Interesting facts (part 1)

The most popular selection in the style of "With the world in a thread", which will distract you from the harsh realities of our life! See and discuss!

A selection of cognitive questions and answers.

WHO DETERMINED WHICH TIME ZONE WILL BE THE FIRST MEETING OF A NEW DAY?

In 1884, at the International Meridian Conference, the Earth was divided into 24 time zones. On the 180 ° meridian, a date line was introduced, to the west of which the UTC + 12 belt was located (the time is 12 hours ahead of Greenwich time). This belt was the first to meet a new day. However, the time zone system is recommendatory. In 1995, the Republic of Kiribati wished to move from the UTC-11 belt to UTC + 13 to have the same date with Australia and New Zealand, and the Line Islands in the center of the Pacific Ocean were allocated to the UTC + 14 belt, so that throughout Kiribati there was one day of the week. The Islands of the Line met the third millennium first.

WHY THE CLOCK ARROW MOVES LEFT RIGHT, AND NOT A VOYAGE?

Because mechanical watches are created in the Northern Hemisphere

Before the advent of mechanical watches in the course were solar, where the role of the hour hand is played by the shadow thrown by the pole. On the dial, it moves in the same direction as the sun in the sky. In the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth, the luminary moves from left to right: from the east through south to the west. This is what has become the direction "clockwise". In the southern hemisphere, the sundial "go" in the opposite direction, and whether the mechanical clock is created there, the arrows would probably move in the other direction. By the way, astronomers have now agreed to determine the north and south on other planets by their rotation: the northern is the hemisphere where the sky rotates clockwise.

WHY DOES THE MARATHON DISTANCE CONSTITUTE 42 195 M, A NOT RARE 42 OR 43 KM?

Following the example of the London Olympics

According to the legend, a messenger with the news of the victory of the Greeks over the Persians in 490 BC. E. ran from the Marathon to Athens (this is over 30 km in a straight line). At the Olympics in Greece in 1896, the route from Marathon to Athens was laid along a longer road (40 km). At the Fourth Olympiad (Great Britain, 1908), it was decided to start a marathon race at the royal castle in Windsor, and finish in London at the Great Stadium in front of the royal lodge. The path of exactly 26 miles (41,843 m), laid from Windsor Castle, did not reach the box of 385 yards (352 m), and they were added to the route. And only in 1921 the International Athletics Federation decided that the length of the track should always be exactly 42,195 m, as it was in London.

On the photo: Finish the marathon runner at the London Olympics

HOW DO THE COFFEE WITHOUT A COFFEE?

There are three ways

To extract caffeine, use either organic solvents, or compressed carbon dioxide, or simply hot water. In the latter case, not only caffeine but also aromatic substances go from the grains to the solution. The water is filtered by removing the caffeine and soaked in it with a new batch of grains. As the water was already saturated with aromatic substances, it extracts only the caffeine from the new batch of grains and nothing more.

WHY DIAMOND TRANSPARENT, A GRAPHITE BLACK, ALWAYS BOTH FROM CARBON?

Because of differences in the crystal lattice

Four valence electrons allow carbon to form bonds with four other carbon atoms. This can be either four strong bonds, as in a diamond, or three are particularly strong and one is weak, as in graphite. Electrons of diamond absorb light only at the frequencies of excitation of interatomic bonds. These frequencies do not fall into the visible part of the spectrum, so the diamond is transparent. In graphite, strong bonds connect atoms to monolayers along which the electrons of weak bonds move freely, and these layers are slightly attached. Free electrons absorb light of any frequency, making graphite opaque

IF YOU place water in a strong vessel and freeze, how can it be expanded?

No way

Ice takes about 10% more water than water. And the first ice crystals that will appear in the vessel will make the rest of the water shrink. Water is compressed with great difficulty, so the pressure in it will begin to rise sharply. When half the liquid freezes, the density of the remaining water will increase by 10%, and the pressure will increase to 2000 atmospheres. At this pressure, the water will be liquid even at -20 ° C. If the cooling continues, the water will not turn into ordinary ice, but into the so-called ice III with a different crystalline structure, having a density of 1.16 g / cc. This is one of fifteen known modifications of high-pressure ice.

Do they grieve for a friend or a friend?

Hardly

Although stinging cells (cnidocytes) can trigger automatically, in a living jellyfish their work is apparently controlled by the nervous system. Otherwise, she would constantly sting herself, because her tentacles touch each other and the edges of the dome all the time. There is no aggressive intraspecific behavior in jellyfish, and cannibalism is unknown. Probably, with mutual touches, jellyfish do not perceive each other as food or as a threat, therefore they do not use their weapons.

DOES THE TEETH SLEEP?

Yes, and a lot

By origin and composition, these formations have nothing to do with the teeth of vertebrates. In the mouthpiece of the cochlea there is a special organ - radula, which is a plate, dotted with tens of thousands of hard denticles. Operating this organ as a grater, the snail grinds the soft tissues of the plants that feed on it.

60 nanometers - the thickness of the fibers of goethite, which make up the dental tissue of the snail marine plaque. Thanks to these fibers, which are a thousand times thinner than a human hair, the teeth of a sea saucer are the most solid biological structure known to science.

In the photo: Macro photography of the radula of a sea saucer in polarized light

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WOOL AND HAIR?

In the building

In animal wool, a complex structure including different types of fibers - undercoat (fluff), awn, in some species also intermediate hair. And human hair covers consist of more or less the same type of fiber. And they are less dense than wool. Although the word "hair" can be called individual elements of the cover of both humans and animals.

Is it true that one kidney is higher than another?

Normally, the kidneys are symmetrically located

The location of one kidney above the other appears as an anomaly. The fact is that in embryonic development the kidneys are laid in the pelvic region and then shifted upwards. In the case of insufficient or excessive migration of one of the kidneys, it is lower or higher than the other. If the kidney remains at all in the pelvic region, this complicates the work of the nearby organs and can cause pain.

WHY IN THE BONE AT THE TIME OF THE SERVICE SIT, AND IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH STAND?

It is only required to stand in certain moments

Divine service statutes do not require either Catholics or Orthodox to conduct all service on their feet. It is necessary to stand only at the most important moments of worship: when reading the Gospel or during the eucharistic canon (the main prayer of the Liturgy). Reading from the Old Testament and the apostles kathisma (from the Greek κάθημαι -. «Sit») and some other texts can be listened to sitting. However, in Russian churches, the seats are seldom: in Russia, the custom of attending standing service has spread. In Orthodox churches in Greece, for example, there are usually benches for those who want to sit down.

WHY CATS ARE ON THE SITE?

From pleasure or to leave a trace

Treading is associated with pleasure - cats "knead" paws when they are petted or when they require caresses (initially this movement kittens massage the mammary gland of the mother, stimulating the release of milk). In addition, many predators on the foot pads have sweat glands. A stumbling cat thus leaves a scent trail. This can be associated with the habit of stamping on new things (the cat marks them as "their own"), loose clothes and even on the legs or belly of the master. In the latter case, the cat responds, as it were, to the smell of the host with its odor signal.

HOW DOES THE BACTERIAL BILLS LOOK?

Like a mushroom, for example

The "body" of this formation is a multilayer film of acetic acid bacteria in symbiosis with yeast fungi. Of course, the masses of different bacteria will have a different appearance and smell. But such colonies do not exist for a long time, since there is no place to take food from the cells in the middle and nowhere to export the products of metabolism. Industrial bacterial preparations include only dried spores of bacteria. They look like powders of brown, yellowish, gray and greenish colors.

IS THE HOT WATER DISMISSED IN EUROPE?

Usually not

Water there is heated in the house boilers. Centralized hot water supply is used only in the large cities of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. But there it usually does without outages. Crimping, that is, a high-pressure test, is required when a part of the pipes fail every year due to wear. If the pipes are replaced in time, they do not need to be crimped. But regular replacements are costly, so utilities in Europe are more expensive than in Russia.

Are people born without brains?

Yes

With the complete absence of the brain (acephaly), the fetus is born dead. The exception is the birth of Siamese twins, when the life of one is supported by the organism of another. Embryos with so-called anencephaly (absence of anterior brain regions) usually die within a few hours or days after birth. There are isolated cases when anencephalic children managed to live more than two years, but up to three did not live any.

WHY DO NOT GET THE SPACE WASTE?

There are no effective technologies
To send to space debris space vehicles is expensive, and docking with unmanaged objects is a risky business. As an alternative, it is considered the possibility of braking fragments of space debris with powerful laser radiation from the Earth. However, this technology has not been worked out yet. However, low orbits (up to 1000 km above the Earth) themselves are cleared of debris: it is inhibited in a rarefied, but still present atmosphere. In higher orbits, it is much "more spacious", and the risk created by garbage for spacecraft is much lower.

HOW DOES THE FOOTBALL BALL WHICH ALL THE SEWINGS ARE INSIDE?

For example, using two needles

While the details of the ball have access from the inside, it is not difficult to sew them. And the final seams can be made with two needles. One stitch is made through two adjacent holes on the edge of the right part, and the other is a stitch along the edge of the left part. Then the needles are swapped: the first is made by a stitch along the edge of the left part, and the second by the edge of the right. The details are connected due to the fact that the threads pass from one part to another. When the seam is finished, it is pulled over the ends of the threads. It remains to hide the tips inside. To do this, they are either pushed between stitches, or dragged with a needle, and then cut off flush with the surface of the ball.
The last details are stitched as shown in the picture (although this is not the only way)
The threads are tightened and tied, and their loose ends are pushed inside the ball

WHERE IS SATURN RING?

From the collapsed satellite

There are rings for all four giant planets, but they are more noticeable in Saturn, since they contain much more matter, mainly fragments of water ice from 1 cm to 10 m in size. Probably Saturn had a large satellite that moved too close to the planet and in Eventually fell on her. With the fall, tidal forces tore him apart. The dense silicate core fell into the gas giant, and the outer layers of the satellite, consisting of ice, scattered around the surrounding space. Of these, and formed a system of rings.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO PUT OFF THE OCEAN LINER FROM THE BAY?

You can not

It interferes with the effect, opened by sailors as far back as the 18th century. At sea there is always a little excitement. Waves that hit the side of the ship far from the shore, push him to the pier. There is no excitement between the quay and the vessel (there is not much room for it here), so there is no back pressure and the ship seems to be attracted to the shore. For a large liner, the force of this attraction is much greater than the strength of a person. In the XX century, a similar quantum phenomenon was discovered. If two parallel surfaces are placed close together in a vacuum, they will become attracted by the pressure of fluctuations in the vacuum, which are greater outside than between the surfaces.

HOW MUCH DISEASES HAVE?

It is described two ten thousand

The current International Classification of the 10th revision covers 20,000 diseases, but this number is not definitive. A similar clinical picture sometimes conceals completely different conditions, and in the future they are treated as separate diseases (for example, type I and type II diabetes). It happens on the contrary: pathologies that were considered independent, turn out to be different forms of the same disease. Finally, some diseases are "abolished": what was considered pathology is recognized as a variant of the norm, for example left-handedness.

WHY IS THE FINAL PRODUCT OF THE DECAY OF URANIUM A LEAD?

Lead is the heaviest stable element

All elements heavier than lead are unstable, that is, their nuclei spontaneously decay, becoming lighter. During the decay of uranium, a thorium is formed, which soon also disintegrates. This continues until a stable core of lead is formed. Decay chains for different isotopes, uranium-235 and uranium-238, lead to different isotopes-lead-207 and lead-206, respectively. In nuclear reactors, the uranium nuclei decay mainly in a forced manner - under the influence of neutrons. In this case, the decay products can include a wide variety of elements.

WHAT DOES THE BLOOD PRESSURE CREATE THE HEART AT REDUCTION?

6 times less than atmospheric

Different departments do not shrink at the same time and create different pressures. The most powerful department of the heart - the left ventricle - in an adult healthy person develops a pressure of up to 120 mm Hg. Art. , that is, only 6 times less than atmospheric. The right ventricle has a right ventricular limit of about 30 mm Hg. Art. With atrial contraction, the pressure usually does not exceed 8 mm Hg. Art.

Is it true that a man's life grows?

No

The growth of the nose usually ends by 18-20 years. In the future, only its shape changes by reducing the elasticity and elasticity of the skin or under the influence, for example, of dehydration of the body. But in some pathological processes in adults, the concentration of hormones that regulate growth increases. In these cases, the nose and ears can actually increase.

LAUGHTER IS A CONGENITAL OR PURCHASED REACTION?

Congenital

The formation of this reaction does not require training. It manifests itself in children on the 2nd-3rd month as an expression of pleasure. But in the future people often laugh involuntarily, sometimes against their own will. Of course, the reasons that can cause laughter can change throughout life, and an individual role plays an important role in determining what a person will laugh at.