Crazy Facts About the World
Did you know that Antarctica is the only continent without a time zone?
The shortest war in history lasted only 38 minutes, between Britain and Zanzibar in 1896.
There are more possible iterations of a game of chess than there are atoms in the observable universe.
The world’s largest desert is actually Antarctica.
Honey never spoils – archaeologists have found pots of honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that are over 3,000 years old and still perfectly edible.
The average person will walk the equivalent of five times around the Earth in their lifetime.
The largest living organism on Earth is a fungus in Oregon’s Blue Mountains, covering over 2,200 acres.
The Earth’s oceans contain enough gold to give every person on the planet 9 pounds of it.
The shortest scheduled airline flight in the world is between the islands of Westray and Papa Westray in Scotland, lasting just 1.7 miles and taking around 1 minute.
The world’s tallest waterfall, Angel Falls in Venezuela, is 15 times taller than the famous Niagara Falls.
There are about 8.7 million different species on Earth, but scientists estimate that over 80% of them remain undiscovered.
The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the largest living structure on Earth and can be seen from space.
The driest place on Earth is the Atacama Desert in Chile, where some areas haven’t seen rainfall for over 400 years.
The planet Saturn’s density is so low that it would float in water.
Crazy Facts About the World part 2
The world’s oldest known tree, named Methuselah, is over 4,800 years old and can be found in California’s White Mountains.
The fastest land animal, the cheetah, can go from 0 to 60 mph in just a few seconds.
The deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench, is deeper than Mount Everest is tall.
The probability of being born on February 29th, a leap year day, is about 1 in 1,46
The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds.
The country of Monaco is smaller in area than Central Park in New York City.
The world’s oldest known recipe is for beer, dating back over 5,000 years.
Mount Everest was formed millions of years ago when two tectonic plates collided.
The world’s largest man-made hole, the Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah, is over 0.75 miles deep and 2.5 miles wide.
The tallest recorded wave in the ocean was about 1,720 feet tall, higher than the Empire State Building.
The fastest animal in the ocean, the sailfish, can swim at speeds of up to 68 mph.
The world’s largest sand dune, nicknamed Duna Grande, is located in Brazil and stands at a height of about 1,296 feet.
The United States has the highest number of tornadoes in the world, with around 1,000 recorded annually.
The world’s largest cave, the Son Doong Cave in Vietnam, is so big that it has its own weather system.
The Phoenix dactylifera plant (date palm) is called the tree of life because it can live for over 200 years.
The world’s largest salt flat, Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, is so flat and reflective that it is often used to calibrate satellites.
There are more trees on Earth than there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
The world’s largest flower, the Rafflesia, can grow up to three feet in diameter and smell like rotting flesh.
The world’s smallest mammal is the bumblebee bat, which weighs less than a penny.
The Vatican City is the smallest independent state in the world, with an area of approximately 110 acres.
The island nation of Maldives is the flattest country on Earth, with its highest natural point only 7.8 feet above sea level.
The world’s largest swimming pool is located in Chile and measures about 20 acres in size.
The Ostrich is the largest bird in the world and can run at speeds of up to 43 mph.
There are more plastic flamingos in the world than real ones.
The longest recorded flight of a paper airplane is over 27 seconds.
The average person spends six months of their lifetime waiting for red traffic lights to turn green.
The Tardigrade, also known as the water bear, can survive extreme conditions such as being exposed to outer space or being boiled in water.
The Great Wall of China is not visible from space with the naked eye, contrary to popular belief.
There are over 1,800 active volcanoes on Earth, many of which are located on the Ring of Fire in the Pacific Ocean.
The world’s largest telescope, the Gran Telescopio Canarias in Spain, has a mirror diameter of 34 feet and can observe 900 galaxies at once.
The world’s oldest known musical instrument, a flute made from a vulture bone, is over 40,000 years old and was found in a cave in Germany.