Kids and Science
In response to a number of questions asking us where a good science page for kids could be found which was not evolutionary, we had to admit we did not know. There are lots of pages for adults….but none we are aware of for kids.
So we told those inquiring that if the kids wanted to send us questions we would respond and get the questions and answers up on our webpage in its own section. We have no idea how large this section will be. If it gets too large, we will start dividing it up into either areas of science or by grade and age. Right now, though, at the beginning, we have a couple of kids who have asked questions and the series of questions Barry was asked by two classes in a school near us.
We invite kids to email us with questions. If we don’t know the answers we will try to find someone who does. If we cannot find someone who does, we will tell you we don’t know.
So this is for you kids and students. Have fun and let’s see what gets asked!
Barry and Helen Setterfield
Our email is barry@setterfield.org or helen@setterfield.org
Questions from Students March, 2007
Emailed questions:
From Max, fourth grade May 10, 2007
1. Do the stars come from the sun?
Answer: No, they do not. Our sun is a star. It is not even a very big star! It just looks big because it is closer to us than the other stars. Our sun is the star God gave us to light up the earth.2. Is Pluto still a planet? I heard it wasn't!
Answer: Although we all learned, when we were younger, that there were nine planets and Pluto was the furthest planet out from the sun, Pluto was so strange it probably never was a true planet the way the others are. Why does it seem strange? All the other planets go around the sun in their own sort of lop-sided circles and they never cross each other's paths. But Pluto not only crossed paths with Neptune, the planet closest to it, but Pluto also goes around the sun at an angle. All the other planets are like peas on a plate, going round and round the center sun. They make a sort of flat shape if you look at the solar system sideways. But Pluto isn't on the 'plate.' It travels around the sun going way above the plate on one side and way under it on the other. So astronomers today have decided that Pluto is really more like a large asteroid going around the sun its own way, the way a lot of other asteroids do. Some of the large asteroids even have little moons of their own going around them, the same way Pluto does.Scientists are just like people everywhere. The more they learn, the more they have to change some of the things they were thinking at first. They have changed their minds about what Pluto is because of the things they have learned about it.
3. Is there life on Mars? Because I heard the astronauts found water on Mars.
Answer: There is certainly water on Mars. What we have found is mostly ice on the north and south poles though. Probably at one time, long ago, Mars had a giant flood the same way Earth did at the time of Noah. Both Mars and Earth are planets which have a lot of radioactive materials deep inside and these radioactive materials, as they change, give off a lot of heat. This heat made the rocks inside so hot that the water that was in the rocks at first (and yes, a lot of rocks have little bits of water all through them) steamed out and became big hot pools of water under the surface of the planet. Finally, these waters got hot enough to explode out. If you read Genesis 7:11, you will find that God tells us that these waters burst out from under the surface of the earth even before the rain started to fall. We can see that the northern part of Mars was covered with water once upon a time, but that water is gone now. Because Mars does not have air like earth does, the water which did not freeze at the north and south poles finally evaporated into space.Does this mean there is life on Mars? No, not at all. We know that water is necessary for life on earth, but that does not mean that there is going to be life everywhere there is water. We are pretty sure that here in our own solar system -- the planets that go around our sun -- that there is no life on any planet but our earth unless perhaps there is something like little bacteria or something very small someplace else. But out there in far distant space? We have no idea what is out there.
4. Is it possible to be directly underneath the moon when you are on earth?
Answer: Yes, it is. If the moon goes directly overhead, as it does over some parts of the earth, the people who live in those parts of the earth will be directly underneath the moon.5. How many galaxies are there?
Answer: We live in one galaxy called the Milky Way Galaxy. We are not even near the center of it, but we are way out on one the 'pinwheel' arms. Our own galaxy has about 150,000,000,000 stars! That's more than all the blades of grass in a big park. Our Milky Way Galaxy is big, but not as big as some of the giant galaxies. Astronomers have looked way out into space and found out that there are billions of galaxies. Each of them has billions of stars. One billion looks like this: 1,000,000,000. We cannot really even imagine anything as big as outer space. We cannot really even imagine all the stars and galaxies there are. But the Bible tells us that God named every single star! Can you imagine over billions and billions of names and God doesn't even forget one of them!6. What happens during a solar eclipse? Is it light or dark out?
Answer: I want you to do an experiment. It will take three people, so get your Mom and Dad or a couple of friends to help you. You stand in the middle of a room. Another person turns on a flashlight and shines it at you. The third person starts walking around you in a circle. He will come between you and the flashlight so you cannot see the light from the flashlight. You have just shown what happens during a solar eclipse. You were the earth and the flashlight was the sun. The person walking around you was the moon.Our moon goes around us just like we go around the sun. Sometimes the moon comes between the earth and the sun during the daytime. Then it blocks the sun's light on part of the earth. That part of the earth will be as dark as night for about three minutes, until the moon moves out of the way on its path around the earth.
From someone who did not sign his or her name: May 10, 2007
A plane is standing on runway that can move (some sort of band conveyer). The plane moves in one direction, while the conveyer moves in the opposite direction. This conveyer has a control system that tracks the plane speed and tunes the speed of the conveyer to be exactly the same (but in opposite direction).
The question is:
Will the plane take off or not? Will it be able to run up and take off?Answer: The plane won’t take off as the conveyer is, effectively, holding the plane still in relation to the air, and it is the airspeed past the wings which will give a plane (or jet) its lift.