Elements
Our contents are organized by elements, choose one...
DID YOU KNOW THAT...
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...inside the dome of the Paris Pantheon, Foucault suspended a pendulum 67 metres long from which hung a cannonball weighing 28 kilos and with which he demonstrated that the Earth rotates on its own axis?
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...the Foucault's Pendulum in the Museum weighs 170 kilos and with a length of 34 metres is one of the longest in the world? It serves to prove that Galileo was right and that the Earth rotates on its axis. The oscillation plane of the Pendulum remains invariable, and meanwhile the ground rotates below it. As the Earth moves the pendulum knocks down a series of balls; if you wait a little you can see how this happens.
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...sound needs a medium in order to carry? In some science fiction films explosions are accompanied by sound effects. However, sound cannot travel in a vacuum; these explosions are completely silent!
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...spider silk contains a protein, fibroin, from the same family as collagen (ligaments) and keratin (nails and hair)?
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...the Science Museum is the largest in Spain for its surface area with 42.000 m² of buildings of which 26,000 m² are used for exhibitions, and that it is surrounded by 13,500 square metres of lakes?
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...on 5th September 1909 in Paterna, Valencia, the aeroplane designed by Gaspar Brunet and piloted by the Valencian Juan Olivert made the first powered flight recorded in Spain? In the Museum we can contemplate flight exhibits ranging from the model of the genius Leonardo to a real Mirage III, without forgetting an aerostatic balloon.
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...in the "TV Studio" workshop of the Museum visitors can find out how a television studio works, feature in a short programme, and then view a recording of it?
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...in the "Fear of the void" workshop of the Museum, thanks to physics you can become a fakir and lie on a bed of nails?
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...the Museum includes the Space Cadet School, a futuristic classroom where thanks to an audiovisual show put on with the help of "Professor Light Bulb2" and his assistant "Sparky" children are taught the distances between the planets of the solar system?
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...cockroaches are virtually blind and are very fast insects as they can run at 5 km/hour?
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...one of life¿s main components is deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)? An artistic reproduction of this molecule can be seen at the Calle Mayor of the Museum, in the form of a sculpture 15 metres high.
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...at the Museum visitors can explore the "Chromosome Forest", a large-scale reproduction of the 23 pairs of chromosomes of the human genome with numerous interactive modules related to specific genes of each one of them and including their operation?
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...the daily amount of saliva secreted by a human being is one litre and that it has a pH of between 6 and 7?
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...a third of our DNA is the same as that of a fly and that 94% of our DNA is the same as that of a macaque?
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...in one year no more and no less than 3,679,200 million litres of air pass through our lungs?
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...the total number of human beings who have lived on this planet throughout its history is 150,000 million, and all of them have been genetically distinguishable from each other?
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...the human brain contains 100,000 million neurones and that their activity consumes as much energy as a 20W light bulb that is never switched off?
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...a giant sequoia may live for 4000 years, but some kinds of insect live for only two days?
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...each red blood cell has some 300 million haemoglobin molecules?
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...the skin is the largest organ of the human body with a surface area of some two square metres and a weight of two and a half kilos?
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...the human genome has between 30,000 and 40,000 genes, a lot less than was previously thought?
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...in its first ten years of operation since 1998, the International Space Station has completed 57,309 orbits around the Earth, a distance of 2,305,741,651 kilometres, and that if it had travelled in a straight line it would already have passed Pluto and gone beyond the solar system?
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...and that the International Space Station is orbiting at a height of between 335 and 460 kilometres from the earth and flies at over 26,000 km/h?
