Britannica's Encyclopedia Infographica (US Blad)

YOU ARE HERE!

Find out about planets, black holes, asteroids, moons, nebulae … and meet the largest star in the universe

LAND, SEA, SKY

Discover volcanoes, lightning, rocks, rivers … and the highest and deepest places on Earth Page

LIVING PLANET

Learn about trees, fungi, fossils, energy … and witness the science of our changing planet

Page 97

ANIMALS

Meet creatures that are the fastest, strongest, tiniest, oldest … and discover which are the deadliest

Page 145

HUMAN WORLD

Find out about cars, trains, robots, art, books, war … and uncover the most epic inventions in history

Page 241

Index

Page 308

Keep going to find out about humans (though personally I find penguins more interesting)

HUMAN BODY

Take a look at muscles, bones, brain cells, poop, pee … and learn how many bathtubs of snot you make in a lifetime

Page 193

Glossary

Page 288

Sources Page 296

How far away is the Moon?

As we stand on Earth, the Moon feels relatively close to us, but it is actually hundreds of thousands of miles away. If you lined up the seven other planets in our solar system in a row, they would fit in the space between Earth and the Moon. In fact, in a strange coincidence, they would fit rather neatly!

SCALE: 10,000 miles (about 16,000 km)

EARTH

VENUS

MERCURY

MARS

EARTH

Alternatively, you could fit 30 planet Earths in the space between Earth and the Moon.

JUPITER

THE MOON’S ORBIT

Perigee Minimum Moon distance

Maximum Moon distance

DISTANCE BETWEEN EARTH AND THE MOON

30x EARTH

Wind made visible!

Wind is a swirling mass of air that is created by differences in air pressure. In areas of high pressure, air is heavier, and in areas of low pressure, air is lighter (see page 35). Wind is the flow of air from high- to low-pressure areas. These movements of the wind create the waves and ripples you can see on this map. It shows a snapshot of a very windy day in September 2017 with several hurricanes. As you can see from the map, hurricanes get stronger over oceans and weaker over land.

Winds are stronger over oceans because the air can move more easily over the smooth surface of the water. On land, physical features such as mountains interrupt the flow of wind.

NORTH AMERICA

Hurricane Otis

Hurricane Norma

NAMING A STORM

Individual storms are named by the World Meteorological Organization, which keeps picking from rotating lists of names. The use of names (rather than numbers, for example) makes the storms easier to remember. It also makes it simpler for the media and weather organizations to put together clear reports about the storms and help the public to prepare for them.

Hurricane Maria. This was one of the most powerful storms of the 21st century to date. It devastated areas of the Caribbean and killed thousands of people, most of them on the U.S. island of Puerto Rico.

Hurricane José

Leaf spotting

SHAPE

The first thing to identify about a leaf is its overall shape. Here are some of the most common.

CUNEATE

Wedge-shaped, with a narrow base

DELTOID Triangular

ACICULAR Needle-shaped

ACUMINATE Ending in a long, thin point

ARISTATE With a spine-like tip

CORDATE Heart-shaped with a stem in the cleft

DIGITATE With lobes like fingers

ELLIPTIC Oval-shaped, with a small or no point

FALCATE Shaped like a hook or sickle

FLABELLATE Shaped like a fan

HASTATE Triangular with lobes at the base

LANCEOLATE Pointed at both ends

LINEAR Long, with parallel margins

LOBED Deeply indented margins

OBCORDATE Heart-shaped, stem at the point

OBOVATE Egg-shaped, narrower at the base

OBTUSE

With a blunt tip at the end

RENIFORM

Shaped like a kidney

MARGIN

ORBICULAR Round

OVATE Egg-shaped, wider at the base

PALMATE Like a hand with fingers

PEDATE Palmate, but with indented lobes

PINNATISECT Deep lobing on opposite sides

RHOMBOID Shaped like a diamond

SPATULATE Shaped like a spoon

SPEAR-SHAPED With a shape and point like a spear

SUBULATE Narrowing to a long, thin point

TRUNCATE Flattened off at the tip or base

The edge of the leaf is called the margin. A leaf’s margin can be smooth or wavy or have jagged “teeth.”

Find a leaf in your yard or a park. What type of margin does it have?

CILIATE With fine hairs

CRENATE With rounded teeth

DENTATE With symmetrical teeth

DENTICULATE With tiny teeth

DOUBLY SERRATE With different sizes of teeth

ENTIRE Smooth and even

LOBATE With large round indents

SERRATE With large teeth

SERRULATE With small teeth

SINUATE With indentions like waves

SPINY With sharp, stiff points

UNDULATE With curving waves

Just a like a snowflake, the closer you look at a leaf the more there is to notice. Here is a guide to common leaf features and how to spot them.

VEIN PATTERNS

Veins inside a plant carry water to and from its leaves in a similar way to how blood vessels carry blood around your body. Plants’ veins also provide the structure and support that give leaves their shape. The arrangement of veins inside a leaf is called venation.

ARCUATE

CROSS-VENULATE DICHOTOMOUS

LONGITUDINAL PALMATE PARALLEL

RETICULATE ROTATE PINNATE

ARRANGEMENT

In some plants and trees, leaves are formed from an arrangement of smaller leaves called leaflets.

PELTATE

With the stem attached to the middle of the leaf

ALTERNATE Leaflets arranged alternately

BIPINNATE Leaflets in pairs of rows

OPPOSITE Leaflets in adjacent pairs

PERFOLIATE With the stem seeming to pierce the leaf

ODD PINNATE Leaflets in rows, with one at the tip

EVEN PINNATE Leaflets in rows, with two at the tip

TRIFOLIATE Leaflets in threes

TRIPINNATE Groups of leaflets in threes

UNIFOLIATE A single leaf

WHORLED

Three or more leaflets arranged in rings

How long do animals sleep?

Most animals have a daily pattern of rest and activity. Some animals are more active during the day (diurnal) and some are more active during the night (nocturnal). How much time do animals spend sleeping? Well, it depends on the animal.

Giraffes sleep standing up for ten-minute stints at a time, wth their eyes barely closed. They sometimes lean against a tree or another giraffe for support

HOW TO READ IT

A full day is made of 24 hours, so the two circles in the clock represent 12 hours each. The pink portion indicates the average time each animal sleeps per day.

CHIMPANZEE 9 h, 42 min

BOTTLE-NOSED DOLPHIN 10 h, 24 min

Dolphins keep half of their brain active when they sleep so that they can continue to breathe. They also only close one eye at a time when they sleep.

HUMAN SLEEP

Humans need different amounts of sleep at different times in their lives. A new baby may sleep for as many as 16 hours a day by taking frequent naps. As children grow into adults, they usually stop taking regular naps and sleep for a single, long period each night.

Koalas eat more than 2 pounds (1 kg) of leaves every day their favorite is from the eucalyptus tree. All that eating and digesting requires a lot of energy, so they spend a vast amount of their time sleeping!

BROWN BAT 19 h, 54 min

KOALA 20 h

BABY 16 h

ADULT 8 h

How much snot do you make?

Snot may be pretty disgusting, but it’s actually a really important and useful part of your body. It is a type of mucus produced by glands in your nose. Snot traps dust and harmful bacteria and helps you smell things, too. Mucus is also made in your mouth, where it forms part of your saliva. Saliva moistens your food so that it’s easier to eat and swallow. Your stomach produces mucus, too—here, it stops acid from leaking. This is what it would look like if you poured all that gloop together in one place.

LOTS OF MUCUS

Your body produces about five cups of mucus every 24 hours.

Most of the snot your nose makes goes down your throat. Gulp.

A LIFETIME OF MUCUS

Your body produces about 209 bathtubs of mucus in your lifetime.

Your body makes mucus all the time, even while you’re asleep!

More pages from inside the book...

Thousands of facts revealed in pictures

Authors: Andrew Pettie & Conrad Quilty-Harper

Illustrator: Valentina D’Efilippo

Ages: From 10–14 years

Price: $32.00 USD | $42.99 CAD

Format: Hardcover

Extent: 336 pages

Trim size: 8.3 x 11 inches

Pub date: October 3, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-9137504-6-6

BISAC CODES:

JNF048040 / Reference / Encyclopedias

JNF051000 / Science & Nature / General

JNF016000 / Curiosities & Wonders

An awe-inspiring encyclopedia with more than 200 original infographic illustrations—the perfect book for visual learners.

This authoritative visual encyclopedia reveals astonishing information about space, Earth, animals, humans, and technology through illustrations and graphics (and not too many words!). Grasp facts at a glance as you turn every page: Discover the size of our Sun in comparison to the largest star in the universe; find out which animal could leap the human equivalent of three soccer fields; learn how many cups of snot your body makes a day; compare the sizes of the biggest beasts that have ever lived; witness what happens in a single second across the world. With stunning infographics by internationally renowned data visualizer Valentina D’Efilippo, along with beautiful color photography, as well as interviews with expert consultants for every chapter, this ravishing book from Britannica offers a groundbreaking visual way to understand and marvel at the world around us.

Selling points

• Includes more than 200 specially commissioned infographics as well as stunning color photography.

• Uses illustrations to reveal information—you’ll discover astonishing facts at a single glance.

• The ultimate STEAM book, in which science, math, and art meet to reveal powerful true stories about our amazing world.

• Every page is underpinned by data and facts researched by specialist data researchers and verified by Encyclopaedia Britannica.

• Features leading expert consultants for each chapter.

Authors

Andrew Pettie is a UK-based writer, editor, and journalist who has contributed to The Times, Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph, where he was Head of Culture. Andrew is the author of Listified! (published by Britannica Books) and the editor of the Britannica Magazine.

Conrad Quilty-Harper is a journalist at Bloomberg News in London, UK. He previously worked at New Scientist, British GQ, the Daily Mirror, and the Daily Telegraph, often using data and infographics to tell stories. He plays the trombone, likes airplanes, and his favorite type of graph is the sankey diagram.

Illustrator

Valentina D’Efilippo is an award-winning data visualizer and illustrator. She is the co-creator of The Infographic History of the World (Firefly, 2013) which has been sold in 9 languages, she presented a TedX talk on Data Design in 2021, and she leads workshops for students and professionals, including masterclasses with the Guardian about visual storytelling with data. This is her first children’s book.