| 1121/
A neutron is
heavier than a proton by 0.14 percent, little more than one
part in a thousand. But this difference, small though it is,
exceeds the total mass of an electron.
1122/ The frog
was an ancient Egyptian symbol, later adopted by the conquering
Romans. The Frog-headed goddess Hekt was the goddess of birth
and fertility, and later also of resurrection.
1123/ Fat has nine calories
per gram, while protein and carbohydrate have four. (Alcohol
has seven.) The average American consumes 38% of their calorie
intake from fat consumption.
1124/ In the thirteenth
century, Paris
with a population of 100,000 was the largest city in Europe;
but in the same era, Cahokia, a city in Illinois, had 40,000
people.
1125/ In 1817 the British
government gave the Spanish government £400,000 and
the Portuguese government £900,000 to persuade them
to sign treaties outlawing slavery and permitting British
warships to interdict their slave ships. £1 in 1817
(according to the Bank of England) is equivalent to £32.12
today; so these amounts represent £12,848,000 and £28,908,000
in 2002 prices.
1126/ Mexico is the world's
pig tapeworm capital with estimates that about 4 percent of
all Mexicans have the adult tapeworm in their intestine.
1127/ During the winter
on Mars
temperatures plummet to minus 125 degrees centigrade,
and the air begins to freeze solid as a veil of 'dry ice'.
In a bad winter, a quarter of Mar's atmosphere is frozen.
1128/ Though Mars is
only half the size of Earth, its greatest volcanic peak rises
to three times the height of Mount Everest.
1129/ Pluto
is so far from the Sun that it takes 248 years to travel around
it once.
1130/ The term 'black
hole' was coined in 1968 when John Wheeler described how
an in-falling object "becomes dimmer millisecond by millisecond...light
and particles incident from outside...go down the black hole
only to add to its mass and increase its gravitational attraction."
1131/ The Sun orbits
around the central hub of our galaxy at a distance of 25,000
light years, taking 200 million years to make a complete circuit
(a galactic year).
1132/ The nearest neighbour
galaxy to our own, Andromeda, lies about 2 million light years
away.
1133/ Scientists estimate
that the contents of our universe consists of 4 percent ordinary
atoms (baryons) in stars, nebulae and diffuse intergalactic
gas. Dark Matter provides about 30 percent; and Dark Energy
provides the rest of about 66% percent.
1134/ The risk of the
Earth encountering an asteroid large enough to cause worldwide
devestation in our lifetime is roughly the same as the average
person being killed in an air crash, or about 1 in 10,000.
1135/ The English astrophysicist
Arthur
Eddington in his 'Fundamental Theory'
"estimated" there to be 15,747,724,136,275,002,577,605,653,961,181,555
468,044,717,914,527,116,709,366,231,425,076,185,631,031,296
protons in the Universe and the same number of elctrons.
1136/ Abraham Lincoln's son, Tad, had a pet turkey. When it
was suggested that the bird might make a fine holiday dinner,
the boy set up such a howl of protest that the president finally
issued a "presidential
pardon" for Tad's pet. Since 1947, the National Turkey
Federation has presented a live turkey and two dressed turkeys
to the President. The President does not eat the live turkey.
He "pardons" it and allows it to live out its days
on a historical farm.
1137/ It is a deficit
of the neurotransmitter dopamine which causes Parkinson's
disease.
1138/ Table grapes have
been around since 4000 BC. Franciscan missionaries introduced
table grapes to California in the late 1700's. They may have
been introduced to Mexico as early as 1500 by the Spanish
conquistadors.
1139/ France eats the
most cheese, per capita, than any other country in the world.
It has 400
different varieties of cheese.
1140/ In 1856 Wisconsin
had the first
kindergarten in America.
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