I'll start. If you removed all the space in the atoms that the human population of the Earth is made up of, all 6.2 billion people would fit in the same space as an apple. Or to put it another way, people (and everything else) are basically 99.99999999%* empty space. When you think of the mass of all the people on the Earth, that's almost unbelievable. * Not sure on the number of 9's, I'd need to know the mass of the human race to be able to calculate it.
It is pretty interesting stuff and i'll admit i watch it... Liz Bonnin is pretty errr interesting too
You should come and work where I do Bro - many are 100% empty space! And how the hell did they get into such senior positions?
The turbine blades in a jet engine operate at 300°C above the melting point of the alloy. It's only the precise arrangement of cooling holes which stops them from melting. Additionally, despite them being just the size of an adult hand, each one produces more horsepower than a Formula One engine.
Excellent Brogan, this is right in my area of expertise In addition, the clearance between the edge of the turbine blades, and the outer casing is a very important factor, I believe that a 1mm gap results in approximately a 10% loss in efficiency of the turbine. As such the calculations for thermal expansion coefficients of the blades are very exact. Most recently, groups have been experimenting with the use of piezoelectrics (materials that change shape upon application of an electric charge) to ensure minimal clearance between the blades and the casing at all temperatures, for maximum fuel efficiency. I did some work on this concept last year. Very interesting The blades are cast using an investment casting technique, with duel feeder heads, twisted into a double helix shape. This shape ensure crystallisation in only one direction, resulting in almost a single crystal (fully epitaxial) blade, again helping achieve operating temperatures above the melting temperature of the alloy.
I was just watching a program on how Rolls Royce build their Trent engines. Very interesting if you like engineering. Who else has got an interesting fact? Not necessarily related to engineering or jet engines.
OK, my interesting fact is about fridges. Every wondered why getting scalded by steam hurts more than getting scalded by water? Its because of something called latent heat. When matter changes from one state to another it either gives out, or takes in (latent) heat energy. When a gas condenses to a liquid it gives out excess heat, when a liquid evaporates into a gas it takes in excess heat. Fridges work by compressing a liquid, and then injecting it into a higher volume network. The change in pressure results in the liquid evaporating into a gas, and taking latent heat into a system, cooling the interior of the fridge. As the (now gas) leaves the interior of the fridge and enters the exterior radiator it condenses, and gives out the latent heat that it has collected inside the fridge. The cycle then repeats. This simple concept is used in many things. The most recent application is in Firemans uniforms. Thousands of polymer/wax spheres are located in the lining of the jacket. As heat causes the wax to melt, the melting takes in latent heat from its surrounds, helping to cool the Fireman inside his jacket whilst fighting fires
Hershey's chocolate tastes horrible* because when American consumers and manufacturers tasted European chocolate for the first time, the milk used inside the chocolate in Europe went bad as it was being shipped across the Atlantic. As a result, the manufacturers believed that their own recipe should taste of chocolate.. and ruined milk. So that's how they created their recipe : on the basis of ingredients past their sell by dates.** * this is the first fact ** this is the second fact
A woman trying to save her children from danger can run faster than Usain Bolt and lift greater weights than the current Olympics Gold medalist. I think.
Useless fact for the day This August we have 5 Sundays, 5 Mondays and 5 Tuesdays - once every 800 years apparently.
