I will be away for the weekend so I thought I would post a "longer" question this week, I hope you all have a great weekend and I will post a new question on Tuesday! 1. What has the distinction of being the Largest Living Organism? 2. What has the distinction of being the Oldest Living Thing? 3. What is the second hardest natural mineral known to man? 4. What is the coldest, windiest and highest continent on earth? Enjoy and have fun!
Spoiler Hey, I would have to say Pando, the quaking aspens for a proven largest organism. The longest lived organism, hands down now, is the bacterium Bacillus that was able to grow from the salt crystals formed 250 million years ago, so had survived in spore form for 250 million years. Second hardest mineral is corundum, the red color is ruby and all the other colors are sapphires. And the coldest, driest, windiest continent is Antarctica. Controversy on the highest, but if you count the snowpack and average it all in, on the average it is the highest also.
Spoiler 1. The Great Barrier Reef is considered to be the largest living organism on earth. 2. Cyanobacteria are considered to be among the first life forms on Earth. The first ones lived on sulfates and methane that was abundant in Earth's early atmosphere. Today's cyanobacteria are practically identical to the originals. They have survived every major extinction event including the Permian extinction that killed 90 percent of the species at that time. 3. Corundum is the second hardest natural mineral known to science. 4. Antarctica is the highest, driest, windiest, coldest, cleanest, most isolated and most peaceful continent on earth.
Spoiler Ques. 1: The first question could lead to an open debate as to what constitutes an organism. If the colony of fungus 'Armillaria ostoyae' is considered a single organism, then it is the largest known organism in the world by area, and rivals the aspen grove "Pando" as the known organism with the highest living biomass. It is not known, however, whether it is a single organism with all parts of the mycelium connected. I have never been to Oregon or Utah to measure either Debate anyone? Ques. 2: With the unassuming name of 'strain 2-9-3' a 250 million year old bacteria in ancient sea salt under Carlsbad , NM (old stomping ground) was found to be in 'suspended animation' incased in a hard shell spore. Bacillus pertains shared existence in the same timeframe as permian creatures named Gorgonopsid. Ques. 3: Pushing diamond to the, 'the used to be' status, is the rare but 58% harder natural mineral lonsdaleite. Coming in second place at 18 % harder than diamond is wurtzite boron nitride. It is a tough world out there and it's getting tougher. Ques. 4: The coldest, windiest and driest continent on earth is country code 672. Well, I couldn't just say Antarctica but I might take issue with the highest. The Tibetan plateau is on average 16,400 ft above sea level and contains many of the mountains higher than 8000 meters. Created by the collision of the Indian sub-continent with Asia 14 mountains over 8000 meters are the result. Earth plate tectonics at work. Jerry
1. Popularly known as the honey mushroom, the Armillaria ostoyae started from a single spore too small to see without a microscope and has been weaving its black shoestring filaments through the forest for an estimated 2,400 years, killing trees as it grows. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=120049&page=1 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVxDuOGfxQ0 3. The Ruby/Sapphire is the 2nd hardest natural mineral known to man 4. The Antartic
