Physics in Rhyme Quiz | Kid Lit General

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Gravity is a force that pulls us towards the ground on Earth. It makes things fall and plummet without the help of any other forces. In which of the following nursery rhymes is gravity not the cause of a fall?

Answer: Hokey Pokey

In "Jack and Jill", both Jack and Jill tumble down the hill. This is caused by gravity pulling them down. Humpty Dumpty was sitting on a wall in the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" when he fell and broke himself. Had gravity not been around, he would not have fallen. The bough breaks under the cradle in "Rock-a-bye Baby". Without anything to support the cradle, gravity takes a hold of it and it comes falling down, "baby, cradle, and all".

In the "Hokey Pokey" you shake your body part in and out of the circle. Nothing falls down, unless you happen to lose your balance, but that's not in the rhyme!

2. "Harmonics" are waves that are created in a string or any other material that can vibrate only at certain frequencies. If we can control these, we can make the frequencies produced give us musical tones. In which of these nursery rhymes are the musicians using harmonics?

Answer: Old King Cole

"Tweedle dum, tweedle dee, went the fiddlers three..."

Old King Cole liked to be entertained, and asked for his pipe, his bowl, and his fiddlers to be brought out to him. The fiddlers play music on their fiddles using harmonics. By placing their fingers at different places on the strings of the fiddle, they can create different notes. Strung together, these make music.

3. An inseparable part of physics is the study of the sky and the heavens. This is known as cosmology, and is featured in which of the following nursery rhymes?

Answer: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky."

The first verse of this rhyme is very well known. It comes from a longer poem "The Star" by Jane Taylor in "Rhymes for the Nursery" published in 1806. It is sung to the same tune as "Baa Baa Black Sheep", a melody originally composed by Mozart.

4. Tension is a force that's created when you pull on one end of a rope or string. If one end gets pulled, the other end pulls whatever it is tied to. In which of these nursery rhymes does the main character have to create tension in a rope? (Hint: I hope the name rings a bell with you)

Answer: Fr�re Jacques

Fr�re Jacques, or Brother John in the English version, has to ring the morning bells for the prayers in the rhyme "Fr�re Jacques". To do so, he must have had to go into the bell-tower and pull on the long cord to get the bell ringing. This can also be seen in the Disney movie "The Hunchback of Notre Dame".

When Fr�re Jacques pulls on one end of the rope, it creates tension and that pulls on the bell which is tied to the other end of the rope. The bell then tilts which causes the clapper to strike the side of the bell causing it to ring.

5. "Work" is an important concept in physics that lets you know how much energy you put into making something happen. Whether you're lifting a box or a horse is pulling a cart, it takes work! Which of these rhymes involves work (though not too much)?

Answer: Row, Row, Row Your Boat

By putting in an effort into rowing, you make the boat go down the stream. The total energy you've used up rowing your boat is the work you've put into this act. Nevertheless, the rower of the rhyme isn't working that hard. After all:

"Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream."

6. Centrifugal force happens when we move in a circle or any curving motion. It's the feeling that you get thrown against the side of a car when it is turning. In which of these nursery rhymes would you not feel centrifugal force?

Answer: Three Blind Mice

"Sur le Pont d'Avignon" is a French rhyme about dancing in a circle on the bridge of Avignon, similar to the dance performed in "Ring Around the Rosie". When you're going around in a circle, especially if you start to speed up, you begin to feel the centrifugal forces.

In "The Wheels on the Bus", the wheels "go round and round". Anything on those wheels, say, a small insect, would feel centrifugal force. Also, if the bus were to turn a corner, you'd also feel the pull of the centrifugal force.

7. In physics, "kilo" is a prefix that means "one thousand". For example, a kilometer is one thousand meters, or a kilogram is one thousand grams. In which of the following nursery rhymes did the fearless leader have not one, but ten 'kilo-men'?

Answer: The Grand Old Duke of York

"The grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men;
He marched them up to the top of the hill,
And he marched them down again.

And when they were up, they were up,
And when they were down, they were down,
And when they were only half-way up,
They were neither up nor down."

As we can see, the Grand Old Duke of York had ten thousand men, so that would make it ten 'kilo-men' if you were a physicist. Other useful prefixes to know are "centi" which means "one hundred", "deca" which means "ten", and "mega" which means "one million".

8. Combustion is a process which gives off heat and light. An example, your fire in the fireplace burns and gives off heat to warm the house and orange light from the flames. In which of these rhymes does our character avoid the combustion to not get singed?

Answer: Jack Be Nimble

"Jack be nimble,
Jack be quick,
Jack jump over
The candlestick."

Jack jumps so the flame from the candle will not burn him. Jack knows the fire triangle: Heat; Oxygen; Fuel. Without one of these three, a flame cannot sustain itself. A fire extinguisher usually removes one of these three elements from the flame so that you can put out an unwanted fire.

9. If you shoot a rocket into space to reach the moon, you had better make it go faster than the Earth's escape velocity. "Escape velocity" is a speed that if you're slower than that, you can't leave Earth's gravity and reach other moons, planets and stars. In which nursery rhyme does a character need to be faster than Earth's escape velocity?

Answer: Hey Diddle Diddle

"Hey, diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon.
The little dog laughed
To see such fun,
And the dish ran away with the spoon."

Now, apart from the ambulatory dish and silverware, the cow has to get over the moon. In order to do that, the cow has to be going faster than the Earth's escape velocity so it can break free and reach the moon. Now, this velocity is about 11,185 meters a second, which is pretty fast!

This nursery rhyme is believed to be a string of nonsense that was made to rhyme together.

(Thanks to LC for the inspiration)

10. One of the more difficult branches of physics is cloud physics. It tries to predict the formation of condensation and the necessary conditions for precipitation - rain, hail, sleet, or snow. In which of the following nursery rhymes was precipitation caused?

Answer: Doctor Foster

"Doctor Foster went to Gloucester,
In a shower of rain;
He stepped in a puddle,
Right up to his middle,
And never went there again"

It is believed that this is an old nursery rhyme because originally the word "puddle" would have been replaced with "piddle" (which meant stream) and would have rhymed with "middle" in the following line. Nevertheless, the oldest published version of this nursery rhyme dated back only to 1844.

Source: Author LeoDaVinci

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
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Physics in Rhyme Trivia Quiz

Nursery rhymes are an age-old tool to give children hours of fun. However, a lot of physics can be found in these rhyming lines. Can you tell me which? Test your knowledge of these rhymes and the physics behind them.

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