did you know?

1.Without clouds and other constituents of the earth's atmosphere, the surface of our planet would reach a temperature of 176 degree centigrade at the equator by day and 220 degree centigrade by night!

2.The longest name for any star is "Shurnarkabtishutu", the Arabic for "under the southern horn of the bull".

3.The Cullinan, once the largest uncut diamond, was discovered in South Africa in 1905. It was the size of a man's fist and weighed over half a kg (1 lb). The largest gem cut from it, named the 'Star of Africa', is in the British Royal Sceptre in the Tower of London.

4.in space, far from the pull of gravity of planets, objects have no weight. This is known as weightlessness. People get a little taller in space because the discs in their backbones are no longer squashed down by the pressure of gravity and their backs stretch a little.

5.Sea cucumbers look harmless but they have a dramatic way of fending off enemies. If a hungry fish comes too close, the sea cucumber shoots out streams of sticky threads which look like spaghetti. These entangle the attacker, giving the sea cucumber time to make a getaway.

6.A change in climate may have been the reason for dinosaurs becoming extinct about 65 million years ago. Some people believe that the Earth became very cold as a result of a meteor striking the Earth, causing a dust cloud to block out the Sun's heat. Dinosaurs were probably cold-blooded and could not adapt.

7.About 5,000 years ago, the Sahara desert was covered with rich grassland and trees. Paintings found in caves in Tassili, Algeria, which date from about that time, show giraffes, hippopotamuses and lions. They also show people hunting and cattle grazing.

8.The deeper under the sea you go, the greater the pressure, that is the weight of the water above you. At a depth of 9,100 m (30,000 ft), the pressure is equivalent to a one tonne weight balanced on a postage stamp.

9.A wind that blows as fast as the fastest man can run (43 kmph/27 mph), is only a 'strong breeze' on the Beaufort Scale. A wind as fast as a running cheetah (113 kmph/70 mph), the world's fastest animal, registers as a 'storm'.

10.Ninety seven per cent of all the water on Earth is salty. Only 3 per cent is fresh water. Of that 3 per cent, over 2 per cent is frozen in ice sheets and glaciers. And that means that less than 1 per cent of that 3 per cent fresh water is found in lakes, rivers and underground