Ask Me Everything: Facts, Stats, Lists, Records, and More

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HING RYT EVE K S A E

M

FACTS, statS, listS, records, AND MORe

HING RYT EVE K S A E

M

FACTS, statS, listS, records, AND MORe

LONDON, NEW YORK, MELBOURNE, MUNICH, AND DELHI Senior editor Francesca Baines Senior designer Smiljka Surla Art editors Angela Ball, Dave Ball Editors Hazel Beynom, Carron Brown, Jenny Finch, Clare Hibbert, Phil Hunt, Ashwin Khurana, Fran Jones Designers Sheila Collins, Hoa Luc, Johnny Pau, Stefan Podhorodecki Managing editor Linda Esposito Managing art editors Jim Green, Diane Thistlethwaite Consultants Philip Parker, Richard Walker Commissioned illustrations Maltings Partnership Picture researchers Nic Dean, Mik Gates Publishing manager Andrew Macintyre Category publisher Laura Buller Production editor Andy Hilliard Senior production controller Angela Graef Jacket designer Hazel Martin Jacket editor Matilda Gollon Jacket manager Sophia M Tampakopoulos Turner First published in the United States in 2010 by DK Publishing, 375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014 Copyright © 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited 10 11 12 13 14 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 176246 – 07/10 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. DK books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, fundraising, or educational use. For details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets, 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 [email protected] A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN: 978-0-7566-6276-9 Colour reproduction by MDP, UK Printed and bound by Toppan, China Discover more at www.dk.com

HING RYT EVE K S A E

M

is, utors Contrib Bos, Julie Ferrnnedy, Samoneham, Susan Ke , Ian Gra Naish, Jim Pipe dward Darren tott, John Woo Carole S

FACTS, statS, listS, records, AND MORe

040 What is geology? 042 Where do metals come from? 044 Why are there so many volcanic islands? 046 FEATURE: Galápagos Islands 048 What created the Himalayas? 050 How deep is the Grand Canyon? 052 What’s so strange about the Namib Desert? 054 How do caves form? 056 How does water shape Earth?

Earth

008 How big is the Universe? 010 Why are there telescopes in space? 012 FEATURE: Capturing space 014 Which star shines the brightest? 016 How does space technology affect me? 018 How do you get into space? 020 What is a spacewalk? 022 How long does it take to get to the Moon? 024 Who names the stars and galaxies? 026 Why is Mars red? 028 FEATURE: A guide to Mars 030 Why does Saturn have rings? 032 Why do comets have tails? 034 What is a meteorite? 036 Are we alone?

Space

134 How many body cells do you have? 136 What is your largest body organ? 138 What is a body system? 138 FEATURE: Body systems 142 What is DNA? 144 How do you think? 146 Why do you need to sleep? 148 Why do some smells trigger memories? 150 Why brush your teeth? 152 How do we communicate? 154 Why are your hands so handy?

Human body

100 How can a cactus survive in the desert? 102 What on Earth are algae? 104 How big is a swarm? 106 Why is an octopus so spineless? 108 Why are sharks so scary? 110 Where can you find a parasite? 112 Why are beetles built like tanks? 114 FEATURE: Beetle adaptations 116 How can a frog leap so far? 118 How fast can a crocodile swim? 120 How big is a bird of prey? 122 What goes bump in the night? 124 FEATURE: Ten amazing bats 126 Why are whales so big? 128 Can all big cats roar? 130 How small is a mouse?

Contents

How do people worship? What are symbols? Why do we have myths? What is philosophy? What’s news? Why is pop music so popular? Why do we dance? Who decides what’s fashion? Which country produces the most films? 246 FEATURE: How to make a film 248 Why do people love to paint? 250 What is architecture?

228 230 232 234 236 238 240 242 244

Society and culture

200 Where is hot water always on tap? 202 How many canals does Amsterdam have? 204 Which is the largest country in the world? 206 What is the smallest country in the world? 208 Can you really ski in Dubai? 210 How many people live in India? 212 FEATURE: River Ganges 214 Where is the rice bowl of Asia? 216 How many people live in Tokyo? 218 What is the outback? 220 How many islands are there in the South Pacific? 222 FEATURE: Ten South Pacific islands 224 Does anyone live in the Arctic?

Contents 004|005

094 What is evolution? 096 FEATURE: Nine incredible examples of evolution 098 Why do flowers look and smell so good?

Nature

068 When did dinosaurs rule Earth? 070 FEATURE: Ancient four-legged creatures 072 How did dino giants hold up their necks? 074 Which dinos were super predators? 076 Why did some dinos have armor? 078 Which dinosaurs became birds? 080 Which reptiles ruled the skies? 082 Which ancient lizard looks like a fish? 084 Which animals lived in the Ice Age? 086 Where did the earliest humans come from? 088 Who brings fossil animals back to life? 090 FEATURE: Reading fossils

Dinosaurs and prehistoric animals

058 Why do storms happen? 060 FEATURE: Hurricanes 062 What’s special about the River Nile? 064 Why is the Indian Ocean so beautiful? Why are numbers so useful? Why do we need units? What’s so great about wheels? How fast can a car go? What is the fastest plane in the world? FEATURE: Aircraft takeoff How does a submarine dive? Why are there so many materials? Why do magnets stick to fridges? What’s so special about lasers? How does science catch criminals? How do microscopes magnify things? FEATURE: Under the microscope Why is uranium dangerous??

192 Where do most people live in Canada? 194 Which is the highest capital in the world? 196 Does anything grow in the Sahara? 198 Where can you find ostrich farms?

Places

188

186

184

180 182

178

174 174 176

162 164 166 168 170

Science and technology

156 How does your body fight illnesses? 156 FEATURE: Gallery of pathogens (germs)

298 Index

264 Who built Stonehenge? 266 When did people start to write? 268 Why would you want to be a mummy? 270 Who built the first cities? 272 FEATURE: Greeks vs. Romans 274 Why did medieval people build castles? 276 What was the Black Death? 278 What is gunpowder made of? 280 How did trade change the world? 282 What was the Scientific Revolution? 284 FEATURE: Leonardo da Vinci 286 How did life change in the 1800s? 288 What is the American Constitution? 290 When did two million people leave Ireland? 292 What was the Cold War? 294 What was the March on Washington? 296 What is globalization?

History

What can you play with a ball? FEATURE: Spot the ball Which sports are hot in winter? When does an animal become a pet? 260 When was ice cream invented?

252 254 256 258

Space

How big is the universe? The universe is very big; in fact, it is bigger than anything else we know about. We can see that it exists as far as around 13.7 billion light-years (ly) from us. We also know that there is more beyond the edge of the observable universe, but we don’t know how much. The universe is expanding all the time—it is bigger now than when you started reading this sentence!

RECORD BREAKER The largest structure in the universe is the Sloan Great Wall. Around one billion ly away from Earth, it is a giant wall of galaxies that stretches for 1.37 billion ly across the universe.

Atoms 4.6%

Expanding Universe 01: When the universe started in the explosive event called the Big Bang around 13.7 billion years ago, it was smaller than a period on this page. 02: Within one trillionth of a second it ballooned to around the size of a soccer field.

Dark matter 23%

Dark energy 72%

Un e iverse pi

me? t u o b a t a h W at most tant object th

03: The young universe was incredibly hot and made up of tiny particles of matter. It has been expanding, cooling, and changing ever since. 04: In 1998, astronomers discovered that the universe’s expansion rate is not slowing down as they thought, but accelerating. 05: For the past 5–6 billion years, the universe has been getting bigger at a faster and faster rate.

Calculating the scale

7

We can’t see the universe’s large-scale structure easily because we are inside it.

e is The most dis the naked ey h it w e e s n a people c million ly a Galaxy, 2.5 d e m ro d n e A the nditions, som o c d o o g In . away ulum ee the Triang s n a c le p o e p lion ly away. galaxy, 3 mil

Galaxy gang

6

Computers have been used to simulate a cube-shaped region (above) that is two billion ly across and populated by around 20 million galaxies.

7

Superclusters are groupings of galaxy clusters, which are themselves collections of galaxies.

6

The universe is made of a huge weblike network of chains and sheets consisting of superclusters separated by huge voids.

Barnard’s galaxy 10,000 ly wide

Milky Way galaxy 100,000 ly wide

The Hubble Space Telescope looks farther into ultra-deep space than ever before and sees thousands of galaxies—the most distant are 13 billion ly away

2003–2004

The Great Wall, the first huge, flat sheet of superclusters, is discovered by Margaret Geller and John Huchra

1989

Edwin Hubble proves that small, dim patches of light are distant galaxies outside the Milky Way and so the universe is more than just our galaxy

1924

Harlow Shapley measures the size of the Milky Way and finds that it is much larger than previously thought

1916

William Herschel discovers Uranus, a planet twice as far from the Sun as Saturn, which until now is the most distant known planet— the known solar system doubles in size overnight

1781

Blasts from the past

Mass interest

J

Astronomers are often more interested in an object’s mass than they are in its size.

J

Mass is the amount of material that something is made of.

J

In a star, mass determines how a star lives and for how long—the greater the mass, the shorter the life.

J

The most massive stars are around 100 times the Sun’s mass and the least are one tenth of the Sun’s mass.

Earth is in the Milky Way galaxy, which is part of the Local Group of galaxies—one of the galaxy clusters that make up the Local Supercluster. In turn, the Local Supercluster is one of the superclusters that make the Pisces-Cetus Supercluster Complex, which is around one billion ly long and 150 million ly wide.

The Milky Way galaxy belongs to a collection of more than 40 galaxies known as the Local Group. They exist in a dumbbell-shaped volume of space ten million light-years across. These are some of the group’s best-known members.

Galaxy size

w

Galaxies are huge collections of stars, gas, dust, and dark matter all bound together by gravity.

w

The biggest galaxies are around 300,000 ly across and contain around one thousand billion stars.

w Triangulum galaxy 50,000 ly wide

Large Magellanic Cloud 20,000 ly wide

The smallest galaxies, known as dwarf galaxies, measure a few thousand ly across and have around ten million stars.

In numbers

!

I don’t believe it

1.3 million The number of Earths that could fit inside the Sun

864,000 The width of the Sun in miles (1.4 million km)

3.26 million The universe expands by around 45 miles (72 km) per second for every 3.26 million ly

27 The distance in light-years from the Sun to the center of the Milky Way

125 billion The minimum number of galaxies in the universe

ers have Astronom void: a e g u h found a n of -wide regio oth ly n io ill b b 3.5 f o ty p t is em space tha r, such as stars tte normal ma and of dark matter s, e xi la a g w is and at we kno (material th ientists don’t sc there but t it is yet). know wha

Galaxies have been changing in size, mass, and shape since they first formed billions of years ago. Universe size

8|9

g Collecrtgin y e n e pes work

lesco Space te way to Earth r ila m r si a in se a mirro s. These u telescope wavelengths of to collect ght h are brou light, whic rm an image to fo to a focus ject in view. of the ob

Why are there telescopes in space? Telescopes collect light and other forms of energy from stars and galaxies. The energy travels in wavelengths, but Earth’s atmosphere stops some of these from reaching our planet’s surface. Telescopes located in space are able to collect the full range of wavelengths and give us a more complete view of the universe. They can also be used 24 hours a day.

Gamma rays The shortest wavelengths collected from space objects are gamma rays. Space telescopes such as the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, which recorded these rays for nine years, work in a unique way. Gamma rays cannot be brought to a focus like other wavelengths because they pass through most materials. Telescopes collecting them use detectors stacked on top of one another, which measure the way that the gamma rays pass through.

!

I don’t believe it

The Chandra X-ray Observatory orbits Earth more than one third of the way to the Moon—200 times more distant than the Hubble Space Telescope. It needs two kilowatts of power to work—that’s about the same as a hairdryer!

The wavelengths of energy are of specific length and have their own names. Short wavelengths such as x-rays cannot travel through Earth’s atmosphere. Radio wavelengths, which are longer, pass readily to Earth’s surface.

Tell me more: energy from space Chandra: Collects x-rays from space objects

X-rays Spiral galaxy M81 seen at x-ray wavelengths, which are emitted by material heated around 1.8 million °F (1 million °C).

Ultraviolet rays Bright, hot newly formed stars in M81 give off ultraviolet energy. The stars are located within the galaxy’s spiral arms.

Galex: Looks at galaxies in ultraviolet wavelengths

Observatory: Earth-based telescopes collect light from space

Optical wavelengths This is how M81 looks in light wavelengths and to the human eye. It has a bright nucleus and spiral arms of stars and dust.

Spitzer: Has been observing the infrared universe since 2003

Infrared rays Dust warmed by bright, young stars shines brightly at infrared wavelengths. Clumps in M81’s arms are where stars are born.

Radio telescope: Radio waves are collected by Earth-based radio telescopes

Radio waves False colors show the radio wave strength from hydrogen gas in M81. Red shows strong emission, and blue indicates weaker.

06: Data from the telescope is transmitted every day to an antenna in New Norcia, Australia.

05: It is studying dusty and cold regions of space to learn more about the origin and evolution of stars and galaxies.

04: Herschel is around 24.6 ft (7.5 m) high and 13.1 ft (4 m) wide. Its main mirror is 11.5 ft (3.5 m) wide.

03: The telescope is orbiting the Sun 932,057 miles (1.5 million km) from Earth, facing away from the Sun.

02: It was launched on May 14, 2009 on board Ariane 5 from Kourou, French Guiana.

01: The Herschel Space Observatory is the most powerful infrared telescope ever to operate in space.

Herschel Space Observatory

FAST FACTS cool Stayinscgopes like the

Sun watcher

Repair work

le Infrared te ce Observatory pa Herschel S at some of the g are lookin ts in space. The bjec o pt t s le o o c s to be ke itself need telescope ke sure that its own cool to ma in its observations. ’t ru s heat doesn um on board keep li st e o h lm id a u iq to L ture down its tempera °F (–273°C). –460

#

E

#

E

#

E

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is a space telescope that has been observing the Sun since 1995.

Once a telescope is launched in space, it is on its own. If something goes wrong, a repairperson cannot be relied on to fix it.

SOHO observes invisible and ultraviolet light and reveals huge prominences and outbursts of energy on the solar surface.

The exception is the Hubble Space Telescope. It was designed so that it can be serviced and repaired in space.

SOHO has 12 instruments on board and is orbiting around the Sun at a distance of around 932,000 miles (1.5 million km) from Earth.

Astronauts made running repairs and installed new parts on five visits to Hubble between 1993 and 2009.

As SOHO images the Sun, it also records anything passing close

The microwave space telescope COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) operates during the early part of the decade and detects the heat left over from the Big Bang

Launched into space in 2009, Planck is investigating the heat that remains from the Big Bang.

1990s

N

Space telescopes are sometimes named after astronomers and scientists. The Herschel Space Observatory is named after brother and sister William and Caroline Herschel, while Edwin Hubble gave his name to the Hubble Space Telescope.

The first infrared space telescope is launched on January 25—IRAS (Infrared Astronomical Satellite) is able to survey the entire sky

The Fermi Gamma Ray Telescope started work above Earth in mid-2008. It is studying gamma rays from explosions in distant galaxies.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

1983

N

new comets.

The IUE (International Ultraviolet Explorer) begins an 18-year mission, and it is the first satellite that astronomers can operate in real time

The Solar Dynamics Observatory launched in February 2010 and will observe the Sun for five years.

its data have discovered more than 1,600

1978

N

Astronomers looking through

Uhuru, the first x-ray space telescope is launched on December 12 and during its four-year life, it discovers 270 x-ray sources across the sky

N

The Hubble Space Telescope works around 348 miles (560 km) above Earth. It started work collecting infrared, optical, and ultraviolet energy in 1990.

to it, especially comets.

1970

Space telescopes

Blasts from the past Space telescopes

10|11

Hubble Near infrared

Space telescopes work around the clock to collect information in a range of wavelengths. Though they image objects nearby, these telescopes usually peer into deep space to give us extraordinary views of distant stars and galaxies.

Spitzer Infrared

Capturing space

Chandra X-ray

Milky Way galaxy This colorful view of our galaxy combines images from three telescopes (see right): Spitzer reveals dusty clouds; Chandra highlights the center of the galaxy; and Hubble images warm gas.

Pluto Two small moons, now named Nix and Hydra, were discovered when the Hubble Space Telescope took this image of Pluto (center) in 2005. Close to Pluto is its largest moon, Charon. To the right are Nix (top) and Hydra.

V838 Monocerotis This red supergiant star suddenly brightened in 2002. The outburst was a result of light spreading through a gas-and-dust cloud around the star and making more of the cloud visible.

Arp 194 These three galaxies are known together as Arp 194. A string of newborn stars seems to link the top two galaxies with the lower one, but it is unconnected.

Center of the Milky Way The Chandra X-ray Telescope took this image of thousands of stars crowded together at the center of the Milky Way. Within them is the massive black hole Sagittarius A*.

Eagle Nebula This column of gas and dust, several light-years long, is just a small part of a huge star-forming region, the Eagle Nebula. Bumps in the column are dense regions where stars are taking shape.

Helix Nebula This false-color infrared Spitzer Telescope image shows the red remains of a star once similar to the Sun. The blue material was thrown off by the star thousands of years ago.

NGC290 The star cluster NGC290 is within the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the closest galaxies to us. Its hundreds of young stars were created from the same cloud of gas and dust.

Cat’s Eye Nebula Rings of material surround the remains of a dying star. These dust shells were created as the star pushed away its outer layers. Heat of the Big Bang The COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) satellite was the first to make this type of image of the sky. It shows the heat remaining after the Big Bang that marked the start of the universe.

Saturn When Saturn is seen in infrared light, detail in its upper atmosphere is revealed. Blue indicates a clear view of the main cloud layer; green and yellow are thick and thin haze respectively; orange denotes high clouds. Stephan’s Quintet These five galaxies are known as Stephan’s Quintet, but only four are close; the white one is unrelated.

Space telescopes

12|13

Which star shines the brightest? Measuring scales