Fast Facts

September 18, 2006

  • In 1865, opium was grown in the state of Virginia and a product was distilled from it that yielded 4 percent morphine. In 1867, it was grown in Tennessee; six years later, it was cultivated in Kentucky. During these years, opium, marijuana and cocaine could be purchased legally over the counter from any chemist.
  • Harvard is the oldest university in the United States.
  • The clock at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., will gain or lose only one second in 300 years because it uses cesium atoms.
  • The eyes of some birds weigh more than their brains. Likewise, their bones can weigh less than their feathers.
  • A normal raindrop falls at about 7 mph.
  • The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World’s Fair. The blueprints covered more than 14,000 square feet of drafting paper. The Eiffel Tower has 2.5 million rivets, and its height varies as much as six inches, depending on the temperature.
  • It takes one 15- to 20-year-old tree to produce 700 paper grocery bags.
  • Caterpillars have about 4,000 muscles. Humans, by comparison, have only about 600.
  • Fifty-one percent of turns are right turns.
  • If you toss a penny 10,000 times, the likelihood of it landing heads is not 5,000 times; it’s more like 4,950. The head picture weighs more, so it ends up on the bottom.
  • Moisture, not air, causes super glue to dry.
  • Armadillos have four babies at a time, and they are always the same sex.