Language Trivia

"Euouae," a medieval music term, is the longest word in English that contains only vowels. Its also the word with the most consecutive vowels. "Screeched," which means to make a harsh sound, is the longest one-syllable word in English. "Unprosperousness", meaning not wealthy or profitable, is the longest word in English in which each letter is used at least two times. The words "facetiously," "abstemiously," and "arseniously," each contain all six vowels (including y) in alphabetical order. The word "duoliteral" contains all five vowels (not including y) in reverse alphabetical order. At 45 letters, "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis," which refers to a lung disease, is often considered the longest word in English. "Feedback" is the shortest word in English that has the letters a, b, c, d, e, and f. "Floccinaucinihilipilification," is the longest word in English that does not contain letter e No words in English rhyme with: "month," "orange," "silver," or "purple." Q is the only letter that does not occur in any of the U.S. state names. "Maine" is the only U.S. state whose name is just one syllable. "Bookkeeper" is the only English word that has three consecutive double letters. The word therein contains only seven letters, but it contains 10 words that can be formed using consecutive letters: the, there, I, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, herein. The sentence The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog is a pangram, which is a sentence that uses every letter of the alphabet.

"United Arab Emirates," a small country in the Middle East, is made up of alternating vowels and consonants. It is the longest name of a country whose letters do that.
Words

Orthography The longest common (i.e., likely to appear in an unabridged "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis " (45)6; dictionary) word The two longest one-syllable words in English "screech ed" (9)2, "strength s" (9)2.

words which contain all five (or six, if you append "ly") vowels in "facetious "1, "abstemious "4, "annelidous "5, "arsenious "4 alphabetical order words which contain all five vowels in reverse alphabetical order

"duoliteral "5, "subcontinental "5 "uncomplimentary "5

words which contain the longest "bergschrund " (6), "borscht s" (6), "eschscholtzia " (6), "latchstring " strings of consonants14 (6), "weltschmerz " (6) longest word with no repeated letters sentence containing seven spellings of the [i] ("ee") sound sentence containing nine ways the combination "ough" can be pronounced "uncopyright able" (15)4

"He believed Caesar could see people seizing the seas." "A rough -coated, dough -faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough ; after falling into a slough , he cough ed and hiccough ed."

longest word typeable on a "desegregate d" (12), "desegregate s" (12), "reverberate d" (12), 9 qwerty keyboard with left hand "reverberate s" (12), "stewardess es" (12), "watercress es" (12) longest word typeable on a "homophony " (9), "homophyly " (9), "nonillion " (9), "pollinium " (9),

qwerty keyboard with right hand10 longest word typeable on a qwerty keyboard with alternating hands11

"polyonomy " (9), "polyphony " (9)

"dismantlement " (13)

longest word typeable on a qwerty keyboard on the top row "rupturewort " (11), "proterotype " (11) ("qwertyuiop")7 longest word typeable on a qwerty keyboard on the middle row ("asdfghjkl")8

"alfalfa s" (11), "hadassah " (11)

Semantics words with two synonyms which "cleave " ("adhere " and "separate ")4 are antonyms "cover " ("conceal " and "expose ")13 "sanction " ("approve " and "prohibit " (colloquial))12 "transparent " ("hidden " (jargon) and "known " (jargon))15 "trim " ("garnish " and "prune ")16 seemingly contradictory synonyms "flammable " and "inflammable " "toxicant " and "intoxicant "

word describing the shape of the "orthotetrachidecahedrons"4 bubbles in beer foam origin of the word "checkmate" Persian phrase "Shah Mat", which means "the king is dead".4

English language did you knows

Did you knowthe most commonly used letter in the alphabet is E Did you knowthe least used letter in the alphabet is Q Did you knowdreamt is the only word that ends in mt

Did you knowthe first letters of the months July through to November spell JASON Did you knowthere are only 4 words in the English language which end in 'dous' (they are: hazardous, horrendous, stupendous and tremendous) Did you knowthe oldest word in the English language is 'town' Did you know'Bookkeeper' and 'bookkeeping' are the only 2 words in the English language with three consecutive double letters Did you knowthe word 'Strengths' is the longest word in the English language with just one vowel Did you knowthe dot on top of the letter 'i' is called a tittle Did you knowthe past tense for the English word 'dare' is 'durst' Did you knowthe word 'testify' derived from a time when men were required to swear on their testicles Did you knowThe first English dictionary was written in 1755 Did you knowthe word old English word 'juke' meaning dancing lends its name to the juke box Did you know1 out of every 8 letters written is an e Did you knowthe longest one syllable word in the English language is 'screeched' Did you knowall pilots on international flights identify themselves in English regardless of their country of origin Did you knowthe expression to 'knuckle down' originated from playing marbles (players used to put their knuckles to the ground for their best shots) Did you knowthe word 'almost' is the longest in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order Did you knowthe most commonly used word in English conversation is 'I'

Language & Words Trivia & Useless Facts

The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead". The only city whose name can be spelled completely with vowels is Aiea, Hawaii. Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic."

"Polish" is the only word in the English language that when capitalized is changed from a noun or a verb to a nationality. "Corduroy" comes from the French, "cord du roi" or "cloth of the king." The slash character is called a virgule, or solidus. A URL uses slash characters, not back slash characters. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable. The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate. The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed." The highest scoring word in the English language game of Scrabble is 'Quartzy'. This will score 164 points if played across a red triple-word square with the Z on a light blue double-letter square. It will score 162 points if played across two pink double-word squares with the Q and the Y on those squares. 'Bezique' and 'Cazique' are next with a possible 161 points. All three words score an extra 50 points for having seven letters and therefore emptying the letter rack in one go. The English word with the most consonants in a row is latchstring. The word "robot" was created by Karel Capek. It came from Czech/Slovak "robotovat," which means to work very hard. The only word that consists of two letters, each used three times is the word "deeded." A hamlet is a village without a church and a town is not a city until it has a cathedral. The stress in Hungarian words always falls on the first syllable. The word "karate" means "empty hand." The word "girl" appears only once in the Bible. The abbrevation "PDX" (Portland International Airport) is derived from "P" standing for Portland and "DX" meaning long distance or wide reaching. The abbreviation "ORD" for Chicago's O'Hare airport comes from the old name "Orchard Field." Switching letters is called spoonerism. For example, saying jag of Flapan, instead of flag of Japan. A H I M O T U V W X Y are the symmetric capital letters in the Roman alphabet. i l o t u v w x are the symmetric lower case letters in the Roman alphabet. All Hebrew orignating names that end with the letters "el" have something to do with God. Source: Joshua Allen

The 'v' in the name of a court case does not stand for 'versus', but for 'and' (in civil proceedings) or 'against' (in criminal proceedings). The term, honeymoon, is derived from the Babylonians who declared mead, a honey-flavored wine, the official wedding drink, stipulating that the bride's parents be required to keep the groom supplied with the drink for the month following the wedding; that month became known as the honeymonth, hence our honeymoon. Source: Bryan Giese "Rhythm" and "syzygy" are the longest English words without vowels. The national anthem of the Netherlands "Het Wilhelmus," is an 'acrostichon.' The first letters of each of the fifteen verses represent the name "Willem Van Nassov" (old spelling.) Source: Albert Siersema The two longest one-syllable words in the English language are "screeched" and "strengths." Source: Michael Baraz 'Strengths' is the longest word in the English language with just one vowel. The longest place-name still in use is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupoka iwhenuakitanatahu, a New Zealand hill. The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. It is a a pneumoconiosis caused by the inhalation of very fine silicate or quartz dust. The only other word with the same amount of letters is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural. The second longest word in the Oxford English Dictionary is "floccinaucinihilipilification," which means "the act of estimating as worthless." The third longest word in the English language is "antidisestablishmenterianism". The longest muscle name is the "levator labiisuperioris alaeque nasi" and Elvis popularized it with his lip motions. 'Stewardesses' and 'reverberated' are the two longest words (12 letters each) that can be typed using on the left hand. The longest word that can be typed using on the right hand is 'lollipop'. 'Skepticisms' is the longest word that can be typed using alternate hands. One of the longest English words that can be typed using the top row of a typewriter (allowing multiple uses of letters) is 'typewriter.' One out of every eight letters used in written English is an e. Source: "2201 Fascinating Facts" Alma mater means bountiful mother. No words in the English language rhyme with orange, silver or purple. The language Malayalam, spoken in parts of India, is the only language whose name is a palindrome.

The words 'sacrilegious' and 'religion' do not share the same etymological root. The phrase "sleep tight" originated when mattresses were set upon ropes woven through the bed frame. To remedy sagging ropes, one would use a bed key to tighten the rope. No word in the English language rhymes with month. "Evian" spelled backwards is naive. The word denim comes from 'deNimes', or from Nimes, a place in France. Dublin comes from the Irish Dubh Linn which means Blackpool. Scottish is the language called Gaelic, whereas Irish is actually called Gaeilge. "Freelance" comes from a knight whose lance was free for hire, i.e. not pledged to one master. The term "Mayday" used for signaling for help after (SOS), it comes from the French term "M'aidez" which is pronounced "MayDay" and means, "Help Me" The term "devil's advocate"comes from the Roman Catholic church. When deciding if someone should become a saint, a devil's advocate is always appointed to give an alternative view. When two words are combined to form a single word (e.g., motor + hotel = motel, breakfast + lunch = brunch) the new word is called a "portmanteau." Avocado is derived from the Spanish word 'aguacate' which is derived from 'ahuacatl' meaning testicle. AM and PM stand for "Ante-Meridian" and "Post-Meridian," respectively, and A.D. actually stands for "Anno Domini" rather than "After Death." The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb. Lucifer is latin for "Light Bringer". It is a translation of the Hebrew name for Satan, Halael. Satan Means "adversary", devil means "liar". Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order. The heraldic term "gules", meaning red, comes from the French word "gueules", meaning a throat. The "D" in D-day means "Day". The French term for "D-Day" is "J-jour". The only Dutch word to contain eight consecutive consonants is 'angstschreeuw'. There is a word in the English language with only one vowel, which occurs six times: Indivisibility. The letters H I O X in the latin alphabet is the only ones that look the same if you turn them upside down or see them from behind. There are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet. The youngest letters in the English language are "j," "v" and "w." The only capital letter in the Roman alphabet with exactly one end point is P. The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.

"Xmas" does not begin with the Roman letter X. It begins with the Greek letter "chi," which was used in medieval manuscripts as an abbreviation for the word "Christ" (xus=christus, etc.) The letter W is the only letter in the alphabet that doesn't have 1 syllable... it has three. "Bookkeeper" and "bookkeeping" are the only words in the English language with three consecutive double letters. There is a seven letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, here, ere therein, herein. "Underground" is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters "und." "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt". There are only three words in the English language with the letter combination "uu." Muumuu, vacuum and continuum. The first letters of the names of the Great Lakes spell HOMES. The first letters of the months July through November, in order, spell the name JASON. The oldest word in the English language is "town" Hydroxydesoxycorticosteroneandhydroxydeoxycorticosterones are the largest anagrams. Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula" and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, "L.A." The Old English word for "sneeze" is "fneosan." The word "Boondocks" comes from the Tagalog (Filipino) word "Bundok," which means mountain. Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable. The derivation of the word trivia comes from the Latin "tri-" + "via", which means three streets. This is because in ancient times, at an intersection of three streeets in Rome (or some other Italian place), they would have a type of kiosk where ancillary information was listed. You might be interested in it, you might not, hence they were bits of "trivia." There are only four words in the English language which end in "-dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous. "Speak of the Devil" is short for "Speak of the Devil and he shall come". It was believed that if you spoke about the Devil it would attract his attention. That's why when your talking about someone and they show up people say "Speak of the Devil" The "Nullarbor" in Nullarbor Desert in Western Australia is a Latin name; Null=No, Arbor=Trees. The word "samba" means "to rub navels together."

The 'y' in signs reading "ye olde.." is properly pronounced with a 'th' sound, not 'y'. The "th" sound does not exist in Latin, so ancient Roman occupied (present day) England use the rune "thorn" to represent "th" sounds. With the advent of the printing press the character from the Roman alphabet which closest resembled thorn was the lower case "y". "Hara kiri" is an impolite way of saying the Japanese word "seppuku" which means, literally, "belly splitting." The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language. The word "moose" was originally Algonquin. The Sanskrit word for "war" means "desire for more cows." The ampersand (&) is actually a stylised version of the Latin word "et," meaning and." The word "hangnail" comes from Middle English:ang- (painful) + nail. Nothing to do with hanging. QANTAS, the name of the Australian national airline, is a (former) acronym, for Queensland And Northern Territories Air Service. The word 'byte' is a contraction of 'by eight.' The word 'pixel' is a contraction of either 'picture cell' or 'picture element.' No modern language has a true concept of "I am." It is always used linked with are in reference of another verb. The naval rank of "Admiral" is derived from the Arabic phrase "amir al bahr", which means "lord of the sea" In Chinese, the words for crisis and opportunity are the same. German has a word for the peace offerings brought to your mate when you've committed some conceived slight. This is "drachenfutter" or dragon's food. The Chinese ideogram for "trouble" symbolizes "two women living under one roof". The correct response to the Irish greeting, "Top of the morning to you," is "and the rest of the day to yourself." Swahili is acombination of African tribal languages, Arabic and Portuguese. The abbreviation for pound, "lb.," comes from the astrological sign Libra, meaning balance, and symbolized by scales. The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P. The native tribe of Tierradel Fuego has a language so guttural it cannot have an alphabet. Sheriff came from Shire Reeve. During early years of monarchial rule in England, each shire had a reeve who was the law for that shire. When the term was brought to the United States it was shortned to Sheriff. The Greek version of the Old Testament is called the Septuagint.

The word "queueing" is the only English word with five consecutive vowels. The word "modem" is a contraction of the words "modulate, demodulate." (MOdulateDEModulate) "Mr. Mojo Risin" is an anagram for Jim Morrison. The shortest French word with all five vowels is "oiseau" meaning bird. Pinocchio is Italian for "pine head." The infinity sign is called a lemniscate. The only word in the English language with all five vowels in reverse order is "subcontinental."

Alphabet did you knows

Did you knowthe Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters Did you knowthe most commonly used letter in the alphabet is E Did you knowthe least used letter in the alphabet is Q Did you knowif you try to say the alphabet without moving your lips or tongue every letter will sound the same Did you knowthe sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the English alphabet Did you knowthe word 'rhythm' is the longest word without a vowel Did you knowthe letter W is the only letter in the alphabet that has 3 syllables (all others have 1) Did you know1 out of every 8 letters written is an e Did you knowthe Cambodian alphabet has 74 letters

Word did you knows

Did you know'Topolino' is the name for Mickey Mouse Italy Did you knowdreamt is the only word that ends in mt Did you knowthe names of all continents both start and end with the same letter Did you knowthe first letters of the months July through to November spell JASON Did you knowspiders are arachnids and not insects Did you knowstewardesses is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand Did you knowthe Internet was originally called ARPANet (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) designed by the US department of defense Did you knowAfrican Grey Parrots have vocabularies of over 200 words

Did you knowa 'jiffy' is actually 1/100th of a second Did you know1 googol is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros Did you knowthe word laser stands for 'Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation' Did you knowthe Australian aircraft carrier QANTAS stands for Queensland And Northern Territories Aerial Service Did you knowthere are only 4 words in the English language which end in 'dous' (they are: hazardous, horrendous, stupendous and tremendous) Did you knowthe oldest word in the English language is 'town' Did you know'Bookkeeper' and 'bookkeeping' are the only 2 words in the English language with three consecutive double letters Did you knowthe word 'Strengths' is the longest word in the English language with just one vowel Did you knowa group of frogs is called an army Did you knowa group of rhinos is called a crash Did you knowa group of kangaroos is called a mob Did you knowa group of whales is called a pod

Space did you knows

Did you knoweach time you see a full moon you always see the same side Did you knowthe longest possible eclipse of the sun is 7.31 minutes Did you knowHalley's comet passes the Earth every 76 years (the next time it will return will be 2062) Did you knowthere is no sound in space Did you knowMars appears red because it's covered in rust Did you knowEarth is the only planet not named after a god Did you knowif your DNA was stretched out it would reach to the moon 6,000 times Did you knowduring a total solar eclipse the temperature can drop by 6C (20F) Did you knowa full moon is 9 times brighter than a half moon Did you knowthe moon orbits the Earth every 27.32 days Did you knowthe Moons diameter is 3,476km Did you knowVenus is the only planet that rotates clockwise Did you knowthe sun is 330,330 times larger than the Earth Did you knowevery year the sun loses 360 million tons Did you knowfleas can accelerate 50 times faster than a space shuttle

Did you knowover 500 meteorites hit the Earth each year Did you knowthe Sun has a diameter of 1,390,176km (864,000miles) Did you know45% of Americans don't know that the sun is a star Did you knowall the planets in our solar system could fit inside Jupiter Did you knowan area of the Suns surface to the equivalent of a postage stamp would shine with the brightness of over 1,500,000 candles

. There are 62,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body laid end to end they would circle the earth 2.5 times 2. At over 2000 kilometers long, The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth 3. The risk of being struck by a falling meteorite for a human is one occurrence every 9,300 years 4. A thimbleful of a neutron star would weigh over 100 million tons 5. A typical hurricane produces the energy equivalent of 8,000 one megaton bombs Facts 6 10

6. Blood sucking hookworms inhabit 700 million people worldwide

7. The highest speed ever achieved on a bicycle is 166.94 mph, by Fred Rompelberg 8. We can produce laser light a million times brighter than sunshine 9. 65% of those with autism are left handed 10. The combined length of the roots of a Finnish pine tree is over 30 miles Facts 11 15

11. The oceans contain enough salt to cover all the continents to a depth of nearly 500 feet 12. The interstellar gas cloud Sagittarius B contains a billion, billion, billion liters of alcohol [JFrater is planning to move there in the near future] 13. Polar Bears can run at 25 miles an hour and jump over 6 feet in the air 14. 60-65 million years ago dolphins and humans shared a common ancestor

15. Polar Bears are nearly undetectable by infrared cameras, due to their transparent fur Facts 16 20

16. The average person accidentally eats 430 bugs each year of their life 17. A single rye plant can spread up to 400 miles of roots underground 18. The temperature on the surface of Mercury exceeds 430 degrees C during the day, and, at night, plummets to minus 180 degrees centigrade 19. The evaporation from a large oak or beech tree is from ten to twenty-five gallons in twenty-four hours 20. Butterflies taste with their hind feet, and their taste sensation works on touch this allows them to determine whether a leaf is edible

More fun animal facts:

Rats breed so quickly that in just 18 months, 2 rats could have created over 1 million relatives. The blue whale can produce the loudest sound of any animal. At 188 decibels, the noise can be detected over 800 Horses and cows sleep while standing up. Giant Arctic jellyfish have tentacles that can reach over 36 metres in length.

Locusts have leg muscles that are about 1000 times more powerful than an equal weight of human muscle. Hummingbirds are so agile and have such good control that they can fly backwards. Instead of bones, sharks have a skeleton made from cartilage. Insects such as bees, mosquitoes and cicadas make noise by rapidly moving their wings. The horn of a rhinoceros is made from compacted hair rather than bone or another substance. Sharks lay the biggest eggs in the world. Even when a snake has its eyes closed, it can still see through its eyelids. Unlike humans, sheep have four stomachs, each one helps them digest the food they eat. Despite the white, fluffy appearance of Polar Bears fur, it actually has black skin. As well as being a famous Looney Tunes character, the Tasmanian Devil is a real animal that is only found in the w Australia. It is the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world. The average housefly only lives for 2 or 3 weeks. Mosquitoes can be annoying insects but did you know that it's only the female mosquito that actually bites humans Cats use their whiskers to check whether a space is too small for them to fit through or not.

Hydrogen is the first element on the periodic table. It has an atomic number of 1. It is highly flammable and is the most common element found in our universe. Morehydrogen facts. Liquid nitrogen boils at 77 kelvin (196 C, 321 F). More nitrogen facts. Around 1% of the suns mass is oxygen. More oxygen facts. Helium is lighter than the air around us so it floats, that's why it is perfect for the balloons you get at parties. More helium facts. Carbon comes in a number of different forms (allotropes), these include diamond, graphite and impure forms such as coal. More carbon facts, diamond facts, and coal facts. Under normal conditions, oil and water do not mix. More oil facts. Although it is still debated, it is largely recognized that the word 'chemistry' comes from an Egyptian word meaning 'earth'. The use of various forms of chemistry is believed to go back as long ago as the Ancient Egyptians. By 1000 BC civilizations were using more complex forms of chemistry such as using plants for medicine, extracting metal from ores, fermenting wine and making cosmetics. Things invisible to the human eye can often be seen under UV light, which comes in handy for both scientists and detectives. Humans breathe out carbon dioxide (CO2). Using energy from sunlight, plantsconvert carbon dioxide into food during a process called photosynthesis. Chemical reactions occur all the time, including through everyday activities such as cooking. Try adding an acid such as vinegar to a base such as baking soda and see what happens! Above 4 C, water expands when heated and contracts when cooled. But between 4 C and 0 C it does the opposite, contracting when heated and expanding when cooled. Stronger hydrogen and oxygen bonds are formed as the water crystallizes into ice. By the time it's frozen it takes up around 9% more space. Often formed under intense pressure over time, a crystal is made up of molecules or atoms that are repeated in a three dimensional repeating pattern. Quartz is a well known example of a crystal. Athletes at the Olympic Games have to be careful how much coffee they drink. The caffeine in coffee is a banned substance because it can enhance performance. One or two cups are fine but they can go over the limit with more than five. (update - as of 2004 caffeine has been taken back

off the WADA banned list but its use will be closely monitored to prevent future abuse by athletes.)

People that study biology are known as biologists. Australias Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth. Reaching over 2000 kilometres (1240 miles) in length. The first person to see a live cell with a microscope was Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, in 1674. Ecology is the study of ecosystems and how organisms interact with their environment. While some bacteria can make you sick, others have positive benefits such as helping you digest food or even make yoghurt. Moulds, yeasts and mushrooms are types of fungus. The common cold is a type of virus. Viruses can be treated with antiviral drugs. Bacteria are extremely small and are made up of just one cell. Bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics. Animals that eat plants as their primary food source are known as herbivores. Endangered species are those that are in danger of being completely wiped out, they include blue whales, tigers and pandas. Without protection these species may eventually become extinct. Born on July 5th 1996, Dolly the sheep was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell. When the DNA of an organism changes and results in a new trait (characteristic) it is known as mutation. French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur was well known for inventing a process to stop various foods and liquids making people sick. Called Pasteurization, it reduces the amount of microorganisms that could lead to disease without having a noticeable effect on taste and quality in a way which methods such as sterilization might. Charles Darwin developed the idea of natural selection, sometimes called survival of the fittest. It is a process that involves living things with favorable traits being more likely to reproduce, passing on their favorable traits to future generations.

Because of differences in gravity, a 100kg (220 pound) person would only weigh 38kg (84 pounds) on Mars. More gravity facts. Electric eels can stun both predators and prey with electric shocks of around 500 volts. More electricity facts. Energy from food is usually measured in joules or calories. More energy facts. Light from the Earth takes just 1.255 seconds to reach the Moon. More light facts. Sound travels at a speed of around 767 miles per hour (1,230 kilometres per hour). More sound facts. When traveling at 80 kilometres per hour (50 miles per hour), cars use around half of their fuel just to overcome wind resistance. Water can work against gravity, moving up narrow tubes in a process called capillary action. A magnifying glass uses the properties of a convex shaped lens to magnify an image, making it easier to see. A scientist who studies physics is known as a physicist. Uranus is the only planet in our solar system that rolls on its side like a barrel, while Venus is the only planet that spins in the opposite direction to Earth. The fastest land animal in the world is the Cheetah, clocking a max speed of around 113 km per hour (70 mph). 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics was won by Albert Einstein for his work in the field of theoretical physics.

Capital cities and their names - Origins and History

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Did you ever wonder how a place got its name? Why London or Paris or Cairo are called so? Sometime it is very clear like in the case of Washington, or Peretsburg. But other times the meanings have been lost and we have to dig dipper to find out. In the absence of written evidence historians have to rely on other sources and call in other disciplines. They analyze the origins and the roots of the words - etymology, the legends mythology, the results of the earth excavations - archeology and others sources. Based on all the information they can gather through the sources I mentioned above, and other I did not mention, they come up with theories and hypothesis about the subject. Then they correlate them with historical facts and sometime with common sense and they rank those theses. Then the academic world comes to weight them and to accept one ore more of them. The most accepted ones become the official theories and are then spread as a fact to all of us. But sometime a name prove to have such obscure origins that not even scientists can separate the myth from the reality. Thats the case with very old cities. We hardly know now why London is named like that or when it was originated. Here are some of the world most famous and old cities and the theories (or facts) behind their names.

The London Bridge Source: getintravel.com

London (British capital)

The historians have decided that London comes from the Latin word Londinium which was given to a pace on the actual London site. Londinium could come from a. the name of a Celt called Londinos, that they think it means the wild one, b. from a king called Lud that had taken over the place and named it Kaerlud, c. from plowonida, a Celtic pre-european word that translates river too wide to ford probably referring to the river Thames that runs through. In welsh plowonida became Llundain. To conclude, there is much theory then certainty. What we know for sure is that when Romans conquered the place around 43 AD they referred to it as Londinium. During centuries, London has been also called Augusta, Lundenwic and Lindenburh. The first written mention of London as Londinium comes from the roman historian Tacitus describing the battle between Boudicca's armies (the queen of a Celtic tribe) and the Romans in the year of 60 AD.

Paris and the Effel Tower Source: http://viaterra.net

Paris (The capital of France)

Paris, the Capital of France got its name from a Celtic tribe called Parisii. According with linguists, parisii means working people. They lived in the region of Paris called Nanterre though it was thought that their first settlement was a fishing village in Ile de la Cite sur la Seine about 250 BC. The first written documents about the city date in the first century BC when the Romans conquered Gaul (parts of the actual territory of France) during Julius Cesar campaign in 52 BC. These documents mention a settlement called Lutetia Parisiorum, more then likely a Celtic name too. During the Roman rule the city maintain the name of Lutetia but once the roman empire disintegrated the city was rename Paris (about 360 AD). And so remained until today.

Tokyo (The capital of Japan)

Tokyo means the east capital and got its actual name in 1868 when it became the capital of Japanese empire. (The Japanese empire was proclaimed in January 1868 and lasted until May 1947). Before this date the city was known as Edo and Tokey. A small village at origins, Tokyo grew into a fortress during the Edo period and then, with the rise of Tokugawa shogun (1543 - 1616) it became the capital of Japan. For a while, Tokyo shared responsibilities with Kyoto another large city in Japan. While Tokyo was the economic and political center of the country, Kyoto was the residence of the emperors and their families. In 1867 the secular shogunate of Japan came to an end and the emperors took full prerogatives. The Meiji emperor moved to Tokyo and declared the city the official capital of Japan.

Bucharest, Arc de Triomph Source: see-mas2010.cs.pub.ro

Bucharest (The capital of Romania)

The name of the Romanian capital is Bucuresti, Bucharest being the western pronunciation. According with an old legend, on the present site of the city was once a village founded by a shepherd called Bucur. In Romanian language bucur means joy. But the name of the city is not associated in any way with joy. The first document that mention the name of Bucuresti dates from 1459. The city was, at first, a trade center and later, at the end of the 17th century, became the capital of the Principality of Wallachia and kept its status through the unification of Wallachia with Moldavia and Transylvania.

New York (a metropolis in U. S.)

First known as New Amsterdam, from its first dutch colony, the city was renamed New York in 1664 when the English colonists took control over the dutch settlement in honor of the Duke of York and Albany, later king James II of England, Scotland and Ireland.

York is a city with a very long history situated in northern England. Today, it is accepted that York comes from a Celtic word and means the place with yew trees, yew being a conifer native to some parts of Europe.

Istanbul, Hagia Sofia Source: the-black-sea.net

Istanbul (The capital of Turkey)

If the name is traced through Greek etymology, then Istanbul means in the city but if the name is traced through Turkish folklore then it means plenty of Islam. So, it is a little of a dispute here. But Turkish capital and its list names has a long and complicated history. The first settlement, called Lycos, was founded by Thracians sometimes in the 11th century BC. In antiquity the city became famous under he name of Bizantium, (Bizantyon). It changed names in 5th century AD, when it was named Constatinople, after the emperor Constantin the Great. In 1453 the Turks conquered the city and made it their new political headquarter. For century, the metropolis was the capital of Ottoman Empire, under the name of Constantinople. The Turks didnt mind the greek name, more likely seeing it as a reason of pride and prestige. But they did used the name of Istanbul too, sometime associated with military authority. Istanbul became the official and only name of the capital of Turk Republic in 1930.

Other capitals
Madrid (Spain) means place of abundant water Moscow (Russia) (Moskva in Russian) comes from the river that runs through the city - Moskva. Copenhagen (Denmark) means the port of merchants Budapest (Hungary) was formed by putting together the names of two cities settled on the left and right bank of Danube river: Buda and Pest. Cairo (Egypt)means the strong in arabic. Egyptians translate it as place of combat Beijing (China) means the north capital. Berlin (Germany) means swamp Belgrade means white city Californium
Astatine is the rarest element on Earth (approx 28g in the Earth's entire crust.)

Guest Bryan

Californium
The element Californium is often called the most expensive substance in the world (as much as $68 million for one gram.)
Guest Bryan

Hydrofluoric acid
Do you know that hydrofluoric acid is so corrosive that it will dissolve glass,although it is corrosive,hydrofluoric acid is consided to be a weak acid
Praise505

carbon
Car tires are black because they are about 30% carbon black , which is added to rubber to strengthen it . The carbon black also helps it to prevent against U.V. damage
Guest sakshi duklan

5 Phases
In the modern age, there are 5 known phases of matter, SOLID, LIQUID, GAS, PLASMA and BOSE EINSTEINIUM
Guest Clarence

ionization potential
cesium has lowest ionization potential. because ionization potential decreases as the size of the element increases .so cesium being smaller than francium having the lowest ionization potential in the long form of periodic table,because francium is radio active .
Guest poojbaaya

Name three allotropes of Carbon

Question: Name three allotropes of Carbon: Answer: Diamond, Graphite, and Fullerene...
Guest Duck

Tungsten(W)
Tungsten has highest m.p(3300centigrate).so it is used as a filament in bulb.
Guest Raghvendra Pal

mnemonic for organics

Most Electrons Prefer Bonding=MEPB= Methane Ethane Propane Butane
Guest Ed Schramko

litmus
Rub the petals of a red chinarose on a piece of white paper and let it dry for two minutes in air. Now just put a single drop of lemon sap on it, you will see a color change from blue to red. Here you have made a litmus paper- a quick and simple way to test the presence of acid and base.
Guest krishnendu

Atmosphere
Oxygen is not the most abundant element in our atmosphere. The most abundant element is Nitrogen, 78% while Oxygen is 21% and Argon is just short of 1%. Carbon Dioxide and trace elements make up the rest.
Guest Matt

When the noble ones combine...

Xenon hexaflouroplatinate (XePtF6) is the first compound with a noble gas in it. It was first produced by Neil Bartlett in 1962.
Guest Eyenine

Fastest Half-Life
Berrylium-8 has the shortest half-life, 70 x 10^-18 seconds, or 0.000000000000000070 seconds.
Guest Eyenine

Very Cold!
The lowest temperature reached in the laboratory is 7 nanokelvins, very near to absolute zero. The temperature was reached when helium was cooled to become a superfluid -- a fluid that could defy gravity.
Guest Eyenine

Cops and Copper

Cops got the nickname because buttons on their uniforms use to be made of copper metal. In England, policemen were nicknamed "coppers" and the US has shortened this to "cops."
Guest TaxiLab

Chemistry is a fascinating science, full of unusual trivia! Here are some fun and interesting chemistry facts for you. The only elements that are liquid at room temperature arebromine and mercury. However, you can melt gallium by holding a lump in the warmth of your hand.

Unlike many substances, water expands as it freezes. An ice cube takes up about 9% more volume than the water used to make it. If you pour a handful of salt into a full glass of water, the water level will actually go down rather than overflowing the glass. There is about 1/2 lb or 250 g of salt (NaCl) in the average adult human body. A pure element can take many forms. For example, diamond and graphite both are forms of pure carbon. The chemical name for water (H2O) is dihydrogen monoxide. The only letter that doesn't appear on the periodic table is J. Lightning strikes produce O3, which is ozone, and strengthen the ozone layer of the atmosphere.

The only two non-silvery metals are gold and copper. Although oxygen gas is colorless, the liquid and solid forms of oxygen are blue. The human body contains enough carbon to provide 'lead' (which is really graphite) for about 9,000 pencils. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, while oxygen is the most abundant element in the earth's atmosphere, crust, and oceans (about 49.5%). The rarest naturally-occurring element in the earth's crust may be astatine. The entire crust appears to contain about 28 g of the element. Hydrofluoric acid is so corrosive that it will dissolve glass. Although it is corrosive, hydrofluoric acid is considered to be a 'weak acid'. One bucket full of water contains more atoms than there are bucketfuls of water in the Atlantic ocean. Approximately 20% of the oxygen in the atmosphere was produced by the Amazon rainforest. Helium balloons float because helium is lighter than air. Bee stings are acidic while wasp stings are alkaline. Hot peppers get their heat from a molecule called capsaicin. While the molecule acts as an irritant to mammals, including humans, birds lack the receptor responsible for the effect and are immune to the burning sensation from exposure.

Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide, CO2. Liquid air has a bluish tint, similar to water. More Chemistry Facts

Giant Molecules
Rubber like you see on wheels of vehicles is actually one giant molecule.
Guest Mad science

diamond
a diamond does not melt in acid.the only thing that can melt is the intense heat.
Guest reyna

PRABHAT (P+A)
red phosphorus is a non-metal. it is not malleable and forms acidic oxide, e.g., P
Guest PRABHAT KUMAR

Graphite
Graphite can be transformed into diamond by applying a temperature of 3000C and pressure of 100,000 atm
Guest THE HELPER

lightning
Here is a chemistry fact/trivia: lightning is 3 times hotter than the sun.
Guest krischa

Equation
Oxygen + Hydrogen= Hydrogen Oxide which is the same as water H20!

Guest olivia

Lewis, Clark, and Mercury

Sam Kean in his book "The Disappearing Spoon" wrote that Lewis and Clark carried mercury laxatives with them on their famous trek. Today, archaeologists test the soil for mercury contamination to help identify their campsites.
Guest Retired J.O.

Snowballs that burn

Under the right conditions, snow can form from hydrates instead of pure water. Hydrates are 3-dimensional crystalline structures that are stabilized by small molecules such as methane, ethane, propane, carbon dioxide, etc. Snowballs made from hydrates will actually burn due to the hydrocarbons trapped in their water crystals.
Guest Margie

Carbon
A diamond and pencil lead are made from the same element (carbon).
Guest Fact Man

vitamin-A
IT IS A TYPE OF ALCOHOL.(C20H29-OH). contains an ionone ring and hydrocarbon chain.
Guest dhanashree

Lead Plumbing
The word "plumbing" comes from the word "plumbum", which is the old name for lead and the origin of its symbol Pb. Modern plumbing uses pipes made from PVC or copper rather than lead, which is highly toxic. However, you may find copper pipes with lead solder. Hard water tends to form mineral deposits which can protect against lead leaching into the water.
Guest Anne

Here are some interesting chemistry facts who knows, you may some day be on jeopardy. Glass is actually a liquid, it just flows very, very slowly. Same with asphalt. In the early 1940s a large portion of the worlds plutonium supply was accidentally ingested by a lab technician. The majority of plutonium, like other heavy metals, passes right through your digestive tract. Dont ask how they recovered all that plutonium Did your high school tell you there are three states of matter? Solid, liquid, gas. Or Maybe they threw in a fourth state, plasma. In fact, there are many more than just three

or four states of matter. Around absolute zero a lot of funny things happen and new states of matter pop up, like Bose-Einstein condensates which defy gravity. Watson and Crick, the co-discoverers of the DNA double helix never actually ran any experiments on their own, but rather read deeply into others work and deduced the structure. Lithium can alter how you think and has been known to cure certain mental illnesses. In fact, lithium is used in a lot of psychoactive drugs. One of the first x-rays, a picture youve probably seen of a womans hand with a ring on it, was of Bertha Rontgens hand. She thought seeing her bones was a death omen. Hot water freezes quicker than cold water. People used to drink radioactive water from a device called the Revigator. It was considered to be a healthy drink. Diamonds arent the rarest gems on Earth. In fact, theyre relatively common. The rarest gem is jadeite and costs about $3 million per carat. Only 28 grams of the rarest substance on Earth exist. Whats the rarest substance on Earth? Astatine. Gallium, a metal element, will melt in your hand. You can even buy some here . Liquid oxygen is blue. The letter J is the only letter that doesnt appear in the periodic table. Every time lightening strikes, ozone is created. More facts to come!

Facts About People

Shakespeares tombstone in Stratfords Holy Trinity Church bears this inscription, said to have been written by him: Good friend, for Jesus sake forbear to dig the dust enclosed here. Blest be the man that spares these stones, and curst be he that moves my bones. The Hindus of India once believed that the Earth was a huge bowl (to keep the oceans from falling off) held up by giant elephants standing on long pillars. No one back then ever thought to ask what the pillars were standing on! The first black surgeon to do open heart surgery was Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. In 1893, he saved a man who was knifed by opening his chest and sewing together the wound, which was only a fraction of an inch from his heart. He was one of the first to do this. He accomplished this without any modern medical devices, such as x-rays.

Thomas Crapper developed the flush toilet. In 1884, he simulated the materials a toilet would normally handle, to create a super-flush which had completely cleared away: 10 apples, 1 flat sponge, 3 air vessels, Plumbers Smudge coated over the pan, 4 pieces of paper adhering closely to the soiled surface. A fantastic feat of flushing! Vincent Van Gogh only sold 1 painting his whole life and that was to his brother! A Japanese explorer named Maomi Uemura was the first man to reach the North Pole alone, on April 29, 1978, after his eight-week journey. Mark Twain, one of Americas best-loved authors, dropped out of school when he was 12 years old, after his father died. On April 2, 1872, Victoria Woodhull became the first woman candidate for the U.S. presidency. Babe Ruth kept a cabbage leaf under his cap to keep cool. Abraham Lincoln once invented a device for lifting riverboats over shallow water. Did you know that the Egyptians thought the world was in the shape of a rectangle and that the heavans were held up by four giant pillars? They also warned sailors not to go to far away or you just might row off the giant rectangle called Earth. When the Queen of England heard this she sent 4 ships south, north, east and west to search for these pillars. When they didnt find any (because the world is in the shape of a sphere) they questioned the Eygptians and they told her the pillars must have been farther than they predicted! Clever werent they? There were about 300 bones in your body when you were born, but by the time you reach adulthood you only have 206. A dentist invented the electric chair!!! The largest baby to be born so far weighed in at 15 pounds, 5 ounces! Sir Edmund was the first to climb Mt. Everest and return back. The tallest man in this world was Robert Wadlow, a chinese man who was 71 tall! Thomas Edison, the inventor of the lightbulb, was actually afraid of the dark.

acts About Weather and Nature

You may have heard someone say, Its raining cats and dogs. There have been actual documented cases from all over the world of fish, frogs, dead birds, snakes, snails, beetles, worms and jellyfish raining down from the sky in great numbers, but no reports of showers of cats or dogs. Almost two-thirds of the earths surface is covered by water. If the earth were flat, water would cover everything in a layer two miles deep! During a solar eclipse, the shadows of leaves make the same crescent shape of the eclipsing sun. The image is made by light passing through tiny holes in the leaves. Tired of the cold weather? Take a vacation on the hottest planet in the solar system Venus. At over 800 degrees, it is hotter than Mercury because the clouds and abundant carbon dioxide hold in most of the heat received from the sun. Geologists have discovered there seems to be more water miles deep between the rocks of Earths mantle than in all the oceans of the world. The intense pressure of the tons of rocks above keeps the hot water from turning to steam and escaping. Water is the only substance on earth that is lighter as a solid than a liquid. The biggest canyons in the world are under water. Beneath the Bering Sea off Alaska there are seven giant canyons: Bering Canyon, 240 miles long; Navarin Canyon, 60 miles wide; Zhemchung Canyon, 9000 feet deep. In comparison, the Grand Canyon in Arizona is only 10 miles wide, one mile deep and 250 miles long. The Sahara, one of the worlds largest and driest deserts with sand up to thirty feet deep was once a land with flowing rivers, humid swamps and lush fields. Cave painting, 9,000 years old, found in the heart of

the Sahara, show men herding cattle and hunting lions and hippos. About 2,000 years ago the cave painters, herders and animals left because the area that was rapidly becoming the desert we know today. Seeds from a wild flower, the Artic Lupine, found in Alaska, have grown in the lab after being frozen in the ground for 10,000 years. The bristle-cone pine, which grows in the deserts of Nevada and California, is the oldest living species in the United States. Some are believed to be 4600 years old and can live to be 5500 years old. Monster waves of over 100 feet tall can suddenly appear at sea when there is no storm to cause them. They are actually accidental meetings of several waves that can combine to form one huge one that can easily sink a freighter. When scientist drilled through the ice of Antarcticas Lake Vanda, they discovered that the water at the bottom of the lake was an amazingly warm 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Ice crystals actually heat the water by focusing on the bottom of the lake. The 6,288-foot summit of New Hampshires Mount Washington has some of the worst weather in the world. The strongest wind measured was 231 miles per hour. The official low is 47 below zero Fahrenheit, but the cold often combines with the wind to produce wind-chills of 150 degrees below zero. The ground is permanently frozen in a layer from 20 to 100 feet below the surface. Since 1851, over 100 people have died of falls or exposure on the mountain. 8,200 below the surface of the ocean a ridge of volcanoes stretch around the globe. Vents in the ridge spew mineral rich water at temperatures of 700 degrees Fahrenheit or more. In the hot waters, bacteria live feeding on the minerals. Tube worms grow to six feet long and foot long clams grow 500 times faster than their relatives living near the surface. On February 20, 1943 in a cornfield near the village of Paricutin, Mexico, the ground cracked open and began to spew red-hot rocks. A volcano was born. It grew to 35 feet the first day. By 1952, it had soared to 1,352 feet and had buried two towns. A two-mile thick dome of glacial ice covers most of Greenland. The weight of the ice is so great that if it suddenly melted the bedrock of the island would rise 2500 feet! Iceland is a 39, 000 square mile island that is built of lava from volcanoes. Major eruptions occur every 6 or 7 years. Almost 1/3 of the worlds lava output since 1500 has poured out onto Iceland. There are giant waterfalls under the ocean! The largest is between Greenland and Iceland. This submarine waterfall drops 11,500 feet; three times the height of any land waterfall. The loudest sound in history was recorded in July 1883 when a volcano on the tiny Indian Ocean island of Krakatau erupted. The explosion was heard 3,000 miles away in Madagascar. Ash clouds shot 25 miles into the sky. The eruption also created giant tsunami, sea waves, that reached heights of 175 feet, speeding across the ocean at 400 miles an hour and destroyed over 300 towns. Ball lightning can sometimes float through a glass window without breaking it; other times the glass is smashed to pieces! Have you ever heard the expression, knock your socks off? If you are struck by lightning, your socks and shoes may be knocked off. Rapid evaporation and expansion of sweat on your skin blows your clothes off. You may not be hurt if the current does not enter your body. The place with the most number of rainy days per year is Mount Waialeale on Kauai, Hawaii up to 350 days. The longest time that a place remained without rain was Arica, Chile from October, 1903 to January, 1918 14 years! The more salt you put on ice, the more the ice melts. The hottest continent on earth is Africa, where a record high of 136.4 degrees F was once recorded. Antarctica is the coldest continent on earth, where a temperature of 126.9 degrees F below zero was once recorded. It gets as cold as minus 160 degrees F. ten miles above the ground on earth! Raindrops arent really shaped like drops; they are perfectly round!

Antarctica gets less precipitation than any other continent on earth. The Atacama Desert in Chile is the driest place on earth, where it has an average of three-hundredths of an inch of rain per year. The greatest snowfall recorded in a day was 75.8 inches at Silver Lake, Colorado on April 14-15, 1921. I wonder how long schools were closed?
Submitted by: Todd

Hold on to your hat! The fastest wind speed ever recorded was 231 miles per hour on Mount Washington, New Hampshire on April 12, 1934.
Submitted by: Todd

The hottest place on earth is in Dallol, Ethiopia, which is a sizzling 94 degrees in the shade on a typical day! A lightning bolt is 4 times hotter than the sun.
Submitted by: B

Once in England, because of a water spout, it rained frogs!

Submitted by: Taylors

Roy Sullivan, A U.S. park ranger, was struck by lightning seven times during his life and lived to tell about each of those strikes! Lightning strikes 1,000 times per second on the planet earth. Windmills always turn counter-clockwise, unless theyre in Ireland. Cows sometimes sit down in a field when they know its going to rain. (that way, they are saving a dry spot to sit for themselves). How long can you tread water? The greatest rainfall recorded in a day was 73.62 inches at Reunion in the Indian Ocean on March 15, 1952.
Submitted by: Todd

One inch of rain is equal to 10 inches of snow. The number of bacteria in a quart of soil from your backyard garden is 30 times greater than the population of the world. Steamboat Geyser, located in Yellowstone National Park, is the most powerful geyser in the world, and can shoot super-hot water 300 feet in the air. Every year, plants make and store ten times the amount of energy that people use. Glass is made of sand. Did you know that the Empire State Building once got stuck by lightning 9 times in 20 minutes.
Submitted by: Kathryn

In the tropical rainforest it gets about 80 to 400 inches of rain yearly. If it is raining really hard, it gets about 2 inches of rain per hour.
Submitted by: Emily

One tree can provide enough oxygen for 2 people to live off of for their whole lives.
Submitted by: Michelle

The lowest place in North America is Death Valley at 282 feet below sea level.
Submitted by: Tina

acts About World Records

The fastest bird is the peregrine falcon. It can fly at a speed of 168-217 miles per hour. Hans Langseth had the longest beard at a record length of 17 1/2 feet long! When he died, his beard was given to the Smithsonian Institute. The deadliest disease was the pneumonic form of the Black Death of 1347-1351. It had death rate of 100%.

The largest egg laid by a living bird is that of the North African Ostrich. It is 6 to 8 inches in length and 4 to 6 inches in diameter. The smallest is that of the hummingbird. It is less than 0.39 inches in diameter. The hottest continent on earth is Africa, where a record high of 136.4 degrees F was once recorded. Antarctica is the coldest continent on earth, where a temperature of 126.9 degrees F below zero was once recorded. Chicago is home to three of the five tallest buildings in the world the Sears Tower, Standard Oil Building, and John Hancock Center. The hottest place on earth is in Dallol, Ethiopia, which is a sizzling 94 degrees in the shade on a typical day! Angel Falls in Venezuela is 20 times taller than Niagara Falls. The blue whale is the largest animal that ever lived (it could reach 100 feet long and weight up to 150 tons!) Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a basketball game in 1962, when he played for the Philadelphia Warriors. The longest bout of hiccups lasted 69 years! The longest conga to this date included 119,986 people. The smallest cat is the Singapuras and weighs only 4 pounds. The longest movie made lasts 85 hours and is fittingly titled The Cure for Insomnia. Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world, standing 29,028 feet high. Did you know that there is a world record for seeing how many times you can attempt a world record?! The smallest dog recorded was a Yorkie and was only 4 inches tall. The biggest dog weighed 344 pounds- more than two full grown men! The largest baby to be born so far weighed in at 15 pounds, 5 ounces! The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.

Facts About Language

The language of a society changes slowly but steadily with the result that an educated person will not be able to read or understand words in his language written 500 years ago. Do you feel like you cant talk to your parents? Maybe its because you belong to the Niger -Congo family. More than 1,400 languages are spoken by different members of this family from Africa. It has been estimated that the number of actively spoken languages in the world today is about 6,000. There is no word that rhymes with orange. Pinocchio is Italian for pine head. The most common letters in English are R S T L N E. There is no word that rhymes with purple. There was only one code during World War II that was never broken by the enemy and was used by the US Army. Navajo soldiers, called Codetalkers, developed a radio code based on their native language. It was the only way US soldiers on the battlefield could be sure that messages were from there own side and not from Japanese imitators. Did you know that the word typewriter is the longest word in the English Language that can be spelled with the the top of the keyboard? You speak about 4,800 words a day. HIPPOPOTOMONSTROSESQUIPPEDALIOPHOBIA is the fear of long words. The holiday Boxing day was originally celebrated in England,for the servants to the rich people. After chrismas,the servants boxed up all the left-overs from the rich people and bring them home. A palindrome is a word that is spelled the same way from both ends. For example: racecar

Other Wacky Facts

Once in England, because of a water spout, it rained frogs! Almost two-thirds of the earths surface is covered by water. If the earth were flat, water would cover everything in a layer two miles deep! During a solar eclipse, the shadows of leaves make the same crescent shape of the eclipsing sun. The image is made by light passing through tiny holes in the leaves. Monks in the 16th century recorded seeing a giant explosion on the side of the Moon. It most likely was a large meteor that slammed into the Moon and left a large crater. It was a good thing the Moon was between us and the meteor! See the rings of Saturn while you can. They slowly wobble up and down over the years as Saturns poles point away from then towards the sun. The rings disappear when edge on to our line of sight. Currently they are almost at their widest point and can be seen even in binoculars and small telescopes. A star has been found moving closer to the sun. In a million years a star named Gliese 710 will have moved to within 6/10ths of a light year from the sun. This is more than six times closer than todays nearest star, Alpha Centauri, which is over 4 light years away. Stars viewed through even the largest telescopes look like tiny points of light. But astronomers, using the Hubble Space Telescope to photograph a star called Betelgeuse (pronounced beetle jooze), have now been able to see the surface of another star. Betelgeuse is a red, giant star located at the left shoulder of the constellation Orion and is the largest known star in our galaxy. Not all stars are found inside galaxies. Astronomers have found stars moving between the galaxies, which are millions of light years apart. These stars may even have planets, possibly with intelligent life on them. If they do, these beings would see a lonely sky with just one star (its own sun) and a few faint galaxies. Tired of the cold weather? Take a vacation on the hottest planet in the solar system Venus. At over 800 degrees, it is hotter than Mercury because the clouds and abundant carbon dioxide hold in most of the heat received from the sun. Ever notice on a map how the South American and African coasts, along the Atlantic, fit together like two pieces of a giant puzzle? That is because at one time, millions of years ago, they were one continent. Magma from deep in the Earth broke through thin places between these continents and pushed them apart. They are still slowly moving apart and the Atlantic ocean is growing wider. The lead in pencils, really graphite, is made of the exact same thing as diamonds. Both are pure carbon which just formed under different pressures and temperatures. Intense heat and pressure form the carbon atoms into crystals making diamond, while lesser heat and pressure form the carbon into sheets making graphite. Geologists have discovered there seems to be more water miles deep between the rocks of Earths mantle than in all the oceans of the world. The intense pressure of the tons of rocks above keeps the hot water from turning to steam and escaping. If you were to place the planet Saturn in a big enough bowl of water, it would float!
Submitted by: Mark-Robert

About 20 percent of the earths land is made up of desert, and the worlds largest desert is the Sahara of North Africa. Black Holes are disappearing! At first, it was believed that nothing could come out of a black hole and they would be around forever. But a famous physicist, named Stephen Hawkings, discovered that black holes lose energy and eventually evaporate away. But dont wait around for one to disappear because it will take trillions and trillions of years to happen. On a clear night, the human eye can see between 2,000 and 3,000 stars in the sky. Water is the only substance on earth that is lighter as a solid than a liquid. The White Sands national park in New Mexico is the largest desert with the fine white sand, made of a mineral called gypsum.

Our sun is over 2.5 million miles around at its equator. After a blistering day of exploring, astronauts may relax with a nice cold glass of ice water from Mercury, the planet closest to the sun. Since there is no atmosphere there to spread the heat around, shadows in deep craters at the poles could hold ice deposited by early comet collisions. 96% of Egypt is made up of the desert sands of the Sahara. Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world, standing 29,028 feet high. The Amazon rain forest supplies one-fifth of the worlds oxygen! Where do comets come from? There is a huge cloud of objects made of ice and rock encircling our solar system, called the Oort Cloud. It lies beyond Pluto and extends half way out to the next star. These objects occasionally bump into each other, sending one in towards the sun to become a comet like the recent Hale-Bopp comet. Every day, eight trillion gallons of water pour out of the mouth of the Amazon River into the Atlantic Ocean. The ice that covers 98% of Antarctica holds 90% of the worlds fresh water. Lake Baikal in Russia is the deepest lake in the world, and holds as much water as all the five Great Lakes of the U.S. combined! Lake Superior, one of the five Great Lakes between the U.S. and the border of Canada, is a freshwater lake with the largest surface area, and its so big it has waves! Olympus Mons is a mountain on Mars, which is about fifteen miles high, three times higher than Mount Everest on earth, and at the top it is 45 miles across! Someday you may go ice fishing on Jupiters moon, Europa. Evidence is being constantly discovered that there is an ocean under the ice of Europa. The ice would keep the ocean from evaporating and huge tides caused by Jupiter would keep the ocean temperature above freezing. What kinds of life might there be in such a strange ocean? The deepest natural caves known to man are the Pierre St. Martin Caves in the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France, which reach 4,370 feet deep, almost three times as deep as the Empire State Building is high! When you think youre standing still remember this fact. Even though you dont feel it, our entire local group of galaxies is moving at about one million miles per hour toward another galaxy group called the Virgo Cluster.
Submitted by: Todd

Scientist believe that diamond rains occur on Neptune and Uranus. The heart of these planets may be a layer of diamonds hundreds of miles thick.
Submitted by: Todd

Jupiters giant red spot is like a tornado and it is 3 times bigger than the earth.
Submitted by: Macsmom

The largest crater on the moon measures 183 miles across. Astronomers know Mars is a backwards planet. Once a year, for several days, it appears to move backwards in its orbit. This is actually an optical illusion when the faster orbit of Earth races past Mars.
Submitted by: Todd

The farthest you can see with the naked eye is 2.4 million light years away! (140,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles.) Thats the distance to the giant Andr omeda Galaxy. You can see it easily as a dim, large gray cloud almost directly overhead in a clear night sky.
Submitted by: Todd

Australia is the only continent on earth without an active volcano. The earth is over 330,000 times smaller than the sun. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old. 71% of the Earths surface is covered with water.

Jupiter is a planet made entirely of gases. There are over six billion people living on Earth! The Earth is 93 million miles away from the sun. 97% of the earths water is undrinkable! If you could live on the planet Mercury, a year would only last 88 days. The Hindus of India once believed that the Earth was a huge bowl (to keep the oceans from falling off) held up by giant elephants standing on long pillars. No one back then ever thought to ask what the pillars were standing on! Submitted by: Todd If someone tells you you smell like flowers, it may not be a compliment if they are refering to the rafflesia flower. This flower smells like rotten meat! It is said that when England is in danger a drum owned by Francis Drake rolls by itself. The language of a society changes slowly but steadily with the result that an educated person will not be able to read or understand words in his language written 500 years ago. There is no word that rhymes with orange. It took 55 years before the telephone, invented in 1820, was put to use in society. Sound travels over 14 times faster through steel than through air. If you need to signal someone quickly standing on a metal bridge, bang on a steel pipe! The Great Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt, built about 2600 BC, was constructed with enough stone to make a brick wall that could go around the world 20 inches high. In comparison, the largest modern building, the Pentagon, in Washington DC would only make a brick wall that went around the world two inches high. If everyone in the world took a daily bath, our entire supply of fresh water would be get dirty in a single day. The number of bacteria in a quart of soil from your backyard garden is 30 times greater than the population of the world. When high speed trains past each other they must slow down or they will break their windows. The passing trains produce a low-pressure area between them that can actually pull the glass out of the frames. A hydroplane can go much faster than a normal boat because it lifts the hull out of the water. It uses supports that act like underwater wings to give it lift. It is really just flying through water. You can surf on only one or two inches of water. Jump on a wooden disc and you can ride 20 feet or more in the shallow water along the beach. Manhole covers, the lids that cover sewers, are always round. Why? The round cover rests on a lip that is smaller than the cover so it cant drop through the opening. A square or rectangular cover, no matter how it was made, could fall through. The fear of spiders is called arachnophobia. Some other phobias are hydrophobia (fear of water), triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13), ecclesiaphobia (fear of churches), pogonophobia (fear of beards), ergophobia (fear of work). Donald Duck, the cartoon character NEVER wore pants. But, whenever he got out of a shower he would always put a towel around his waist.
Submitted by: Lee & Ginny

There was only one code during World War II that was never broken by the enemy and was used by the US Army. Navajo soldiers, called Codetalkers, developed a radio code based on their native language. It was the only way US soldiers on the battlefield could be sure that messages were from there own side and not from Japanese imitators. Vincent Van Gogh only sold 1 painting his whole life and that was to his brother!
Submitted by: aquagirl195

A Japanese explorer named Maomi Uemura was the first man to reach the North Pole alone, on April 29, 1978, after his eight-week journey. In transistors, electrons perform an amazing magic act called quantum tunneling. They can move from one side of a thin metal plate to the other without going through the plate. Steamboat Geyser, located in Yellowstone National Park, is the most powerful geyser in the world, and can shoot super-hot water 300 feet in the air. When hydrogen is cooled to almost absolute zero (-460F or -273C), the lowest temperature possible, it becomes a liquid with surprising properties. It can flow against gravity and will start running up and over the lip of a glass container. Mark Twain, one of Americas best-loved authors, dropped out of school when he was 12 years old, after his father died. The ice cream cone was originally a way to hold flowers, not ice cream! The first modern traffic light was put to use in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1914. On April 2, 1872, Victoria Woodhull became the first woman candidate for the U.S. presidency. Every year, plants make and store ten times the amount of energy that people use. Babe Ruth kept a cabbage leaf under his cap to keep cool. Over 160 billion pieces of mail are sent every year in the U.S. Tomatoes are really fruits, not vegetables. If someone tells you you smell like flowers, it may not be a compliment if they are refering to the rafflesia flower. This flower smells like rotten meat! Glass is made of sand. Americas first major highway was called the National Road, and was opened in 1814, connecting the city of Baltimore with the Ohio River. Abraham Lincoln once invented a device for lifting riverboats over shallow water. It took 55 years before the telephone, invented in 1820, was put to use in society. You speak about 4,800 words a day.
Submitted by: Billybobbibobbilly

Did you know that the Empire State Building once got stuck by lightning 9 times in 20 minutes.
Submitted by: Kathryn

Did you know that the Egyptians thought the world was in the shape of a rectangle and that the heavans were held up by four giant pillars? They also warned sailors not to go to far away or you just might row off the giant rectangle called Earth. Well When the Queen of England heard this she sent 4 ships south, north, east and west to search for these pillars. When they didnt find any (because the world is in the shape of a sphere) they questioned the Eygptians and they told her the pillars must have been farther than they predicted! Clever werent they?!
Submitted by: Kathryn

Did you know that there is a world record for seeing how many times you can attempt a world record?!!
Submitted by: kewl

It would take approximately 31.7 years to count off 1 billion seconds. Honey is the only food that wont spoil. Theres 293 different ways to make change for just 1 dollar. A Jiffy is an actual unit of time. 1 Jiffy = 1/100 of a second.
Submitted by: Erin

A Rubiks Cube can make 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 different combinations!

Submitted by: Jenny

In the tropical rainforest it gets about 80 to 400 inches of rain yearly. If it is raining really hard, it gets about 2 inches of rain per hour.
Submitted by: Emily

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar!

Submitted by: Mike

One kind of insect called a spittlebug, lays its eggs in a big nest of saliva bubbles. I guess no predator would look for a meal in there!
Submitted by: Carl

The holiday Boxing day was originally celebrated in England,for the servants to the rich people. After chrismas,the servants boxed up all the left-overs from the rich people and bring them home.
Submitted by: Iknowitall

Over 10,000 birds a year die from smashing into windows!

Submitted by: Fouad

A baby is born approximately every 11 seconds in the United States!

Submitted by: SmartyGirl

Glass is actually a liquid- if you had a glass window, over hundreds of years it would seem like it had melted a little bit!
Submitted by: ILikeCereal

The letter Z is only used in words more that five letters when two vowels are present.
Submitted by: Clo

Water expands 9% when it is frozen!

Submitted by: Kayl

A normal piece of paper cannot be folded more than 7 times.

Submitted by: Anna

The only food that doesnt spoil is honey.

Submitted by: Alice

In China, they believe that the longer ones earlobes are, the wealthier they will be.
Submitted by: Amazing Alina

It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

Submitted by: Mazda Roxx

The average person will spend 4 years of their life on the toilet! Better stock up on TP!
Submitted by: Esme

Thomas Edison, the inventor of the lightbulb, was actually afraid of the dark.
Submitted by: Frank