10 Science Facts

[Mordred]

Taking into the tradition that I had on another forum, I'm gonna try and do this thread here as well.
For the past 4-5 years I have been steadily trying to get everyone I know more interested in science. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to this.
Unfortunately science has many chapters and topics, and finding out which one you like or are interested in is very difficult usually. In order to help people discover their Scientist-side I offer you daily 10 (more or less) random facts about science. Usually I post about 5-6 facts about astronomy and physics, and the rest are biology, chemistry and other various topics. This is mostly because I feel that human kind's destiny is in the stars (we are children of stars so it makes sense) and everybody should know as much as possible about what's out there.
Enlightenment and the solutions to all of our problems (religion, famine, wars, disease) IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE IN SCIENCE!



Disclaimer:
1. Any and all facts posted here are based on theoretical concepts that at the time of posting were either already proven to be, or were generally considered to be true.
2. Considering the weekend is a time for relaxation, it is possible that on Saturday and Sunday there will be no posts. It will depend on my mood and time for those two days of the week.



Today's theme: Various

1. When you look at the Andromeda galaxy (which is 2.3 million light years away), the light you are seeing took 2.3 million years to reach you. Thus you are seeing the galaxy as it was 2.3 million years ago.

2. Even on the clearest night, the human eye can only see about 3,000 stars. There are an estimated 100,000,000,000 in our galaxy alone.

3. If a piece of the sun the size of a pinhead were to be placed on Earth, you could not safely stand within 150 kilometers of it.

4. The fastest speed a falling raindrop can hit you is approximately 50 km/h.

5. Every hour the Universe expands by a billion kilometers in all directions (ALL directions!).

6. Wounds infested with maggots heal quickly and without spread of gangrene or other infection.

7. Astronomers believe that space is not a complete vacuum - there are three atoms per cubic meter.

8. Giraffes often sleep for only 20 minutes in any 24 hours. They may sleep up to 2 hours (in spurts – not all at once), but this is rare. They never lie down.

9. Half-a-billionth of the energy released by the Sun reaches the Earth.

10. A teaspoon-full of the matter of a Neutron star would weigh about 112 million tonnes.

[WirelessDesert]

Interesting idea, I like it!
Did know most of the things you said this far but still.
Will put this on my notify list

[Phage]

This is a pretty cool idea though you will have to have a lot of facts in your pocket if you want to post ten facts each day.

[Uriah]

+1 for an interesting post. I always wish that more people around me were into science as well. Your beliefs exactly mirror mine. Thanks for the facts: Small tid bits of info like that are sometimes harder to come across than general knowledge of a topic.

[hanorotu]

I like +1 Ill be following this

[Corrupted_Fear]

+1. Awesome idea, I love little tidbits of information like this. And who knows, that one day where I am sitting next to somebody on a plane, I can start throwing out incredibly useful astronomy facts. Great idea, will be following

[z3ro]

Great!    +1

[Mordred]

I'm happy you guys like it. I didn't manage to generate a very positive feedback last time I did it to be honest.

This is a pretty cool idea though you will have to have a lot of facts in your pocket if you want to post ten facts each day.

Oh, you have no idea. My pockets are daaaaaaaamn deep.





Today's theme: Stars

1. Stars are born inside clouds of gas and dust known as nebulae which exist throughout the galaxy. Some nebulae form from the gravitational collapse of gas in the interstellar medium while others are the result of the death throws of a massive star.

2. It might look like all the stars are out there, all by themselves, but many come in pairs. These are binary stars, where two stars orbit a common center of gravity. And there are other systems out there with 3, 4 and even more stars. Just think of the beautiful sunrises you’d experience waking up on a world with 4 stars around it.

3. The 11-year sunspot cycle is actually a part of a larger 22-year cycle in which the entire magnetic field of the Sun may reverse itself.

4. A protostar is a portion of a nebula that is about to form into a new star.

5. A nova is a sudden increase in luminosity of a star, usually in the magnitude of thousands of times its original brightness. Stars that nova usually return to their original luminosity.

6. A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy (!!!), before fading from view over several weeks or months. During this short interval a supernova can radiate as much energy as the Sun is expected to emit over its entire life span.

7. A supernova is in about 90% of the cases significant of the death of a star. Whilst there are a few situations in which a supernova can occur without the death of a star, it is usually a sign of the last breath taken by a creator of life.

8. In about 6 billion years, the Sun’s core will run out of hydrogen. When this happens, the inert helium ash built up in the core will become unstable and collapse under its own weight. This will cause the core to heat up and get denser. The Sun will grow in size and enter the red giant phase of its evolution. The expanding Sun will consume the orbits of Mercury and Venus, and probably gobble up the Earth as well. Even if the Earth survives, the intense heat from the red sun will scorch our planet and make it completely impossible for life to survive. Finally the Sun will explode in a supernova and most likely wipe-out the whole Solar System in a fiery death.

9. The death of a star can end in one of three possible outcomes. The star becomes either a white dwarf, a neutron star or a black hole. Each of these particular cosmic object is in its own a new type as opposed to a star. Future facts will discuss each of them as they are incredibly, incredibly interesting (especially neutron stars and black holes).

10. Betelgeuse is the eighth-brightest star in the night sky and second-brightest in the constellation of Orion. The star is classified as a red supergiant (i.e. is on it's way to becoming a supernova) and is one of the largest and most luminous observable stars. If Betelgeuse were at the center of the Solar System, its surface would extend past the asteroid belt, possibly to the orbit of Jupiter and beyond, wholly engulfing Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Estimates of its mass are poorly constrained, but range from 5 to 30 times that of the Sun. When it finally breathes its last, the explosion will be so bright that even though the star in the Orion constellation is 640 light-years away, it will still turn night into day and appear like there are two suns in the sky for a few weeks.

[WirelessDesert]

How can the explosion of Betelgeuse light up the sky even if it is 640 light - years away?

[Phage]

The explosion will be extreme since it's about 5-30 times larger than the sun.

[WirelessDesert]

Because the explosion will be so big and massive that we will be able to see it.

Oh right, I messed up with the time there. The explosion has already happened.

[0poitr]

Ever since I came to know about the universe, I have always wondered what's out there.. where's the end.. where does it all belong to.. where's it going.. it just feels weird and awesome and surprizingly fearful that we have little idea of where we stand. And the idea (or rather lack of it) of there's no end (?) gives me goosebumps at times.
Thank you for giving me those feeling back again. In this days of computers and code and other stuffs I almost forgot about these things. +1

[Mordred]

Oh right, I messed up with the time there. The explosion has already happened.

It might have happened, yes. If it happened right now we would see it in 640 years naturally.
On the other side if it hasn't happened yet, it can happen any time between now and 100.000 years from now.

Also the reason why we can see it at 640 light years away (and even more because we've often seen supernovas in OTHER galaxies) is because when it explodes (and you can read it in number 6 on today's list) - "Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy (!!!)".

If you want to stimulate your imagination, look at my signature. There you can see 3 different supernovas in the moment when they explode 

[hanorotu]

Any ideas when the Betelgeuse will finally breathe its last?

[Mordred]

Any ideas when the Betelgeuse will finally breathe its last?

It might have happened, yes. If it happened right now we would see it in 640 years naturally.
On the other side if it hasn't happened yet, it can happen any time between now and 100.000 years from now.
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