Posts Tagged ‘science’
Question Asked: How Many Volts of Electricity Are In A Bolt of Lightning?
The average lightning bolt produces about 900,000,000 volts of electricity. Some bigger strikes are believed to have produced up to twice that amount.
Obviously, this is a scientific guess, based on years of research. It’s near impossible to measure an actual lightning bolt.
900 million volts of electricity is enough to power an entire neighborhood of homes for roughly one week.
Question Asked: What is the Coldest Day Ever Recorded On Earth?
I know a lot of people probably think they were there, especially if you live in Michigan during the winter.
However, the coldest day ever was recorded in Vostok II, Antartica.
The temperature got down to -128.F (-89.2 C) on July 21st, 1983.
The average temperature in Vostok II, is -67.1F (55.1C). Here’s a link to their weather forecast. (Yes, this is a real forecast for Vostok II. And yes, it’s really that cold there.)
Question Asked: Who Invented The Alarm Clock?
The concept of setting a device (or another person) to wake you up at a specific time in the morning dates way back to the early days.
The first mechanical alarm clock was invented by Levi Hutchins in 1787. This device he made only for himself however, and it only had one setting -4 AM. He created this device in order to help him wake up for work.
The French inventor Antoine Redier was the first to patent an adjustable mechanical alarm clock, in 1847.
Question Asked: How Big Is The Moon?
The circumfrence of the moon is 2,160 miles (3,475 km). Compared to the Earth’s 7,925 miles (12,750 km).
Roughly a quarter of the size of Earth. Even though it seems so small way up there (238,855 miles [384,400 kms] away) in the sky.
To get a better feel for how much bigger Earth is compared to the moon grab an NBA sized basketball and put it next to a racquetball. That’s roughly what the moon would look like right up next to the Earth.
Some fun moon facts:
- A person who weighs 180 pounds on Earth would weight only 30 pounds on the moon.
- The temperature on the moon fluctuates between 123 degrees C (253 degreses F) to 233 degrees C (-451 degrees F).
- The moon orbits at roughly 2,300 miles per hour.
- There is no atmosphere on the moon.
- A full moon is nine times brighter than a half moon.
- It takes about 1.25 seconds for moonlight to reach the Earth.
- Just twenty seconds worth of fuel remained when Apollo 11’s lunar module landed on the moon.
- When Alan Sheppard was on the moon, he hit a golf ball and drove it 2,400 feet, nearly one half a mile.
- Only 59% of the moon’s surface is visible from earth.
- From Earth, we always see the same side of the moon; the other side is always hidden.
Question Asked: What is the Speed of Sound?
Speed travels much slower than light, which we talked about yesterday.
Sound only travels at 768 MPH (1,236 kPH), which makes it a speed that man can travel faster than, and break the sound barrier with a sonic boom.
A sonic boom looks like this:
Sonic Boom
A sonic boom is commonly referring to the shocks caused by the supersonic flight of an aircraft. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding much like an explosion.