gives flea acceleration is 50 times greater than the acceleration of the spacecraft.

And what interesting facts you know?