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Considered one of the world's fastest growing trees, certain species of bamboo can grow 910 mm (36 in) in 24 hours.
The deep-sea clam has the slowest growth rate, growing as little as 8.4 mm, or one-third inch, in 100 years (as measured by radioactive dating). Roughly how much faster does the bamboo grow compared to the deep-sea clam? |
There are many man-made beaches around the world that most people can't tell the difference between. The 1,235-acre Sentosa Island in Singapore is one of them (pictured).
One cubic foot of sand weighs around 100 lb. One acre is about 43560 sq-ft. What is the weight (in tons) of the sand that needs to be brought in to cover a 1-acre area with 0.5 in of sand? |
Jamaican Usain Bolt is an Olympian sprinter who won 9 gold medals. He holds the world record for the 100 meters at 9.58 seconds.
The Great Wall of China is about 21,196 kilometers. Pretend that Bolt is super human and can maintain his record speed, how long would it take him (in hours) to run the length of the Great Wall? |
Adam Osborne, in April 1981, developed the first laptop computer, the Osborne 1. It weighed 24.5 pounds and had a 5-in display.
Apple's 2020 MacBook Air weighs 2.75 pounds and has a 13.3-inch display. What is the weight/display ratio of Osborne 1 to MacBook Air? |
In January 2019, Kiyoshi Kimura, owner of Sushizanmai chain, paid $3.1 million for a 278-kg (613-lb) bluefin tuna. The Atlantic bluefin tuna is listed as "endangered," and the Pacific bluefin as "vulnerable" due to overfishing.
Two pieces of maguro (tuna) at a typical sushi restaurant in the U.S. cost about $7. Each piece is about 0.5 oz. How much would Mr. Kimura needs to charge for 1 oz of his bluefin tuna to just break even? |
The Great Pyramid of Giza took about 20 years to build, ending around 2560 BC. It is 146.5 m tall and has a volume of 2,583,283 cu m.
You'd like to build a scale model of the Great Pyramid that is 3,000 times smaller using regular 8.5 by 11 inch paper . What is a reasonable scale you'd use? |
Animators have said that Rapunzel's hair is approximately 70 feet and consists of about 100,000 strands.
One microgram (μg) is one millionth of a gram. A one-inch piece of hair weighs 0.5 μg. What is the weight of Rapunzel's hair? |
The Peachoid is a 135 ft tall water tower in Gaffney, SC. Like all water towers, it functions to regulate flow and stores excess water supply. The Peachoid holds 1 million gallons of water.
The world's population is about 7.8 billion. Let's say that each person has 1 gallon of blood in his/her body. This is a morbid question, but I'm not the only one asking. How many water towers, the size of Peachoid, can hold all human blood? |
There are about 13,000 ant species, and one source estimates that there are 100 trillion ants in the world. An ant weighs about 0.004 g.
The world's population is about 7.8 billion. An average human weighs 32 kg (to account for all babies and children). There is a claim that all the ants in the world weigh about the same as all the people in the world. Do you agree? |
In 1970, the total trash generated in the U.S. was 121.1 million tons. This was about 3.25 lb of trash per person per day at that time.
In 2017, the total trash was 267.8 million tons, this translates to 4.51 lb of trash per person per day. However, our efforts to recycle have improved. In 1970, only 6.6% of total trash was recycled and composted. In 2017, we recycled and composted 94.2 million tons. What percent of the total trash is this? |