A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court.
Absolutely pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands.
An ounce of gold can be stretched into a wire 50 miles long
Diamonds are the hardest naturally occurring substances and are among the most valuable as well. Diamond crystals are formed entirely of carbon. Diamonds, because of their hardness, are the most enduring of all gemstones. Diamonds are among the most costly jewels in the world because they are rare, high in demand, and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The only four major diamond fields that have been found are in Africa, South America, India, and the former Soviet Union.
In 1957, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania went on line. It was the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States, (It was taken out of service in 1982.)
In 1982, in the first operation of its kind, doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center implanted a permanent artificial heart in the chest of retired dentist Dr. Barney Clark, who lived 112 days with the device.
Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature.
Mineral deposits in caves: The ones growing upward are stalagmites, the ones growing downward are stalactites.
Natural gas has no odor. The smell is added artificially so that leaks can be detected.
Sea water, loaded with mineral salts, weighs about a pound and a half more per cubit foot than fresh water at the same temperature.
Ten per cent of the salt mined in the world each year is used to de-ice the roads in America.
The Chinese were using aluminum to make things as early as 300 AD Western civilization didn't rediscover aluminum until 1827.
The air we breathe is 78% nitrogen, 21.5% oxygen, .5% argon and other gases.
The Cullinan Diamond is the largest gem-quality diamond ever discovered. Found in 1905, the original 3,100 carats were cut to make jewels for the British Crown Jewels and the British Royal family's collection.
The most abundant metal in the Earth's crust is aluminum.
The United States government keeps its supply of silver at the US Military Academy at West Point, NY.
The only rock that floats in water is pumice.
A dwarf star is so dense that it would take 8 men to lift a teaspoon full of its matter.
The number of neuron cells in our brain is more than the total number of stars in our galaxy
The Earth is the densest planet in the solar system.
The Sun gives off a stream of electrically-charged particles called the solar wind. Every second, the Sun pumps more than a million tons of material into the solar wind.
The metal with the highest melting point is tungsten, at 6,170 degrees Fahrenheit.
There are more atoms in a bucketful of water than there are bucketfuls of water in the Atlantic Ocean.
The speed of light, at 670 million mph, sounds very fast. But a light ray, at this speed, would take about 26 billion years to cross the visible universe.
Every day nearly 3,000 earthquakes shake Earth.
There are more bacteria in and/or on the human body than cells making up the human body
20 millions sperm per ml is the threshold for clinical infertility; (50 million sperm per ml is normal).
The amount of sunlight reaching the earth's surface is 6,000 times the amount of energy used by all human beings worldwide. The total amount of fossil fuel used by humans since the start of civilization is equivalent to less than 30 days of sunshine.
Rubber products melted in hot weather, froze and cracked in cold, and adhered to virtually everything until the day in the mid-19th century when inventor Charles Goodyear accidentally dropped some rubber mixed with sulfur on a hot stove. Goodyear's discovery of what came to be known as vulcanization strengthened rubber so it could be applied to a vast variety of industrial uses, including, eventually, automobile tires.
The Earth spins at 1,000 mph but it travels through space at an incredible 67,000 mph.
In October 1999 an Iceberg the size of London broke free from the Antarctic ice shelf
If you could drive your car straight up you would arrive in space in just over an hour.
In 5 billion years the Sun will run out of fuel and turn into a Red Giant.
