2000-11-22
The highest temperature in the shade ever recorded was 58�C at Al�Aziziyah
in the Sahara Desert, Libya, on 1922-09-13.
The highest speed at which expelled particles of a sneeze have ever been
measured to travel is 167 km/h.
Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco) set the record for the fastest men's 1500 m on
1998-07-14 in Rome, Italy, with a time of 3 min 26 s. He also holds the
record for the mile and 2000 m.
The largest cookie ever made was a giant chocolate chip snack with a
diameter of 24.9 m, and an area of 487.15 m�, made by Cookie Time,
Christchurch, New Zealand, on 1996-04-02.
Food technologists, in conjunction with Southpower and the fire department,
worked for six months on the colossal cookie project. The ingredients of the
12.9-tonne-snack included 4.5 tonnes of flour, 2 tonnes of butter, 24,000
eggs, 2.5 tonnes of chocolate, and enough sugar for 600,000 cups (150 kL)of
tea. This cookie was more than twice the size of the previous record. It was
baked for 2.5 hours in a specially built gas oven 28 m in diameter, situated
in a field behind the Cookie Time factory. The baked cookie was chopped into
47,000 pieces, using pizza cutters. The pieces were sold to raise money for
Christchurch schools.
The largest pizza ever baked measured 37.4 m in diameter. It was made at
Norwood Hypermarket, Norwood, South Africa, on 1990-12-08.
The Norwood pizza�s diameter was 3.5 m larger than the previous world record
set by Pizza Hut, Singapore, in June 1990, which stood at 33.9 m. Norwood
Hypermarket management, staff, suppliers, companies, and organizations were
all involved in creating the world�s largest pizza. The ingredients were
4500 kg flour, 90 kg salt, 90 kg yeast, 2925 liters water, 1800 kg cheese,
900 kg tomato puree, 900 kg chopped tomatoes, 800 kg mushrooms, 9 kg mixed
herbs, 180 kg margarine. Preparation and cooking took about 39 hours. Once
cooked, the pizza was cut by the Mayor of Johannesburg, and slices were sold
to the public to raise funds for charity. The main beneficiary of the
proceeds was St. Marks College in Lebowa.
The largest-ever electrical current was achieved by scientists at Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, Tennessee, USA, in April 1996. They sent a current of
20 GA/m� down a superconducting wire.
Note: FFU edited out and incorrect SI usage corrected.
John
