Why is the Sky Blue Trivia Quiz

Answer: The blue color in sunlight is scattered by the atmosphere

Light travels in waves made up of many colors from the sun. Each color has a unique wavelength. Blue (and violet) light have the shortest wavelengths. When the different colors of light pass through the atmosphere they hit small water droplets and bits of dust which react to the light and they send the shorter rays of blue and violet light toward the ground and your eyes. We see blue and not violet because our eyes are more sensitive to blue and so the sky appears blue.

Answer: No one is really sure

Doctors do not completely understand why people (or animals) yawn. There is no hard evidence to suggest that yawning only occurs because a person is tired or bored. There is also no scientific evidence to support that a yawn will occur because we see someone else yawning, though most of us have seen this happen.

The explanation taught to doctors, is that we yawn when oxygen levels in our lungs are low. The theory is that your brain sends a signal to the body to yawn to get more air into the lungs. But, there are still some mysteries about yawning.

For example, fetuses can be observed yawning in the womb; but we know the fetus does not use its lungs to gather oxygen.

Answer: Rain and river water collect minerals as it flows into the ocean

When rain falls and the water runs into rivers and streams that lead eventually to large seas or oceans; along the way the water picks up small amounts of minerals or salts from the rocks and soil in the river. This slightly salty water flows into the oceans. The water in the oceans evaporates or freezes to form the polar icecaps, but the salt remains dissolved in the ocean. So the sea water gets saltier as time passes.

The amount of salt or "salinity" of ocean water is about 3.5% of the water's weight. The saltiest ocean water is in the Red Sea and has a salinity of about 4%; while the polar regions are the least salty because the polar ice melts and a lot of rain falls to reduce the salinity of the cold polar waters.

Answer: All of these and others might be factors

There are many theories as to why and how dinosaurs became extinct (a fancy word for died off). There are two main groups of scientific theories. One group believes that a major cause of the extinction was the effects of a huge asteroid hitting Earth about 65 Million Years ago. The effects from the asteroid would have caused an earth-wide climate change to a colder climate and put the planet into darkness. The other group of scientists believe that the climate change to the colder occurred without the need for a space rock hitting the Earth. These scientists also say there is evidence of increased volcanic activity as a reason for even more darkness and poor growing conditions for the plants many dinosaurs liked to eat.

There other theories; but what they have in common is that whatever happened to cause a change the dinosaurs could not adapt to this new environment and died off. I do not know if we will ever really know why the dinosaurs died but scientists will keep researching for more information.

Answer: To warn away other animals and bugs from eating them

First, we need to understand that ladybugs (also called ladybirds in the UK) are not bugs but different types of beetles. Second, we need to be careful as not all ladybugs are red with black spots. There are many different species of ladybugs and they come in all different colors and patterns. However, when most people think of the ladybug they see a small beetle with red or orange coloring and some number of black spots. The reason that entomologists (fancy word for a person who studies bugs) think that ladybugs have this bright red coloring and black spots is to scare away other animals and insects (called predators) from eating them by signaling that the ladybug will taste really bad and might even be poisonous.

The "lady" for whom ladybugs (birds ) are named is the Virgin Mary because farmers in Europe during the Middle Ages thought the helpful little bugs were a gift from God. Ladybugs are much loved by farmers and gardeners because they like to eat other bugs that harm plants and crops.

Answer: The onions release a gas that stings your eyes

When you cut into an onion, a chemical reaction ensues that releases a gas called propanethial-S-oxide into the air. Since your eyes are close to the onions (because you need to pay attention when using a sharp knife) the propanethial-S-oxide reacts with the moisture in your eyes to form an acid (sulphuric acid) that will cause your eyes to sting.

The acid is not strong enough to cause your skin to burn or itch but is strong enough to cause your tear glands to try and get rid of the acid in the eye by producing tears.

The tears will likely continue until all the acid is removed from your eye. So if you want to avoid "tearing" up when cutting an onion you can wear a pair of goggles.

Answer: Augustus Caesar stole one of its days to add to August

Our calendar was first used in 46 BC during the time Julius Caesar was the leader of Rome. The new "year" was based on the time it took for the earth to rotate once around the sun which was 365 days and six hours. Months were all either 30 or 31 days and to take care of the 6 hours every fourth year (leap year) an extra day was added. February was chosen to have the extra day and so was originally 29 days for each of the three years and 30 on the leap year.

Besides creating the calendar the names of the months were decided during Julius Caesar's time. July was named for Julius himself. August was originally called "Sextillius" or sixth month in Latin and had only 30 days. Later when Augustus Caesar succeeded his uncle and became the Emperor of Rome "Sextillus" was renamed "August". Since the Romans did not want their Emperor to appear less important than his uncle they added a day to August and "stole it" by subtracting a day from February.

Answer: Light from the sun reflects off it

We can see the moon at all only because the sun's light hits the moon and lights up the moon to be seen. The moon has no light source of its own. At night when the sky is dark the reflected sunlight on the moon appears brighter and is easier to see. To see the moon in daytime without a telescope the moon light needs to be bright enough for its light to penetrate the scattered blue light of the daytime sky. As the Earth rotates the moon seems to move, rising and falling above the horizon. As the earth rotated the moon is above the horizon roughly 12 hours out of every 24. Since those 12 hours almost never coincide with the all the hours of daylight or nighttime, there is usually a window of time each day when the moon is visible in daylight.

In truth if you have a telescope and know where to look in the sky you can see other celestial bodies like the planets Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter, as well as some of the brighter stars in daylight.

Answer: Water conducts the electricity to diffuse the energy

Lightning strikes the oceans all the time; but not all fish get electrocuted when this happens. Within a thundercloud way up in the sky, many small frozen raindrops bump into each other as they move around in the air. All of those collisions create an electric charge. When the charge is strong enough the energy is released into the air and pushes straight through the air to the ground. This bolt of energy or "current" is the lightning streak. When something is struck by lightning, it is because the current of electricity passes from the sky through their body on the way to the ground.

Sea water conducts the electricity, so when the current enters it, the lightning spreads out in all directions. Any fish in the way would probably only experience a small amount of current and would not die. Only fish very near the water's surface, say a few inches, might be killed.

Answer: Blood in these vessels does not contain oxygen, and the skin distorts the color

Blood is red when it has oxygen and a deep almost maroon color when it carries carbon dioxide. When you take a breath oxygen enters into your lungs. Blood travels through your lungs and picks up the oxygen and turns red. The blood carries the oxygen all over your body to give your cells energy. After the oxygen has been transferred the cells give off carbon dioxide which makes the blood look darker. The blood returns to the lungs so you can breathe the carbon dioxide out.

The blood travels in special "tubes" to do its job. When traveling from the lungs to the cells with oxygen the tubes are called arteries. When traveling back to the lungs with carbon dioxide the tubes are called veins. Veins are closer to the surface of your skin and can be seen. The veins you see through your skin appear blue because red light goes through the skin much more easily (and thus more) than blue light. The red light is absorbed, and the blue is reflected. Optical scientists also believe that the eyes see more of the blue color than the red. That's why your skin looks blue. However if you cut yourself the blood quickly picks up oxygen and immediately turns the familiar red color.