Warm and Sunny Facts The Sun is our nearest star in the universe. Nearest, however is a very relative term because the Sun is a whopping 93 million miles away from us. In fact Sciensational reader Demandude from Missouri, United States had this Astronomy fact for us: The sun is about 149 million kms (93 million miles) from earth, yet it's 270,000 times closer than the next nearest star, which is 4.3 light years away.That nearest star, the star that is closest to us after the Sun, is a faint star known as Proxima Centauri. This star, in fact, to our naked eye, is part of a group of stars called the Alpha Centauri, which appear to us a single star (a more detailed post on this later.) Let's see how big our Sun is then, shall we. Another sciensational astronomy fact tells us The Sun contains over 99.8 percent of the total material (mass) in our solar system, while Jupiter contains most of the rest.Now that's cool (or hot?), but how do we know what this means in relation to our Earth? Well, another astronomy fact comes to our rescue and helps us put things in perspective: About 1000 Earths would fit inside Jupiter - and the Sun could hold about 1000 Jupiters.How's that for an idea of the cosmic magnitude, eh? To put it even more precisely, take another astronomy facts tidbit: The Sun is 330,330 times larger than Earth.That in essence means that one hundred Earths would have to be placed side by side to equal the width of the Sun! In terms of volume, the Sun could comfortably hold about one million Earths inside its sphere! That takes care of the size. How about the Sun's age? It's computed after various considerations to be about 4.57 billion years. This means it is much, much older and existed much, much before us modern humans have existed for only about 200,000 years or so. Here's another juicy fact: Just as planets travel around it, the Sun also travels around the Milky Way galaxy, with its entire family of planets! In fact, another astronomy fact reveals to us that The Sun travels at a speed of 250km (155 miles) per second, but it still takes 230 million years for it to complete a single revolution of the galaxy.And just as our Earth has its year when it finishes a revolution around the Sun, the Sun also has a year: a Cosmic Year. What is it? Thanks again to our astronomy facts, we know that A cosmic year is the amount of time it takes the Sun to revolve around the center of the Milky Way, about 230 million years.Apart from giving us its heat, the Sun also dumps huge amounts of material as it burns. Yup, consider the following fact: Every second, the Sun pumps more than a million tons of material into the space through the solar wind (electrically charged particles.)Although we are nowhere near the beginning of discussing our fascinating star, and will definitely continue to discuss more things Sunny, let us conclude this post by a humbling fact that despite its great magnitude to us Earth dwellers, the Sun is considered nothing but a dwarf star: just an average low luminosity star amongst the community of stars! Labels: astronomy
Picking your brain facts Where would we be without our brains, eh? Let's take a quick look at this wonderful organ. The number of neuron cells in our brain is more than the total number of stars in our galaxy.That number is about 100 billion! What are neurons? Neurons are electrically charged little cells in our brain to make use of all the information we get from our senses, like eyes, ears, touch, etc. Without them, we wouldn't be able to make sense of anything at all! The brain is divided into several parts for study, but for now, let's take the three major parts of the brain: The Cerebrum, the Cerebellum, and the Brain Stem. The Cerebrum, also called the forebrain, is responsible for our language, memory, movement and all. As you're reading this and trying to understand it, you're using your Cerebrum. Next, we have the Cerebellum which controls how we understand or 'perceive' things through our senses. It is also responsible for our motor controls, which means using our bones and muscles. You are enjoying reading this post while sitting comfortably, with your balance intact, right? That's thanks to the Cerebellum! To understand the importance of Cerebellum, consider the fact that this brain part's Latin name actually means "little brain." Then we have the lower part of the brain, The Brain Stem. This is where our brain connects to our spinal cord. What does it do? Well, there are many parts of our body that need to work without us being too worried about controlling them deliberately, like the heart pumping and our stomach digesting our food, etc. That's part of what the Brain Stem is good for! It really keeps our body under control! Our brain uses quite a lot of energy that we have in our body. In fact, Sciensational reader Anchal Srivastava from Gorakhpur, India sent us this brainy biology facts bit: The normal energy used by our brain is 0.1 calories per minute, and could go up to 1.5 during activities such as puzzle-solving.Since our brain is one of the most important organs, it has a king's share of our body's resources. Consider the following brain fact: While only 2% in weight, the human brain requires 15% of the body's heart work, 20% of oxygen and 25% of all glucose.How big is it? An average adult human brain weighs around 1300 grams or about 3 pounds. The appearance of the brain is pinkish, but if you looked at it closely, it would seem to contain both white and grey matter. The almost-white matter of the brain is the one that covers nerve fibres and is called myelin. The nerve cells that remain uncovered make for the appearance of the famous 'grey matter.' So let's work our brains, nerves and grey matter for good! Labels: biology
100% Pure Honey Facts! Honey is one of the oldest food sources we know. This fascinating fluid is created by honey bees from the nectar of flowers. Let's see what sciensational stuff we have for honey and the great honey bees. Labels: chemistry
Some Diamond Facts are Forever! Diamonds are really the most fascinating gemstones in the world. They have adorned the crowns of kings and queens throughout our history. A diamond is considered the most precious of all gemstones, and is surely justified in this role. Labels: physics
Some Prime Quality Facts! Time for some prime facts roundup, or prime numbers round up to be arithmetically exact. Take the following sciensational mathematics fact: The largest prime number is 9,808,358 digits long; more than the number of atoms in the universe.The basics first. What is a prime number? It's when a number can be divided only by itself, with no remainder, and by the number 1. You know, 1, 3, 5, 7, 11… The list literally goes on. What makes discovering a new, long prime so sciensational? Well, you have to prove that a new big Prime Suspect number is indeed a prime, by doing the simple formula of "divided only by itself and 1" which means showing the world that when divided by all the previous primes, you didn't get a whole number as a remainder. That's quite a task to prove a prime number, but thanks to computers and all, we are discovering new, long primes frequently. The largest prime above was confirmed to be a new big prime as late as September, 2006. The fact above has another fascinating fact in itself: the number of atoms in the universe. Though it is a discussion for a different post altogether, let's just know that the number of atoms in the universe can be written in just 80 digits. That makes our biggest prime find even greater. Another sciensational maths fact says: 2 and 5 are the only primes that end in 2 or 5.That is true for all decimal numbers for all known primes! Labels: mathematics
Over the Moon facts The moon is our nearest universal neighbour. Some say the Moon does not deserve to be called just a satellite of the Earth at all, and should be paid more respect as a minor or sub-planet because it is the fifth largest moon in our entire solar system. Labels: astronomy
We all have some bones to pick We are all made of flesh and bones. Our bodies are held together by the skeleton, which is a piece of wonder in itself. Let's talk about them fascinating bones, shall we. There are quite a few biology facts on human body at sciensational. Labels: biology
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