These facts blew up social networks: why bananas are radioactive and clouds weigh as much as 100 elephants
Did you know that every banana contains a tiny dose of radiation?
It's all about potassium-40, a natural isotope found in this fruit.
But don't rush to throw away the bunch: to get a dangerous dose, you would need to eat 10 million bananas at once.
For comparison: over the course of a year, a person absorbs about 3-4 millisieverts of radiation from the environment, while one banana “gives” only 0.0001 millisieverts.
By the way, bananas are not the only “radioactive” foods. Brazil nuts, potatoes, and even red meat contain traces of isotopes, but their levels are completely safe.
Now imagine: a normal cumulus cloud weighing 500 tons is hovering above your head. That's equal to the mass of 100 elephants or 70 cars! Why doesn't it fall?
It's all in the size: A cloud is made up of billions of microscopic water droplets or ice crystals that are so small that they are supported by rising air currents. But when the droplets merge and become heavier, rain begins.
By the way, the longest cloud in the world is the Morning Glory in Australia. It looks like a giant tube up to 1,000 km long and moves at a speed of 60 km/h.
Another fact that will change your idea of deserts: beneath the sands of the Sahara, there is an ancient underground river. It was discovered using satellite images that show that in some places the sand collapses into underground channels.
Local nomads have known about this for thousands of years - they found oases that were fed by water from hidden springs.
And in Antarctica there is a "blood waterfall": a rusty-red liquid flows out of a glacier. Scientists have found out that the water contains iron oxides, which color it, and the source is a subglacial lake, isolated for millions of years.
When talking about water, we can't help but mention the Mariana Trench. If you throw an iron ball into it, it will sink for 4 hours to reach the bottom.
The pressure at a depth of 11 km is 1,100 times higher than on the surface, but there is still life there - for example, giant amoebas and ghost fish with transparent skin.
Here's a fact for space lovers: 100 tons of cosmic dust fall to Earth every day. This is the remains of comets, asteroids and meteors that burn up in the atmosphere, but the smallest particles settle on the surface.
It turns out that we breathe "stardust" and don't even notice. Even more amazing is that your body contains atoms created in the cores of distant stars billions of years ago. We are literally made of space!
And finally: do you know why lightning sometimes strikes the same place twice? It's simple: tall objects like trees or buildings become "magnets" for electrical discharges.
The longest lightning was recorded in Argentina - its length was 700 km.
And in Venezuela there is a place where lightning strikes 300 days a year. Scientists are still debating why this happens, but locals have become accustomed to the eternal light show.
Now you understand: the world is full of mysteries, which are sometimes stranger than fiction. All that remains is to be surprised and look for new facts - because they are everywhere.