вторник, 30 сентября 2008 г.

world's longest experiment

  • We will present to you three examples that are considered to be the world's longest experiments, although they can be argued and you can even go as far back and say the creation of the Universe was just an experiment.

    First we have the Pitch Drop Experiment started in 1927 by Thomas Parnell. Basically he poured some pitch (a derivative of tar) into a funnel and let it drip out the bottom.

    It took 3 years just for the pitch to settle and the first drop finally fell in 1938. The experiment is still ongoing at the Department of Physics at the University of Queensland in Brisbane and in November 2000 only the 8th drop fell.

    Secondly is the Beverly Clock located at the Department of Physics at the University of Otago. The clock was made by Arthur Beverly and has not needed winding since it was made in 1864.

    Finally, at the Clarendon Laboratory at the University of Oxford we have the Oxford Electric Bell that has been ringing continuously since 1840. The bell is powered by two batteries coated in sulphur, but no one knows what they are made of. The bell shows no signs of stopping and the clapper will likely wear out before the batteries do.

world's longest dog

They don't call them Great Danes for nothing and this Great Dane holds the record for the world's longest dog.

Gibson resides in Grass Valley, California with his owner Sandy Hall whom, we're sure, spends a hefty sum on feeding his 170 pound pet.

Gibson measures in at a dog gone 42.6 inches to his shoulders and stands just over 7 feet.

If you were to take him out into that California sun, you'd have one long hot dog.

world's longest canyon

If you are about to say 'Grand Canyon' then you are correct...kinda. You have the right name...almost, but more than likely, the wrong country.

The Grand Canyon in Arizona is the longest canyon in North America measuring 277 miles or 446 kilometers.

However, the world's longest canyon belongs to China and is called the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon.

The Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon out canyons the Grand Canyon by 50 kilometers, coming in at 496 kilometers in length.

The Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon is also the world's deepest canyon reaching depths of 5,382 meters compared to 5,133 meters for Arizona's Grand Canyon.

If you happen to be from Mars then you can claim that your world's longest canyon is Valles Marineris.

The Valles Marineris canyon system covers nearly 4,500 kilometers.

world's longest arch

Located in Arches National Park in Utah Landscape Arch a natural arch created from the erosion of sandstone.

Discovered in late 1933 or early 1934 by Frank Beckwith, Landscape Arch is one of many in an area know as 'Devil's Garden' but has the honor of being the world's longest arch with a confirmed span of 290 feet or does it...

Even if it does hold the title, Landscape Arch may not hold it much longer. In the last 15 years major chucks have fallen off the arch and in some places it is only 6 feet thick, thus is expected to eventually collapse.

Kolob Arch is located in Zion National Park, also in Utah, but problems arise when determining how to measure the span. It is, however, generally accepted to be 294 feet, beating out Landscape Arch by a mere 4 feet as the world's longest arch.

world's longest airplane

On December 21, 1981 the world's longest airplane made it's maiden flight.

The An-225, which is built by the Russian company Antonov, was manufactured to carry the Buran orbiter, Russia's version of the Space Shuttle.

The An-225 holds over 200 records, including the world's longest airplane at 84 meters or 276 feet.

Other stats:

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Payload: 250,000 kilograms or 551,000 pounds
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Wingspan: 88.40 meters or 291 feet 2 inches
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Height: 18.1 meters or 59.3 feet
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Weight: 175,000 kilograms org 385,800 pounds
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Maximum speed: 850 km/h or 530 mph
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Range: 14,000 kilometers or 8,700 miles

There was only one An-225 ever built, a second was started, but not completed.

world's longest balloon chain

On July 15 2003 a bunch of students, 600 to be more precise, at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore had nothing to do so they started blowing up balloons.

But blowing up balloons was not enough, they also linked them together.

In all 5,239 balloons were blown up and linked together to form the world's longest balloon chain which covered 542.6 meters.

They did have ulterior motives though, they were out to beat the record of a 400 meter long balloon chain set by a bunch of bored Australians in 2001.

We could not find a picture of the world's longest balloon chain, so here's a picture of a short balloon chain

world's longest baseball throw

You'd think that people are getting bigger, stronger and better, but as far as the world's longest baseball throw goes we have to go back nearly half a century.

Glen Gorbous, a Canadian minor leaguer, who had a three year stint in the Majors from 1955 - 1957 still holds the record.

In 1957, after a running start, the ball left his arm at an estimated 120 MPH and it flew and flew and flew.

After all was said and done the baseball covered a total of 445 feet 10 inches before hitting the ground and breaking the old record by a whole nine inches.

Glen Gorbous broke Don Grate's record throw of 445 feet 1 inches set in 1956.

world's longest cake

Q: How many cooks from the Mediterranean Professional Cooks Union does it take to bake the world's longest cake?

A: More than 285.

On April 15, 2006 in Alanya, Turkey, these 285+ cooks spent 3 1/2 hours piecing together the world's longest cake that was pre-baked up to four days earlier.

When the cake was finally finished it was a meager 16 centimeters wide, but a record breaking 2,710 meters long.

In case you're wondering, it was a banana roll and was cut up and eaten by the onlookers.

world's longest chess game

n Belgrade in 1989 Ivan Nikolic and Goran Arsovic sat down to a game of chess. 20 hours and 15 minutes later, after 269 moves, the 50-move rule kicked in and the world's longest official chess game, as far as moves go, ended in a draw.

In Israel in 1980 Yedael Stepak and Yaakov Mashian also sat down to a game of chess, but this time there was a winner.

After 24 hours and 30 minutes, consisting of 193 moves, Yedael Stepak beat Yaakov Mashian in the world's longest decided chess game as well as the world's longest in time.

world's longest dance

The roots of marathon dancing go as far back as the mid 14th century, but as a sport it never really took off until the 1920's.

To find the record for the world's longest dance we have to shuffle our way back to August 29 1930 when Mike Ritof and Edith Boudreaux started dancing at the Merry Garden Ballroom, Chicago, Illinois.

They did not stop until April 01 1931 after clocking in 5,152 hours and 48 minutes, claiming the dance marathon record and $2,000.00 cash.

Every dance marathon has it's own rules and we are not sure of the exact rules of this one, but we are pretty certain they were given breaks. We are also pretty sure that this record may never be broken.