It was shown by 24 children... Answers to children's unexpected scientific questions

Out of curiosity and a love of knowledge, children present questions that mothers and fathers sometimes find difficult to adequately answer.

In his report, which was published by the French newspaper "leparisien", Gael Lombar provided answers to questions asked by 24 children between the ages of 3 and 10.

The Disappearance of Dinosaurs Frequently Asked Questions for Kids (Shutterstock)

Nawalin (5 years): Why did the dinosaurs disappear?

These animals lived on Earth for about 180 million years, but they became extinct;

So we don't see any of it anymore.

It is believed that the dinosaurs disappeared after a few thousand years after an asteroid fell from the sky to Earth, which resulted in the rise of a cloud of dust in the Earth's atmosphere that blocked the sunlight and affected the Earth's atmosphere, which affected the growth of plants and reduced the food available to animals.

For this reason, many animals became extinct, including dinosaurs, as their number dwindled until they disappeared.

Maha (6 years): Did the tyrannosaurus have feathers and was it considered an ancestor of the chicken?

A few years ago they claimed that many dinosaurs of the tyrannosaurus family had feathers.

But researchers concluded in a recent study that tyrannosaurus did not have feathers, unlike its carnivorous "cousins".

It may have feathers on at least parts of its body, but it cannot be said that the chicken was a descendant of Tyrannosaurus.

Some research revealed that this dinosaur was more like a chicken and an ostrich than an alligator (similar to lizards, but larger), which is a reptile.

The question about the origin of language and first words is part of the children's questions (Pixabe)

Paul (10) and Vasco (8): How did the first words come about?

The author states that researchers still raise many questions on this topic.

According to linguists, language probably originated 500,000 years ago.

Researchers believe that it was Homo sapiens' ancestors, such as Homo erectus or Homo habilis, who developed a faculty of language that was mostly gestural.

Julian (4 years): How is the human body formed?

Addressing the question, the writer says, "Your body consists of billions of cells. Before you were born, there was only one very strong cell that carried all your characteristics, such as the color of your eyes, hair, and the shape of your mouth. Then this cell divided into two parts, and then the two cells divided in turn, until there were billions of cells ...and it's your body."

Pauline, 6: Why are some people frizzy and others fine?

This is something a person acquires through his parents, and having curly or fine hair depends on what is called heredity.

When a child is born, parents pass on their genes, which include the color and texture of their hair, through DNA, which is found in all cells of the human body.

DNA contains codes, called genes, that determine hair type and other physical traits, and this is what makes children look like their parents.

However, the child may appear more like a parent.

Science has revealed that if one parent's hair is curly and the other's hair is fine, the child's hair is more likely to be curly.

Heart cells over time age and lose the ability to renew themselves, like all organs of the body (Shutterstock)

Ada (8): Why doesn't the heart beat forever?

The body is made up of many cells that renew themselves through the process of division, whereby young cells replace dead cells.

Swedish researchers showed in 2009 that heart cells go through the same process.

Over time, cells age and lose the ability to renew themselves.

When cell production slows with age, organs such as the heart age.

Alban (3 years): Why do nails grow?

If the parents do not trim the child's nails from time to time, after a year they will grow to be 2-3 times longer.

Nail cells are located under the skin, and when new cells grow, older cells are pushed up and thus a nail is formed.

Fingernails are faster growing than toenails, because we use them more.

Dennis (8): Why do I feel pain when I get injured?

The writer says, "We feel this pain because different parts of the body communicate with each other. When you are injured at the level of the elbow or knee, for example, the receptors at the site of the injury send information to the brain through a nerve connected to the spinal cord located in the spine, and then you feel pain." .

"The pain is like an alarm clock that tells you to be more careful next time. These messages also protect you from danger. For example, if you burn yourself by touching a hot pot, the brain sends a message to your hand that makes you send it away immediately."

Cats see well at night but not in the dark (Shutterstock)

Matthew (8): How do cats see in the dark?

The writer explains that we may think that cats can see clearly in complete darkness, but this is not entirely true.

Cats see well at night, but not in the dark.

Like many other mammals and reptiles such as crocodiles, the cat's eyes are distinguished by a transparent covering called the choroidal rug at the back of the eye that acts like a natural mirror and allows it to see the light no matter how dim it is so that it can hunt at night.

Gabriel (9 years old): How does he drink fish?

Large marine fish such as tuna or cod enter the water and exit through their skin and gills, organs located near the head that are also used for respiration.

This type of fish should drink plenty of water so that you do not become dehydrated.

As for freshwater fish, the water does not enter its body except through the gills and gets rid of it through the urine.

Sharks do not need to drink a lot of water, and they do not do so through the gills.

Large marine fish such as tuna or cod enter the water and exit through their skin and gills (Getty Images)

Leontine (3 years): Why is honey sticky?

Honey is known to be sticky due to its composition, which mainly contains sugar and water.

It is true that mixing powdered sugar and water does not give a sticky mixture like honey, but both substances contain the same component, which is hydrogen atoms.

The interaction between hydrogen atoms leads to the attraction of water and sugar to each other, which gives honey its known viscosity.

Vincent (10): How can we forecast the weather a week in advance?

To find out the weather a week ago, meteorologists use lots of images of Earth taken by satellites orbiting our planet.

Some of the images are taken very low at an altitude of 850 km above sea level, while others are taken at an altitude of 36,000 km.

Satellites provide a lot of information about temperature and clouds, and this information is used to make very complex calculations and to predict the weather for the coming days.

Elias (4 years): During thunderstorms, how does electricity form in the sky?

Lightning strikes form within large clouds called cumulus.

With the wind, water falls and ice crystals accumulate in the cloud, and the interaction between these components leads to the formation of electricity, or what is known as lightning.

As with batteries, there is a positive and a negative electrode in the cloud, which leads to the formation of lightning that sometimes strikes the ground.

Can I sit on a cloud?

Curious Questions for Kids (Shutterstock)

Issa (6 years): Can we sit on the cloud?

Clouds are made of water vapor.

In nature, water exists in a solid state like ice, in a liquid state like the water we drink, and in a gaseous state like the steam from a bowl or bathtub.

This water is also present in the form of gas in clouds, and even if it is thick and makes them look like big, comfortable white cushions, that doesn't mean they are solid, so you can't sit on them.

These clouds are very similar to fog.

Jan (6 years old): Can a rainbow be touched?

The writer admits that everyone dreams of touching the rainbow that appears when the weather becomes clear after the rain or even during the rain.

In this case, sunlight, which is white, passes through the raindrops and turns into light of all colors that can be seen with the naked eye.

Although it looks like a magical bridge, a rainbow is not a solid to walk on or touch, but rather a light.

The color of the grass and the color of the sky are among the most important questions for children (Pixels)

Swan, 6: Why is the grass green and the sky blue?

The author points out that grass, like all plants, grows by converting light into food.

The sunlight absorbed by the grass appears white to us, but in fact it consists of several colors, the most important of which are red, blue and green.

Plants prefer to absorb red and blue lights, while reflecting green light to our eyes.

That's why we see grass this color.

As for the sky, it is blue because there is a large amount of gas around the earth called the atmosphere, which dissipates sunlight everywhere.

Sunlight consists of several colors.

The red rays move very quickly and then head towards the Earth and disappear without us seeing it.

As for blue rays, the matter is more complicated as they spread slightly in the sky, which gives it this color.

Leo (9 years old): How long will it take to get around France on foot?

According to the writer, this child means France, not counting the islands and other French lands that are not in Europe.

Although the calculations may differ, it is officially estimated that France's borders are 2,913 km and its coastline is estimated to be 3,424 km long.

Thus, a tour around France requires a distance of 6,337 kilometres.

If you walk at a speed of 4 kilometers per hour, it takes about 1584 hours to travel this distance, which is equivalent to 66 days or a little over two months.

But of course we can't walk 24 hours straight a day.

But if you walk for 8 hours a day, it can take 198 days, or the equivalent of 6 and a half months.

We do not feel that the Earth is spinning because it is always spinning at the same speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour (Getty Images)

Mila (7 years old): Why can't we feel the Earth's rotation?

We do not feel that the Earth is spinning because it is always spinning at the same speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour.

In order to perceive the motion of the Earth with the naked eye, we need a close enough reference, as when we look at a field while on a train, for example.

But because the stars, the sun, or even the moon are so far away, the eye doesn't realize we're spinning.

However, you can perceive the Earth's rotation by watching the sunrise or sunset.

Corentin (9 years old): Since the Earth is round, do people in the South live upside down?

If you stand upside down on the ground and do a somersault, you will feel a little dizzy, or your face may turn red.

When you are upside down, more blood flows to the face.

In the long run, it becomes painful.

Fortunately, our heads are held high most of the time and this is also the case for Australians, Brazilians and all the people of the Southern Hemisphere.

There is a 12 hour interval between the moment the sun rises in England and the moment it rises in New Zealand (Pixabe)

IRIN (10 years): Why is there a time difference between countries and continents in the world?

The Earth rotates every 24 hours.

Every day the same cycle repeats;

In the morning the sun rises, in the afternoon it is high in the sky, and in the evening it sets.

However, the sun does not rise in all countries at the same time, which means that the times of day and night are different in different places on the planet.

For example, there is a 12-hour interval between the moment we see the sunrise in England and the moment it rises in New Zealand.

Without the different time zones, the sun will rise around 7 a.m. in London, and at about 7 p.m. in Wellington.

To ensure clearer timing, time zones were created in the 19th century.

Mila (7 years old): What time does astronaut Thomas Pesci have on the International Space Station?

The International Space Station orbits the Earth in an hour and a half.

Inside the spacecraft, the day lasts only 45 minutes, and the astronaut cannot get enough rest if he relies on such a short period to fall asleep and wake up.

To avoid fatigue, the astronaut behaves as if he were on Earth, meaning that the cycle of day and night lasts 24 hours.

Since the International Space Station was launched in cooperation between the United States and Russia, Mila asked the following question:

To avoid problems, Greenwich Mean Time was chosen.

This means that Mila has to subtract two hours from the time to find Thomas' time.

For example, when Thomas wakes up at 6 a.m., her clock says 8 a.m.

Planets revolve around their stars without falling on them because they are moving very fast (Getty Images)

Swan (6 years): How do planets maintain their position in space?

The answer to this question was given to us by Isaac Newton in the seventh century, who explained that if planets revolve around their stars without falling on them, it is because they are moving too fast.

JULIET (6 years): What is on the moon?

On the moon there is only gray dust and small pebbles.

These pebbles are composed largely of oxygen, the element that allows us to breathe, and it is believed that these pebbles can be used to make the oxygen that astronauts will need when they visit the moon in the coming years.