Amazing Facts About Science and our Sky
Let’s do something different, and mix sky-stuff with weird science! Ready? Here are seven strange science facts—about everything under the Sun from rainbows to our reflection in mirrors!
- Number 1. A rainbow has no independent reality. Sunlight and raindrops are not enough to create one. An observer is necessary for its existence, by standing exactly where the 42-degree refraction geometry gets completed. One bit of evidence that they’re not real is that rainbows not only cannot cast shadows, but also do not cast reflections! Learn more about rainbows and how they form.
- Speaking of which, number 2: You’ve always noticed that your reflection in a mirror is reversed left-to-right. But why isn’t it also reversed top-to-bottom? This has engendered heated logical arguments. Think about it.
- Number 3. Nearly the entire Sun, all two octillion tons of it, creates neither heat nor light. Instead the bright ball you can sometimes see through thin clouds is just the thin surface where its energy escapes. Its actual power of 4 trillion watts, equal to 96 billion H bombs per second, is generated in a tiny blindingly dazzling ball at its core, with just 1/200th of the Sun’s volume.
- Speaking of the Sun, number 4: What kind of energy do you think it emits most strongly? Heat? Ultraviolet light? Gamma rays? No. Its peak emission is ordinary green light. That’s why that color is the one our eyes most easily perceive.
- Number 5. If you dug a hole clear through the Earth, sucked out the deadly hot air and then jumped in, how long would it take to fall from California to New Zealand? Answer: 90 minutes. The same exact period early satellites took to orbit around Earth.
- Number 6. Ever wonder how long it takes the sun to move its own width as it crosses the sky? (Hint: It’s also the length of every sunset, most precisely those seen from the tropics.) Answer: Two minutes.
- Number 7: One breathful of air has the same relationship to all the air on Earth, as one atom of that air to all the air in your lungs.
I love this stuff. Let me know if you do too.
Bob Berman
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Why in the world would you assume that just because someone is homeschooled, they would believe something so foolish? I have extensive experience with both homeschooling and public school system. I find it very disappointing that an adult would make such a foolish statement on a topic about which they are obviously ignorant. This comment section should be about the fascinating article, not taking cheap shots at education.
Ignoring the very good points made about gravity, if you check an antipodes map on the internet, you can see that a straight line through the earth from Wellington, New Zealand would come out in Spain. If you try to start at Christchurch though, you'd come out in the Atlantic.
Hi Bob, I am super interested in the math behind the 90 mins between california and new zealand (ignoring the extra jazz about stopping at the centre of the earth). The last time I took any math or physics back in my university days was about 20 years ago, and shamefully, I couldn't even figure out the math behind it! Could you share?
Hey, Bob,
I love this stuff too - keep it coming! I'm a grandma whose grandkids enjoy it too!
An entire set of people ( homeschooled? I don't know ) believes that all rainbows are by photoshop, because some of them are. Too many of these will only read as far as "they aren't real", and then claim to have found evidence, or a sympathetic authority, to support the claim that a rainbow is not an observable physical phenomenon--one that can be photographed, and, to a certain extent, replicated.
You could not fall completely through a hole in the center of the earth. As you approached the core, gravitational attraction would be the same all around you. You would stop and have a long walk (or climb) home!
As to your fact #6, the Sun doesn't move, it rotates! I know, I know, I'm being a smart aleck, but I'm also correct! However, I did enjoy your "facts". Have a blessed 2019!!!
Seems like due to gravity you wouldn't be able to fall from CA to New Zealand. Instead you would just stop at the center.
Actually, the sun IS moving, along with the whole solar system through space.
Fun facts for the New Year. Very thought provoking. Will look forward to more in the coming year. Happy New Year.
