18/01/2024
🔥 A cloud weighs around a million tonnes. A cloud typically has a volume of around 1km3 and a density of around 1.003kg per m3 – that's a density that’s around 0.4 per cent lower than the air surrounding it (this is how they are able to float).
😀 Giraffes are 30 times more likely to get hit by lightning than people. True, there are only five well-documented fatal lightning strikes on giraffes between 1996 and 2010. But due to the population of the species being just 140,000 during this time, it makes for about 0.003 lightning deaths per thousand giraffes each year. This is 30 times the equivalent fatality rate for humans.
🌎 Most maps of the world are wrong. On most maps, the Mercator projection – first developed in 1569 – is still used. This method is wildly inaccurate and makes Alaska appear as large as Brazil and Greenland 14 times larger than it actually is. For a map to be completely accurate, it would need to be life-size and round, not flat.
