Why do we have hair and why are hospitals so clean? The kids’ quiz

1. Tovah, 4, asks: why do we have hair on our head and body?

   1. Head hair keeps us cool if it’s hot and hot if it’s cold. We get body hair because we evolved from primates

   2. Our hairs are like little plants – the more water we drink, the more they grow

   3. We grow hair because we are related to moles and used to live underground

   4. We absorb air through our hairs, that’s how we breathe

2. Flora, 5, asks: where do seashells come from?

   1. Seashells are bits of coral that have been chipped away

   2. They’re old fish skin

   3. They’re old shells of sea creatures, mostly molluscs

   4. They are made of sea salt

3. Alexis, 11, asks: who invented homework?

   1. French philosopher

   2. Queen Victoria

   3. Pliny the Younger

   4. Winston Churchill

4. Beatrix, 6, asks: how does electricity travel?

   1. With gravity: if the wire is going down, the electricity will travel fast

   2. There is a small train in every wire that collects it

   3. Electricity is one big particle of energy that travels down the wire when it’s switched on

   4. It’s the flow of tiny particles called electrons

5. Orla, 9, asks: why are hospitals so clean?

   1. They were built clean and nobody makes a mess there

   2. To help stop the spread of illness and infection

   3. They keep all the mess locked up in one room

   4. So the doctors and nurses don’t slip on something

Solutions

1:A - It’s theorised that we grow hair on our heads and on our bodies because we evolved from primates – a group of mammals that includes monkeys and apes. Our hair protects us from the heat of the sun during the day and at night-time it keeps us warm., 2:C - Seashells are the outside of a mollusc, which is a small sea creature such as a snail or clam. The mollusc that used that shell was probably eaten by a hungry bigger sea creature!, 3:C - Evidence has been found to suggest Pliny the Younger, a Roman lawyer and author, was telling his students to practise their public speaking outside of class back when he was alive, between 61 and 113 AD. So homework has been around for a very long time!, 4:D - Electricity is the flow of tiny particles called electrons. A power source, such as a battery, gives these electrons the energy to flow., 5:B - Hospitals must be kept clean because there are so many people in there who are sick already! If the hospital was dirty, then bacteria and viruses might spread and make those people get sicker.

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 podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World.