39 Exquisitely Extreme Things on Our Planet Earth

Russians tried to dig a hole through to the Earth’s crust in the 1970s. They reached 40,318 feet deep before they stopped. For two decades it was also the world's longest borehole in terms of measured depth. They stopped due to higher-than-expected temperatures of 356 degree Fahrenheit making the project infeasible.

2. The longest marriage on record ended in 2016 when Karam Chand died in England. He and his wife had been married for 90 years.

3. The anechoic chambers are the quietest places on Earth and have background noises measured in negative decibels. After a few minutes in chambers, you can hear your heartbeat and blood circulating in your ears and could experience troubles with orienting or even standing.

4. Tsar Bomba (most powerful explosive ever detonated by mankind; 4000 times Hiroshima; 59 miles high mushroom cloud, which is 10 times the height of Mount Everest) was dropped with a parachute so that the release plane could fly 28 miles away, giving the crew a 50% chance of survival.

5. The loudest plane ever built was the XF-84H Thunderstreak. At idle power, the propeller would create continuous sonic booms that emitted visible shock waves. Anyone nearby, regardless of ear protection, suffered severe nausea, headaches, and it even caused one man to have a seizure.

The world's largest book was lost by the city of Cleveland. It was called The Golden Book of Cleveland and it was as large as a mattress. It was misplaced in 1936.

7. The deadliest animal on earth is the mosquito. They have more deaths attached to them every year than any other animal in the world.

8. Lake Superior has an island which has a lake which has an island which has a pond which has a boulder, which, when the pond floods, becomes the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake in the world.

9. The longest-lived domestic cat was named Creme Puff. She lived from August 3, 1967, to August 6, 2005, a span of 38 years and 3 days. This is well over double the normal life span for domestic cats, which is typically around 12-14 years for males and 13-15 years for females.

10. The 'loneliest organism' in the world is a single, lone cycad tree. The once dominant tree during the dinosaur era was discovered in Africa in 1895. Researchers have yet to find a mate to pollinate it.

The world's longest burning light bulb (Centennial bulb) was installed in 1901 and has been glowing for over 110 years straight. It has a carbon filament that is eight times thicker than the ones used in a contemporary bulb.

12. The hottest curry on earth is a British curry made in Grantham, Lincolnshire. It is known as 'The Widower' because it is so hot it can make you hallucinate.

13. Etruscan Gold Book dating to about 660 B.C. is the oldest surviving book in the world. It is made of gold and was found by someone digging trench for a canal only 70 years ago in Bulgaria.

14. The Oh-My-God particle was a proton that was found to be traveling at about 99.99999999999999999999951% the speed of light. It is the fastest moving object ever recorded and as it hit the atmosphere it carried the kinetic energy equivalent to a baseball traveling at 50MPH, all in one particle.

15. The lowest sound ever recorded by humans is 57 octaves below middle-C and it is from a black hole in the Perseus Cluster.

The longest work of fiction ever written is three million words long and six times longer than War and Peace, as of July 2013. It is a Super Smash Bros. Brawl fanfiction.

17. The world's hottest vodka named Naga Chilli Vodka at 250,000 Scoville is so hot the manufacturers put a lead seal on the bottle that has to be cut with a wire cutter; and they insist on their website you don't buy it.

18. Shizo Kanakuri has the record for the slowest time in the men's Olympic marathon: 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes, and 20.3 seconds. He disappeared in the middle of the race in 1912 and was given a chance to finish his marathon in 1967. He said, “Along the way, I got married, had 6 children and 10 grandchildren.”

19. The driest polar place on earth is McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica where it hasn't rained for 2 million years. Only anaerobic bacteria are able to survive in this extreme condition. Scientists also consider the area terrestrially closest to Mars on earth.

20. The biggest cashew tree (Cashew of Pirangi) in the world covers an area of about 80,000 square feet and produces over 60,000 fruits each year. The tree gets its size from two genetic issues, which allow branches to grow outwards instead of upwards, taking new roots when touching the ground.

Mount Chimborazo of Ecuador is the highest point on Earth, 1.5 miles/2.4 kilometers above Mount Everest. The Earth is an 'oblate spheroid' shape, so the equator bulges out. The mountain sits on top of this bulge so it is the closest point to the moon and outer space.

22. Sea Otters have the densest hair in the world, with up to 140,000/cm² hairs. Humans have about 300/cm² on their head.

23. The longest photographic exposure in history went for 3 years straight. That means the shutter was open and capturing light for 3 years straight without the photo becoming overexposed.

24. The world's narrowest street, Spreuerhofstraße in Germany, ranges from 12 inches at its narrowest to 20 inches at its widest.

25. The longest mathematical proof is 15000 pages long, involved more than 100 mathematicians, and took 30 years just to complete it.