Why don’t we need to sharpen felt-tip pens and why do we burp? The kids’ quiz

Illustration: Hennie Haworth/The Guardian

1. Otis, 5, asks: why do felt-tip pens not need sharpening?

   1. They contain magic ink that never runs dry

   2. They sharpen by themselves with an internal sharpener

   3. The tip is made of a sponge-like material which is not possible to sharpen

   4. The plastic barrel protects the nib

2. Riley, 7, asks: how many cells are in my body?

   1. Your body is one giant cell

   2. Too many cells to count

   3. About 25 billion cells

   4. About 13 trillion to 16 trillion cells

3. Marta, 5, asks: what happens if you lick your hands all the time?

   1. You might spread germs and get sick more easily

   2. You’ll get very strong taste buds

   3. Your hands will dissolve into water

   4. Nothing will happen!

4. Safiyah, 6, asks: why do flowers die so early?

   1. They run out of water and food after being cut

   2. They can’t remember how to grow once they have been picked

   3. They fall asleep when you pick them

   4. They hate not being in the garden any more and don’t like it inside

5. Sam, 5, asks: why do we burp?

   1. Because it’s fun to be rude

   2. So we can breathe more easily

   3. So we don’t get hiccups

   4. We burp to let the air out of our stomachs

Solutions

1:C - Felt-tip pens don’t have a pencil “lead” to sharpen. Their nib is made of a sponge-like material that soaks up ink from inside the pen. It gets worn down with use into a wider tip, but you can’t sharpen it – if you tried, you’d break the tip., 2:D - An adult has about 37 trillion cells in their body! A seven-year-old usually has fewer cells than an adult because children are smaller in size and mass, so a seven-year-old has about 13 trillion to 17 trillion cells. , 3:A - If you lick your hands a lot, germs from whatever you’ve touched can get into your mouth and make you poorly. That’s why doctors recommend washing hands with soap and water instead of licking them clean!, 4:A - Once a flower is picked, it can’t get water and nutrients from its roots, so it starts to wilt. Even flowers still in the ground will fade after they’ve finished making seeds – this is just part of their life cycle., 5:D - When you eat or drink, you sometimes swallow air along with your food. The quickest way for it to escape your stomach is back up the oesophagus and out of your mouth as a burp.

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.