20 Weird Science Facts That You Might Just Need One Day

12. To Produce Enough Sound Energy To Heat A Cup Of Coffee, You Would Have To Shout For 8 Years, 7 Months And 6 Days

As far as physics is concerned, energy is energy, whether it's in the form of electrical, heat, sound, chemical or kinetic energy. What's more, you can convert one to the other.

We usually tend to convert other types of energy into sound energy - in an amplifier, for example - but it is possible to convert it back. Unfortunately, this is an incredibly inefficient system, hence the need to shout for nearly nine years just to get a hot cup of coffee (service is terrible these days, isn't it?)

When you might need to know this:

Well, if you're that in need of a cup of coffee, you're probably yelling anyway.

11. The Atlantic Ocean Grows At About The Same Rate As Your Fingernails

Thanks to the Earth's tectonic activity, the North American and Eurasian Plates are moving away from each other, pulling apart the sea bed and causing the Atlantic ocean to grow by at a rate of about two centimetres per year which is, coincidentally, the same rate at which your fingernails grow.

Proof of intelligent design? Probably not.

When you might need to know this:

If you were planning a swim across the Atlantic and needed to know your distance down to the nearest centimetre. You wouldn't want to run out of energy and drown just centimetres from the shore thanks to a dodgy calculation.