Tuesday Trivia

ABOUT PLANTS:

Almonds are the oldest, most widely cultivated and extensively used nuts in the world.

Avocados have the highest calories of any fruit at 167 calories per hundred grams.

Cranberries are one of just three major fruits native to North America. Blueberries and Concord grapes are the other two.

Dr. Joel Poinsett, the 1st US ambassador to Mexico, brought the poinsettia to US in 1828. The plant, called "flower of the blessed night" in Mexico was renamed in Poinsett's honor.

Tea was so expensive when it was first brought to Europe in the early 17th century that it was kept in locked wooden boxes.

Wine grapes, oranges, figs and olives were first planted in North America by Father Junipero Sera in 1769.

ABOUT TREES:

No Weeping Willow bark, which provides the salicylic acid from which aspirin was originally synthesized, has been used as a pain remedy ever since the Greeks discovered its therapeutic power nearly 2,500 years ago.

Two mature trees provide enough oxygen for a family of four.

Trees help reduce the "greenhouse effect" by absorbing CO2. One acre of trees removes 2.6 tons of CO2 per year.

By cooling the air and ground around them, the shade from trees helps cool the Earth's temperature.

Well placed trees help cut energy costs and consumption by decreasing air conditioning costs 10-50 percent and reducing heating costs as much as 4-22 percent.

In deserts, leaves absorb moisture from the dew and frost of the cool nights and release it to cool the air during the warm days.

A tree-line buffer between fields and streams helps remove farming pollutants before they reach the water.

In 1925 a giant sequoia located in California's Kings Canyon National Park was named the nation's national Christmas tree. The tree is over 300 feet in height.

ABOUT RAINFORESTS:

Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface; now they cover 6%.

One hundred and thirty seven plant, animal and insect species are being lost every single day due to rainforest deforestation.

The howler monkey is the loudest animal living in the rainforests of South America.

More than half of the world's estimated 10 million species of plants, animals and insects live in the tropical rainforests.

One hectare of lowland rainforest in South America can contain as many frog species as in all of North America.

The biggest rainforest in the world is in South America, along the banks of the Amazon River.

ABOUT WATER:

There are two kinds of water; salt water and freshwater. Salt water contains great amounts of salt, whereas freshwater has a dissolved salt concentration of less than 1%. Only freshwater can be applied as drinking water.

In a 100-year period, a water molecule spends 98 years in the ocean, 20 months as ice, about 2 weeks in lakes and rivers, and less than a week in the atmosphere.

If water changes phase its physical appearance changes due to parting of water molecules. In the solid phase the water molecules are close together and in the gaseous phase they are the furthest apart.

Frozen water is 9% lighter than water, which is why ice floats on water.

It doesn't take much salt to make water "salty." If one-thousandth (or more) of the weight of water is from salt, then the water is "saline."

A person can live about a month without food, but only about a week without water. If a human does not absorb enough water dehydration is the result.
Water:

The earth's surface is about 80% water. That is about 320,000,000,000,000 (363 trillion) gallons of water.

Over 42,000 gallons of water are needed to grow and prepare the food for a typical Thanksgiving dinner for eight in the United States. This is enough to fill a 30 by 50 foot swimming pool.

A corn plant needs 54 gallons of water per season. A milk cow needs 15 gallons per day or 5,475 gallons per year. A horse needs 10 gallons per day or 3,650 gallons per year.

Human blood is 83% water. Human bones are 25% water.

Water was the first word that Helen Keller learned. Water was the last word spoken by President Ulysses S. Grant.

Running the tap waiting for water to get hot or cold can waste 5 gallons per minute.

Now .... don't you feel refreshed? Get to work!!