| 3421/ Black boxes
('Flight Data Recorders') on planes are generally day-glow
orange to allow for easy identification in the most preilous
circumstances. On occasion they have failed to tell why a
plane has crashed, but they can survive being burnt in a furnace
at 1100C and deceleration impacts of 3400G.
3422/ A three foot drop onto
a carpet is about 50G. 3400G is the equivalent of throwing
your personal stereo at an aluminium wall at about 300mph,
or burning it in a 1100C furnace for an hour.
3423/ It is because of black
boxes that aircraft manufacturers are now realising that planes
are too complicated for may pilots. In Japan in April 1994,
for example, a black box revealed that a pilot on a China
Airlines Airbus tried to overcome the auto pilot by force.
Big mistake. The computer could not cope, the plane stalled,
crashed and 264 people died.
3424/ The French Astronomer Charles
Lexell spotted a comet in June 1770 which was moving at around
140,000 km per hour on an apparent collision course with Earth.
Two weeks later it came within just 2.25 million kilometres
of doing for us what another comet did for the dinosuars.
3425/ Which blood group you belong
to depends on which type of protein - A - B - or neither -
O - is sitting on the surface of your red blood cells.
3426/ In one study of leatherback
turtles, over 50% of the leatherbacks tested had stomachs
containing cellophane after eating discarded plastic items
thinking they were jellyfish.
3427/ Sickle-Cell anaemia, which
causes severe anaemia in people unfortunate enough to have
inherited the genetic fault from both parents, actually offers
70-80% protection against malaria in those who carry only
one copy of the defective gene.
3428/ Cystic fibrosis is the
most common recessive, life-threatening congenital disease
in the UK and is characterised by defective transport of chloride
ions across cell membranes. The condition disrupts the function
of several organs, including the liver, pancreas and lungs.
3429/ 5000 chemicals are used
in the manufacture of fragrances. Of these over 90% of these
ingredients are derived from petroleum.
3430/ A 1991 report by America's
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the 20 most common
chemicals used in fragrance products revealed an abundance
of acetone, ethyl acetate and ethanol; all hazardous waste
chemicals. Nine of the twenty chemicals were linked to nervous
system disorders.
3431/ Toluene was in every fragrance
sampled by the EPA. It is designated as hazardous waste, and
it is known to cause cancer and nervous system disorders.
Toluene can also bring on Asthma attacks, even in previously
healthy people.
3432/ In Denmark, a study of
people experiencing 'allergic contact eczema' in response
to fragrances revealed that this affected 1-2% ot the population.
If this were reflected in the UK, then there are between 580,000
and 1,116,000 sufferers. This does not take account of other
allergic responses, but it gives an indication of the potential
size of the problem.
3433/ Piper Alpha was a permanent
oil production platform that lay 120 miles north-east off
Aberdeen. It had been in production since 1976 and produced
oil from 24 wells. On 6th July 1988, disaster struck when
a massive gas leak from a faulty valve caused an explosion
that ripped through the installation. killing 167 people in
just 22 minutes.
3434/ The chances of your being
killed by a bee, wasp or hornet sting stand in the region
of one in 125,000.
3435/ The chances of succumbing
to a fatal accident if you never left your home for the whole
of your life are 1 in 300.
3436/ The odds of getting skin
cancer at some stage in your life if you live in the UK are
1 in 450.
3437/ Thanks to different time
zones, Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, which
works out to 822 visits per second. If all these stops are
evenly distrinuted he must travel 75 million miles (more if
he goes to the toilet).
3438/ If each child getsa medium
sized lego set weighing 2lb, the sleigh must carry 321,000
tons not counting Santa, who is usually described as overweight.
Conventional reindeer can pull 300lbs. Even if flying reindeer
pull ten times that, the sleigh needs 214,200 reindeer, which
means the sleigh now weighs four times as much as the QE2.
3439/ Over 350,000 tons travelling
at 650 miles per second creates air resistance so massive
that the first two reindeer will absorb 14.3 quintillion Joules
of energy, per second. The lead pair will burst into flame,
exposing those behind them and creating deafening sonic booms.
All 214,000 reindeer will be vaporised in just 4.26 thousandths
of a second.
3440/ Whilst this is happening
poor old Santa will be exposed to centrifugal force 17,500.06
times greater than gravity. A 14 stone Santa would be pinned
back in his seat by 4.3 billion pounds of force. Not nice.
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