Mad Scientists: The Moon Jumper Facts
Photo: John Tries Out the Moon Jumper (View larger version)
- In 1962, French Oceanographer Jacques Cousteau launched Conshelf I, the first ever free-standing, long-term underwater habitat.
- Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America, with a surface elevation of 6,229 feet.
- Lake Tahoe never freezes and maintains an average water temperature of between 41°F and 47°F all year round.
- Negative buoyancy is achieved when the gravitational pull, forcing an object or person down in the water, is greater than the buoyant force, pushing it toward the surface.
- Sometime between 1665 and 1666, Sir Isaac Newton conceived that there was some kind of force pulling objects toward the center of the Earth, when he observed an apple falling from a tree in his orchard. Contrary to popular belief, the apple did not hit him on the head.
- The gravitational force that an object exerts is determined by that object's size. Therefore, a person who weighs 150 pounds on Earth would weigh 10 pounds on Pluto and 4061 pounds on the sun.
- Six recycled cars will yield enough steel to frame an entire house.
- The Space Frame Truss, a light-weight, rigid structure made up of interlocking struts arranged in a geometric triangle pattern, was invented by Alexander Graham Bell around 1900.
- The world's largest see-saw was built by Ashrita Furman in Jamaica, Queens in August 2010. It measures 79 feet long and can lift a rider over 11 feet in the air.
- The earliest record of a carousel was in a Byzantine bas-relief dating back to about 500 A.D.
- The world's highest thrill ride is the Big Shot, which rises to 1,081 feet atop the Stratosphere in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- The name "bungee cord" is thought to have been derived from the British slang word for India-rubber (used as a pencil eraser) which was known as "India Bungie."
- The great Greek inventor and mathematician Archimedes is generally credited with discovering the principle of the lever and fulcrum.
- The Kroll K-10000 Tower crane, the largest in the world, has a main arm 278 feet long, 123 tons of counter-weights, and can lift up to 264 tons.
