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Whats the coldest place on Earth?
Far and away, the coldest temperature ever measured on Earth was -129 Fahrenheit (-89 Celsius) at Vostok, Antarctica, on July 21, 1983.
Is Earth a sphere?
Because the planet rotates and is more flexible than you might imagine, it bulges at the midsection, creating a sort of pumpkin shape. The bulge was lessening for centuries but now, suddenly, it is growing, a recent study showed. Accelerated melting of Earth's glaciers is taking the blame for the gain in equatorial girth.
Where is the world’s highest waterfall?
The water of Angel Falls in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters).
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.
Is Saturn the only ringed planet?
Saturn has the most obvious rings. But Jupiter and Neptune both have subtle ring systems.
And even Earth may once have been a ringed planet, the result of some space rock’s glancing blow.
What is the hottest place on Earth?
Count one wrong if you guessed Death Valley in California. True enough on many days. But El Azizia in Libya recorded a temperature of 136 degrees Fahrenheit (57.8 Celsius) on Sept. 13, 1922 – the hottest ever measured. In Death Valley, it got up “only” as high as 134 Fahrenheit on July 10, 1913.
On average, how much water is used worldwide each day?
About 400 billion gallons.
What two great American cities are destined to merge?
The San Andreas fault, which runs north-south, is slipping at a rate of about 2 inches (5 centimeters) per year, causing Los Angeles to move towards San Francisco. Scientists forecast LA will be a suburb of the City by the Bay in about 15 million years.
What is the longest mountain chain on Earth?
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which splits nearly the entire Atlantic Ocean north to south.
Iceland is one place where this submarine mountain chain rises above the sea surface.
What is the highest, driest, and coldest continent on Earth?
Antarctica. Also the only continent to have no ants.
What makes thunder?
Lightning, sure, but to be more illuminating: the air around a lightning bolt is superheated to about five times the temperature of the sun. This sudden heating causes the air to expand faster than the speed of sound, which compresses the air and forms a shock wave; we hear it as thunder.
How far does regular dust blow in the wind?
A 1999 study showed that African dust finds its way to Florida 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. Dust from China makes its way to North America, too.
Where is the largest volcano?
The Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii holds the title here on Earth. It rises more than 50,000 feet (9.5 miles or 15.2 kilometers) above its base, which sits under the surface of the sea. But that's all volcanic chump change. Olympus Mons on Mars rises 16 miles (26 kilometers) into the Martian sky. Its base would almost cover the entire state of Arizona.
What would a 100-pound person weigh on Mars?
The gravity on Mars is 38% of that of Earth at sea level. So a 100-pound (45 kg) person on Earth would weigh 38 pounds (17 kg) on Mars. (On the moon, your weight would be a measly 16 pounds (7 kg)!)
Is Earth's core solid?
The inner portion of the core is thought to be solid. But the outer portion of the core appears molten. We've never been there though, so scientists aren't sure of the exact composition. An interesting bit of recent evidence shows Mars’ core may be similarly squishy. Scientists figured this out by studying the tides on Mars.
Can rocks float?
In a volcanic eruption, the violent separation of gas from lava produces a “frothy” rock called pumice, loaded with gas bubbles. Some of it can indeed float, geologists say.
How much space dust falls to Earth each year?
Estimates vary, but the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) says at least 1,000 million grams, or roughly 1,000 tons of material enters the atmosphere every year and makes its way to Earth’s surface. One group of scientists claims microbes rain down from space, too, and that extraterrestrial organisms are responsible for flu epidemics, although there's been no proof of this, and I'm not holding my breath.
What was the deadliest known earthquake?
The world’s deadliest recorded earthquake occurred in 1557 in central China. It struck a region where most people lived in caves carved from soft rock. The dwellings collapsed, killing an estimated 830,000 people. In 1976 another deadly temblor struck Tangshan, China. More than 250,000 people were killed.
How long is a Martian year?
It's a year long, if you're from Mars. To an earthling, it's nearly twice as long. The red planet takes 687 days to go around the Sun – compared to 365 days for Earth. So calendars on Mars are all 687 days long. (But how do the Martians work out their months, given that they have two moons?)
Does all of Earth spin at the same rate?
The solid inner core – a mass of iron comparable to the size of the Moon – spins faster than the outer portion of the iron core, which is liquid. A study in 1996 showed that over the previous century, the extra speed caused the inner core to gain a quarter-turn on the planet as a whole. So the inner core makes a complete revolution with respect to the rest of Earth in about 400 years. Immense pressure keeps it solid.
Can rocks grow?
Yes. 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.
How far is it to the center of the Earth?
The distance from the surface of Earth to the center is nearly 3,700 miles (5,955 kilometers). Much of Earth is fluid. The mostly solid skin of the planet is only 41 miles (66 kilometers) thick – thinner than the skin of an apple, relatively speaking.
What was the strongest earthquake in recent times?
A 1960 Chilean earthquake, which occurred off the coast, had a magnitude of 9.6 and broke a fault more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) long. An earthquake like that under a major city would challenge the best construction techniques.
How long is the average Martian day?
A Martian can sleep (or work) an extra half-hour every day compared to you. Mars days are 24 hours and 37 minutes long, compared to 23 hours, 56 minutes on Earth. A day on any planet in our solar system is determined by how long it takes the world to spin once on its axis, making the Sun appear to rise in the morning and sending it down in the evening.
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.