|
3521/ The Piton de la Fournaise
(Peak of the Furnace) on the Island of Reunion, France, is
the most active volcano on Earth after Kilauea in Hawaii.
The 8600 ft (2631 metre) volcano has been active for the past
400,000 years - it erupts on average once every 14 months.
Since 1979 it has been closely monitored by a purpose built
observatory.
3522/ The Grand Prismatic Spring
is, at 370ft (112m) in diameter, Yellowstone Park in the USAs
largest hot pool and the worlds third largest. The colour
spectrum for which it is named is caused by the presence of
cyanobacteria.
3523/ The island of Eldey off
the coast of Iceland is a rocky 224ft (70m) peak, which attracts
40,000 gannet each year in January and February - one of the
largest colonies of migrating birds in the world.
3524/ The 798 foot high (243m)
city hall in Tokyo was modelled on Notre Dame Cathedral in
Paris.
3525/ The most powerful laser
in the UK is in Manchester. Visible from 12 miles away, the
120ft pyramid marks the Co-op's phone banking headquarters.
3526/ On Friday, May 30, 2003,
the National Ignition Facility (NIF) Project produced 10.4
kiloJoules (kJ) of ultraviolet laser light in a single laser
beamline, setting a world record for laser performance. The
NIF Project in Livermore, California is the largest laser
in the world.
3527/ The laser system used at
NIF is very powerful, equal to 1,000 times the electric generating
power of the United States. Each laser pulse is very short,
a few billionths of a second.
3528/ infra read lasers are now
being used to heat up and vaporise layers of dirt on ancient
buildings and scupltures.
3529/ The 'standard metre' is
defined as 'the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum
during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second'. A very
stable helium-neon laser kept at the National Physical Laboratory
(NPL) in Teddington is used to provide the light source for
the UK's standard metre.
3530/ A honey bee tracheal mite,
at 100 microns, is tiny enough to live in a bee's windpipe.
3531/ There can be up to 15,000
dust mites in one gram of dust.
3532/ At Disneyworld in Florida
the 150-strong horticultural team that looks after the parks'
greenery are using a variety of predatory dust mites to cut
pesticide usage. Using this technique has allowed them to
cut pesticide use in Disneyworld by 75%.
3533/ Global Warming Data gathered
by US Navy submarines using sonar technology shows the average
draught of Arctic Sea ice - the distance between the bottom
of the ice and sea level has lessened by 1.3metres to about
1.95 metres. It was 3.25 metres in the 1970's. This amounts
to about a 40% reduction in thickness.
3534/ According to the Canadian
Wildlife Service, the sea ice season in western Hudson Bay
has been reduced by three weeks over the last 20 years.
3535/ Pitcairn is a volcanic
island some 2170km southeast of Tahiti. Named after Robert
Pitcairn (who found it in 1767), it was uninhabited when nine
mutineers from the Bounty sought refuge on it in 1790.
3536/ In June 1999 37% of all
flights in Europe were late.
3537/ Rocks in Devon and Cornwall
are fairly rich in uranium, which decays to radon gas. Not
good for you: Its thought to add to lung cancer risks.
3538/ Iron deficiency (anaemia)
affacts about 20% of the worlds population.
3539/ A large glass of milk,
a bowl fo yogurt, or three to four ounces of cheese will provide
around 700mg of calcium, which is considered to be a healthy
day's intake for an adult.
3540/ Wahoo fish can travel at
speeds of up to 80 km per hour.
Click on the links below for more great
facts...
Now
check out our other great facts and resources!
|
