Interesting Facts - Page 51

251
Supernovas are extremely powerful. In fact, a supernova viewed from 150 million kilometers away (the distance from the Earth to the Sun) would appear more than 1 billion times as bright as a hydrogen bomb that detonated directly in front of your face.
252
Iron is the heaviest element that any star can make via fusion. So how did elements like gold come to be? It is thought that they are created in supernovas or in the collision of neutron stars.
253
A handful of people have fallen out of a plane without a parachute and survived.
254
The guillotine was invented as a humane way to execute someone. But it wasn't only used during the French Revolution. France used it to execute people until 1977.
255
The star Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetlejuice) is so big, that if it were located where the sun is, it would completely engulf Earth, Mars, and maybe even Jupiter.
26 Comments
+1
Level 48
Mar 22, 2019
Wasn't it originally pronounced "Bet-el-jeez" until the movie came out.
+3
Level 70
Jul 16, 2021
It was pronounced "Bet-el-juse" in my schooldays.
+1
Level 81
May 12, 2023
I could've sworn it was once "belt-e-geeze."
+2
Level 65
Mar 15, 2024
beetlejuice is an American pronunciation. I doubt it's used anywhere else in the world.
+3
Level 45
Apr 11, 2019
Mr. Quizmaster, for number 251 it should be, "In front of your face", not, "In from of your face". I am just reaching you out here.
+7
Level ∞
Apr 12, 2019
Okay
+3
Level 92
Jun 26, 2019
Oddly enough, the guillotine was the Nazis' preferred method of execution.
+19
Level 66
May 23, 2020
The 7 million victims of the Holocaust would beg to differ...
+8
Level 92
Sep 24, 2022
Way more than 7 million. Everyone always casts aside the non-Jewish people thrown in concentration camps when they give Holocaust numbers. Still, actual criminal executions were almost exclusively with the guillotine.
+16
Level 93
Oct 29, 2019
Does #253 include moments when the plane was still on the ground?
+1
Level 86
Nov 6, 2021
Nah, then it'd be more than a handful
+2
Level 45
Jan 27, 2020
Interesting fact to go along with #253: One of those survivors supposedly fell from 33,000 feet back on January 26, 1972 when her plane crashed. Although there is a little controversy about whether or not the plane actually fell from 33,000 feet or not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAT_Flight_367
+1
Level 89
Apr 23, 2020
Even if the "official" story were true, she wouldn't technically qualify for surviving a fall out of an airplane since she went down inside the back part of the airplane. Technically she was inside :D
+7
Level 70
May 12, 2020
I was there to witness a photographer falling out of a plane without a parachute. Mind you we had not yet taken off at the time.
+2
Level 78
May 18, 2020
I thought beetlejuice was one way to pronounce it. Even Wikipedia says so.
+9
Level 74
Jun 15, 2020
A supernova is a billion times brighter than a hydrogen bomb exploding in front of your face. Now that is relatable.
+1
Level 69
Nov 29, 2020
Relatable to the max.
+3
Level 79
Mar 6, 2021
I'm pretty sure such an event would not appear to be bright at all as your retinas would be immediately ionized along with the optic nerves that would have sent the signal to your brain that you were viewing something bright, along with your brain, as well.
+1
Level 47
May 3, 2021
along the rest of your body shortly thereafter
+1
Level 51
Jan 5, 2021
Was anyone else thinking that they were talking about YouTube sensation Beetlejuice for fact 255 before reading the whole thing?
+2
Level 63
May 10, 2022
Quizmaster, 255 should have an 'it' between 'if' and 'were' for the "that if were located" part
+1
Level 63
Nov 2, 2023
Perhaps it was fixed, but there is an "it".
+1
Level 54
Aug 6, 2023
if the guillotine was considered a humane way of execution, i'm really scared of what an inhumane way of execution looked like
+1
Level 43
Feb 16, 2024
Seeing as you can't fit a person in your hand, the amount that survived is 0!
+1
Level 64
Mar 16, 2024
251- i don't think it's clear how much brighter the supernova would be: nine orders of magnitude. NINE
+1
Level 55
Apr 4, 2024
251 is so funny to read for some reason. such a comparison is pretty satisfying as well