Some Recent Obscure World Record for Your Thanksgiving Amusement

Since I’m a chemist I read lots of science stories. And a story about an obscure world record a couple of chemists set, reminded me of a few other interesting records I’ve read and been meaning to pass along. Here they are.

Chemists set chemical bond world record

Chemists from the University of Delaware set a new world record for the shortest chemical bond between two metals. Specifically, they used two atoms of chromium and made a bond that was one billionth the thickness of a human hair. They don’t think the new chemical will be of much practical use but it is a world record so that’s something. This finding topped the old world record set nearly 30 years ago by scientists at Texas A&M University.

Man breaks rock skipping record

Here’s a story of a guy who broke the record for skipping a stone on water an incredible 51 times. Russel “Rock Bottom” Byars easily beat the old record of 40 skips with his first throw on the Allegheny River in Franklin. Guinness officials verified the record by analyzing film of the feat. Amazing.  I think the best I could do is 11.

Upside down juggling record set

Of course, I couldn’t list obscure records here without including a new juggling one. (No new joggling ones that I know of) 17-year-old Erik Kloeker broke the world record for juggling 3 balls while hanging upside down. He beat the old record of 55.9 seconds, set in 2005, by juggling for 4 minutes, 5 seconds. Now there’s a record I think someone could beat. Once you get the juggling pattern down, it seems like you could go a lot longer. If only I had a set of gravity boots.

If you know of any other recent, odd records pass them along. I like to collect these kinds of stories.