General Science for a Young Einstein Quiz

Answer: The Sun's energy is concentrated over a smaller area

Because the earth is a round object called a sphere, the light from the Sun doesn't fall evenly on its surface. If you imagine a beam of light falling at the equator and the same beam falling at the poles, because of the planet's shape the beam will be less concentrated nearer the poles (it's spread out over a larger area) and so the average temperature will be lower.

Answer: Erosion

Erosion is the process that you can see when you visit the beach. If you stand in shallow water, you can see the water moving the sand around. If you watch the action of the waves as they hit the rocks and cliffs on a stormy day and you might be lucky enough to see rocks being broken away from the cliffs.

In really cold and icy weather, water that gets into rocks will expand and contract and this will split the rocks into smaller and smaller pieces until eventually they turn into sand. These are all examples of erosion.

Answer: A mountain range

This is one way mountains are formed in nature. The surface of the earth is made from separate pieces called tectonic plates which are all of different sizes and densities. When a small plate crashes into a large plate, the rocks of the smaller plate will be either pushed up which will result in the formation of a mountain range, or they will be forced down into the earth and eventually be turned into lava because of the heat.

The Himalayas are an ideal example of this where the Indian plate is trying to move northwards against the much larger Asian plate and the mountains are being formed by these crumpled rocks.

Answer: True

Plants, unlike animals, can't move around and search for food so they need to make their own. A leaf is like a little solar panel which contains a green substance called chlorophyll and this is what the plant uses to make its own food. Because plants can only make their food if there is sunlight, most of the chlorophyll is contained in the cells on the upper surface of the leaf, where the sunlight falls, and this is why it looks so much greener.

The process that plants use to make food uses carbon dioxide gas from the air, water from the ground and sunlight and is called photosynthesis.

It is this process that gives the world breathable oxygen that most life on earth depends on for its survival.

Answer: Mummification

As soon as a living thing dies chemical processes begin to break the body down. It happens most quickly to the soft tissues especially the internal organs. To prevent this, the Egyptians used the process of mummification. Firstly, all the soft organs would be removed and then the body would be buried in a salty substance called 'natron' which would dry the body out even further and slow the decaying process almost to a halt.

After this the body would be cleaned and wrapped in bandages that were soaked in oils and resins that would kill any remaining bacteria. Mummification works really well; especially when you consider that the bodies of some Pharaohs have lasted for many thousands of years.

Answer: A lever

A lever is certainly one of the simplest and possibly the oldest 'gadgets' known to human beings. By using a lever you gain something called 'mechanical advantage'. If you need to lift something heavy you can use a lever to help you. Take a long piece of wood, something to use as a pivot like a rock and your load. Put the long piece of wood on the pivot and one end under the load.

As you press down on your 'lever', the load will be lifted up. The closer your pivot is to the load the less effort you will need to exert on the lever to lift it. Levers are everywhere... Using a spoon to prise the lid from a tin, playing on a see-saw and even lifting a cup of drink with your arm are all examples of levers doing work for you.

Answer: Magnets

Did you know that the core of the earth is mainly made from iron? The earth is actually just a huge magnet. You might not think that this is very important, but it most certainly is. The magnetic forces that surround the Earth protect all living things from very dangerous radiation that continually bombards us from space, and especially from the Sun.

When this radiation smashes into the Earth's magnetic field, at the poles, where it's at its strongest, these atoms become 'excited' by the planet's magnetic force which makes them glow.

This is what is happening when you see the northern lights and southern lights...The auroras.

Answer: The gearbox

The gearbox is the housing that is positioned between the engine and the drive-train and contains a number of cogs, called gears. These gears are used to send the energy created in the engine to the wheels and make the car move. A component in the engine called the crankshaft transmits the power to the gearbox.

The gears in the gearbox are connected to a shaft known as the prop shaft. Different sized cogs on the crankshaft and prop shaft engage together and this difference in size is what helps the car cope better with going up and down hills.

Answer: Drag

Drag can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Engineers and designers are constantly trying to find ways of reducing drag to help machines operate more efficiently and more cheaply. Look at how smooth a modern jet plane looks. It has been designed like that so that it moves more easily through the air, at a higher speed whilst using less fuel. On the other hand drag is most definitely of great benefit. Just imagine what would happen if you had to jump out of a plane with a parachute and there was no drag to slow you down!

Answer: False

Definitely not, the theory was first! The 'Big Bang Theory' is used by scientists to explain the very beginning and the evolution of the universe that we live in. It proposes that the universe began over thirteen billion years ago with a huge explosion and has been expanding ever since. Perhaps surprisingly, the initial theory as to the beginning of the universe was proposed by a Belgian priest and physicist called Georges Lemaître in 1927 and which, over time, has evolved into what we know as the 'Big Bang Theory' today.