Credit cards, 101
Arguably the biggest financial innovation of the past 100 years, credit cards are familiar pieces of metal or plastic that allow cardholders to borrow funds to pay for goods and services (with roughly $1T owed to credit card companies today).
Unlike debit cards, which draw money from the cardholder’s checking account, credit cards allow the cardholder to borrow a certain amount of money (called a credit line) from the card issuer (typically a bank or other financial institution) based on their creditworthiness (how credit limits are determined).
Credit cards are also the fourth-highest source of US consumer debt. Americans had roughly $1.2T in credit card debt as of Q3 2024—almost as much as they had in auto loans at the time ($1.6T), and significantly more than home equity loan debt.
... Read our full explainer on credit cards here.
Also, check out ...
> How Bank of America first built Visa, the first national credit card network. (More)
> Who actually pays for your credit card rewards? (More)
> Why there are microchips in credit cards. (More)
King of Planets
What is Jupiter?
Jupiter is the fifth-closest planet to the sun and the largest and oldest planet in the solar system. As with all planets in our solar system, Jupiter formed from what remained of the cloud of gas that collapsed into the sun and protoplanetary disk (see examples).
Named after the king of Roman gods, this gas giant is most easily recognized by its Great Red Spot—a hurricane-like storm larger than Earth that has existed for about 200 years.
Heat from Jupiter’s core moves fluid in convection cells—hot gases rise and cooler ones sink. The planet’s rotation—the fastest in the solar system—spreads these rising and sinking fluids into east-west flows that wrap around it like global jet streams. The coloring of the flows results from differences in convection cell temperature and composition, which vary across three unique cloud layers (see images).
... Read our full overview of the planet here.
Also, check out ...
> Thousands of objects, including 95 moons, orbit Jupiter. (More)
> Jupiter was twice its current size when it was first formed. (More)
> How Jupiter may have helped destroy the dinosaurs. (More)
What is Jupiter?
Jupiter is the fifth-closest planet to the sun and the largest and oldest planet in the solar system. As with all planets in our solar system, Jupiter formed from what remained of the cloud of gas that collapsed into the sun and protoplanetary disk (see examples).
Named after the king of Roman gods, this gas giant is most easily recognized by its Great Red Spot—a hurricane-like storm larger than Earth that has existed for about 200 years.
Heat from Jupiter’s core moves fluid in convection cells—hot gases rise and cooler ones sink. The planet’s rotation—the fastest in the solar system—spreads these rising and sinking fluids into east-west flows that wrap around it like global jet streams. The coloring of the flows results from differences in convection cell temperature and composition, which vary across three unique cloud layers (see images).
... Read our full overview of the planet here.
Also, check out ...
> Thousands of objects, including 95 moons, orbit Jupiter. (More)
> Jupiter was twice its current size when it was first formed. (More)
> How Jupiter may have helped destroy the dinosaurs. (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
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