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287

The first ever robot was

probably built in Ancient Greece

by Archytas of Tarentum 2,500

years ago. It was a mechanical

bird powered by steam.

Any

Rubik’s Cube

can be solved in

26

moves or fewer.

The world’s smallest guitar is just

10 millionths of a metre long. It

was made by Cornell University,

and produces notes 17 octaves

higher than a normal guitar.

English scientist Sir

Isaac Newton’s dog

Diamond knocked

over a candle and

started a fire that

destroyed 20 years’

worth of his work.

The first instant camera was made

by Polaroid in 1948.

Newton was one of the greatest

scientists in history. He also

invented the cat flap.

There is the same amount of

water on Earth now as there

was 2 billion years ago.

Mercury is the only metal that

is liquid at room temperature.

Two-thirds of the water used in the

home is used in the bathroom.

It is not safe to skate

on ice until it is at least

13 cm (5 in) thick.

More than two-thirds of the

energy stored in fossil fuels is lost

when those fuels are burned in

power stations to make electricity.

Most of the energy is lost as heat.

A plane’s flight data recorder,

or black box, is actually bright

orange so that it is easy to spot

after a crash. It can withstand

temperatures of more than

1,000^0 C (1823^0 F).

Sound can damage your hearing at 90 decibels

(dB), the volume of very heavy traffic. It starts

to become painful when it exceeds 130 dB,

a plane taking off.

Noise is a jumble of different frequencies

of sound. Musical notes have one

dominant frequency. Middle C has

a frequency of 256 hertz.

The scale used to measure light intensity uses

a unit called a candela. It was originally based

on the amount of light given out by a candle.

A flash of lightning gives off 80 million candelas

per sq m (8.6 million per sq ft).

In a vacuum, light

travels at a speed of

299,792,458 m

(983,571,056 ft) per second.

On a sunny day, 1,000 trillion photons

(light particles) hit an area the size of a

pinhead every second.

A normal light bulb turns just five

per cent of the electrical energy it

is powered by into light.

Red is the longest

visible wavelength

of light at about

0.7 micrometres

Blue light travels

further through water

than colours with a

longer wavelength,

such as red or green.

This is why everything

looks blue underwater.

The most powerful manmade

laser is a million times brighter

than sunshine.

The first telephone cable under the

Atlantic Ocean was laid in 1956.

Ultrasound scans use high-frequency sound

at around 10 million hertz to give an image

of a baby in the womb.

X-ray

technology has shown that there are

three different versions of Leonardo

da Vinci’s Mona Lisa under the visible one.

Maglev trains are powered by strong magnets.

The fastest commercial maglev train is in

Shanghai, China. It covers the 30.5 km (19 miles)

from the airport to the city centre in just

7 minutes 20 seconds, reaching a top speed

of 431 km/h (268 mph).

The world’s largest airliner, the Airbus

A380 “Superjumbo”, can carry

up to 853 passengers.

The maximum speed

(terminal velocity) of

a skydiver, if they

pull their limbs in,

is 320 km/h (200 mph).

The pocket calculator

was invented in 1966

by Texas Instruments.

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen

won the first Nobel Prize

for physics in 1901 for his

discovery of X-rays.

SEE WHAT ELSE SCIENTISTS HAVE DISCOVERED ON PAGES 88–125

There are

7,000 robots

in the US military. They

carry out dangerous

work such as bomb

disposal.

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