100 Fun Facts About Classic

What is the largest planet in our solar system?

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, with a diameter of about 86,881 miles. It is so massive that all other planets in the solar system could fit inside it.

Which country gifted the Statue of Liberty to the United States?

France's people gave it; Bartholdi designed the statue, Gustave Eiffel built its iron framework, and it crossed the Atlantic in crates to be assembled in 1886.

What is the chemical symbol for gold?

The chemical symbol for gold is Au, derived from the Latin word "aurum" meaning gold. Silver's symbol Ag comes from the Latin "argentum."

In what year did the Titanic sink?

The RMS Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. Over 1,500 people perished in the disaster.

What is the smallest country in the world by land area?

Vatican City covers about 44 hectares (0.44 km²), smaller than many city parks, and with well under 1,000 residents it is also the least populous sovereign state on Earth.

Who painted the Mona Lisa?

Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa between approximately 1503 and 1519. The painting hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris and is arguably the most famous painting in the world.

What is the capital city of Australia?

Canberra was purpose-built as the capital to settle the rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne, the two cities many people assume hold the title.

Which element has the atomic number 1?

Hydrogen has the atomic number 1, making it the lightest and most abundant element in the universe. It makes up about 75% of all normal matter by mass.

Who wrote the play Romeo and Juliet?

William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet around 1594–1596, adapting Arthur Brooke's 1562 narrative poem The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet; the play was first printed in quarto in 1597.

What sport is played at Wimbledon?

Tennis: the Wimbledon Championships began in 1877 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London, making it the oldest tennis tournament in the world, played on grass courts.

What is the hardest natural substance on Earth?

It scores 10 on the Mohs scale, and the hardest diamonds can only be scratched by other diamonds.

Which planet is known as the Red Planet?

Mars is the Red Planet: iron-oxide (rust) dust covering its surface gives it the colour, and the same particles suspended in its thin atmosphere can tint the Martian sky pink or butterscotch.

What is the longest river in Africa?

The Nile runs about 6,650 km (4,130 miles) from the Great Lakes region north to the Mediterranean, the longest river in Africa; the Congo, the continent's second longest, carries far more water.

Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?

Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969, during the Apollo 11 mission. His famous words were: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

What is the most spoken native language in the world?

Mandarin Chinese has roughly 940 million native speakers, more than any other language; English overtakes it only when second-language speakers are counted.

Which artist is famous for cutting off part of his own ear?

Vincent van Gogh severed part of his left ear in Arles on 23 December 1888 after a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, then painted Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear in January 1889.

Which is the largest and deepest of Earth's oceans?

The Pacific Ocean covers about 165 million km², roughly 46% of Earth's water surface and more than all land combined, and holds the deepest point on Earth, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench at about 10,900 m.

In Greek mythology, who is the king of the gods?

Zeus is the king of the gods in Greek mythology, ruling from Mount Olympus. He is the god of the sky, lightning, and thunder, and is the father of many other gods and heroes.

What is the main ingredient in guacamole?

Avocado is the main ingredient in guacamole. The word guacamole comes from the Aztec Nahuatl word "ahuacamolli," which translates to "avocado sauce." Traditional guacamole dates back to the Aztec empire.

How many strings does a standard guitar have?

Standard tuning runs E-A-D-G-B-E from low to high; the 12-string guitar doubles each string into pairs, and bass guitars usually have four.

What year did World War II end?

World War II ended in 1945 with Germany surrendering in May (V-E Day) and Japan surrendering in September (V-J Day) following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Which mammal is known to have the longest lifespan?

The bowhead whale: amino-acid dating of eye lenses from harvested bowheads has yielded ages past 200 years, and 19th-century harpoon heads have been found embedded in living animals.

What does DNA stand for?

DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. It is the molecule that carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth, and reproduction of all known organisms.

Which country had won the most FIFA World Cup titles as of the 2022 tournament?

Brazil led with 5 FIFA World Cup titles, won in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002, and is the only team to have played in every World Cup since the first in 1930.

What is the currency of Japan?

The yen is the official currency of Japan. The word "yen" means "round object" in Japanese. It is one of the most traded currencies in the foreign exchange market, alongside the US dollar and euro.

Who developed the theory of general relativity?

Albert Einstein published his theory of general relativity in 1915. The theory describes gravity not as a force, but as a curvature of spacetime caused by mass and energy. It remains one of the pillars of modern physics.

In which Shakespeare play do the fairy king and queen Oberon and Titania quarrel?

A Midsummer Night's Dream, written around 1595–1596: Oberon and Titania's quarrel over a changeling boy sets off the magical mischief in the woods outside Athens.

What is the tallest mountain in the world?

Mount Everest's summit stands 8,848.86 m (29,032 ft) above sea level by the 2020 joint Nepal–China survey; measured from its underwater base, Hawaii's Mauna Kea is taller.

Which famous scientist formulated the three laws of motion?

Isaac Newton set out the three laws in his 1687 Principia Mathematica; they describe the relationship between a body and the forces acting on it.

Japanese miso soup is made by dissolving fermented soybean paste into which stock?

Dashi, the Japanese stock usually made from kombu kelp with dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi) or small dried sardines (niboshi), is the base into which miso paste is whisked.

What is the Fibonacci sequence's next number after 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8?

The next number is 13, since each term is the sum of the two before it (5 + 8); the pattern was described in Indian prosody centuries before Fibonacci and appears in sunflower seed spirals and pine cones.

How many bones are in a typical adult human skeleton?

An adult skeleton typically has 206 bones; babies are born with around 270, and the count falls as bones of the skull, spine and pelvis fuse during growth.

Which element is represented by the symbol Fe on the periodic table?

Iron's symbol comes from the Latin ferrum; the metal is the most common element on Earth by mass, thanks to the planet's core.

Who spent 1508 to 1512 painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling?

Michelangelo painted the ceiling for Pope Julius II; its nine central Genesis scenes include the Creation of Adam, and the finished work was unveiled in 1512.

In which city would you find the Colosseum?

Rome's Colosseum, begun under Vespasian around AD 72 and opened by his son Titus in AD 80, is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built.

How fast does light travel through a vacuum?

Light travels about 186,000 miles per second in a vacuum, exactly 299,792,458 metres per second, because since 1983 the metre has been defined from the speed of light rather than the other way round.

Which band released the album "Abbey Road" in 1969?

The Beatles released Abbey Road on September 26, 1969. Named after the London studio where it was recorded, the album features iconic tracks like "Come Together" and "Here Comes the Sun." Its zebra-crossing cover is one of the most recognized album covers ever.

What is the largest hot desert in the world?

Counting cold deserts, the Sahara is only third: the polar deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic are both bigger, since a desert is defined by low precipitation rather than heat.

Which famous document begins with "We the People"?

The U.S. Constitution's preamble, 'We the People of the United States…', was largely drafted by Gouverneur Morris of the Committee of Style in the closing days of the 1787 Philadelphia convention.

What type of animal is a Komodo dragon?

The Komodo dragon is the world's largest living lizard, growing up to 10 feet long and weighing up to 150 pounds. Found only on a few Indonesian islands, it is a member of the monitor lizard family (Varanidae).

Which is the only continent with no native ants?

Antarctica alone has no native ants; more than 12,000 described species live on every other continent, and only a few large islands such as Greenland and Iceland also lack them.

Which novel by George Orwell depicts a dystopian society under constant surveillance?

George Orwell's 1984, published in 1949, depicts a totalitarian society ruled by Big Brother where citizens are under constant surveillance by the Party. The novel introduced terms like "Big Brother," "doublethink," and "thoughtcrime" into popular culture.

What is the boiling point of water at sea level in Fahrenheit?

At sea level water boils at 212°F, or 100°C; climb a mountain and the thinner air lowers the boiling point.

The Great Barrier Reef lies off the coast of which Australian state?

The reef runs off Queensland in the Coral Sea, separated from the mainland by a channel up to 100 miles wide; James Cook ran aground on it in 1770 while charting the coast.

What gas do plants absorb from the atmosphere during photosynthesis?

Plants absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere during photosynthesis. Using sunlight and water, they convert CO2 into glucose and oxygen. This process is fundamental to life on Earth, providing food for plants and oxygen for animals.

Which ancient civilization built Machu Picchu?

Machu Picchu was built by the Inca civilization in the 15th century, located high in the Andes Mountains of Peru at about 7,970 feet above sea level. It was likely built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti.

What instrument has 88 keys?

A standard piano has 88 keys, 52 white and 36 black, spanning just over seven octaves; Bösendorfer's Imperial model adds extra bass notes for a total of 97.

In which sport would you perform a slam dunk?

Basketball: the slam dunk is usually the highest-percentage shot in the game and such a crowd-pleaser that the NBA has staged a Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star Weekend since 1984.

What collective noun does folklore give a group of crows?

A murder of crows: the phrase appears in 15th-century English lists of 'terms of venery', the fanciful collective nouns that also gave us an exaltation of larks and an unkindness of ravens.

Which Italian city is famous for its leaning tower?

Pisa's tower is the freestanding bell tower of the city's cathedral; it began tilting during construction in the 1170s, and stabilisation work completed in 2001 left the lean at just under four degrees.

What is the name of the smallest bone in the human body?

The stapes sits in the middle ear and takes its name from the Latin for stirrup, which it resembles.

Which blood type is often called the universal donor for red cell transfusions?

O negative red cells lack the A, B and Rh D antigens, so they can usually be given to patients of any blood type in an emergency.

What is the capital city of Canada?

Ottawa was chosen as capital of the Province of Canada by Queen Victoria in 1857, a compromise among rivals Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City and Kingston, and became capital of the new Dominion in 1867.

Which country is the largest in the world by area?

Russia covers about 17.1 million km², more than a ninth of Earth's land area; it spans eleven time zones and shares land borders with fourteen countries.

Who painted the melting-clocks masterpiece The Persistence of Memory?

Painted in 1931, it became one of the most recognizable images of Surrealism and of Dalí's theory of softness and hardness.

Who wrote the novel Pride and Prejudice?

Jane Austen published Pride and Prejudice in 1813, her second novel after Sense and Sensibility; she had first drafted it as 'First Impressions' in 1796–97.

Which element has the chemical symbol Na?

Sodium's symbol Na comes from the Neo-Latin natrium; the element has atomic number 11 and is the sixth most abundant element in Earth's crust.

Which organ produces the hormone insulin?

The pancreas makes insulin in the beta cells of its islets of Langerhans; insulin was also the first protein to have its full amino-acid sequence determined, by Frederick Sanger in the early 1950s.

Mount Olympus, mythical home of the gods, is the highest peak of which country?

Greece: Mount Olympus, 2,917 m at its Mytikas summit, straddles Thessaly and Macedonia and in 1938 became the country's first national park.

What is the largest animal known to have ever existed?

The blue whale can reach about 30 metres and weigh up to roughly 190 tonnes, far heavier than any known dinosaur, including the sauropod Argentinosaurus.

What is the fastest land animal?

The cheetah is the fastest land animal, sprinting at roughly 93–104 km/h (58–65 mph) in short bursts; the pronghorn is second fastest but can hold its speed far longer.

Cai Lun improved papermaking around 105 CE while serving the court of which country?

Cai Lun was a eunuch official at the Eastern Han court of China; he added tree bark, hemp waste, old rags and fishnets to the pulp, which made large-scale manufacture possible.

Which inventor's telephone patent was granted on March 7, 1876?

Bell was a Scottish-born teacher of the deaf whose patent was issued on March 7, 1876.

What is the longest bone in the human body?

The femur, or thigh bone, is the only bone of the upper leg and roughly a quarter of a person's height; the word is also borrowed for the leg segments of insects and spiders.

Which country became the world's most populous in 2023?

India: United Nations projections had it overtake China as the most populous country in April 2023, with an estimated 1.43 billion people that year.

Painter Frida Kahlo's work is emblematic of which country's national traditions?

Frida Kahlo, born in Coyoacán, Mexico City, in 1907, used a naive folk-art style to explore identity, gender, class and race in Mexico's post-revolutionary society.

Which composer wrote the sonata known as the "Moonlight"?

Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 (1801) got the nickname in 1832, five years after his death, when the poet Ludwig Rellstab likened its first movement to moonlight on Lake Lucerne.

Vinegar is a diluted solution of which compound?

Vinegar is typically 4 to 8 percent acetic acid by volume, made by fermenting sugars to ethanol and then letting Acetobacter bacteria oxidise the ethanol to acetic acid.

Which city hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896?

Athens hosted the first modern Games in April 1896; the choice was made at the 1894 Paris congress that also founded the International Olympic Committee.

Which river flows through the centre of Paris?

The Seine rises on the Langres plateau northwest of Dijon, flows about 777 km through Paris and reaches the English Channel between Le Havre and Honfleur.

To which ancient poet is the epic The Odyssey traditionally attributed?

The Odyssey is attributed to Homer, like the Iliad; it was composed in Greek around the 8th or 7th century BC and was part of the literary canon by the mid-6th century BC.

Which planet has the hottest surface in the solar system?

Venus's thick carbon-dioxide atmosphere traps heat, holding its surface at about 464 °C under a pressure 92 times Earth's at sea level, hotter than Mercury despite being farther from the Sun.

Which metal is liquid at room temperature?

Mercury is the only metallic element liquid at standard room temperature, melting at −38.8 °C; caesium and gallium melt just above 28 °C, and bromine is the only other element liquid at room temperature.

Who discovered penicillin in 1928?

Alexander Fleming noticed in September 1928 that a Penicillium mould contaminating a culture plate at St Mary's Hospital, London, had killed the surrounding Staphylococcus colonies; he shared the 1945 Nobel Prize for it.

Which of these does human skin produce when exposed to UVB sunlight?

Vitamin D is made in the skin when UVB light converts 7-dehydrocholesterol, which makes it only conditionally essential in the diet, unlike the other twelve vitamins.

In which year was the Eiffel Tower completed?

The Eiffel Tower was completed in March 1889 as the centrepiece of that year's Exposition Universelle in Paris, marking the centennial of the French Revolution.

Who wrote Don Quixote, published in two parts in 1605 and 1615?

Miguel de Cervantes playfully claims within the novel that the story was translated from an Arabic manuscript by a Moorish historian named Cide Hamete Benengeli.

What is the largest island in the world?

Greenland, at about 2.17 million km², is the largest island (Australia being counted as a continent); it lies between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans and is roughly 80% covered by an ice sheet.

Which is the smallest and shallowest of the world's oceans?

The Arctic Ocean, about 14 million km² and averaging roughly 1,000 m deep, is the smallest and shallowest of the five oceans; much of its surface is covered by sea ice for most of the year.

What is the capital city of Turkey?

Ankara became Turkey's capital in October 1923 when Atatürk's republic replaced Ottoman Istanbul; the city was once capital of the Celtic state of Galatia and was known as Angora under the Ottomans.

Which artist created The Scream in 1893?

Edvard Munch recalled a sunset walk near Kristiania (Oslo) when the clouds turned blood red and he sensed 'an infinite scream passing through nature'; the image helped shape Expressionism.

How many interlocking rings appear on the Olympic flag?

The five rings, designed by Pierre de Coubertin in 1913, stand for the five parts of the world won over to Olympism, with the Americas counted as one continent.

Which mythical creature is the heraldic national animal of Scotland?

The unicorn has appeared in Scotland's royal arms since at least the 15th century and was seen as the natural enemy of the lion, the beast on England's royal arms.

How many hearts does an octopus have?

An octopus has three hearts: one systemic heart circulates blood around the body while two branchial hearts pump it through the gills.

Which gas makes up about 78 percent of dry air?

Nitrogen makes up about 78 percent of dry air; oxygen is a distant second at just under 21 percent, with argon at less than one percent.

Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?

Marie Curie shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel, then won the 1911 Chemistry prize alone, the first person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences.

The imperial city of Marrakesh is in which country?

Marrakesh is one of Morocco's four imperial cities, with Fez, Meknes and Rabat, and is the capital of the Marrakesh-Safi region.

Who wrote the 1818 Gothic novel Frankenstein?

Mary Shelley published Frankenstein anonymously in 1818 with a preface by Percy Bysshe Shelley; her name first appeared on the 1823 second edition, and she revised the text for the 1831 edition.

The Stanley Cup is awarded in which sport?

Lord Stanley of Preston donated the cup in 1892 for Canada's top amateur ice hockey club; since 1926 it has gone exclusively to the NHL champion.

What makes up almost the entire diet of the giant panda?

Bamboo makes up about 99% of a giant panda's diet; a false thumb, an enlarged wrist bone, helps it grip the stalks, and one Chinese name for it, zhúxióng, means bamboo bear.

In which year did the Berlin Wall fall?

The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989, when East Germany, after weeks of mass protests, announced that all its citizens could cross to the West, and crowds surged through the checkpoints that night.

Which element has the chemical symbol K?

Potassium's symbol K comes from its Neo-Latin name kalium, itself from kali, an Arabic-rooted word for plant ashes; Humphry Davy first isolated the metal in 1807.

How many permanent teeth does an adult human usually have?

Adults usually have 32 permanent teeth, split evenly with 16 in the upper jaw and 16 in the lower, against 20 baby teeth.

Which modern country was historically known as Persia?

Iran was known abroad as Persia until 1935, when Reza Shah asked foreign governments to use the native name; it borders seven countries plus the Caspian Sea, Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf.

Which planet's bright, extensive rings are made mainly of ice particles?

Saturn's rings are mostly water ice, spanning about 282,000 km across yet in places only around 10 metres thick; Galileo first glimpsed them in 1610, and Huygens identified them as a ring in 1655.

Which lake's shores are the lowest land-based elevation on Earth?

The Dead Sea's surface lies more than 430 metres below sea level, the lowest land elevation on Earth, and its water is about 9.6 times as salty as the ocean, so swimmers float.

Whose final opera, The Magic Flute, premiered in Vienna in 1791?

Mozart's The Magic Flute premiered on 30 September 1791 at the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, just over two months before his death on 5 December.

Which planned city replaced Rio de Janeiro as a national capital in 1960?

Brasília, planned by urbanist Lúcio Costa with architect Oscar Niemeyer and engineer Joaquim Cardozo, was built from 1956 and inaugurated as Brazil's capital on 21 April 1960 to move power inland.

Which sport is considered the national sport of Japan?

Sumo is regarded as Japan's national sport (kokugi); professional sumo, run by the Japan Sumo Association, holds six 15-day grand tournaments a year, and Japan is the only country where it is practised professionally.

Which lake is the deepest in the world?

Lake Baikal in Siberia reaches 1,642 metres deep and holds about 23,600 km³ of water, roughly a fifth of the world's unfrozen fresh surface water, making it the largest freshwater lake by volume.