The universe is a pretty amazing place, from the unimaginably large, right down to
the incredibly small. There’s an awful lot going on in this field we call
Collider near Geneva, there’s a lot of buzz surrounding information having to do with
the fabric of the universe. The standard model of theoretical physics says the Higgs
boson particle is responsible for all the mass in the universe, which is a heck of a lot
of matter.
Let’s take a look at some of this awe-inspiring matter now, as well as a look at the
Higgs boson particle, and see how we fit inside the intricate patterns that make up
everything.
1) Even When You’re Standing Still, You’re Still Moving
A human body, or any object on the Earth, is never at rest. Even when you’re asleep
in bed, you’re moving pretty fast. Our Milky Way Galaxy is rotating at 225 kilometers
per second, and hurling through the cosmos at an estimated 305 kilometers per
second. Add those figures together, and we’re
, or 330 miles per second. So in one minute’s time, you’ve traveled almost
20,000 kilometers, or more than 12,000 miles. And your friends always complain that
you never go anywhere.
2) There Are at Least 10 Billion Trillion Stars in the Universe
That’s a very big number. When you really think about it,
makes the cult of sun worship seem a little obsolete, although our star, the
sun,
is very important to us. Without it, life on earth wouldn’t be possible.
Let’s put 10 billion trillion stars into perspective, shall we? For those of you who
know a bit of math, that would be 10 to the power of 22 stars, or written out, it would
be 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. There are probably more stars in existence than
grains of sand on all of the world’s beaches. If only 1% of those stars had Earth-like
planets, the universe would literally be teeming with life.
3) An Asteroid Might Hit The Earth in 2029
This didn’t exactly end well.
The greatest chance so far, according to astronomers, of a large asteroid colliding
with the earth and wiping life out is in 2029. Asteroids have hit the planet before, and
caused mass extinctions, so there is some precedent for it happening again.
The culprit this time is the (99942 Apophis), which is headed our
way in 2029. There’s a little less than a 3% chance that this bad boy will crash into
terra firma. Let’s hope Apophis gives the planet a miss, otherwise you can stop
paying into your retirement account right now.
4) Neutron Stars Are Very, Very Heavy
What exactly is a, you might be wondering? Well, neutron stars are the
densest object known in the universe. They are created inside large stars during a
supernova explosion. When the core of the star collapses, electron and proton pairs
get crushed down into neutrons.
While neutron stars are only about 10-13 miles in diameter, they are heavier than
many stars. A thimbleful, or sugar cube, amount of a neutron star weighs around 100
million tons. That’s more than a large mountain.
5) We Are Made Out of Stars
That explains all the glitter GIFs.
Human beings are literally made out of . Almost all of the chemical elements
that make up a person come from the stars. Any element heavier than hydrogen
originated in the stars, and we are definitely composed of more than hydrogen.
Calcium, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and around 60 other basic ingredients
make up a human being. Since hydrogen and helium were the only elements around
before the stars “cooked” up some more, it’s a safe bet that most of the substance
that constitutes the “physical” you comes from the stars.
6) One Million Earths Could Fit Inside The Sun
Even though there are a lot of stars out there, none is more important to us than our
own sun. When compared to other stars, it’s fairly small, classified as a G2 dwarf
star. But that doesn’t mean we’re complaining. Approximately
could fit inside this dwarf star. It might not be the largest star in the universe,
but it gets the job done as far as sustaining life on Earth goes.
7) The Higgs Boson Particle Gives Form to the Universe
There has been a lot of hoopla surrounding of the mysterious
. We already took a brief look at it in the introduction to this article, but
let’s dive in a little bit deeper.
The Higgs boson, if the standard theory proves correct, is the heaviest element in
existence (as far as we know). This cosmic “molasses” weighs down the tiny
particles that make up atoms, giving them substance. Without the Higgs boson, the
universe would most likely be a kind of cosmic “soup” where particles zip around,
absent any substantial form. The discovery of the Higgs boson particle is to physics
what Darwin’s theory of evolution was to biology. That means it’s a very big deal.
8) The Biggest Mountain in Our Solar System Is on Mars
Nice try, jerk.
Sorry Mount Everest — you’re not the king of the solar system. That honor belongsto
Olympus Mons, a massive mountain on our planetary neighbor, Mars.
is a giant mound of red dirt and rock. This volcanic behemoth is 2,400 meters,
or 80,000 feet tall, which makes it almost 15 miles high. Everest is a mere dwarf in
comparison. This giant Martian volcano is either a mountain climber’s wildest dream,
or worst nightmare.
9) Our Galaxy Is on a Collision Course with the Andromeda Galaxy
The Milky Way Galaxy, which is to say our very own galaxy, is on a
with our nearest neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy. Even though these two
conglomerations of stars are destined to smash together, you shouldn’t lose any
sleep over the incident. The impending impact won’t happen for another 3 billion
years. The chances of you being around for that galactic “fender bender” are pretty
slim, unless you’re planning to cryogenically freeze yourself or something.
10) The Earth Is Billions of Years Old
Our planet has been around for quite some time. It’s been around, in fact, for
, give or take 0.02 billion years. Life has only been on the planet for
a short amount of time, but the variety of life that has crawled, slithered, swam and
trod upon the planet is pretty spectacular — from single celled organisms, to giant
sharks and snakes, to dinosaurs, to mammals. If that comet coming in 2029 (and
again, in 2036) misses the planet, hopefully we’ll thrive here for a long time to come.
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