Ask a Scientist: Professor Robert Winston Answers 100 Big Questions from Kids Around the World!

130 Pages·2019·67.401 MB·English

by  Robert Winston

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Ask a
Scientist
Robert Winston
For my grandchildren:
Tzofia, Eliana, Stella, Aron, and Isaac
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Contents
6–7 Foreword
8–9 Why is science so important?
What makes someone a scientist?
The 100 questions
cover these six
Can we ever be 100% sure?
main science topics,
color-coded as follows:
1 0–11 What is my body made of?
Could you create a human being
Chemistry
in a laboratory?
1 2–13 When did time begin?
Human
body Why is there no air in space?
What is dark matter doing
in space?
Physics
1 4–15 How was the first person born?
1 6–17 Why does water feel wet?
Natural
science Why are there bubbles in
boiling water?
Why doesn’t oil mix with water?
Earth
1 8–19 Could you jump off the world?
Why is there less gravity on the moon?
Space
2 0–21 Why is the sky blue?
Why do I see different colors
in the sky at sunset?
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2 2–23 Will scientists bring back the
4 0–41 How does a honeybee
dinosaurs?
know what job to do?
Is it possible to find a fossil that
Why do bees lose their stingers
no one has discovered yet?
when they sting?
2 4–25 Where does my belly button go?
4 2–43 How do our eyes work so
we can see?
2 6–27 Why does ice cream melt? Why do people blink?
Is fire a solid, liquid, or gas? How do two eyes make one picture?
2 8–29 How do maglev trains work? 4 4–45 How do you make gears spin?
How does a maglev train stop? How do elevators work?
3 0–31 Does a butterfly remember its
4 6–47 Why do freckles come in dots on
time as a caterpillar?
your face?
How do butterflies sleep?
How do spiders make webs?
4 8–49 Why doesn’t rain taste salty?
How is fog made?
3 2–33 How do we get taller?
Why is the sea salty?
What causes growing pains?
5 0–51 Do dogs cry?
3 4–35 How do animals camouflage?
5 2–53 How do boogers get in my nose?
3 6–37 Is there a magnet so strong
that it will pull us by the iron
in our blood?
5 4–55 Why will the sun explode and
make us extinct?
3 8–39 How does Velcro® stick?
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7 2–73 How many galaxies are there?
How old is the solar system?
5 6–57 Why don’t jellyfish tentacles
get tangled? Does Earth shrink, expand, or
remain the same over time?
How do fish see at night?
7 4–75 Did dinosaurs have wings?
5 8–59 How do the molecules in air
produce air pressure?
How many atoms are in a penny? 7 6–77 Why do we need a brain?
What do neurons do?
6 0–61 Why does chocolate taste Is it possible to transfer a
so good? human brain into a robot?
6 2–63 When electricity travels through 7 8–79 How does the moon affect the
wires, what does it look like? tides of the sea?
How does electricity get in your
body to shock someone?
8 0–81 Why doesn’t it tickle when you
tickle yourself?
6 4–65 Why do my muscles hurt when
I exercise?
8 2–83 How do birds fly?
Why does my brother smell
Could humans ever fly?
when he exercises?
8 4–85 How do planes go so fast?
6 6–67 Is there an extinct species
of penguin?
8 6–87 Why does our skin get all wrinkly
in the bath?
6 8–69 How does a light light up?
8 8–89 Why does the sun seem to follow
7 0–71 Why do chemicals explode
me everywhere I go?
when mixed together?
Why is the moon sometimes
out in the day?
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9 0–91 How do you make toilet paper?
10 8–109 Do aliens exist?
What is at the other end
9 2-93 Why do stars twinkle? of a black hole?
9 4–95 What’s inside your face and head 1 10–111 Do plants have feelings?
besides your brain?
Can plants speak?
Why do different foods taste
Are there any meat-eating plants?
sweet, sour, and bitter?
11 2–113 Why do humans get old and die?
9 6–97 Why can’t we live without trees?
Why do trees swallow carbon
dioxide?
11 4–115 Why are bubbles round and not
any other shape?
9 8–99 How do our bodies heal?
11 6–117 How do you fall asleep?
Why do people itch?
Why do we dream, and how do
Why do you feel cold with
dreams appear in our brain?
a fever?

11 8–119 Why do we pollute the Earth?
10 0–101 Why do some trees lose leaves
in the summer?
What are we going to do with all
the waste?
How can we stop pollution?
10 2–103 How do volcanoes erupt?
How do rocks turn into lava?
12 0–121 Why, when you’re doing boring
things, does time go slowly…?
10 4 –105 How exactly is glass made?
Why are diamonds so hard?
12 2–125 Glossary
10 6–107 Why does our hair turn gray
12 6–127 Index
when we get older?
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In the pages of this book, many
answers include words that have
been singled out in larger type.
This means that the words are
expanded upon on the page.
You’ll find a glossary at the
back of the book that
explains any words that you
might find tricky to
understand.
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Foreword
‘‘
These are some of the most common questions that you have asked
me during my many visits to schools. We also collected questions
from children in different parts of the world, including Britain,
mainland Europe, the United States, Canada, India, China,
and Japan. What is intriguing is that wherever you live,
very similar questions crop up everywhere.
This book is my attempt to answer you. Often, many of the
wonderful questions you pose are ones that most adults are
afraid to ask. I am delighted that you have been ready to ask
them. It is important that you are never embarrassed about not
knowing something. By asking a question you do what good
scientists do. Scientists see something they don’t understand and
pose a question. Then they consult other scientists and search for
any knowledge about the subject they can find. Finally, they plan
to find an answer by performing an experiment. Some of your
questions in this book are ones I couldn’t answer. So I looked
stuff up and sometimes consulted other scientists. While I have
performed only a few of the experiments myself, the answers I
give often depend on experiments done by other scientists.
‘‘
And just occasionally there’s a question that nobody can answer
yet. This is why science is so exciting. Because if you become
a scientist, you may find answers to things that are still unknown.
7
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