Take a break, put the java down...
It's Monday and there's nothing you can do about it. So why not load up on a bunch of irritating facts about Earth you can spring on people and get left alone in a corner.
- The day is not 24 hours long, it's 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds in sidereal time.
- The Chinese great wall is not visible from space, but Peking's air pollution is clearly seen.
- 38,000 man-made objects have been launched into space since Sputnik in 1957.
- The Earth is smoother than a bowling ball. Mountains and trenches only 1/5000th of the equator.
- The Ozone hole is smaller now than it was at any time over the last 10 years.
- There are 8.6 million lightning strikes a day.
- Dinosaurs got big because there was 50% more oxygen than today's 77% nitrogen, 21% oxygen.
- 97% of all the water is salty. 3% is fresh.
- Antarctica has more water stored as ice than the entire Atlantic ocean.
- Sharks kill 9-12 humans a year. Humans kill 100 million sharks a year.
- 99% of all the gold on Earth is floating around in the 9,900F degree molten core.
- 40 million tons of dirt is blown from the African Sahara to the Amazon each year.
- Continents are moving at point oh seven-nine inches per year.
- Only 14% of all species have been identified, and just 1% of species in the oceans.
- 200,000 people are born each day. 2 people die each second. 110 billion ever lived since man 1.
