10 Science Facts

Taking into the tradition that I had on another forum, I'm gonna try and do this thread here as well.
For the past 4-5 years I have been steadily trying to get everyone I know more interested in science. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to this.
Unfortunately science has many chapters and topics, and finding out which one you like or are interested in is very difficult usually. In order to help people discover their Scientist-side I offer you daily 10 (more or less) random facts about science. Usually I post about 5-6 facts about astronomy and physics, and the rest are biology, chemistry and other various topics. This is mostly because I feel that human kind's destiny is in the stars (we are children of stars so it makes sense) and everybody should know as much as possible about what's out there.
Enlightenment and the solutions to all of our problems (religion, famine, wars, disease) IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE IN SCIENCE!



Disclaimer:
1. Any and all facts posted here are based on theoretical concepts that at the time of posting were either already proven to be, or were generally considered to be true.
2. Considering the weekend is a time for relaxation, it is possible that on Saturday and Sunday there will be no posts. It will depend on my mood and time for those two days of the week.



Today's theme: Various

1. When you look at the Andromeda galaxy (which is 2.3 million light years away), the light you are seeing took 2.3 million years to reach you. Thus you are seeing the galaxy as it was 2.3 million years ago.

2. Even on the clearest night, the human eye can only see about 3,000 stars. There are an estimated 100,000,000,000 in our galaxy alone.

3. If a piece of the sun the size of a pinhead were to be placed on Earth, you could not safely stand within 150 kilometers of it.

4. The fastest speed a falling raindrop can hit you is approximately 50 km/h.

5. Every hour the Universe expands by a billion kilometers in all directions (ALL directions!).

6. Wounds infested with maggots heal quickly and without spread of gangrene or other infection.

7. Astronomers believe that space is not a complete vacuum - there are three atoms per cubic meter.

8. Giraffes often sleep for only 20 minutes in any 24 hours. They may sleep up to 2 hours (in spurts – not all at once), but this is rare. They never lie down.

9. Half-a-billionth of the energy released by the Sun reaches the Earth.

10. A teaspoon-full of the matter of a Neutron star would weigh about 112 million tonnes.

This is a pretty cool idea though you will have to have a lot of facts in your pocket if you want to post ten facts each day.