Children (and adults) ask questions all the time, usually when you're busy concentrating on something else, like driving, Questions would arise in our household so often that we decided to hang a little notebook on the living room door for spur of the moment questions that needed answers. Unfortunately, I haven't kept a note of all the adhoc queries that come up during our first year at home (there are just too many), but I thought I'd keep a note of some that we feel make good reading.
Q. What is quicksand and does it kill you?
A. Quicksand is solid ground that has become oversaturated with water and becomes "quick" because it shifts around. If you happen to find yourself in quicksand panicking is the worse thing you can do. Your body weight will automatically ensure your body sinks into the sand and moving around will make this happen even more. By staying still, in most cases, you should eventually begin to float back to the surface, so the chances are you won't die in quicksand (unless you've fallen in head first and are unable to get your head back up to the surface in time).
Q. What happens to bones when they've been soaked in vinegar?
A. Best to use a chicken bones for this experiment, rather than a human one for obvious reasons! Place the clean chicken bone inside a jar and cover the bone with vinegar. Leave this for about a week, periodically replacing the vinegar with fresh. You will notice after this length of time that the bone has become soft and bendy. This is due to the acid in the vinegar breaking down the calcium in the bones.
Q. Can a snail move faster than the London Eye?
A. This was a tough one and we're still not sure if we've found the correct answer, especially with regard to the snail! The internet helped us with this. Snails, according to this website move at the fast pace of 0.03mph (0.013 m/s). The London Eye, according to this website, who's wheel is a whopping 135m in diametre, moves at a pace of 0.2 - 0.4 m/s at it's inner circle. There you have it, the London Eye is faster than a snail!
Excellent websites for awkward questions:-
http://www.suzy.co.nz/suzysworld/FactSheetIndex.asp (fun ideas on this site - good for children)
http://www.howstuffworks.com/ (very comprehensive and good for older children)
Create a free website at Webs.com