-Miscellaneous Facts-
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Powerful Jaws
How powerful was the bite of Tyrannosaurus rex?
The Tyrannosaurus rex has the greatest estimated bite force of any animal known: it was
capable of exerting over 3000 pounds of force. By contrast, a human's maximum bite force is
about 200 pounds and an African lion's is about 900 pounds.
Scientists estimated the strength of the T. rex bite from fossilized bite marks on the pelvis bone
of a Triceratops.
More about the bite of a Tyrannosaurus rex:
findarticles.com
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Friction Matches
When were friction matches first invented?
The first friction matches were invented in England in the 1820s. To be lit, they had to be pulled
through a folded strip of sandpaper. These early matches were less convenient and more
dangerous than the ones we use today.
The modern safety match, which can be lit easily only when struck on a specific surface, was
invented in Sweden in 1855 by J.E. Lundstrom. It works because one of the chemicals needed
to start the fire is in the striking surface.
Another curious (and dangerous) early match consisted of a glass bulb wrapped in paper, filled
with sulfuric acid. The user had to bite the paper, breaking the bulb and setting the paper on fire.
Watch out!
More about the history of fire-starting:
aye.net
newton.dep.anl.gov
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Rosetta Stone
How were Egyptian hieroglyphics first deciphered?
For many centuries, scholars were puzzled by Egyptian hieroglyphics -- the pictographic writing
system used in ancient Egypt. The key to their meaning came when the Rosetta stone, a basalt
tablet, was discovered near Rosetta, Egypt in 1799. It contains inscriptions of a decree from
Ptolemy V issued in 196 BC.
Ptolemy's decree was written in Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and Egyptian demotic script (a
simplified form of hieroglyphics). By comparing the three versions, scholars were able to
decipher the hieroglyphics. After that, other hieroglyphic inscriptions were also deciphered.
More about the Rosetta Stone, ancient Egypt, and hieroglyphics:
watson.org
bergen.org
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Antarctic Ice
How thick is the ice in Antarctica?
About 98% of Antarctica is covered with ice, and the average thickness of the Antarctic ice
sheet is 7,200 feet (2,200 meters). The thickest ice, found in Wilkes Land, is 15,700 feet (4785
m) thick. This is about ten times the height of the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, the world's
tallest office building!
Antarctica holds about 70% of all the freshwater in the world in its ice. If all the ice were to
melt, sea level would rise 230 feet (70 meters). If this happened, the reduced pressure on the
continent of Antarctica would cause it to rise about 3200 feet (1000 m).
More about icy Antarctica:
glacier.rice.edu
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First Dinosaur Find
When and where was the first nearly complete dinosaur skeleton found?
The first dinosaur skeleton that was complete enough to be reassembled was discovered in 1858
by William Parker Foulke, in Haddonfield, New Jersey.
Foulke heard that gigantic bones had been found in a marl pit, and he investigated. Many more
bones were uncovered, and the shape of the animal began to emerge. It took twenty years from
the initial discovery of the bones in 1838 until the animal was reconstructed.
The skeleton showed the world that dinosaurs were more than short lumbering lizards. The
animal that is now called Hadrosaurus foulkii was a biped, able to stand on two legs and run. It
was the beginning of a revolution in paleontology.
More about the find:
levins.com
More about H. foulkii and other early dinosaur finds:
home.earthlink.net
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Jelly Liquid Creature
What creature turns from liquid to jelly and back?
Amoebas move by changing parts of themselves from liquid to jelly.
A one-celled amoeba is essentially a tiny droplet of liquid (called endoplasm) surrounded by a
thin layer of jelly (the ectoplasm). It moves forward by streaming some of the endoplasm into a
blob called a pseudopod. As the pseudopod grows, some of the fluid endoplasm turns into
jellylike ectoplasm, forming the stiff, tubular outside of the new pseudopod.
Meanwhile, at the rear of the amoeba, some of the jelly turns into liquid, then flows forward to
make new pseudopods. If a pseudopod extends into a region that has the wrong chemistry or
temperature, its ectoplasm is re-liquified, then flows elsewhere to make new pseudopods.
More about amoebas:
allsands.com
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Highest Magnetic Field
What's the highest magnetic field ever measured?
The highest magnetic field ever measured is the field of a newly discovered neutron star called
SGR 1806-20. Its strength is about 800 trillion Gauss, about a thousand trillion times stronger
than Earth's. This makes it a whole new kind of object, which astronomers call a magnetar.
Like other neutron stars, a magnetar is formed when a normal star explodes in a supernova.
What makes magnetars different is their magnetism, which is so huge that the magnetar's solid
iron crust actually wrinkles and breaks under the magnetic stress.
When the crust breaks, there are immense "starquakes" that send huge bursts of gamma rays
out into the universe. Magnetars were discovered when these gamma rays were detected.
More about magnetars:
science.msfc.nasa.gov
solomon.as.utexas.edu
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Synthetic Diamonds
When were diamonds first synthesized?
The hardest material on Earth is also one of the hardest to make. Although known to be a form
of carbon as early as 1796, diamonds were not synthesized until 1953, when Baltazar von Platen
made some tiny crystals in Stockholm, Sweden. Today, over 80 tons of synthetic diamonds are
made every year.
Making diamonds is difficult because it requires very high pressure and temperature. Most
natural diamonds form more than 150 kilometers underground. At those depths, carbon atoms
are squeezed close enough together to form the tightly bonded structure of diamond.
Recently, a new way has been discovered to make diamonds. This method, chemical vapor
deposition, creates thin films of diamond for no-wear bearings and other special purposes.
More about diamonds:
amnh.org
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