Random FUN Facts #5

The following random FUN Facts are from ADK, sakura22, rich, and kohai!!!

1. Lake Mead is the largest man-made lake formed by impounding water from Hoover Dam.

2. An astronaut can be up to 2 inches taller upon returning from space. The cartilage disks in the spine expand because of the absence of gravity.

3. Hiccups happen when the diaphragm, the muscle that controls our breathing, becomes irritated and start to spasm and contract uncontrollably. With each contraction, air is pulled into the lungs very quickly, passes through the voice box, and then the epiglottis closes behind the rush of air, shaking the vocal chords, causing the "hic" sound. The irritation can be caused by rapid eating, emotional stress and even some diseases. The best cure? Breathing into a paper bag. This calms the diaphragm by increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in your bloodstream.

4. Abraham Lincoln was the only President to hold a patent. It was for an invention to buoy boats over shallow rivers.

5. The embryos of Tiger Sharks fight eachother while in their mother's womb, the survivor being the baby shark that is born.

6. Due to gravity, you weigh less when the moon is directly overhead.

7. The largest known meteorite crater is in Aizona. It is 4,150 ft. across and 150 ft. deep.

8. The hottest planet in the Solar System is not Mercury, but Venus, with an estimated surface temperature of 864 F (462 C).

9.The highest temperature produced in a laboratory was is about 920,000 F (511,000,000 C) at Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor in NJ, USA.

10. Armadillas, opossums, and sloths spend about 80% of their lives sleeping.