# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674 "2020-04-13T03:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 391
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7811 "2023-10-19T23:19:04Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Gold is also very malleable; a little bit goes a long way. Gold platings tend to be _very_ thin. The gold is so thin that the cost of the gold in the plating process is often negligible compared to the other costs in the process. The Apollo astronauts had helmet visors tinted with gold. Gold was chosen for this purpose because it was the cheapest option, because it could be put on so thin. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7812 "2023-10-20T00:20:52Z")
That sounds like slightly larger than the main trading floor chamber of the NYSE. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7813 "2023-10-20T02:20:34Z")
No, not at all, but I think I have the 70 feet covered for the depth and height. I’m probably only 1/3 of the way there with the width. So, after review, it can all fit in my house combined with my neighbor’s house, if you use the space in between. But still… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7814 "2023-10-20T02:36:48Z")
70 feet is EXTREMELY tall for a residential house. Remember, a story is around 10 feet. It’s also pretty large for a width or depth, but those are at least within the realm of plausibility. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7815 "2023-10-20T11:10:42Z")
Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa has been deemed the “ultimate matchmaker” since 20 couples have married after meeting in his office as staff over the years. I’d file this one under “interesting because it’s a weird thing to report”. > **[Chuck Grassley crowned 'matchmaker' after 20 staff marriages](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67136900)** > > The astonishing number of weddings involving Chuck Grassley's aides sparked much joking from Washington singles. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7816 "2023-10-20T13:12:22Z")
Amazingly, some scientists made gold foil that is only [two atoms thick](https://www.sci.news/physics/worlds-thinnest-gold-07482.html). ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7817 "2023-10-20T13:51:26Z")
[**Guinness World Records Crowns a New Hottest Pepper That’s Three Times Spicier Than the Last**](https://people.com/guinness-world-records-crowns-a-new-hottest-pepper-pepper-x-8364180) Pepper X is THREE TIMES HOTTER than the Carolina Reaper. 😳 In comparison, a Habanero is “only” 100,000 scoville units. **“We have independently verified the Scoville heat units of Pepper X,” Glass explained. “We have confirmed an average rate of 2,693,000 Scoville heat units (SHU). That’s a new Guinness World Records’ title for the hottest pepper.”** Humans scare me, they really do. Pepper X is like a nuke, you can never use it unless you want to kill someone. LOL ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7818 "2023-10-20T14:25:19Z")
Pepper X must be the chili pepper equivalent of sinsemilla, literally frosted with crystals of its active ingredient- in this case capsaicin. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7819 "2023-10-20T14:39:04Z")
We’ve been discussing Pepper X over here: [Pepper X is three times hotter than Carolina Reaper. Would you eat one?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pepper-x-is-three-times-hotter-than-carolina-reaper-would-you-eat-one/991712) ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7820 "2023-10-20T16:35:46Z")
A painting that was stolen by an American soldier during WWII was finally returned to a German museum. Working at an art recovery business sounds very interesting. > **[300-year-old painting stolen by an American soldier during WWII returned to...](https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/300-year-painting-stolen-american-soldier-world-war-104159682)** > > After going missing nearly 80 years ago, a baroque landscape painting was returned to Germany on Thursday ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7821 "2023-10-20T18:00:56Z")
That doesn’t look like it would fit in a duffle bag ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7822 "2023-10-20T18:14:25Z")
There is a sort of “Pythagorean formula” for isosceles trapezoids (trapezoids in which the two non-parallel sides are of equal length). If **a** and **b** are the two parallel sides, and **c** is the length of the two non-parallel sides, then the length of the diagonals **d** (which are both of equal length) is related to the lengths of the sides by **d^2 = ab + c^2** You can prove this in a couple of different ways. It doesn’t work for any other sort of trapezoid. It works for rectangles, of course, for which **a = b** , and is a special case of the isosceles trapezoid. Furthermore, there are “Isosceles Trapezoid Quadruplets”, analogous to “Pythagorean Triplets” , in which all four sides and the diagonal are of integral length, and you can construct formulas for them. As with the Pythagorean Triplets, there is an infinite number of unique sets in which the long parallel side **a** differs in lengths from the diagonal by one. A few examples a b c d 25 16 21 29 9 4 8 10 16 4 15 17 25 4 24 26 ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2023, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7823 "2023-10-21T20:17:46Z")
A Perry Mason fact: in “The Case of the Skeleton’s Closet” the judge is an African-American man. He was a real judge, too, and a roommate of Thurgood Marshall. There are a few other interesting Mason facts here too. [https://reelrundown.com/tv/Perry-Mason-The-Case-of-the-Silent-Black-Judge-and-More](https://reelrundown.com/tv/Perry-Mason-The-Case-of-the-Silent-Black-Judge-and-More) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7824 "2023-10-22T14:56:17Z")
[Juno](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(spacecraft)) made Jupiter look like a van Gogh painting. [![](https://www.clarksvilleonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/NASAs-Juno-Spacecraft-discovers-new-Cyclone-on-Jupiter-3.jpg) ](https://www.clarksvilleonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/NASAs-Juno-Spacecraft-discovers-new-Cyclone-on-Jupiter-3.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7825 "2023-10-22T15:08:50Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Pepper X must be the chili pepper equivalent of sinsemilla, literally frosted with crystals of its active ingredient- in this case capsaicin. Pepper X would not make for suitable Bong hits, however, I’d wager. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7826 "2023-10-22T17:47:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The Apollo astronauts had helmet visors tinted with gold. Gold was chosen for this purpose because it was the cheapest option, because it could be put on so thin. a stonemason (who use gold for the lettering on gravestones) friend of ours once mentioned that you can get gold so thin, it is only 100 atoms thick. Google mentions 500 atoms of thickness (and gold being hammered thin) … our stonemason friend mentioned that after hammering it, you can get it even thinner by slapping it with leather belts … so, in short 100-500 layers of atoms thick - that is ballpark 1000 times thinner than a human hair. and - it becomes so thin, that the material cost of gold become inmaterial … 😉 edit: with layman’s tools ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7827 "2023-10-22T19:20:28Z")
So does gold become transparent to the human eye when it becomes extremely thin? For example, if someone coated a piece of glass with a layer of gold that was 10 atoms thick, would I be able to see it? ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7828 "2023-10-22T19:56:27Z")
whilst I do not have any first hand experience, I’d venture the guest that **most definitely YES** … see the Astronaut’s visor application case 😉 _(cue in a Gary Larson cartoon on things to check BEFORE the next moon-landing, as we still havent been able to bring back our astronauts, who are aimlessly (but awkwardly) puttering around the moon surface)_ ETA: (AUDIO STREAM) Neil, slightly left … yes … warm … warmer … very warm, now a smidge to the right … and an 8 mile straight walk … NO!!! you missed the lander again … careful now - Buzz is coming from the right - try not to bump him again!! ---
**Author:** ![merrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@merrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrick)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7829 "2023-10-22T20:30:35Z")
Very much so - [This review of the optical properties of gold](https://files.core.ac.uk/pdf/2612/81545151.pdf) mentions gold films 20nm thick (100-150 atoms) being used as coatings on office windows. Apparently they’re good at blocking IR while letting the visible light in. I think the really thin optical gold films have to be vapour-deposited, though. Some very quick Googling and calculations suggest that gold can only be mechanically beaten down to ~250nm thickness, so you probably can’t beat it thin enough to see through. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7830 "2023-10-23T12:39:27Z")
2500 ounces of gold are contained in the 14,000 windows of Toronto’s Royal Bank Plaza. [Gold coloured windows of Royal Bank Plaza and office towers in the Financial District, Toronto, Stock Photo, Picture And Rights Managed Image. Pic. ACX-ACP100557 | agefotostock](https://www.agefotostock.com/age/en/details-photo/gold-coloured-windows-of-royal-bank-plaza-and-office-towers-in-the-financial-district-toronto-ontario-canada/ACX-acp100557) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=390) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=392)