How are rainbows made and is there wind on the moon? Try our kids’ quiz

1. Sophie, 7, asks: how are rainbows made?

   1. The Earth’s magnetic field scatters sunlight into the colours of the rainbow

   2. Sunlight passes through water droplets and is scattered into a rainbow

   3. Sunlight hits a leprechaun’s gold and is reflected into a rainbow

   4. A storm pulls the colours of sunset into a rainbow

2. Felix, 5, asks: why do dogs moult?

   1. To leave a trail of scent to attract a mate

   2. To make their predators allergic to them

   3. To help them cool off

   4. To increase vacuum cleaner sales

3. Esther, 6, asks: what is the tallest giraffe ever recorded?

   1. Forest the giraffe

   2. George the giraffe

   3. Gus the giraffe

   4. Geoffrey the giraffe

4. Alice, 11, asks: what is the oldest book in the world?

   1. The Ebers Papyrus from Egypt

   2. The Mayan Dresden Codex from Mexico

   3. The Gutenberg Bible from Germany

   4. The Diamond Sutra from China

5. Hannah, 9, asks: is there wind on the moon?

   1. Yes, the moon is windy and even has harsh storms

   2. No, the moon does not have an atmosphere or air to generate any wind

   3. The moon has gentle breezes caused by the gravitational pull of Earth

   4. The moon has wind but it is made of lunar dust particles

Solutions

1:B - When sunlight passes through water droplets it is refracted, which means it gets bent, and then it is reflected inside the water droplet. The light then exits the droplet and is scattered into all of the different colours of light that exist inside white light – the colours of the rainbow!, 2:C - The evolutionary reason for dogs moulting is to cool off in summer. They regrow hair in winter. But today, lots of dogs live mostly indoors so their seasonal signals get messed up and they end up shedding and regrowing all year round. , 3:B - George the giraffe lived at Chester Zoo in the UK, where he arrived in 1959 from Kenya. He was a whopping 5.8 metres tall!, 4:D - A book can be many things, but if we define it as something that is dated and printed, then the oldest would be a version of the Diamond Sutra, a Buddhist text, printed in AD868., 5:B - The moon does not have a proper atmosphere or any air so it can’t have any wind. That’s why Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s footprints left on the moon more than 50 years ago are still there today.

Scores

1. 5 and above.

2. 4 and above.

3. 3 and above.

4. 2 and above.

5. 0 and above.

6. 1 and above.

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a weekly podcast answering children’s questions, out now as a book.

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