Latest Facts
Chappies Facts
- Fact # 225 On 17 December 1903, the Wright Brothers made the first powered flight, flying 120 feet in 12 seconds with Orville Wright at the controls
- Fact # 226 Charles Lindbergh was the first person to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean
- Fact # 227 The first man to fly an aircraft was a Frenchman, Francois de Rozier in a hot air balloon in 1783
- Fact # 228 Leonardo da Vinci, the famous artist, made sketches of parachutes, helicopter machines and other contraptions hundreds of years before they were invented
- Fact # 229 In 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic Ocean
- Fact # 230 The first man in space was the Russian, Yuri Gagarin in 1961
- Fact # 231 The first human to work on the moon was American, Neil Armstrong on the 20th July 1969
- Fact # 232 12 Men in total have walked on the moon
- Fact # 233 Due to gravitational effects, you weigh slightly less when the moon is directly overhead
- Fact # 234 On 25th April 2002, Mark Shuttleworth, the South African entrepreneur became the first African in space
- Fact # 235 South African, Mark Shuttleworth paid US$20 million to travel into space
- Fact # 236 Jerry Ross, an American astronaut has travelled in space a record seven times
- Fact # 237 The oldest astronaut in space was John Glenn in 1988. He was 77 years old
- Fact # 238 Carolyn Shoemaker, famous astronomer has discovered 32 comets and approximately 300 asteroids
- Fact # 239 The first living creature in space was a dog called Laika, launched in a spacecraft by the USSR in 1957
- Fact # 240 Astronauts will become 2 inches taller during a space mission of 12 weeks duration or more
- Fact # 241 It would take 17,900 years of space travel to reach the nearest star in our galaxy: Proxima Centauri
- Fact # 242 The first successful summit of Mount Everest was completed by Tenzing Norgay & Sir Edmund Hillary on 29 May 1953
- Fact # 243 Mount Everest, part of the Himalaya Mountain range in Asia is the highest mountain on earth, measuring 8,848m high
- Fact # 244 The Himalayas cover one tenth of the Earth's surface
- Fact # 245 the fastest ascent of Mount Everest is ten hours from base camp to summit
- Fact # 246 Legendary climber Reinhold Messner has climbed the highest mountains on all seven continents, and climbed 14 mountains above 8,000m
- Fact # 247 The world's longest continuous hiking trail is the Appalachian Mountain trail, 3487km long through fourteen states in the USA
- Fact # 248 Dave Kunst was the first man to walk around the world. It took 4 years and 3 months
- Fact # 249 Olympic Mons is a Volcano on Mars that is also the highest mountain in our solar system. Nearly twice as high as Mount Everest
- Fact # 250 The largest active volcano on Earth is in Hawaai. It is 4,168m high
- Fact # 251 In 79AD, the City of Pompei was destroyed in an eruption of Mount Versuvius. Pompei was lost for nearly 1,700 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1748
- Fact # 252 The Earth has more than 600 active volcanoes
- Fact # 253 Benoit Lecomte was the first man to swim a large ocean, crossing the Atlantic in 1998
- Fact # 254 The longest known time spent drifting at sea is 484 days
- Fact # 255 The longest known time drifting alone at sea was Poon Lim of Hong Kong, for 133 days
- Fact # 256 The Pacific Ocean covers nearly a third of the earths surface
- Fact # 257 francis Joyon, a Frenchman sailed solo around the world in 72 days
- Fact # 258 Anthony Steward is the only person who has circum-navigated the world in a small open boat. The boat was called "Zulu Dawn"
- Fact # 259 The Pacific Ocean is three times bigger than Asia, the largest continent on Earth
- Fact # 260 The Titanic set out its maiden voyage from Southampton England to New York City in 1912
- Fact # 261 The Titanic was 268m long, weighed 46,328 tonnes & had a top speed of 23 knots
- Fact # 262 The Titanic hit an iceberg late in the evening on April 14, 1912 and sank
- Fact # 263 The Titanic was loaded with only enough lifeboats to hold half of the passengers and crew
- Fact # 264 Of the 1,523 people who perished in the sinking Titanic, only 306 bodies were recovered
- Fact # 265 The Titanic's Captain, Smith had made plans to retire after seeing the titanic safely across the Atlantic on her maiden voyage
- Fact # 266 james cameron's film, Titanic cost $250million to make and has earned more than $1.8 bn worldwide
- Fact # 267 The wreckage of the Titanic was located in 1985, 12,500 feet down, about 531km SouthEast of Newfoundland Canada
- Fact # 268 Scuba diving is swimming under-water while using specialised breathing equipment
- Fact # 269 Scuba stands for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
- Fact # 270 Scuba diving arose during World War II and was developed by Dr. Christian Lambertsen for underwater warfare
- Fact # 271 The Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean is over 2000m deeper than Mount Everest is high
- Fact # 272 In January 1960, Jacques Piccardand Don Walsh were the first people to reach the deepest point on the surface of the Earth, the Mariana Trench
- Fact # 273 The Atlantic Giant Squid's eye canbe as large as 40cm wide
- Fact # 274 In 2006, there were 62 shark attacks reported worldwide, of which 4 of them were fatal
- Fact # 275 Of the 360 species of shark, only 4 have usually been involved in fatal attacks on humans: the Great White, Bull, Tiger and Oceanic Whitetip sharks
- Fact # 276 The embryos of Tiger Sharks fight each other while in their mother's womb. The survivor is the baby shark that is born
- Fact # 277 Jaws is a 1975 thriller directed by Steven Spielberg, about a great white shark
- Fact # 278 In 1775, Captain James Cook completed the first circum-navigation of Antarctica
- Fact # 279 Ronald Amundsen and his party were the first people to reach the South Pole: 14 December 1911
- Fact # 280 More than 3,000 people work on research in Antarctica each year
- Fact # 281 Polar bears can eat as many as 86 penguins in a single sitting
- Fact # 282 The coolest temperature ever measured on Earth was -89 degrees celsius at Antarctica, on July 21, 1983
- Fact # 283 Emilio Marco Palma was the first person born in Antarctica in 1978
- Fact # 284 There are no Penguins in the Arctic. Penguins are only found South of the Equator
- Fact # 285 The Arctic Tern, a small sea bird migrates from the Arctic in the North Pole to the Antarctic every winter. In one year it flew over 35,000 km
- Fact # 286 Lewis Gordon Pugh was nicknamed the Polar bear because of his ability to swim in freezing ocean temperatures. He's swum in the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans
- Fact # 287 About 10.4% of the worlds land surface is permanently covered in ice
- Fact # 288 Emilio Scotto of Argentina rode his motorcycle through 214 countries and territories in 1995
- Fact # 289 The Poison Arrow Frogs of South and Central America are the most poisonous animals in the world
- Fact # 290 A "Lost World" exists in the Indonesian Jungle that is home to dozens of unknown animals and plant species
- Fact # 291 The Angel Falls in Venezuela were named after an American pilot, Jimmy Angel, whose plane got stuck on top of the mountain while searching for gold
- Fact # 292 The word "America" comes from the European explorer Amerigo Vespucci
- Fact # 293 The Amazon produces more than 20% of the world's oxygen supply
- Fact # 294 By raising your legs slowly and laying on your back, you can't sink in quick sand
- Fact # 295 Famous Pirate, Henry Morgan plundered Spains Caribbean Colonies during the late 17th Century
- Fact # 296 Blackbeard was the nickname of an English Pirate, Edward Teach, who attacked ships along the coast of North America
- Fact # 297 Johnny Depp AKA Captain Jack Sparrow, earned a staggering US$92m from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie
- Fact # 298 In 2005, off the coast of Chile, the largest collection of pirate treasure was discovered. The buried treasure, consisting of gold coins and Incan jewels had an estimated value of US$10bn
- Fact # 299 A lump of pure gold the size of a match box can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court
- Fact # 300 A diamond is the hardest mineral on earth. Only a diamond can be used to cut another diamond
- Fact # 301 Pearls melt in vinegar
- Fact # 302 The Bushmen are indigenous people of the Kalahari Desert which spans areas of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Angola
- Fact # 303 The comedy movie, The Gods Must Be Crazy shows a Kalahari Bushman tribes first encounter with something from the outside world - a Coke Bottle
- Fact # 304 The Welwitschia plant which grows in desert areas of Namibia can live for 1,000 years
- Fact # 305 The Sahara Desert is the worlds second largest desert after Antarctica
- Fact # 306 The Sahara Desert covers most of Northern Africa and is over 9,000,000km2. It is bigger than Australia and almost as large as the USA
- Fact # 307 The Australian Water Holding Frog lives in the desert and stores water in its body
- Fact # 308 The Aboriginal people sometimes squeeze the Australian Water Holding Frog to get water to drink
- Fact # 309 Humans can survive for several weeks without food but only about 3 days without water
- Fact # 310 Bartholomew Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, over 150 years earlier than Jan van Riebeeck
- Fact # 311 Jan van Riebeeck landed 3 ships - Drommedaris, Reijger and Goede Hoop at Cape Town on 6 April 1652
- Fact # 312 On 22 january 1879, a Zulu force armed with spears and shields defeated a heavily armed british force at Isandlwana, just outside Dundee, Northern Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa
- Fact # 313 The largest elephant on record was a male shot in Angolain 1956, weighing 12 tons and standing 4.2 metres high
- Fact # 314 In 1928, a wandering hippo known as Huberta trekked 800 km down the coastline of South Africa
- Fact # 315 A lions roar can be heard from 5 miles away
- Fact # 316 A rhino horn is made of compacted hair
- Fact # 317 Crocodiles swallow stones to help them dive deeper
- Fact # 318 The American Bison was almost extinct a hundred years ago and now there are over 250,000 in the wild
- Fact # 319 Bungee Jumping is the sport that originated from New Zealand and was created by Daredevil AJ Hackett
- Fact # 320 The highest bunjee jump ever performed in the world is 251 metres by Chris Allum
- Fact # 321 In 1876, Maria Spelterina was the first woman to ever cross Niagara Falls on a high wire
- Fact # 322 Stig Gunther jumped from a height of 105 metres onto an airbag in 1999
Other Facts
- The average person should not lose more than 6kg's per month - Shanaz
