With Christmas fast approaching, what better way to keep the conversation going at Christmas dinner than some strange and interesting facts? To count down the days until Santa arrives check in here to find your daily science facts.
It's not all good news though. Whatever amount of CO₂ a tree has absorbed in it's lifetime is released back into the environment once its been chopped down and starts to decay. Therefore, to make use of all that carbon, compost your old tree and use its nutrients to fertilise your garden.
It's not just you that can enjoy the twinkling lights from your tree, even in the far reaches of space your light show can be appreciated. The light from your Christmas lights travels at a speed of
300000000 m/s so, to travel the distance of 4.45 billion km from your living
room to the furthest planet in the solar system, it would take 15000 seconds.
In other words, just 4 hours!
With the amount of light being emitted from our rocky planet we're an easy spot for extra terrestrials. However, with all this light pollution spotting them is a lot harder since it can block the lights from other stars and planets.
3rd December
Presents are one of the biggest highlights of the year and, on average, a UK household will use 4 rolls of wrapping paper
this Christmas.
That’s about 365000km of paper each year. With the circumference
of the Earth being 40075km, that amount of paper could wrap round the around 9
times!
Yet all this paper will only ever be used once and spend the rest of it's days in landfill. Some wrapping paper is recyclable but ones that are shiny or have glitter are not. Alternatively, you could wrap your presents in newspaper, reusable cloth, or reuse your old paper.
4th December
In the UK, we eat 10 million turkeys each year for Christmas.
On average, each roasted turkey contains 7197 calories so, in all, that’s 72
billion calories. That number of calories produces 301 billion joules of energy
which is enough to power 35000 light bulbs for 24 hours!
Still, that doesn't compete with 46 million turkeys eaten at Thanksgiving, 22 million at Christmas, and 19 million at Easter in the US. Feeling full yet?
5th December
Santa has
only 34 hours to deliver presents to 200 million children
in 800 million homes therefore he must travel at 4,705,882km/h to reach every
house in time. With the speed of sound being at 1234km/h, Santa will be traveling
at 3814 times over the speed of sound. So instead of listening for sleigh bells
for Santa, try listening out for the deafening sonic boom instead!
6th December
154 million crackers are pulled each year in the UK.
Assuming each one makes a successful bang, one cracker contains less than 1mg
of gunpowder so, in total, that’s 154000g of explosives. That’s enough to fire
480000 bullets.
Despite it being almost impossible to get hold of enough Christmas crackers to cause any real damage (no matter how bad the jokes are), the sale of these festive are age restricted for children under the age of 12 in the UK.
7th December
The total spent on Christmas presents each year is £363 per
household. With 27.8 million households in the UK, that’s a total spending of
£10 billion. That’s enough to build 58000 White Houses.
This year, however, many families don't have that money available and, in the end, family is really the true meaning of Christmas!
8th December
Are you dreaming of a white Christmas?
On 29th December
1962 during the Big Freeze, England had one the heaviest snow falls on record.
More than 6.1 metres of snow fell in some places which is the same as 3 six-foot
snowmen stacked on top of each other. That’s a lot of snow!
Heavy snowfall continued throughout the winter, finally
easing in March 1963. As fun as snow is, the Big Freeze caused months of
disruption to people’s transport and livelihoods. The heavy snow prevented many
farmers from reaching their livestock causing many animals to die. Lately
however, snow has become rarer and rarer here in the UK with warnings of snow no longer falling by 2040.
9th December
Holly is a traditional festive decoration that's been
adapted from Celtic traditions however, we all know it's poisonous to humans. But
how bad is it? Effects can vary but children
could eat 5 berries before feeling
any symptoms while adults could eat around 10-20. If you ever did feel tempted
by their shiny redness, you may experience symptoms like drowsiness, vomiting, diarrhoea,
dehydration and even hypothermia (though this is quite rare). It’s hence probably
best to leave them to the wildlife that can handle them.
10th December
Each piece of chocolate in your advent calender contains 20
calories which is a total of 480 calories for the 24 days of advent.
To get the2000 calories needed a day for a woman and 2500 calories needed for a man, you would need to eat 110
pieces of chocolate. That’s the same as eating 8 mince pies a day.
As tasty as it would be, it definitely isn't a recommended diet. Chocolate is predominantly made up of fats and sugars but your body needs a variety of carbohydrates, proteins and minerals. Doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself!
11th December
It’s not only Santa that likes his mince pies. In the UK, we
eat 781,177,935 mince pies each year. With each pie weighing 54g, that’s a
total weight of 42000 kg which is the equivalent weight of 7 elephants.
That may not sound that many, but elephants can way up to 6000kg!
12th December
Christingles are a traditional part of the Christian
calender made from candles, oranges and raisins. The annual production of
oranges is equal to 45 billion kilograms which is the equivalent weight of 300
rockets.
13th December
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the world’s
tallest Christmas tree was a Douglas Fir erected in Northgate Shopping Center,
Seattle in 1960. It was 67.36 metres high which is as tall as 42 snowmen
stacked on top of each other. Now that's a lot of lights!
14th December
One of the biggest spectacles at Christmas dinner is
lighting the Christmas pudding. 2-3 tablespoons of Brandy are needed for this
to occur. Brandy burns at 365°C and, with the hottest ever recorded temperature
being recorded as 56.7°C in California, that is 6 times the hottest day on
Earth.
15th December
In 2016, the
World Record for the most crackers pulled by
two people in a minute is 63 and was set by Samuel Mayer and Andre Ortolf. With
60 seconds in a minute, the pair pulled crackers at a rate of one every 0.95
seconds.
If you can handle the bad jokes, this could be a fun challenge to try this Christmas.
16th December
 |
| Some reindeer do appear to have red noses. |
Reindeer noses may not actually be red, but they’re amazingly
adapted to help them survive freezing temperatures. In winter, Artic
temperatures can reach as cold as −40° C so reindeers have
developed a unique heat saving mechanism – in their noses. Air is recirculated in their nostrils
to regain some heat energy, cooling it to 21° C. In comparison, air expelled
from humans has a temperature of 32° C.
17th December
Not all snow falls at Christmas. Mt Everest’s snowiest week
is
the 1st July where 101cm of snow falls in one week. In a year,
that would be a total of 53 metres of snow which is the same height as 25
moose. That’s a lot of snow – perfect for snowmen!
18th December
Over the past two decades reindeer populations have
declinedby 56% from 4.7 million to 2.1 million individuals. That’s a total loss of 2.6
million individuals. Santa has 9 reindeer to pull his sleigh so the number lost
would be enough to pull 292000 sleighs.
Though it's hard to pinpoint the exact cause, climate change does contribute to loss in habitat and nutrition and living in large herds increases the transmission of diseases. Either way it's a drastic change that can't continue.
19th December
Each year, 3 billion Christmas cards are sent in the US. On
average, a 45ft pine tree can produce
10000 sheets of paper so to meet the
total US Christmas card demand, you would need 300000 trees.
Trees provide a valuable habitat to all kinds of woodland creatures so instead of cards, try something virtual or a little more personal.
20th December
376 years ago, Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas in England
for
16 years until the Restoration in 1660 as Puritans felt that Christmas had
been become too immoral and the original meaning was not being observed. This
resulted in shops and businesses being forced to open normal hours and any
festive food or items would be confiscated by patrolling guards.
Today we're facing a pandemic. We can't have Christmas like
normal. it may feel like Christmas is banned but you can still celebrate within
the safety of your home and respect the health of the ones around you. There
will always be more Christmases but let's make the most of the one we've got
now.
21st December
Tonight, Jupiter and Saturn will align over the Earth in
what’s called a conjunction. Jupiter and Saturn conjunctions every 20 years but
this year is special as the two will align to form a ‘Great Conjunction’ which was
last seen in 1623. It's thought to be the Christmas Star that guided the Three Wise Men to the baby Jesus in the nativity. You can see it today from 17:00 GMT in the UK.
22nd December
In typical Nativity scenes, the Three Wise Men rode to Bethlehem
by Camel. The maximum speed of a camel is 65km/h which is about 40mph. In the
Bible, the Kings took 2-1/2 years to reach Jesus meaning they may have
travelled up to 9125 miles which is about 3 times the coast to coast length of
the US. That's a long journey across difficult and dangerous terrain.
23rd December
There are over 2 billion children in the world and on
Christmas day they’ll all be wanting some presents. Assuming they’re working a
normal 9 to 5 and are able to make toys at a rate of 4 toys an hour, Santa
would need to employ 172000 elves.
24th December
Merry Christmas! And have a happy and healthy New Year.
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