Top 10 fascinating and amazing science facts to blow you away.

The wonders of science are evident all around us, it's amazing to think about the size of our universe, the complexity of the human genome or even just how much blood is pumped by the human heart in an hour.

Below are a list of facts that you are probably unaware of. Science is fascinating and everyone should be made aware of just how incredible it really is. 

1. Atoms

Atoms are the basic building blocks of matter; they make  everyday objects, from the chair you sit on to the sandwich you are eating. The number of atoms  for a typical human of 70 kg is almost 7*1027 atoms (7000000000000000000000000000) and the number of atoms in the universe? well, I will let you care to estimate. ​​

2. Human DNA

If you typed at top speed (60 words a minute) for eight hours a day, it would take you 50 years to type the complete human genome. What is even more amazing is all of us share around 99.9% of our DNA with each other; the other 0.1% may hay have something to do with the number of nucleotides in a person's DNA

3. How many blood vessels?

In the human body, there are about 60,000 miles of blood vessels through which the heart pumps blood. There are more than 20 major arteries throughout the body, which then branch out into many smaller arterioles and capillaries.There are approximately 300 million capillaries in the complete human body. 

4. Heart and volume of blood

To get an idea of the amount of blood that your heart pumps in an hour then you need to consume a quart (quarter of a gallon) of water each day for four months to equate to the amount of blood your heart pumps in one hour. 
Additionally, over a lifetime, at your normal (resting) heart rate you will have pumped enough blood to fill thirteen oil super tankers. To further expound on this fact, on average, your heart beats 40,000,000 times per year. Doing the math, over your lifetime (both men and women averaged), that results in 2,600,000,000 heartbeats (two billion, six hundred million). This does not even factor in your increased heartbeats due to your love of exercise.

5. Our cells

Image source

Throughout the day, the risk is always there of developing cancer; however, thanks to our cells ability to realize a defect when a cell is about to go cancerous it will 'commit suicide' or in scientific terms, apoptosis, programmed cell death. This amazing feature is not perfect as cancer is unfortunately one of the major diseases of the 21st century; however without the cells ability to undergo apoptosis there could be an increased number of cancer cases. 

6. As a baby

Image source

A large percentage of us will not remember being a baby, because not only were our brains not developed enough to record memories like we do now, but we also had no concept of self; you had no ability to understand who you were. Most memories start to begin at around the age of 2; however this is not always the case, some have documented that they can actually remember what it was like being a baby of under 2 years, amazing.

7. Our sun and its mass

 (Image Credit: NASA/SDO/Steele Hill)

One million Earths can fit inside the Sun.
Ancient astronomers once believed the Earth was at the centre of the Universe but now we know that the Sun is at the centre of our Solar System and our planets orbit the Sun. The Sun makes up 99.8% of the entire mass of the whole Solar System. One million Earths would be needed to be the same size as the Sun.

8. The furthest man-made object is Voyager 1. It has messages for aliens on-board.

Image source

In 1977, Voyager 1 and 2 were launched. Their primary mission was to visit Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 2 continued onto Uranus and Neptune; Voyager 1 has now made its way into interstellar space. Voyager 1 is further away from Earth than the distance between the Sun and Pluto. Both craft carry a golden record on board, which will act like a time-capsule of Earth. It has greetings from Earth as well as different kinds of music. It also has noises of rocket engines, the sea, people talking, animal’s sounds and lots of images. All of which sum up the Earth. United States President Jimmy Carter said at the time “This record represents our hope and our determination, and our good will in a vast and awesome universe.” These messages have been recorded as electronic impulses which can be translated into written words. If any aliens find it then can enjoy some Louis Armstrong as well some Peruvian panpipes!

9. All of space is completely silent.

image source

Sound waves need a medium to travel through. Since there is no atmosphere in space, space will always be eerily silent.
You may be asking how astronauts can talk to each other in space. Lucky for them, radio waves can travel through space. No problem there, Houston.

10. Stars

If we assume that our own milky way galaxy represents an average type of galaxy, we can calculate that there are roughly 150 billion stars born per year in the entire Universe. This corresponds to about 400 million stars born per day or 4800 stars per second!

---

You may also be interested in

How urine gave us the devil's element

Artificial 'skin' that can sense pressure

Does Mercury(II) fulminate really react the way it did on breaking bad?

The chemistry of halloween and fear
​