Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

You could fit the entire human race into a sugar cube — and 13 other facts...
Business Insider ^ | Aug. 23, 2016 | Ali Sundermier

Posted on 08/23/2016 10:34:57 AM PDT by Heartlander

The universe is a crazy place... It's full of exploding stars and immortal jellyfish and it's been kicking around for almost 14 billion years.

Here are 14 awesome facts to put it all into perspective.

If you unraveled all of the DNA in your body, it would span 34 billion miles, reaching to Pluto (2.66 billion miles away) and back ... 13 times.

Source: Business Insider

In fact, your body contains cosmic relics from the creation of the universe. Almost all of your hydrogen atoms were formed in the Big Bang, about 13.7 billion years ago.

Source: PBS

And when you tune your TV between stations, a small percentage of the static you see is actually the afterglow of the Big Bang.

Source: NASA

Light from some stars takes so long to travel to our eyes that when you look at the star-speckled night sky you're actually peering deep into the past. NASA's Hubble Telescope can look as far back as 100 million years ago.

Source: NASA

Almost all of ordinary matter (99.9999999% of it) is empty space. If you took out all of the space in our atoms, the entire human race (all 7 billion of us) would fit into the volume of a sugar cube.

Source: Symmetry

Many of the atoms you're made of, from the calcium in your bones to the iron in your blood, were brewed up in the heart of an exploding star billions of years ago.

Source: PBS

Forty-seven years ago, humankind took its first steps on the moon — and the bootprints will probably still be there a million years from now. That's because the moon has no atmosphere, so there's no wind or water to sweep through and erase the marks.

Source: Space.com

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Education; Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-73 last
To: FredZarguna; Heartlander; betty boop; Alamo-Girl
... until ~370,000 years after the Singularity...

And -- that's when God said, "Let there be light."

61 posted on 08/23/2016 5:28:09 PM PDT by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias; "Barack": Allah's current ally...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Heartlander
...and the bootprints will probably still be there a million years from now. That's because...

How about micrometeorites?
A million years' worth?

62 posted on 08/24/2016 12:17:26 AM PDT by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Daffynition
I don't know why I take those depictions of earth's artificial satellite galaxy personally.

It is the visual depiction that stays with children of all ages.

Practical low earth orbit is 100-200 miles above the mean surface of the earth.
Geostationary orbit about 22,240.

The diameter of the earth is roughly 8,000 miles.

Showing that to scale as an illustration in a typical magazine size page would be very undramatic; hence the hugely distorted common alternative.

63 posted on 08/24/2016 12:35:59 AM PDT by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: dp0622
So how many species are in a bowl of sugar cubes?


64 posted on 08/24/2016 12:56:34 AM PDT by Enchante (Hillary's new campaign slogan: "Guilty as hell, free as a bird!! Laws are for peasants!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: teeman8r
know God and one knows the answers.

Works for Muslims. 2+2= whatever Allah says it does.

65 posted on 08/24/2016 1:22:12 AM PDT by Drew68
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Heartlander
and the bootprints will probably still be there a million years from now. That's because the moon has no atmosphere, so there's no wind or water to sweep through and erase the marks.

The blast from the Lunar Module's engines who it took off likely obliterated those bootprints, and our flag as well.

66 posted on 08/24/2016 1:30:00 AM PDT by Drew68
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dp0622

Apology accepted and appreciated, you are a pleasure to encounter on a freeper thread... Be blessed my friend.


67 posted on 08/24/2016 3:05:16 AM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: teeman8r

I was going to say, a number of these facts are really based on “theories”.


68 posted on 08/24/2016 3:08:40 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Heartlander

The Horta could turn you into a salt cube...


69 posted on 08/26/2016 8:14:33 PM PDT by Crucial
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Is that satire or opinion? Or is it both?


70 posted on 08/26/2016 8:15:32 PM PDT by Crucial
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Gideon7

Thanks. That was a good read.


71 posted on 08/26/2016 8:42:46 PM PDT by wgmalabama
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: dp0622

God IS always the answer but I think he enjoys letting us discover and learn things (which in our whole lifetime will be .00000000000000000000000000000001% of what there is to know :)


It’s my belief that God not only enjoys letting us discover and learn, but has made it a critical part of our distinctly Human nature. In addition, God has also created the Universe in a way that is both infinitely large as it is infinitely small. As a result and by design, Man can never know everything. Therefore, Man will always be trying to discover new things.

IMHO, Man must always be seeking answers to things that are unknown and the Universe was Created in such a way that mysteries will always exist.


72 posted on 08/26/2016 9:03:32 PM PDT by Zeneta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Zeneta

That was beautiful.

We know almost nothing, and that’s 1000x more than we knew 10000 years ago.

If it wasn’t for the horrors that we let our discoveries sometimes lead to..abortion on demand, transgender surgery, fantastic military machinery (only dangerous in the wrong hands)..but then some of the best discoveries have come during wartime or from the military.

Go figure. Have a good one FRiend. :)


73 posted on 08/27/2016 1:28:26 AM PDT by dp0622 (The only thing an upper crust conservative hates more than a liberal is a middle class conservative)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-73 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson