Mind Blowing Facts they never taught you in school - Part 2 (Solar System)
1. Remember the solar system diagram in your 5th standard science book? Time to forget it.
This one, and the diagrams in your books, they weren't even in the slightest, to-scale. Planets are not lined up like little kids going to the library. You know Uranus right? The planet behind Jupiter? Yea, it's not just a little bit behind Jupiter, it is way beyond Jupiter. The distance between Jupiter and Uranus is five times the distance between Jupiter and Earth. And how far is Jupiter from earth? Let's see:
If Earth were to be shrunk down to the size of a pea, then Jupiter will be over a thousand feet away. Pluto, about a mile and a half.
I know right! Those conniving treacherous two faces didn't teach us squat!
2. Pluto is not the edge of our solar system. Warning: Potential mindf#ck ahead.
Pluto might have been the last planet in our school book diagrams, but it does not mark the end of our solar system. It is Not Even Close!
The solar system ends at the edge of the Oort Cloud(It is a mammoth celestial kingdom of flying comets).
If we were to travel at say 35 thousand miles per hour( Speed of Voyager spacecrafts) and let's say we have already made it past Pluto and heading towards the Oort Cloud, do you know how much longer it is going to take us to reach there?
I apologise for this because you probably wouldn't be home for dinner. About ten thousand years.
Hypothetically, if the distance between the earth and solar system's edge is fifty thousand kilometers, then the distance between Earth and Pluto is.. Guess?
1 kilometer.
3. Aliens cannot see you. At least, not until 2215.
The closest that an alien civilization could exist, to our planet, has been estimated to be 200 light years. That may not seem a lot, but trust me, it is. IF they are looking at us right now, they are seeing the light that left earth 200 years ago. Here's a list what they might have seen/be seeing:
- 1st flat horse race held at English race track Cheltenham on Nottingham Hill.
- 1st natural gas well in US is discovered.
- Willem I proclaimed king of the Netherlands, including Belgium
- World's first commercial cheese factory established, in Switzerland
- Burned US Library of Congress reestablished with Thomas Jefferson's 6500 vols
- Battle of Waterloo; Napoleon and France defeated by British forces under Wellington and Prussian troops under Blucher
- Napoleon Bonaparte arrives on island of St Helena to begin his exile.
Source: www.onthisday.com/events/date/1815
4. Just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they can't annihilate you.
Thank clouds! Stop thanking heaven, thank the clouds instead.
Have you wondered how it is possible for a planet, surrounded by millions of giant rocks, to be in a permanent orbit and not bump into at least one of them every now and then? No, they are not in their orbits of their own. Well, for now they are, but these rocks are much smaller in size and fickler in nature. They move randomly, and they are by the millions.
Consider this:
It is as if, the earth's orbit is a high-way and earth is the only vehicle on it. But there are countless pedestrians constantly crossing the road who don't know where they are or where exactly they have to go. Worse thing is, they don't give a damn about their lives. And I'm going to assume that they probably don't care about that one vehicle either.
Every single one of them are on a slightly different path(as of now), but all of them have the potential to manufacture a tremendous accident. Unsettling is it not?
This article is referenced from Bill Bryson's- A short history of nearly everything
For more amazement!
- Mind Blowing Facts they never taught you in school - Part 6 (Microbes)
World of the terribly tiny. Let's dive in. - Mind Blowing Facts they never taught you in school- Part 5 (Water)
One of the most important elements of the Earth, crucial for our survival. Water. Or as the British call it, wotah. - Mind Blowing Facts they never taught you in school - Part 4 (Asteroids)
Hi again! Missed me? Well no more! Because I am back with another batch of stupendous marvelous glorious set of facts carefully handpicked for your enjoyment and knowledge. Let's begin! - Mind Blowing Facts they never taught you in school - Part 3 (Atom)
Subatomic particles. Atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons. Crazy facts. - Mind Blowing Facts they never taught you in school - Part 1 (Universe)
Prepare to be mind#ucked. Space Facts. Earth Facts. There's thousands of facts like this that you've probably forgotten or never knew. Sit back and enjoy. This is just the beginning.