Interesting Facts and Figures

1. The tip of an elephant's trunk is so sensitive and flexible that it can pick up a pin.
2. A huge underground river runs underneath the Nile, with six times more water than the river above.
3. If just 25% of U.S. families used 10 fewer plastic bags a month, we would save over 2.5 BILLION bags a year.
4. Americans use 50 million tons of paper annually -- consuming more than 850 million trees.
5. The human population of the world is expected to be nearly tripled by the year 2100.
6. About 400 billion gallons water is used worldwide each day.
7. Earth travels through space at 66,700 miles per hour.
8. Rain has never been recorded in some parts of the Atacama Desert in Chile.
9. The total surface area of the Earth is 197 million square miles.
10. From a distance, Earth would be the brightest of the 9 planets. This is because sunlight is reflected by the planet's water.
11. Only 11 percent of the earth's surface is used to grow food.
12. Asia Continent is covered 30% of the total earth land area, but represent 60% of the world's population.
13. Only 3% water of the earth is fresh, rest 97% salted. Of that 3%, over 2% is frozen in ice sheets and glaciers. Means less than 1% fresh water is found in lakes, rivers and underground.
14. Earth is tipped at 23 and 1/2 degrees in orbit. That axis is what causes our seasons.
15. The gravity on Mars is 38% of that found on Earth. So a 100 pounds person on Earth would weigh 38 pounds on Mars.
16. The world's deadliest recorded earthquake occurred in 1557 in central China, more than 830,000 people were killed.
17. The Angel Falls in Venezuela is the world's highest waterfall (979 meters / 3212 ft.), three times the size of the Eiffel Tower.
18. The lowest dry point on earth is the Dead Sea in the Middle East is about 1300 feet (400 meters) below sea level
19. The coldest temperature ever measured on Earth was -129 Fahrenheit (-89 Celsius) at Vostok, Antarctica, on July 21, 1983.
20. The EARTH has over 1,200,000 species of animals, 300,000 species of plants & 100,000 other species.
21. Mars days are 24 hours and 37 minutes long, compared to 23 hours, 56 minutes on Earth.