More about the Wonderful World Around Us Quiz

Answer: Nuclear reactions involving hydrogen

The lightest element, hydrogen, makes up about 72% of the mass of the sun. The second lightest gas, helium, is 26% of the mass. Helium is created in a nuclear fusion reaction where under the almost unbelievably high temperatures in the sun's core (hotter than 15 million degrees Celsius!) two hydrogen atoms are 'fused' together.

This process liberates an enormous amount of energy. Scientists are trying to recreate this fusion process on earth but under MUCH lower temperatures. Once successful, the nuclear fusion process will provide almost limitless energy, removing the need to burn fossil fuels.

The timeframe for this exciting research to then result in working power stations is unknown but it is almost certainly decades away.

Answer: Egypt

The ancient Egyptians actually had three sun gods: Ra was the sun-god of midday (and the most well known), Khepri was for the rising sun and Atum, the setting sun. The Greeks and the Romans also had more than one sun god. Most sun gods are depicted as males, with the deities for the Moon usually being female. Male sun gods include Huitzilopochtli (Aztec), Lugh (Celtic), Inti (Inca) and Liza (Fon people, West Africa). Female sun godesses include Amaterasu (Japan) and Hepa (Hittite).

Answer: Icarus

After building the Labyrinth to hold the Minotaur for King Minos of Crete, Daedalus incurred the king's anger by helping Theseus. Needing to escape Crete, Daedalus created wings for himself and his son Icarus from feathers and wax. The wings worked well but against his father's instructions, Icarus flew too close to the sun.

This story is usually interpreted as the tragic effects that may come from being too ambitious (flying too high).

Answer: Sunshine State

Both Florida and Queensland are popular vacation destinations for citizens living in winter conditions elsewhere in the country: people travel south to Florida in the USA and north to Queensland in Australia. Famous beaches, swimming, surfing, fishing and a great variety of fresh food are some of the many attractions. One of the major reasons for the warmer weather in these locations is that they are much closer to the equator.

Answer: Sundial

A simple sundial has a sharp spike or rod (the gnomon) which casts a shadow from the sun onto a flat plate marked into hours. The correct orientation of the sundial is essential to tell the correct 'solar' time. The latitude and the orientation to true north are two factors that must be taken into account. 'Solar' time means that at solar noon, the sun is at the highest point in the sky for that day.

Answer: Ultraviolet

Being "sunsmart" means wearing a hat, sunglasses and sensible clothing when spending time outside in the sun. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is part of the electromagnetic spectrum that ranges from long wavelength (low frequency, low energy) radio waves to short wavelength (high frequency, high energy) gamma rays. UV light has more energy than visible light.

It is this extra energy that can cause skin damage and even skin cancer. Fortunately the ozone layer in the earth's atmosphere filters out almost all UV radiation. An international treaty, the 'Montreal Protocol', was signed in 1987 to help minimize damage to the ozone layer by man-made chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were subsequently banned.

Answer: Moon gravity

As you sit on the beach at the seaside watching the waves and the water, you notice that over many hours the water slowly moves out (and if you watched even longer it would come in again). Even though the gravitational attraction of the moon on the earth is fairly weak, it is certainly strong enough to have a small effect on the world's oceans. When an area of ocean is closest to the moon, it is attracted to it which means water in other areas moves towards this point. This creates the high tide in this region and low tides in other regions. On the opposite side of the world, a high tide occurs as well. The earth rotates 360 degrees every day, so just over six hours later, the earth has rotated 90 degrees and the moon is now over the area that was initially at low tide and hence is now at high tide. The 'tidal period' (the time from high tide to high tide) is 12 hours, 25 minutes due to the moon's orbit, which means high tide gets a little later each day.

Despite its massive size, the sun has a smaller effect on tides than the moon (by a factor of about 2) due to its much greater distance from earth.

Answer: Lunar Eclipse

The moon rotates around the earth as the earth rotates around the sun. On occasion, all three bodies form a straight line. If the moon is between the sun and the earth, then the shadow of the moon falls on the earth and a solar eclipse occurs (when viewed from within this moon shadow on earth, the sun is 'eclipsed' or hidden).

This only occurs during daylight. When the earth is in a direct line between the sun and the moon, the shadow of the earth falls on the moon and the moon becomes much harder to see. Unlike the sun, the moon does not provide its own light; instead we only see the moon because the sun's light is shining on it.

Answer: Apollo

Apollo, the Greek god, was the son of Zeus and Leto and the twin brother of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, wilderness and wild animals. Apollo was the patron of the arts and leader of the muses, a healer and a prophet. Later, he was also associated with Helios, the god of the sun.

In one of many overlaps between Greek and Roman deities, Apollo was also the Roman god of the sun. The 'Apollo' name was suggested for the space missions targeting the moon by the NASA Director of Space Flight Development, Abe Silverstein, in 1960.

Answer: Goodnight Moon

Although best known for her books 'Goodnight Moon', 'The Color Kittens' and 'The Runaway Bunny', Brown was a prolific author, publishing over 100 books. At the time of her untimely death in 1952, at age 42 from an embolism, she left 70 unpublished manuscripts. 'Goodnight Moon' was first published in 1947 and illustrated in wonderful detail by Clement Hurd.

The beautiful rhyme and peaceful ritual has helped make this book incredibly successful with over 4 million copies sold by 1990 (no later sales figures are available).