I Totally Forgot About These 22 Fun Facts Even Though I Learned Them In Elementary School

Don't get too attached to your eyelashes.

Even if you don't remember, we learned a lot in our days in elementary school. When people reminisce about grades K-5, they often retell stories about happenings throughout the school day. What we learned from those years is rarely discussed because it seems so basic now as adults.

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For this post, I spent a lot of time studying elementary school packets, quizzes, fun fact pages, study guides, and other materials for elementary-grade students that unlocked some wild information I had totally forgotten about.

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So, I gathered a list of some amazing facts related to history, the human anatomy, space, etc., that are still pretty mind-boggling as an adult. Here's what I wanted to share with the rest of the class:

(If you do remember this stuff, good on you!)

1. The two countries with the largest populations in the world border each other.

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Although China edges out India in population, both have around 1.4 billion people in their respective countries. These two neighboring lands combine for about 2.8 billion people in the world. For reference, the population of the United States is about 332 million. This means about 36 PERCENT of the world's population can be found in a single area.

2. A million Earths could fit into the sun.

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This one we learned early on in elementary school, but I never really thought about it as an adult. We take the word "million" for granted. The circumference of the earth is about 25,000 miles.

I can feel my multiplication skills stressed by all the zeros.

3. Only humans have chins.

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I remember hearing this and thinking it was a farce, but not even primates have chins! Everyone brags about their opposable thumbs, but we must start gloating about our chins.

4. A human nose is capable of detecting a trillion different smells.

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If I was on a game of Family Feud, I would buckle under the pressure and not be able to name a single smell. A TRILLION? Hats off to our little sniffers.

5. Venus is the only planet that spins clockwise.

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The second planet from the sun is the only one that rotates clockwise, but Uranus is also the only one that spins on its side. I remember that one from Blue Clues. Thanks, Steve.

6. Neptune's days are 16 hours long.

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Neptune's faster rotation results in shorter days.

Imagine how much it would suck to have an eight-hour workday and then go right to sleep. No thanks.

7. Human fingernails grow FOUR TIMES as fast as human toenails.

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Cells are constantly being produced in fingernails, resulting in their speedy growth. They produce slower in toenails. I blame the pinky toe but have no science to back that up.

8. Abraham Lincoln was a pro wrestler.

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That's right. Before being elected as the 16th president of the United States, Honest Abe participated in underground wrestling for over a decade in his youth. He was even recognized by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1992.

But could he take on John Cena in a steel cage match? We'll never know.

9. The number four is the only number (in English) with the same amount of letters.

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F-O-U-R. Four letters for four. Four for four. My brain hurts.

I definitely recall an elementary school teacher sharing this and making us prove them wrong. This is the epitome of a useless fun fact.

10. Anchorage is NOT the capital of Alaska.

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This has to be the most mistaken American capital, right? Alaska's legitimate capital is Juneau, which is named after the gold prospector of the same name (Joe Juneau).

Sorry, Alaskans, but I always get this one wrong and relearn it, like, every five years.

11. The United States and Canada share the longest border in the world.

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The border stretches 5,525 miles. I never really think about it, but it is wild how much ground the border covers. I would have guessed Russia shared a long border with some other country, but it takes two to tango.

12. Chlorophyll turns sunlight into food for plants.

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It is also what causes the green pigment in plants. In general, learning about plants was a snooze-fest for me in the lower grades, but the more I relearn, the more I appreciate botany.

It's such a basic fact, too, and I forgot!

13. Sharks are boneless.

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Their bodies are made up of a cartilaginous skeleton, which is lighter than bone. That's why you never see a shark skeleton in museums and only ever see the jaws and teeth.

14. More than an estimated one-third of Europe's population was wiped out thanks to rats* (but, maybe humans).

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Obviously, I remember learning about the Black Death, but I never fully comprehended that it wiped out one-third of Europe's population.

If that were to happen today, where it wiped out a third of Europe's population, it would kill 249 million people.

15. The Gulf of Mexico is the largest gulf in the world.

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It's about 600,000 square miles, which means it's more than twice the size of Texas.

It also touches five different US states.

16. There are only three basic types of rock.

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I don't know why this one shocked me so much. There are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. So, that's 5,000 known materials that can be separated into three groups.

Please correct me if I'm wrong in the comments, my knowledge of the subject is a bit...rocky.

17. Algebra dates back to the 9th century.

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As a child, it stunned me how old math was and how it had a rich history. Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, a Persian mathematician, found a way to dissect math problems by incorporating letters with numbers.

Numbers and letters...what could go wrong? *punches the air as a once struggling math student*

18. Submarines are "boats," not "ships."

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So, if they see a sub on the radar, they can't say there's an incoming ship!?

Now, I need to rewatch every action movie with a submarine in it.

19. A human eyelash doesn't stay attached longer than a year.

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The average lifespan of an eyelash is three to five months. As someone with a pretty thick beard, it's hard to believe there is no thicker individual hair on the human body than the eyelash.

20. Shrimps' hearts are in their heads.

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It's believed to be an evolutionary advantage having the heart located in the head for better safety. In fact, the brain, stomach (which extends throughout its body), and heart are all located in its head.

21. We can create any color by mixing two different colors.

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This one feels a little cheap because it all depends on what colors you have available. In reality, two primary colors make secondary colors.

22. For six-sided dice, opposite faces always have a sum of seven.

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I forgot about this little trick back when we used dice for counting:

1+6=7

2+5=7

3+4=7

Am I the only one who forgot about learning these facts? Did it trigger your own fun fact that you had forgotten? Comment below!