Alaska is the state in the U.S. that is the most Northern, the most Western, and the most Eastern.
The most Northern and the most Western are both obvious. It is the most Eastern because a couple of the Aleutian islands are on the "other" side of the international date line. Therefore, the sun rises on those islands long before it rises on the coast of Maine.
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For an object to be in Synchronous orbit above a planet, the object must be directly over the equator of the planet. So, when you are watching your favourite episode of Star Trek and the captain says "move us in a synchronous orbit above that point" just realize that the captain is really saying "move us in a synchronous orbit over the spot at the equator that is the shortest distance from that point."
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Water boils at about 69degC at the top of Mt. Everest. No lawsuits from hot coffee in drive throughs here...
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A Sidereal day is 23 Hr 56 Min and 4 Sec. So does that mean that all those accurate quartz watches are off by 3 minutes and 56 seconds per day?
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Celsius and Centigrade are not really the same. Centigrade means "100 graduations" by definition. Freezing water is 0deg and Boiling water is 100degrees. In the Celsius scale, the triple point of water is .01 deg, and the boiling point of water is at 99.975 degrees Celsius.
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Since the South Pole is covered with an ice cap which moves, a team of Geologists calculates the true location every month and moves the pole.
Now, how do i apply for this job? "Not now Honey, it's my turn to move the pole."
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Mercury is the only liquid metal. (At room temperatures). My utmost apologies to "The Terminator."
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In order for the engine of an automobile to be 100% efficient, the exhaust would have to be absolute zero.
The engine itself is no more than about 20% efficient; highly tuned race cars might approach 33% efficiency. By the time the mechanical losses of the transmission and the drive train are added, cars typically are between 10 and 15 percent efficient.
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A "Calibre" is one inch. So a .22 calibre has a bullet that is .22 inches in diameter. A .45 calibre is .45 inches in diameter.
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The air pressing down on a swimming pool weighs more than the water in the pool. (If the pool were 33 - 34 feet deep, the weight would be equal)
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There are 365.242199 days per year. The fraction on the end is what causes us to have a leap year every now and then. Here are the rules for leap years:
Every non-century year that is divisible by 4 is a leap year
Every century year that is divisible by 400 is a leap year
Every Year that is divisible by 4000 is a non-leap year
So. The year 2000 was a leap year because it was divisible by 400 (but not by 4000). The next century leap year will be in 2400. 2100, 2200, and 2300 will not be leap years. This will get us pretty close, but we will be off by about a day in another 20,000 years.
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Antarctica has a varying population from approximately 1000 in the Winter months (June 21nd - September 21nd) to approximately 4000 in the Summer months (December 21 - March 21st)
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On a 12 inch globe, the thickness of the paint used to portray the oceans is quite close to the proportion of how deep the oceans are in the real world.
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A Torr and a mm of Hg are not really the same thing. However, they are only off by less than 1 part per million. A Torr is defined as exactly 1/760th of a standard atmosphere. A standard atmosphere (or 760 Torr) is defined as exactly 101,325 Pascals. 760 mm of Hg turns out to be 101,325.0144354 Pascals.
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There are 231 cubic inches in a gallon (In a United States gallon, that is. The imperial gallon has about 277 cubic inches in it.)
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When was it discovered that the Earth was round (spherical)? Columbus?
Aristotle said that it was common knowledge that the Earth was round. This was between 384 and 322 BCE. Eratosthenes was the first to measure the diameter of the Earth. He did this in 220 BCE and came remarkably close.
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The metre (the unit of distance measurement) is supposed to be 1/10,000,000 of the distance from the North Pole to the equator, along a line that passes through Paris.
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Elevators are counterweighted to approximately 45% of rated capacity.
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"Stroganoff" has nothing to do with noodles. It is a description of the sauce. The recipe was developed for a cooking competition held in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the 1890s. It is made with mushrooms and sour cream and is named after the Russian diplomat Count Pavel Alexandrovich Stroganov.
So... one could have "Beef Stroganoff Pilaf," which would be beef with a Stroganoff sauce, on a bed of rice.
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The highest key on a standard 88 key piano is a C (C8) and the frequency is 4186.01 Hz. Middle C is C4 (261.63 Hz). The piano starts with A0 (27.5 Hz).
The scientific scale (or Just Scale) has middle C at 256 Hz, but this is not used in music.
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The A above middle C is 440 Hz (Cycles per second) in the U.S.A. It is the note that is used to tune symphony instruments. In Europe, the symphonies are tuned to A 444. The Oboe is used as a reference to which the other instruments tune. This is because the Oboe has a sound that can pierce through the cacophony of the tuning exercise.
As you go up the piano keyboard, each successive note is exactly the twelfth root of 2 times the frequency of the previous note. This is because there are 12 notes per octave and they are spaced exactly the same distance apart. (Even temperament). An octave is a doubling or halving of the frequency. In other words, the A that is one octave higher than A440 is A880. The A that is one octave below A440 is A220. The piano keyboard starts with A27.5 and ends with...i forget. It's somewhere just above 4000 Hz. I'll figure it out and get back to you.
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Why is "lb." the abbreviation for pound????
"lb." is short for "Libra." Not only is Libra the constellation that has the lady holding the scales; Libra was the Roman unit of weight.
Eric Stromberg