318 Times as Massive as Earth
by Anton Skorucak and ScienceIQ.com
|
|
What is 318 times more massive than Earth? Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun (next in line after Earth and Mars). Jupiter is the largest planet in our Solar System. If you decided to take a Boeing 777 for a trip around Jupiter, it would take you over 21 days just to circle once around its equator and that is without the refueling stops. However, if you ride with one of Jupiter's violent wind streams, which can blow as fast as 600 kph (372 mph), your trip can be as short as 13 days (it is still quite a trip!). If you ever do take an airplane for a trip around Jupiter, make sure to aviod the Great Red Spot (lower right corner of the image). The Great Red Spot is actually a tornado so big that it could hold two Earths and which has been active for at least last 300 years! Jupiter got its name from the Roman God: Jupiter Optimus Maximus (all-good, all-powerful, the God of the Gods – Zeus is the Greek equivalent). Jupiter is mostly gas, about 90% Hydrogen and 10% Helium, with some traces of methane, ammonia, water and rock. Its core is most likely solid rock, covered with a layer of liquid metallic hydrogen. Because the pressure close to the core is so great, hydrogen becomes liquid. Not only that, its protons and electrons get ionized – they start existing individually in this liquid (as opposed to being grouped into atoms). This hydrogen 'soup' is actually a conductor – that's why it is called metallic. Jupiter has 28 known moons, most of which are named after Zeus's lovers (Ganymede, Io, Europa, etc.)
For more science facts like this one go to: ScienceIQ.com
|
Quick Poll
 |
|
|
|
 'Nothing in this world is to be feared... only understood.'
Marie Curie
(1867-1934)
|
|
| Xump.com Science Store |
Our Solar System iCD
 Take a journey of discovery with this remarkable interactive CD - loaded with videos, images and virtual reality.
$29.95 $19.95 /each
View details
Iron Filings - 12oz Bottle
 This tube contains loose iron filings ideal for experimentation with magnetic fields.
$9.99 $5.95 /each
View details
The Elegant Universe NOVA 2 DVD Set
 It's the holy grail of physics--the search for ultimate law and order in the universe.
$19.95 $18.95 /each
View details
Origins NOVA 2 DVD Set
 NOVA presents some startling new answers in Origins, a groundbreaking four-part NOVA miniseries.
$29.95 $25.95 /each
View details
The Tyrannosaur Poster
 All that you ever wanted to know about the largest meat-eating dinosaur that ever lived.
$12.99 $7.00 /each
View details
Click here to view other physics & astronomy related products from our online store.
|
|
| Book Recommendation |
 Q Is for Quantum : An Encyclopedia of Particle Physics
by John Gribbin
What's the deal with 20th-century physics? How and why did it get so complicated, so abstract, that even Einstein had trouble believing in it? Most of us need someone to come along and explain it all in words that make sense; fortunately, astrophysicist and science writer extraordinaire John Gribbin has seized that role with a flair and passion unequalled. He has outdone himself with Q Is for Quantum: An Encyclopedia of Particle Physics, 545 pages of definitions, histories, and biographical sket ...
continue
|
|
|
