› added 3 years ago

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TIL A Wankel Engine doesn't use pistons, but instead a rounded triangle that would spin in a combustion chamber. The last production car to use one came out in 2003, including a model that could use both hydrogen and gasoline in the same engine.

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VMNY0 TIL that Enrico Fermi estimated the energy released by first atom bomb (Trinity test at Manhattan Project) by dropping small pieces of paper before, during, and after the passage of the blast wave and measuring their displacement. His estimate of 10 kilotons was pretty close to actual value of 21.
78ZM TIL The total weight of all the ants on Earth is about the same as the weight of all the humans on earth.
PlVG TIL The KEO Time Capsule, which will be launched in 2014, will re-enter Earths Atmosphere 50,000 years from now. The cool thing is that everyones invited to submit their own 4 page letter.
b604Q TIL the charity single "That's What Friends Are For" sung by Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder was first recorded in 1982 by Rod Stewart for the soundtrack of the film Night Shift.
7rnob TIL that Isaac Newton at height of his career gave up science to run the mint in London, where he spent the rest of his life chasing counterfeiters and dabbling in alchemy and mysticism. He died in 1727 at age 84, apparently a virgin.