SortStack #2226 — 2032-07-13

By weight · Order from lightest to heaviest.

1. A western honeybee worker 100 mg

   To make one jar of honey, a hive's bees collectively fly a distance equal to about three orbits of the Earth.

2. A regulation NBA basketball 620 g

   Each ball is covered in tens of thousands of tiny pebbled bumps, a texture invented so sweaty hands could keep their grip.

3. A giant Pacific octopus 30 kg

   It can squeeze its entire body through any gap larger than its beak — the only hard part it owns.

4. A Space Shuttle orbiter, empty on the runway 78 t

   Returning from orbit, the shuttle was a glider with no engines for a second try — every landing had to work the first time.

5. A Boeing 777-300ER airliner at maximum takeoff weight 351.5 t

   Each of its GE90 engines is so wide that a Boeing 737 fuselage could very nearly fit inside the cowling.

6. The steel arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge 39K t

   The arch rises and falls up to 18 cm with temperature swings; locals affectionately call the bridge 'the Coathanger'.

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