Why is salt white and pepper black, and what was a megalodon? The kids’ quiz

1. Inés, 7, asks: why is salt white and pepper black?

   1. So that people who can’t see colour can see them

   2. So that they match a chessboard

   3. Because they love playing backgammon

   4. Salt is white because of how light reflects off its crystals; pepper comes from peppercorns, which turn black when they dry

2. Francis, 5, asks: why do elephants have long, flappy ears?

   1. So they can hear other elephants who are far away

   2. Their ears help cool them

   3. So that they can swat away flies and mosquitoes

   4. All the above

3. Asher, 7, asks: why don’t cats blink often?

   1. They’re too busy watching things to blink

   2. Their eyeballs repel dirt so never need a clean

   3. They do blink – but their eyes don’t completely close like ours do

   4. They blink every second, too quickly for you to see

4. Felix, 7, asks: what was a megalodon?

   1. A massive flying dinosaur

   2. A huge prehistoric shark

   3. A sea monster that lived in Antarctica

   4. An underwater robot

5. Hannah, 11, asks: why is camembert so stinky?

   1. It’s made with bacteria that make smelly compounds as the cheese ripens

   2. It’s stored in barrels full of stinky onions and garlic

   3. The cows that make the milk for the cheese are fed stinky foods

   4. Camembert has no smell

Solutions

1:D - Salt is made of clear crystals but they reflect light in all directions, which makes them look white. Black pepper comes from peppercorns, which are green but turn dark brown or black when they’re dried. You can also get white pepper, made from the seed of the pepper plant., 2:D - Elephants’ ears are filled with tiny blood vessels – flapping them helps them cool down. Their ears help them hear well over long distances – and swat bugs!, 3:C - Cats have a third eyelid that cleans and protects the eye, which means they don’t need to blink often, and their upper and lower lids don’t usually completely close. When cats blink slowly, it’s a sign of love and trust., 4:B - A megalodon was a prehistoric shark, one of the biggest to ever live. It weighed as much as 30 great white sharks., 5:A - The bacteria used to make camembert means that as it ripens it produces a lot of smelly compounds, including isovaleric acid (which smells of cheesy feet), methanethiol (a cabbage-like smell) and butyric acid (sweaty). Together they make quite a whiff!

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.