Classmate Facts # 61 - The Many Wonders of the Universe!!

1. Ever seen water spin? Hurricanes, Tornadoes and bigger bodies of water always go clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. This is due to the rotation of the Earth.

2. Ever wondered how big the sun is? Well... only about 330,330 times larger than the earth.

3. The radius of the Earth at the North Pole is 44 mm longer than at the South Pole!

4. All the planets in the solar system are named after gods, except the one we live on, Earth! Did you know that there is zero gravity at the centre of the earth?

5. Ever experienced a Solar Eclipse? Be sure to wear something warm! During a total solar eclipse the temperature can drop by 6 degrees celcius.

6. On Uranus, summer lasts for 21 years. And so does Winter!

Classmate Facts # 60 - The times that were...

1. 105 A.D. - Paper as we know it is invented by a Chinese government servent named Ts'ai Lun. The first paper is made from hump waste, mulberry fibres, rags and other materials.

2. 850 A.D. - Toilet Paper is first used in China.

3. 71 A.D. - The construction of the Colosseum begins in Rome.

4. 43 A.D. - The first London bridge is built by the Romans. It is a temporary pontoon bridge!

5. 542 A.D. - The great plague of Europe. It would last until 593, killing half the population of Europe.

6. 440 A.D. - December 25th begins to be celebrated as the birthdate of Jesus Christ!

7. 748 A.D. - First printed newspaper appears in Peking, China.

Classmate Facts # 59 - Fun Facts!

1. 6 years is what it took Leo Tolstoy to write "War & Peace".

2. In Britain's House of Commons, the government and the opposition sides of the house are separated by two red lines. The distance between the lines is called two swords' lengths!

3. The new Boeing 767 aircraft is made from 3.1 million parts from 800 different suppliers around the world!

4. About 50 billion dollars worth of Monopoly money is printed by Parker Brothers in one year!

5. The wire in a standard paper clip is 1 millimeter in diameter!

6. All citizens officially becomes an year older on New Year's Day, regardless of their birthdays, in Bhutan!

Classmate Facts # 58 - Tiger Trivia

1. A Buddhist Temple in Western Thailand called the 'Tiger Temple' keeps numerous animals, including several tigers that can be petted by visitors!

2. Tigers can spend up to eighteen hours sleeping!

3. Tigers have eyes that are the brightest of any other animal in the world.

4. Tigers will occasionally eat vegetarian for dietary fiber!

5. The Tungusic people (people of Siberia and northern China who speak Tungusic Languages) often referred to the Siberian Tiger as "Grandfather" or "Old Man".

Classmate Facts # 57 - A Tiger's Trick?

1. Tigers have a white spot on the back of both ears, which look like eyes. These spots are called "eye spots" trick predators into thinking that the tiger is looking at them, even when it is not!

2. Pug marks can help to judge a tiger's gender and age - even its weight and mood!

3. In his autobiography 'Jahangir Nama' Mughal Emperor Jahangir mentioned that captive tigers roamed his palace grounds with chains!

4. Tigers can run with three legs in the air simultaneously!

5. The Bengal Tiger's roar can be heard from up to 3 km away.

Classmate Facts # 56 - Food, Glorious Food!

1. The first ice-cream soda was sold in 1874 in the US.

2. There are more than 10,000 varieties of tomatoes.

3. Did you know that an onion, apple and potato all have the same taste? The differences in flavour are caused by their smell!

4. China uses 45 billion chopsticks per year. 25 million trees are chopped down to make the sticks!

5. The Chinese first discovered tea. Actually it was a Chinese Emperor who first tasted the brew in 2737 B.C. when some tea leaves accidentally blew into a pot of boiling water.

Classmate Facts # 55 - Impressed?

1. An atomic clock is accurate to within 1 second in 1.7 million years.

2. Queen Elizabeth of Britain sent her first e-mail in 1976.

3. On every continent there is a city called Rome.

4. There are more TV sets in the US than there are people in the UK.

5. To make one kilo of honey, bees have to visit 4 million flowers, travelling a distance equal to 4 times around the earth.

6. Eskimos use refrigerators to keep food from freezing.

7. Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon with his left foot first.

Classmate Facts # 54 - Ice-Berrrg!

1. The largest northern Hemisphere iceberg was encountered near Baffin Island in 1882. It was 13 km long, 6 km wide and was about 65 feet above water. The mass of that iceberg was in excess of 9 billion tons!

2. The interior temperature of icebergs can be in the range of -15 to -20 degree Celsius.

3. Usually white, blue or green in colour, icebergs may extend downward 1000 feet below water and reach a height of more than 200 feet above water.

4. Why do icebergs look mostly white? Because of all the air bubbles trapped inside, reflecting white light!

5. Icebergs float because the density of ice is lower than the density of seawater.

6. Icebergs are made entirely of fresh water and are therefore not salty! So you can eat bits off an iceberg!

Classmate Facts # 53 - It Happened in the 20th Century

1. 1947 - The Dead Sea Scrolls are discovered by a Bedouin Shepherd in Jordan - dating from the 1st century, they are in Aramaic, the language of Jesus, and Hebrew.

2. 1908 - Henry Ford rolls out his first Ford Model T, the car for the people!

3. 1927 - Charles Lindbergh flies non-stop from New York to Paris in the "Spirit of St. Louis".

4. 1917 - Charlie Chaplin signs the first million dollar movie contract.

5. 1994 - An asteroid passes the earth at only 160,000 km.

6. 1902 - The teddy bear is created after a Russian immigrant sees a newspaper cartoon depicting President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt.

7. 1978 - The first test tube baby, Louise Brown, is born in England!

Classmate Facts # 52 - Rep...Rep......... Reptiles

1. The most venomous of all snakes is the Inland Taipan, which has enough venom in one bite to kill more than 200,000 mice.

2. There are no poisonous snakes in Maine.

3. The poison arrow frog South and Central America is the most poisonous animal in the world.

Classmate Facts # 51 - Finishing Point

1. A chequered flag is waved to indicate the end of a race as the car passes the finish line.

2. Every time you lick a stamp, you are consuming 1/10 of a calorie.

3. Super Glue was invented by accident. The researcher was trying to make optical coating materials and would test their property by putting them between two prisms and shining light through them. When he tried the Cyano-Acrylite, he couldn't get the prism apart.

Classmate Facts # 50 - Just Wanna Do It

1. The woodpecker can peck at wood twenty times a second! some speed that!

2. It may take longer than 2 days for a chick to break out of its shell.

3. Do you know that ELEPHANTS cannot jump?

Classmate Facts # 49 - Time 2 Sleep

1. Elephants sleep for only 2 hours a day.

2. Lions sleep for upto 20 hours a day.

3. The domestic cat is the only cat species able to hold its tail vertically while walking. Wild cats hold their tails horizontally, or tucked between their legs while walking.

Classmate Facts # 48 - NOTHING BUT...

1. Skepticism is the longest word that one can make using alternate hands while typing.

2. Arithmophobia is the fear of numbers.

3. The Guinness Book of World Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from public libraries.

Classmate Facts # 47 - BEWARE

1. There are 200 million privately owned guns in the US including 65 million handguns.

2. In Italy, A man can be arrested if he wears a skirt in public.

3. No piece of paper can be folded more than 7 times.

Classmate Facts # 46 - Something Serious

1. Did you know that it is impossible to sneeze keeping your eyes open? Try it!

2. Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he doesn't wear pants!

3. Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to SLOW the film down so you could see his actions.

Classmate Facts # 45 - JUST to CLIMB

1. The poplular game of "Snake & Ladder" was created in INDIA by the 13th century poet, Sant Gyandev. It was orginally called MOKSHAPAT.

Classmate Facts # 44 - Far Facts!!

1. After death, cartilage rots faster than bone. This is why the skulls of skeletons have no nose or ears.

2. Lighthouse keepers used to catch fish by flying a kite from the balcony of their lighthouses.

3. A Baboon called "Jackie" became a private in the South African army in World War I.

4. Seen a Barbie Doll? Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts!

5. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.

6. There are more bacteria in your mouth, than the human population of US and Canada combined.

Classmate Facts # 43 - Flying Cows!!!

1. In May 1963, an American cow called Fawn was swept up by a tornado and carried half a mile, only to land safely in another farmer's field. Five years later, another tornado carried her over a bus. She survived this, too and lived to the ripe old age of 25.

2. The botanical name for the cocoa bean from which chocolate is produced is Theobroma, which is Greek for "Food of the Gods".

3. Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails.

4. E-mails started in 1971. The first e-mail sent by Ray Tomlinson was written entirely in UPPERCASE!

5. Galileo became totally totally blind before his death, probably from looking at the sun too much!

6. Coconut water can be used as a blood plasma substitute!

Classmate Facts # 42 - Heard of a 'Portmanteau'?

1. Men can read smaller print than women, women can hear better.

2. No word in the English language rhymes with Month, Orange, Silver or Purple.

3. The first novel ever written on a typewriter was 'Tom Sawyer'.

4. Hershey's kisses are called that because the machine that makes them look like it's kissing the conveyor belt.

5. The Amazon Rainforest produces half the world's oxygen supply.

6. When two words are combined to form a single word (e.g. Motor + Hotel = Motel, Breakfast + Lunch = Brunch) the new word is called a "Portmanteau".

Classmate Facts # 41 - That's a Fact!!

1. Tough, Though, Through and Thorough are formed by adding a letter every time between t and ough, but none of them rhymes with any other.

2. Professional ballerinas use about twelve pairs of toe shoes per week.

3. The Australian $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 notes are made out of plastic.

4. Your left lung is slightly smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart.

5. Cleopatra used pomegranate seeds for lipstick.

6. When a giraffe's baby is born it falls from a height of 6 feet, normally without being hurt.

Classmate Facts # 40 - Reindeer Antifreeze!!

1. It is impossible to lick your elbow. (Try it out!!)

2. Sailor, Dead Leaf, Paper Kite, Blue Striped Crow, Julia and Great Egg Fly... wondering what these are? Names of Butterflies!!

3. Aegilops, 8 letters long, is the longest word with its letters arranged in alphabetical order.

4. Insects do not make noises with their voices. The noise of bees, mosquitoes and other buzzing insects is caused by rapidly moving their wings.

5. In 1883, the explosion of the volcano Krakatoa put so much dust into the Earth's atmosphere that sunsets appeared green and the moon appeared blue around the world for almost 2 years.

6. How do reindeers survive in the extreme cold? By eating moss! The moss contains a special chemical that helps reindeer keep their body fluids warm. When the reindeer make their yearly journey across the icy Arctic region, the chemical keeps them from freezing!

Classmate Facts # 39 - Fun Info!

1. The shortest complete sentence in the English language? "Go".

2. A typical bed usually houses over 6 billion dust mites.

3. Spoonfed, 9 letters long, is the longest word with its letters arranged in reverse alphabetical order.

4. A person afflicted with hexadectylism has six fingers or six toes on one or both hands or feet.

5. A cat sees about six times better than humans at night because of Tapetum Lucidum, a layer of extra reflecting cells which absorb light.

6. A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body.

Classmate Facts # 38 - 500 KGS OF FOOD!!

1. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand in the desert!

2. A day on the planet mercury is twice as long as its year!

3. The largest bone is the pelvis, or hipbone. In fact it is made of 6 bones joined firmly together.

4. We eat about 500 kg of food per year.

5. An octopus has three hearts!

6. During his entire lifetime, Herman Melville's timeless classic of the sea, 'Moby Dick' only sold 50 copies.

Classmate Facts # 37 - Facts Galore!

1. The longest bone is the "Femur", in the thigh. It makes up almost one quarter of the body's total height.

2. A male emperor moth can find a female of his species a mile away.

3. Owls are one of the only birds that can see the color blue!

4. The Pacific Ocean was named by Magellan because it was calmer than the Atlantic!

5. A strand of Spider Web may be stronger than an equal diameter of Steel.

6. Skin is thickest, 1/5th inch, on the upper back. It is thinnest on the eyelids, which are only 1/50th inch thick.

Classmate Facts # 36 - FAST Facts!

1. The ears and nose do not have bones inside them. Their inner supports are cartilage or 'gristle', which is lighter and more flexible than bone. This is why the nose and ears can be bent.

2. Did you know that a tuna called the 'Blue Fin' tuna can be sold for over $20,000 around the world?

3. Laid end-to-end, the arteries, capillaries and veins would stretch for about 60,000 miles in the average child would be about 100,000 miles in an adult - enough to wrap around the world nearly four times!

4. A volcano can shoot its debris as high as 50 km into the sky.

5. We lose half a litre of water a day through breathing.

6. It has been calculated that a single breath from a mature whale can inflate up to 2000 balloons.

Classmate Facts # 35 - Twisted Tongues

1. All the coal, oil, gas and wood on Earth would only keep the sun burning for a few days.

2. There is a flower called the Scarlet Pimpernal that can forecast the weather. If the flower is closed up, rain is coming and if it is opened up, the day will be sunny.

3. The "Sixth Sick Sheikh's Sixth Sheep's Sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English Language.

4. Your skin weighs about 3.2 kg.

5. The telescope on Mount Palomar, California, can see a distance of 7,038,835,200,000,000,000,000 miles.

6. The smallest bone is the "Stirrup", deep in the ear. It is hardly larger than a grain of rice.

Classmate Facts # 34 - Facts are Fun!

1. According to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, it is possible to go slower than the speed of light and faster than light, but it is impossible to go at the speed of light.

2. The Holland and Lincoln tunnels under the Hudson Power connecting New Jersey and New York are an engineering feat. The air circulators in the tunnels circulate fresh air completely every 90 seconds.

3. The giant red star Betelgeuse has a diameter larger than that of the Earth;s orbit around the sun.

4. In most advertisements, including newspapers, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10 because then the arms frame the brand of the watch.

5. The Mongol emperor Genghis Khan's original name was Temujin. Genghis Khan started out life as a goatherd.

6. Some words which have no singular form are: alms, braces, clothes, eaves, pants, pliers, scissors, shorts, trousers.

Classmate Facts # 33 - A Country with Three Capitals??

1. South Africa is the only country with three official capitals: Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein.

2. In the great fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down but only 6 people were injured.

3. The shortest word with the vowels in alphabetical order is "Aerious" (7 letters).

4. The earliest document in Latin in a woman's handwriting (from the first century A.D.) is an invitation to a birthday party.

5. There are only three animals with blue tongues, The Black Bear, The Chow Chow Dog and the Blue Tongued Lizard.

6. The volume of the Earth's moon is the same as the volume of the Pacific Ocean.

Classmate Facts # 32 - Food for Thought!

1. Ever eaten a black cow? It's chocolate soda with chocolate ice cream! Did you know that this concoction is also called the "Mud Fizz"!

2. There are more than 200 kinds of chili peppers, none of which belong to the pepper family.

3. Termites are roasted and eaten by the handful in South Africa, like popcorn!

4. The secret recipe for Coca-Cola, code-named "Merchandise X" is kept under lock and key in a vault in the SunTrust Bank Building in Atlanta, Georgia.

5. John Kellog invented Corn Flakes, for a patient with Bad Teeth!

6. Carbonated water, can dissolve limestone, talc and many low hardness minerals. And guess what? Carbonated Water is the main ingredient in Soda.

Classmate Facts # 31 - Facts and Figures...

1. People born in the month of September are believed to be able to chink clearly and logically!

2. The strongest creatures in the world are ants! For their size, they can carry 50 times their weight!

3. A sneeze travels out of our mouths at 100 mph!

4. Cannibals began to eat other human beings as part of religious rituals or sacred ceremonies. They believed they could acquire the traits of a man they admired by eating him!

5. Plastic surgery was practised by the Ancieent Hindus in India before 1000 A.D. They worked with steel surgical instruments and used alcohol as an anesthetic!