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51 Examples of Facts

John Spacey, updated on April 12, 2024

A fact is information that can be reasonably asserted as true and certain. This includes well accepted scientific theories, bodies of knowledge and information that is backed by evidence and open review. The following are illustrative examples of facts.

About 71 percent of the Earth's surface is water-covered.	Bamboo is a grass.
Bats are mammals.	Canada has 563 lakes larger than 100 square kilometres or 38.6 square miles.
Color is a type of human and animal perception.	Color perception is influenced by culture.
Diamonds are the hardest known naturally occurring substance.	Diamonds aren't particularly tough and can be crushed with a hammer.
France is a country.	French is the predominant language in France.
Glass can be made from sand.	Gold is a metal.
Gold is more than twice as heavy as iron for equal volume.	Humans are known to dance.
Humans can think using language.	Humans can think using pictures.
Humans invent concepts such as freedom.	Humans perceive the universe or some simulation of it.
Humans require oxygen to survive.	In a 1980 interview John Lennon admitted that none of The Beatles could write or read conventional music notation.
Japan has more than 6800 islands.	Leonardo da Vinci sketched a machine that resembled a helicopter by 1489.
Mandarin and Spanish both have more native speakers than English.	Many ideas historically considered fact are now discredited.
Music is a type of culture.	One of the defining characteristics of metals is that they are lustrous or shiny when polished.
Paper is generally made from wood pulp.	Paris is a city.
People have experienced something known as love.	People need to eat.
Politics is a means to determine what to do as a society, community or group.	Rubies and sapphires are different colors of the mineral corundum.
Smartphones are computers.	Some people like cake.
Sunlight is white in space.	The Earth is an irregularly shaped ellipsoid.
The Earth is the third planet from the sun.	The dog was domesticated from wolves.
The spectrum of color cyan-blue is viewed as one concept in America such that cyan is commonly viewed as a variant of blue.	The spectrum of color green-cyan-blue was historically one concept in Japan such that green and blue were viewed as variants of the same color known as 青い or aoi.
The tallest trees are over 100 meters or 330 feet high.	There are 60 seconds in a minute.
There are 8-bits in a byte.	There are aspects of the universe, such as short wavelengths of ultraviolet light that human's can't directly perceive.
There are more non-native speakers of English than native speakers.	Time doesn't appear to be reversible and travels in one direction from past to future.
Tomatoes are fruits.	WWII began on September 1, 1939.
WWII ended on September 2, 1945.	Wood comes from trees.
You exist.

Facts need not be precise. In this case they can be qualified with words such as approximately.

Facts can include things that are sometimes true but not always true. For example, some people like cats.

Facts can include grey areas. For example, jumping off a cliff is generally more dangerous than sitting on a couch. This would obviously depend on the cliff and the couch.

A single study or experiment isn't typically enough to establish a fact. Ideally, results are reproduced by multiple studies and these are all peer reviewed.

Facts can change. For example, Japan was once the world's second largest economy but is currently 3rd.

Facts are always open to challenge. This is a foundation of the scientific method whereby nothing is above challenge and constant validation.

Facts can include reasonable definitions. For example, ice is frozen water. Alternative definitions certainly exist but nonetheless this definition is true.

Facts can include things that are socially constructed. For example, a law is socially constructed but exists nonetheless.

Rephrasing information can make a difference to whether is it factual or not. For example, "freedom is important" is an opinion and not a fact. However, if you say something like "freedom is a traditional American value" this is more of a fact.

People rely on authority and reputation to determine if something is factual. For example, a paper from a top university may be viewed as more authoritative than a paper from an unknown source.

Sources often reference each other such that multiple sources can be based on the same flawed information. As such, establishing and validating facts can be quite complex.

Information about the future isn't typically a fact as the future is unknown. For example, "if we do this, the result will be this" is not a fact if you are talking about a complex system such as a society that is influenced by many factors. Simple predictions can be quite certain such that they resemble facts. For example, "when I drop this glass from a height of 200 feet onto a concrete road, it will break."