Interesting Facts About Microbes
September 24, 2009 | In: Medical facts
Microbes first appeared on earth about 3.5 billion years ago.
Microbes, by weight, represent 60 percent of the biomass of all life on Earth!
A single gram of soil can contain more than a billion microbes!
1,000: number of microbial species that normally live on the surface of our skin.
0.000004: diameter in inches of the smallest bacteria.
Until birth, the digestive tract is sterile by 48 hours. After birth, microbial colonization is
quantitatively similar to that of the adult.
Pathogen microbes are of three types: viruses, bacteria and protozoans.
There are bacteria that produce sulfuric acid!
These unusual bacteria were discovered in a cave in southern Mexico. Their colonies are slimy white masses that ooze from the ceiling and walls of the cave. It was not until recently that they were even recognized to be living organisms.
These bacteria thrive in total darkness. They get their energy from a chemical reaction in which sulfur is oxidized, resulting in sulfuric acid as strong as battery acid.
The hottest life forms are bacteria that live at 169 degrees Centigrade, much hotter than water’s boiling point at sea level! Since they live in deep rock cracks at very high pressure, the water they live in does not actually boil.