Facts that shocked you

[eldar]

The large intestine is around 1.5m long, and the small intestine around 5m.

[Arrivalist]

You have 1 metre of DNA packed into every cell of your body. If you formed all the DNA in your body into a single fine strand it would stretch 10 billion miles, to beyond Pluto.

Edited by Arrivalist on Saturday 15th March 10:20

[DodgyGeezer]

The Tower of Jericho at 8.5 metres tall was the world's tallest freestanding structure for 4,000 years

[Austin Prefect]

When I first visited London, the highest building was St Paul's.

[CanAm]

DodgyGeezer said:

The Tower of Jericho at 8.5 metres tall was the world's tallest freestanding structure for 4,000 years

I wasn't impressed by that at all. Then I found from Wikipedia that it was probably built 10,000 years ago!

[Randy Winkman]

Arrivalist said:

You have 1 metre of DNA packed into every cell of your body. If you formed all the DNA in your body into a single fine strand it would stretch 10 billion miles, to beyond Pluto.

Edited by Arrivalist on Saturday 15th March 10:20

Cheers. One thing I know about DNA (thanks to my Bill Bryson Book, A Short History of Nearly Everything) is that it isnt living material. It has no metabolic functions and that's why it can hang around so long. But perhaps that wouldnt shock people that have a basic understanding of biology. It struck me as memorable though.

(Metabolic meaning chemical processes to do things such as produce energy or the basic materials needed for life processes.)

[Arrivalist]

Randy Winkman said:

Arrivalist said:

You have 1 metre of DNA packed into every cell of your body. If you formed all the DNA in your body into a single fine strand it would stretch 10 billion miles, to beyond Pluto.

Edited by Arrivalist on Saturday 15th March 10:20

Cheers. One thing I know about DNA (thanks to my Bill Bryson Book, A Short History of Nearly Everything) is that it isnt living material. It has no metabolic functions and that's why it can hang around so long. But perhaps that wouldnt shock people that have a basic understanding of biology. It struck me as memorable though.

(Metabolic meaning chemical processes to do things such as produce energy or the basic materials needed for life processes.)

I got my stuff on DNA from Bryson’s ‘The Body’. Full of absolutely fascinating stuff.

[Dbag101]

eldar said:

The large intestine is around 1.5m long, and the small intestine around 5m.

If you flatten it out, it’s several miles long.

[Roofless Toothless]

Dbag101 said:

eldar said:

The large intestine is around 1.5m long, and the small intestine around 5m.

If you flatten it out, it’s several miles long.

Err ... right.

[Dbag101]

Roofless Toothless said:

Err ... right.

Surface area of the intestine is mental. Flatten it down, it’s insanely large.

[Roofless Toothless]

Surface area and length are two different things.

[Cotty]

Roofless Toothless said:

Surface area and length are two different things.

so it might be really wide

[Dbag101]

Cotty said:

so it might be really wide

Yep, but then you’re into mathematical conversion, if you flatten it, then straighten it, bosh, job’s a good’un.

[Cotty]

Dbag101 said:

Yep, but then you’re into mathematical conversion, if you flatten it, then straighten it, bosh, job’s a good’un.

But thinking about a person you will always be taller than you are wide. Im assuming the intestine is similar.

[Dbag101]

Cotty said:

But thinking about a person you will always be taller than you are wide. Im assuming the intestine is similar.

Not really, I’m no medic, but I think no matter how tall to wide your ratio is, the intestines are still enormous, in real terms.

[Cotty]

Dbag101 said:

Not really, I’m no medic, but I think no matter how tall to wide your ratio is, the intestines are still enormous, in real terms.

a 2014 study says they are about 15 feet in length

[CanAm]

Austin Prefect said:

When I first visited London, the highest building was St Paul's.

I was surprised to discover that this applied to me too. And for my second visit in 1962. It lost its record to the GPO Tower in 1964.

[DodgyGeezer]

I was surprised to find out that 30% of all remaining Messerschmitt Bf 109"s served with one unit. Mind you I guess it's not quite as surprising when you find out where Jagdgeschwader 5 were?

[Skeptisk]

There is a mathematical shape called Gabriel’s horn, which is made by rotating a line around the x axis, where the line approaches but never meets the X axis. If you calculate the volume of the horn it converges to a limit, such that with a finite amount paint you could fill the horn. However, the surface area of the horn doesn’t converge and so tends to infinity, so that you would need an infinite amount of paint to paint the outside of the horn, which is a paradox (as you have painted the inside surface area with a finite amount of paint).

[Steve vRS]

DodgyGeezer said:

I was surprised to find out that 30% of all remaining Messerschmitt Bf 109"s served with one unit. Mind you I guess it's not quite as surprising when you find out where Jagdgeschwader 5 were?

Which was where?