50 Amazing Science Facts Every Kid Should Know

Kids love facts. Especially the kind that make you say "no way!" out loud. We put together 50 of our favorite science facts that are perfect for sharing at the dinner table, on a car ride, or any time a kid (or adult) wants their mind blown.

Space and the universe

1. The Sun is so big that about 1.3 million Earths could fit inside it.
2. A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus. It takes longer to spin once on its axis than to go around the Sun.
3. There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth.
4. If you could fly a plane to Pluto, it would take over 800 years to get there.
5. Neutron stars are so dense that a teaspoon of one would weigh about 6 billion tons.
6. Space is completely silent because there's no air for sound to travel through.
7. The footprints on the Moon will probably stay there for 100 million years because there's no wind or rain to wash them away.
8. Saturn's density is low enough that it would float if you put it in a giant bathtub.
9. A year on Mercury is only 88 Earth days long.
10. The largest volcano in our solar system is on Mars. It's called Olympus Mons and it's about three times taller than Mount Everest.

Want to learn more about space? Explore our Space and Astronomy section.

Animals

11. Octopuses have three hearts and blue blood.
12. A group of flamingos is called a "flamboyance."
13. Dolphins sleep with one eye open because only half their brain sleeps at a time.
14. Honeybees can recognize human faces.
15. A snail can sleep for up to three years.
16. The heart of a blue whale is so big that a small child could crawl through its arteries.
17. Butterflies taste with their feet.
18. Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
19. A woodpecker can peck up to 20 times per second.
20. Sea otters hold hands while sleeping so they don't drift apart.

Discover more about the animal kingdom in our Animals and Nature category.

The human body

21. Your body has about 37 trillion cells. That's 37 followed by 12 zeros.
22. Your nose can remember about 50,000 different scents.
23. If you uncoiled all the DNA in your body and laid it end to end, it would stretch to Pluto and back.
24. You produce about one liter of saliva every single day.
25. Your brain uses about 20% of your body's energy, even though it's only about 2% of your weight.
26. Babies have about 300 bones, but adults only have 206. Some bones fuse together as you grow.
27. Your body creates and destroys about 3.8 million cells every second.
28. The average person walks about 100,000 miles in their lifetime. That's enough to walk around the Earth four times.
29. Your stomach gets a completely new lining every three to four days. If it didn't, it would digest itself.
30. Goosebumps are a leftover reflex from when our ancestors had much more body hair. The raised hairs would make them look bigger to scare off predators.

Explore more about our amazing bodies in the Human Body section.

Earth and nature

31. Lightning strikes the Earth about 8 million times a day.
32. The Amazon rainforest produces about 20% of the world's oxygen.
33. The deepest part of the ocean (the Mariana Trench) is deeper than Mount Everest is tall.
34. Raindrops aren't actually teardrop-shaped. They're more like tiny hamburger buns.
35. A single tree can absorb about 22 kilograms (48 pounds) of carbon dioxide per year.
36. The Earth's core is about as hot as the surface of the Sun.
37. About 71% of the Earth's surface is covered in water, but only about 3% of that water is fresh.
38. Earthquakes on the Moon are called "moonquakes." They can last for up to half an hour.
39. The Sahara Desert sometimes gets snow. It's rare, but it has happened several times.
40. Honey never spoils. Archaeologists have found 3,000-year-old honey in Egyptian tombs that was still edible.

Learn more in our Environment and Earth section.

Chemistry and physics

41. Water is the only natural substance that can exist in all three states (solid, liquid, gas) at normal Earth temperatures.
42. If you removed all the empty space from atoms, the entire human race would fit in the volume of a sugar cube.
43. Hot water can freeze faster than cold water in some conditions. This is called the Mpemba effect.
44. A bolt of lightning is five times hotter than the surface of the Sun.
45. Glass is technically not a solid or a liquid. It's an "amorphous solid," meaning its molecules aren't arranged in a regular pattern.
46. The only letter that doesn't appear on the periodic table is J.
47. Bananas are slightly radioactive because they contain potassium-40. Don't worry though, you'd have to eat about 10 million bananas at once for it to be dangerous.
48. Sound travels about four times faster through water than through air.
49. If you fold a piece of paper in half 42 times, it would reach the Moon.
50. The Sun's light takes about 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach Earth.

Explore more in our Science and Technology category.

Share the wonder

Science is full of facts that sound made up but are completely true. That's what makes it so fun, especially for kids. If any of these facts made your child's eyes go wide, there's plenty more to discover. Search for any topic on Small Whale and keep the curiosity going.