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kilogram
  • The kilogram is based on a reference cylinder that was made 118 years ago, and now kept under a glass prison in France
  • The kilogram cylinder appears to be losing 50 micrograms a year (when compared with the average of dozens of copies), and scientists are now seeking a new definition for the kilogram

gravity
  • Canada has a lower gravitational pull than the USA. This is possibly due to an effect called the “post-glacial” rebound

memory
  • For most people, their visual short term memory holds a total of 4 images
  • The sense of smell is most linked to memory
  • A report in the Jan 2007 issue of Cognition reported that you are more likely to remember events when assuming a body position similar to that struck during the event

X-ray
  • Röntgen the inventor of the X-ray was color blind and never commented on the colors of the fluorescence he observed
  • X-ray is not invisible but actually “blue grey” in colour

zero-point
  • Zero point energy is a source of energy which is released when atoms stop moving, at -273 Celcius. Impossible?

water
  • Hot water weighs less than cold water for a given volume.Thanx Tony W
  • There are more than 326 million trillion gallons of water on Earth
  • If hot water is suddenly poured into a glass that glass is more apt to break if it is thick than if it is thin. This is why test tubes are made of thin glass
  • If a glass of distilled water is microwaved, and then taken out upon which an additive is added, it will explode

telescope
  • The telescope on Mount Palomar, California, can see a distance of 7,038,835,200,000,000,000,000 miles
  • NASA’s GLAST main telescope weighs 3 tons but uses less than 1/2 the power of a hair dryer

solar eclipse
  • It is impossible for a solar eclipse to last for more than 7 minutes 58 seconds
  • There is an interesting phenomenon that occurs just before an eclipse called ’shadow bands’. If you place several square feet of white paper on the ground, you can see ripples of shadows dancing on the paper. This varies from eclipse to eclipse and the amazing fact is that it is the sun causing this.

pH
  • Most people know what pH means, but few people know that it stands for pondus hydrogenii which means potential hydrogen and that each unit is a phidron. Thanx Pramesh H

metric
  • The metric system was to blame for the loss of the Mars Climate orbiter.


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