Interesting science facts for kids. Great Scientific Misconceptions (25 Photos) Science Facts for Kids

Newborns typically have about 270 bones, most of which are very small. This makes the skeleton more flexible and helps the baby pass through the birth canal and grow quickly. As we grow older, many of these bones fuse together. The adult human skeleton consists on average of 200–213 bones.

2. The Eiffel Tower grows 15 centimeters in summer

The huge structure is built with temperature expansion joints, allowing the steel to expand and contract without any damage.

When steel heats up, it begins to expand and takes up more volume. This is called thermal expansion. Conversely, a drop in temperature leads to a decrease in volume. For this reason, large structures, such as bridges, are built with expansion joints that allow them to change in size without damage.

3. 20% of oxygen comes from the Amazon rainforest

The Amazon rainforest covers 5.5 million square kilometers. The Amazon jungle produces a significant portion of the oxygen on Earth, absorbing huge amounts of carbon dioxide, which is why they are often called the lungs of the planet.

4. Some metals are so reactive that they explode even when in contact with water.

Some metals and compounds - potassium, sodium, lithium, rubidium and cesium - exhibit increased chemical activity, so they can ignite with lightning speed when in contact with air, and if they are placed in water, they can even explode.

5. A teaspoon of a neutron star would weigh 6 billion tons.

Neutron stars are the remains of massive stars, consisting mainly of a neutron core covered with a relatively thin (about 1 km) crust of matter in the form of heavy atomic nuclei and electrons. The cores of stars that died during a supernova explosion were compressed under the influence of gravity. This is how super-dense neutron stars were formed. Astronomers have found that the mass of neutron stars can be comparable to the mass of the Sun, although their radius does not exceed 10–20 kilometers.

6. Every year, Hawaii gets 7.5 cm closer to Alaska.

The earth's crust consists of several huge parts - tectonic plates. These plates are constantly moving along with the upper layer of the mantle. Hawaii is located in the middle part of the Pacific Plate, which is slowly drifting northwest toward the North American Plate, on which Alaska is located. Tectonic plates move at the same speed as human fingernails grow.

7. In 2.3 billion years, the Earth will be too hot to support life.

Our planet will eventually become an endless desert, similar to today's Mars. Over hundreds of millions of years, the Sun has warmed up, become brighter and hotter, and will continue to do so. In more than two billion years, temperatures will be so high that the oceans that make Earth habitable will evaporate. The entire planet will turn into an endless desert. As scientists predict, in the next few billion years the Sun will turn into a red giant and completely engulf the Earth - the planet will definitely come to an end.

Thermal imagers are able to identify an object by the heat it emits. And polar bears are experts at staying warm. Thanks to a thick layer of subcutaneous fat and a warm fur coat, bears are able to withstand even the coldest days in the Arctic.

9. Light will take 8 minutes 19 seconds to travel from the Sun to the Earth

It is known that the speed of light is 300,000 kilometers per second. But even at such breakneck speed, it will take time to cover the distance between the Sun and Earth. And 8 minutes is not so much on a cosmic scale. It takes sunlight 5.5 hours to reach Pluto.

10. If you remove all the interatomic space, humanity will fit in a sugar cube

In fact, more than 99.9999% of an atom is empty space. An atom consists of a tiny, dense nucleus surrounded by a cloud of electrons, which occupy proportionately more space. This is because electrons move in waves. They can only exist where the crests and troughs of the waves are formed in a certain way. Electrons do not remain at one point; their location can be anywhere within the orbit. And therefore they take up a lot of space.

11. Stomach juice can dissolve razor blades

The stomach digests food thanks to the caustic hydrochloric acid with a high pH (hydrogen index) content - from two to three. But at the same time, the acid also affects the gastric mucosa, which, however, can quickly recover. The lining of your stomach is completely renewed every four days.

Scientists have many versions of why this happens. The most likely: due to huge asteroids that influenced its course in the past, or due to strong circulation of air currents in the upper atmosphere.

13. A flea can accelerate faster than the space shuttle

Flea jumps reach mind-boggling heights - 8 centimeters per millisecond. Each jump gives the flea an acceleration 50 times greater than the acceleration of the spacecraft.

What interesting facts do you know?

Interesting scientific facts

1. Pseudo-blindness is a phenomenon in which blind people have a physiological response to visual stimuli (for example, an angry face), despite the fact that they are unable to see them.

9. All the cells in your body have been dividing since life began on Earth. And all this division will end with your death, with the exception of the cells that you pass on to your descendants (1 per child) and certain circumstances (for example, organ donation).

16. Your lungs have the same surface area as a tennis court.

Interesting scientific evidence of known facts about everything in the world. Let's start with the fact that when talking to a woman, men always look at a woman's breasts, distracting themselves from the conversation. But what's most interesting is scientific methods it has been proven that women, when talking with women, also pay a greater percentage of attention to the figure of the interlocutor, as a potential competitor in the struggle for male attention.

Cats ignore their owners

Recently, employees of the University of Tokyo made a “discovery” that all cat owners without exception have known about for a long time: domesticated representatives of the feline family recognize their owners by voice, but practically do not respond to their commands.
The reason for this lies in the peculiarities of evolutionary development: unlike dogs, who learned to serve people, domestic cats retained their hunting instincts, which force them to take their time to react to external stimuli and hide their intentions.

Students who do homework get better grades

Economist Nick Rapp apparently didn't do very well in school, otherwise he wouldn't have conducted his experiment on the impact of homework on academic performance.
Rapp divided his students into two groups: some did not study the exercises assigned at home for some time, while others diligently solved them. The results of the study are unlikely to surprise anyone - the second group of students performed better control tests and received more for them high scores, on the basis of which the researcher concluded that “homework plays an important role in educational process" Who would have thought!

Men stare at women's breasts

In her article “My Eyes Up Here” (can be translated as “My eyes are here”), Sarah Gervais provides truly “sensational” data obtained during one of her experiments: a man, when talking to a woman, tends to look more at her figure than watching the face.
Using eye-tracking technology, Sarah discovered that the more attractive the proportions of a woman's body, the more often a male interlocutor's gaze wanders over it. Women behave in much the same way when talking to each other: they look at the figure of their interlocutor, assessing her as a potential competitor in the fight for male attention.

High heels are uncomfortable and harmful

Stiletto heels visually increase the height of women and make their gait more attractive, but all representatives of the fair sex know that walking on them can be real torture.
The harm from frequent wearing of high-heeled shoes is confirmed by research from specialists from the American Institute for the Study of Aging: its employees found that 64% of elderly women who complain of pain in their feet have been wearing high heels for a long time for several years.
The “value” of such surveys is simply stunning: doctors have been talking about the negative consequences associated with high-heeled shoes for several decades; in addition, you don’t need to be a sophisticated American specialist to understand that if your feet hurt from long walks in such shoes, it’s unlikely that this means that it is useful.

Pigs love to roll in the mud

Everyone knows that pigs often give themselves “mud baths.” Scientists believe that the reason for this was the lack of sweat glands that provide effective cooling of the body, and this is true, but there is an interesting nuance.
A recent study published in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science found that modern pigs do not have sweat glands precisely because their distant ancestors constantly lay in the dirt and did not need other means. thermoregulation.
Thus, the initial reason was precisely the pigs’ addiction to “mud procedures.” Did you have to take the time to prove that pigs wallow in mud because they always loved to do so?

When walking with any woman, a man walks slower than alone

Employees of the Seattle Pacific University have proven that men adapt to the pace of walking of the woman they love, although this is already clear to the rest of humanity - the one behind whom “like behind a stone wall” is used to walking faster, but does not want to bother his fragile “other half,” forcing her to run, especially if her passion is in heels. In addition, this way the walk becomes longer and promotes more fruitful communication.
The results of the experiment suggest much the same thing: men instinctively slow down in order to conserve their partner's energy and thus increase her ability to conceive children.
It is interesting that a group of men moves somewhat faster than its members on average alone, but if a man walks with a girl friend, then a compromise arises - he slows down a little, and she slightly speeds up the pace.

Corn flakes taste better with milk than with water.

Scientists from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile have discovered a surprising phenomenon: it turns out that if you add water rather than milk to corn flakes, they don’t taste as good, and experts even know why this happens.
The fact is that “as a result of an intermolecular reaction, water weakens the structure of the flakes, which leads to the dissolution of some of their components and the destruction of mechanical integrity,” in other words, the flakes absorb water and turn into a viscous soft porridge, so eating them is no longer so pleasant. And the fat contained in milk prevents the cereal from absorbing large amounts of moisture, so it remains crispy and tasty.

Overeating leads to weight gain

According to large-scale studies of American doctors, since the 1970s, the average weight of an adult in the United States has increased by about 7.5 kg.
In 2009, at the European Congress on Obesity, the leader of the experiment, Boyd Swinburne, publicly stated that “the growing weight of American citizens can be explained by increased calorie consumption,” thus preventing any possible discrepancies on this issue.

Meetings distract team members from work

In 2005, American scientists discovered an “amazing” pattern: frequent meetings and planning meetings spoil the mood of employees and prevent them from working peacefully.
After analyzing the diary entries of 37 university workers, experts found that even the most patient and purposeful of them consider endless meetings to be a waste of time that the work team could spend more usefully. This is confirmed by the fact that due to tedious meetings and debriefings, even the most diligent workers noticeably decrease productivity.
Instead of research, by the way, the Americans could turn to their Russian colleagues - our specialists have long known the dangers of party meetings and “challenges to the carpet.”

Reading is good for the brain

Remember when teachers at school said that if you read a lot, you can become smarter? Surely you will not be surprised to learn that this statement has received scientific substantiation.
A team of experts used magnetic resonance imaging to study the brain function of several volunteers while reading fiction and educational literature, and found that in both cases, blood flow to the brain increased, increasing its efficiency. Interestingly, reading different types of literature stimulates different areas of the brain.
The leader of the experiment, Natalie Phillips, summed up the result: “Reading is a wonderful exercise for the brain,” to which you just want to say: “Thanks, Cap.”

Students from disadvantaged schools drink alcohol more often

A team of researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health spent 14 years on this unique experiment, but the result is worth it: they learned that educational institutions, “famous” for the numerous parties and drinking bouts of schoolchildren and students, teenagers actually drink more.
Experts surveyed more than 50 thousand students from 120 different schools and colleges and it turned out that, despite the composition of classes being updated every year, the number of teenagers who abuse alcohol remains practically unchanged.

Internet surfing kills time

The Internet is just a tool for achieving goals, but if you have spent any time there, you know that people more often use it not for writing doctoral dissertations or getting acquainted with invaluable information. cultural heritage of humanity: most users see it as a way to take up time or throw out negative energy.
American employees research organization Pew Research Center found that approximately 53% of people aged 18 to 29 go online at least once a day for no specific purpose, and among older Internet users this number is about two-thirds.

Most of the knowledge acquired at school will never be useful to us. Most of this we will never even remember. And yet some crumbs of “useless” information will remain in memory. Paradoxically, it is thanks to them that we feel like educated people. Luxury to keep in mind is not only vital important information, but “information surplus” also increases self-esteem and gives a feeling of intellectual competence.

And “unnecessary information” surprisingly turns out to be the most interesting. This interest can become a magic key for children to huge world science, which often hides behind boring formulas and incomprehensible definitions.

In this article, we have collected nine scientific facts that can be used in mathematics, physics, geography, chemistry and biology lessons to clearly show: science is not something abstract from real life, but the situations we face every day.

Fact No. 1. On average, an ordinary person travels a distance equal to three Earth equators in his life

The length of the equator is approximately 40,075 km. Multiplying this figure by three, we get 120,225 km. With an average life expectancy of 70 years, we get about 1,717 km per year, which is a little more than five kilometers per day. Not that much, but it adds up to a lifetime.

On the one side, practical application this information does not have. On the other hand, it is much more interesting to measure the distance traveled not in meters, steps or calories, but in equators. And calculating the percentage of the length of the equator will attract attention not only to geography, but also to mathematics.

The following two facts may also be useful in mathematics lessons. Using the first, you can calculate the number of children in a parallel or even in an entire school born on the same day.

Fact #2: If there are 23 random people in a room, then the probability that two of them will have the same birthday is more than 50%.

And if you bring 75 people together, then this probability reaches 99%. There can be a 100% chance of a match in a group of 367 people. The probability of a match is determined by the number of pairs that can be made from all the people in the group. Since the order of the people in the pairs does not matter, the total number of such pairs is equal to the number of combinations of 23 by 2, that is, (23 × 22)/2 = 253 pairs. Thus, the number of couples exceeds the number of days in a year. The same formula calculates the probability of coincidences for any number of people. This way you can estimate the number of children born on the same day in a parallel school or even in the entire school.

Fact No. 3. The number of living organisms in a teaspoon of soil is greater than the entire population of our planet.

One square centimeter of soil contains billions of bacteria, fungi, algae and other organisms. About 60 million bacteria live in just one gram of dry soil. There are significantly fewer nematodes, or roundworms (the most famous of which are roundworms and pinworms) in the same amount of soil - only 10 thousand. A figure incommensurate with the human population, but no less unpleasant for that.

Practical application of information: Wash your hands thoroughly after taking care of your indoor plants, as well as after working in the garden. An area of ​​increased bacterial danger is the sandbox on any playground.

Fact #4: The average toilet seat is much cleaner than the average toothbrush.

The bacteria on your teeth live at a density of about 10 million per square centimeter. The amount of bacteria on the skin varies depending on the part of the body, but in any case it is much less than in the mouth.

But there are no bacteria on the skin of frogs at all. The reason for this is the mucus secreted by the frog and containing strong antibiotics. This is how frogs protect themselves from the aggressive bacterial environment of the swamps in which they live.

A person is much less adapted in this regard, so it is recommended to change toothbrushes every couple of months.

Fact No. 5. In the evening, a person becomes 1% shorter compared to his “daytime” height

Under load, our joints tend to compress. With a normal lifestyle, by the evening a person’s height decreases by 1-2 cm, which is approximately 1%. The decrease is short-lived.

The maximum reduction in height occurs after weightlifting. Changes in height can be three or more centimeters. This is due to compaction of the vertebrae.

Fact #6: Diamonds can be produced from peanut butter using very high pressure.

Scientists from the Bavarian Research Institute of Geophysics and Geochemistry tried to simulate in the laboratory the conditions of the Earth's lower mantle, where at a depth of 2,900 kilometers the pressure is 1.3 million times higher than atmospheric pressure. During the experiment, some innovative ways of producing diamonds were discovered. According to one hypothesis, diamonds are formed from carbon under very high pressure. Carbon is found in almost all foods. And since the researchers only had peanut butter on hand, they tried it. Unfortunately, hydrogen, which is bound to carbon in peanut butter, slows down the process significantly, taking several weeks to produce even a small diamond. Thus, scientific thought proves that the most incredible transformations are quite possible.

Fact No. 7. The height of the Eiffel Tower can change by 12 centimeters depending on the air temperature

An iron rod 300 meters long lengthens by 3 mm with increasing temperature environment by one degree.

This is exactly what happens with the Eiffel Tower, which is approximately 324 meters high.

In hot sunny weather, the iron material of the tower can heat up to +40 degrees, and in winter in Paris it cools down to approximately 0 degrees (severe frosts are rare there).

Thus, the height of the Eiffel Tower can fluctuate by 12 centimeters (3 mm * 40 = 120 mm).

Fact #8: A typical microwave oven uses much more energy to keep its built-in clock running than it does to reheat food.

While in standby mode, a modern microwave uses approximately 3 watts per hour. Already 72 W per day comes out, and if we multiply this number by thirty days, we get an energy consumption of 2160 W per month.

If we assume that we use the microwave every day for 5 minutes, we get 150 minutes or 2.5 hours per month. Modern stoves consume about 0.8 kW/hour in heating mode. It turns out that with this use, the energy consumption directly for heating food is 2000 W. If you purchase a more economical model that consumes only 0.7 kW/hour, we get only 1.75 kW per month.

Fact No. 9. The first computer mouse was made of wood

Sometimes we are just curious to know the fate of the objects that we use every day.

A computer mouse in our usual design was introduced to the world in 1984 by Apple. Largely thanks to her, Macintosh computers became incredibly popular. But this small but such a necessary device begins its true history 20 years earlier.

In 1964, engineer Douglas Engelbart from Stanford developed a manipulator to work with operating system oN-Line System (NLS). Initially, the device was a handmade wooden box with two wheels inside and a button on the body. After some time, the device appears with a third button, and a couple of years later Engelbart receives a patent for his invention.

Then Xerox comes into play, but its modification of the computer mouse costs about $700, which does not at all contribute to its mass distribution. And only Steve Jobs’ company is able to develop a similar device with a cost of 20-30 dollars, which has become part of the everyday life of billions of people.

Some parents tell their child: “You are the light of my life.” But did you know that if you were light, you would fly around everything? globe 7.5 times per second! If you became sound, you could fly around the Earth in 4 hours! If we lived on Jupiter, our day would consist of only 9 hours. It’s good that on Earth a day lasts 24 hours, because we have so much to do during the day! These are just a few fun scientific facts that may interest both an inquisitive child and an adult.

What is science?

Science is an organized and sequential study that includes observation, collection of scientific facts, experimentation, testing of results, and explanation of natural and man-made phenomena. This is an area that gives us the opportunity to better understand the world and create good things for the benefit of man and all living beings.

Ordinary scientific facts

Now that you know what we're talking about, here are some fun scientific facts:

• If you stretch a human DNA chain, its length will be the distance from Pluto to the Sun and back.
• When a person sneezes, the speed of the air they exhale is about 160 km/h.
• A flea can jump to a height that is 130 times its own height. If the flea were a 1.80 m tall person, it could jump 230 m.
• Electric eel produces electricity voltage of 650 volts. Touching it is the most powerful shock a person can experience.
• Light particles called photons take 40,000 years to travel from the Sun's core to its surface, but only 8 minutes to reach Earth.

Scientific facts about the Earth

Earth is our home. To take care of her, we need to know important information about her:

• The age of the Earth is from 5 to 6 billion years. The Moon and the Sun are about the same age.
• Our planet is composed mainly of iron, silicon and relatively small amounts of magnesium.
• Earth is the only planet in the solar system with water on its surface, and its atmosphere is 21% oxygen.
• The Earth's surface is made up of tectonic plates located on the mantle, a layer located between the Earth's core and the surface. Such a structure earth's surface explains earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
• There are about 8.7 million species of living organisms living on Earth. Of these, 2.2 million species live in the ocean, and the rest live on land.
• ¾ of the Earth's surface is covered with water. When astronauts first saw Earth from space, they saw mostly water. This is where the name “blue planet” comes from.

Environmental Facts

Why do the seasons change? What happens to garbage after we throw it away? What causes the weather to be hot or cool? Children learn this and much more in natural history lessons at school. Let's look at some facts that convince us of what a beautiful planet we live on.

• Plastic completely decomposes in the ground in 450 years, and glass in 4,000 years.
• Every day around the world, 27,000 trees are used to make toilet paper alone.
• 97% of all water on Earth is salty and unsuitable for consumption. 2% of the water is in glaciers. Therefore, only 1% of water is suitable for consumption.
• The meat processing industry is the biggest contributor to global warming. In second place among global problems- deforestation. About 68% of existing plant species are likely to become extinct in the near future.
• The population of the Earth is more than 7 billion people. This figure is expected to reach 8 billion by 2025.
• Unfortunately, 99% of existing species of living organisms, according to scientists, will become extinct.

Interesting facts about animals

The animal kingdom is beautiful and amazing. It contains tame otters, powerful eels, singing whales, giggling rats, oysters that change gender, and many other equally amazing representatives. Here are a few facts about animals that your child will undoubtedly enjoy:

• Octopuses have three hearts. Even more strange fact: Lobsters have a urinary tract on their face, while turtles breathe through their anus.
• In seahorses, males give birth, not females.
• The kakapo parrot has a strong, pungent odor that attracts predators. That is why kakapo are in danger of extinction.
• A squirrel plants more trees than the average person in a lifetime. How can this be? The fact is that squirrels hide acorns and nuts underground, and then forget where exactly they hid them.
• It is mainly lionesses who hunt among lions. Leos only intervene when necessary.

Interesting Facts about plants

Plants green our planet, produce oxygen, and make the Earth habitable. Trees and plants are probably the most useful among the living inhabitants of the Earth. Here are some interesting facts about plants:

• Like humans, plants recognize other plants of their own species.
• In total, there are more than 80,000 edible plants on Earth. Of these, we eat about 30.
• Humanity is rapidly destroying forests. About 80% of all forests have already been destroyed.
• The oldest tree in the world (sequoia) is located in the USA, in the state of California. His age is 4,843 years.
• The height of the tallest tree in the world is 113 m. It is also located in California.
• The largest tree in the world is aspen, growing in the USA, in the state of Utah. Its weight is 6,000 tons.

Facts about space

The sun, stars, planets, the Milky Way, constellations and everything that is in the Universe is located in vacuum space. We call it space. We offer several interesting facts about him:

• The Earth is tiny compared to the Sun, which is 300,000 times larger.
• The entire space is absolutely silent, because sound does not travel in a vacuum.
• Venus is the most hot planet in the Solar System. The temperature on the surface of Venus is 450°C.
• The force of gravity changes a person's weight on different planets. For example, the force of gravity on Mars is lower than on Earth, so a person weighing 80 kg on Mars would weigh only 31 kg.
• Since the Moon has neither atmosphere nor water, nothing can erase the traces of astronauts who set foot on its surface. Therefore, the traces will probably remain here for another hundred million years.
• The temperature of the Sun's core, the closest star to Earth, is 15 million degrees Celsius.

Facts about famous scientists

For a long time, people thought that the Earth was flat, that the change of seasons depended on the mood of the gods, and that illness was caused by evil spirits. This continued until great scientists proved the opposite. Without them, we would still be living in ignorance.

• Albert Einstein was a genius, but his talents were discovered quite late. After the scientist's death, his brain was the subject of numerous studies.
• Nicolaus Copernicus disproved the theory that the Earth is the center of the Universe. He developed a model solar system, in the center of which is the Sun.
• Leonardo da Vinci was not only an artist. He was also an outstanding mathematician, scientist, writer and even musician.
• Archimedes invented the law of fluid displacement while taking a bath. The funny thing is that, according to legend, he jumped out of the bathtub shouting “Eureka!” He was so excited that he forgot that he had no clothes on.
• Marie Curie, the female chemist who discovered radium, was the first person in the world to win the Nobel Prize twice.

Scientific facts from the world of technology

Technology is the engine of progress. We are so dependent on technology Everyday life that it's even scary. We offer some interesting facts about technical devices that we encounter every day:

• The first computer game appeared in 1967. It was called “brown box” (translated from English as “brown box”) because that’s exactly what it looked like.
• The world's first computer, ENIAC, weighed more than 27 tons and took up an entire room.
• The Internet and the World Wide Web are not the same thing.
• Robotics is one of the most relevant scientific fields today. However, back in 1495, Leonardo da Vinci drew the world's first diagram of a robot.
• “Camera Obscura” is a prototype of a camera that influenced the development of photography. It was used in Ancient Greece and China in order to project images onto the screen.
• There is an interesting technology that uses plant waste to produce methane, which in turn can be used to generate electricity.

Scientific facts from the engineering industry

Engineering helps create beautiful things - from houses and cars to electronic gadgets.

• The tallest bridge in the world is the Millau Viaduct in France. It is located at an altitude of 245 m, supported by beams suspended on cables.
• The Palm Islands in Dubai can be called a modern wonder of the world. These are man-made islands floating on the water.
• The world's largest particle accelerator is located in Geneva. It was built to support the research of over 10,000 scientists and is located in an underground tunnel.
• The Chandra Space Observatory is the world's largest X-ray telescope. It is also the largest satellite launched into space.
• Today the most ambitious project in the world is the New Valley in Egypt. Engineers are trying to turn millions of hectares of desert into farmland. Imagine what would happen if we could green the Earth in the same way! Our planet would regain its pristine purity!

Science is a wonderful field of study that inspires many people. All you need is to get your child interested in it. And who knows, maybe your child will grow up to be the next Einstein.