SortStack #897 — 2028-11-22

By speed · Order from slowest to fastest.

1. The growth of a cave stalactite 0.1 mm/year

   Most stalactites lengthen by less than a tenth of a millimetre a year, dripping mineral by mineral over millennia.

2. A migrating monarch butterfly 8 km/h

   Monarchs migrate thousands of kilometres to the same forests their great-grandparents left, guided by instinct alone.

3. A gray squirrel 19.5 km/h

   Squirrels plant thousands of trees by accident, forgetting where they buried many of the nuts they hid.

4. An ice hockey slapshot 178 km/h

   A slapshot flexes the stick like a spring, snapping stored energy into the puck for a brutal release.

5. The core of a jet stream 442 km/h

   Pilots ride these high-altitude winds to save fuel, which is why eastbound flights are often much quicker.

6. A Boeing 747 cruising 920 km/h

   The 747's hump exists because the cockpit was put on an upper deck so the nose could hinge open for cargo.

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