Why doesn’t gravity pull down birds and why do bananas go brown? The kids’ quiz

1. Luca, 4, asks: why doesn’t gravity pull down birds?

   1. Birds have wings that aren’t affected by gravity

   2. The soft clouds in the sky hold them up

   3. They flap so hard they push Earth down instead

   4. Birds generate lift with their wings, which balances the pull of gravity

2. Chloe, 12, asks: why can we only see 10% of an iceberg’s mass above the water?

   1. Icebergs are shy

   2. Ice is slightly less dense than seawater, so most of it floats below the surface

   3. They like the dark

   4. Polar bears like to snack on the ice

3. Rudy, 6, asks: why do banana skins go brown?

   1. The banana is drying out from the inside

   2. It’s caused by a gas made by the ripening fruit

   3. The banana’s sugar is turning into syrup

   4. The heat of a ripening banana burns its skin

4. Felix, 7, asks: why do carrots make you see in the dark?

   1. They contain natural light from the sun

   2. The orange colour reflects moonlight better through your eyes

   3. Chewing crunchy foods trains your vision muscles

   4. Carrots are full of vitamin A, which helps your eyes adjust to low light

5. Iris, 5, asks: what is the smallest teddy bear ever made?

   1. Tiny Ted, 9mm tall

   2. Little Laura, 5cm tall

   3. Mini Minnie, 6mm tall

   4. Large Daniel, 0.2mm tall

Solutions

1:D - Birds are pulled down by gravity, but overcome it with a force called “lift”. Air moves more quickly over the top surface of their wings, reducing air pressure on the top of the wing and creating the lift they need to stay airborne. The tilted angle of the wing also deflects air downwards, giving them further lift., 2:B - Ice floats because it’s less dense than water, but not by much! This means that about 90% of an iceberg’s bulk stays hidden beneath the waves, with only the tip visible., 3:B - As a banana ripens, it produces the gas ethylene, also called ethene. The gas causes the yellow pigment in the bananas to start to decay into brown spots. , 4:D - Your body turns the beta-carotene in carrots into vitamin A, vital for eye health. The link with night vision came from a rumour started in the 1940s. To keep new radar technology secret, the British government said pilots could shoot enemy planes in the dark because they ate lots of carrots!, 5:A - Guinness World Records says the smallest teddy is 9mm Tiny Ted, created by Cheryl Moss in 2006.

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 the new Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book.