Facts For Kids

Tag: Science

  • Wind Power Facts For Kids

    Wind Power Facts For Kids

    Wind power is a concept in which wind energy is converted into electrical or mechanical power.  A wind turbine is a machine that converts wind energy into electrical power. Actually it converts kinetic energy that is present in the wind into electrical energy. Wind turbines charge batteries and generate electrical power.

    Wind Turbines

    • Hundreds of wind turbines are normally installed on big farms. These turbines are linked to a specialized system to generate electrical power.
    • When wind turbines are located at the same place for the production of electricity, these group of turbines are collectively known as wind farms.
    • The speed of wind on offshore regions is much greater and constant than on land. That is why wind turbines are normally installed on offshore areas.
    • The two top companies that are manufacturing wind turbines on a large scale are Vestas and Siemens.
    • There are more than 200,000 operational wind turbines all over the world. They have the capacity to generate 282,482 MW power.

    Wind power is used by 83 countries to produce electricity.

    Wind Farms

    • In the year 2012, the number of wind turbines installed all over Europe was 1,662. These wind turbines were set up in 55 wind farms. As a group, they generated 18 TWh of electricity. This amount of electricity is enough to provide power to 5 million homes.
    • In the year 2020, the capacity of wind farms around the world for generating power in offshore regions is going to arrive at 75 GW. The two main countries involved in generating 75 GW of power are USA and China.
    • The biggest wind farm around the world is London Array. It is located in UK and has the capacity to produce 630 MW power.
    • The second biggest offshore wind farm is called Greater Gabbard Wind Farm. It is also located in UK and has the capacity to produce 504 MW power.

    Benefits

    • Wind power is a substitute for fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are made up of dead animals and plants. Due to the increasing usage of fossil fuels by humans, they are closing down at a very fast rate. All fossil fuels contain carbon and include natural gas, coal and petroleum.
    • Wind power is a clean source of energy.
    • It is a renewable energy source which means it cannot be finished.
    • It requires very small space on land and it also does not emit greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, ozone, methane and nitrous oxide. These gases act like a greenhouse on our planet’s atmosphere. They are the main cause of global warming.
    • As compare to other energy sources, wind power is more environment-friendly source of energy.
    • One of the best things about wind power is that it has zero cost of fuel.
    • It is observed that farm animals continue to graze on land when wind turbines are installed. This means wind turbines do not seem to disturb them.

    Learn more: Fossil Fuels Facts For Kids

    Leading Countries

    • Denmark has been a leading country to produce electricity from wind power. It started using this vital energy source during 1970s.
    • During 1980s, USA was the leading country by having maximum capacity for producing wind power through wind farms.
    • In 1997, Germany beat USA and became the leading country in the production of wind power.
    • In 2010, China became the leading country with maximum capacity for wind power generation.
    • Europe
    • In 2009, Europe contributed 48 percent to the production of wind power around the world.
    • By producing 42,976 GWh power, Spain was the top producer of wind power throughout Europe in 2010.
    • During 2010, Germany was the leading European country that had maximum installed capacity of 27,215 MW wind power.

    Altamont Pass Wind Farm

    • One of the oldest wind farms of USA is located in California and is called as Altamont Pass Wind Farm.
    • There are 4,930 wind turbines in this farm.
    • It is found in Altamont Pass.
    • Altamont Pass has the biggest number of wind turbines around the world that are installed together in a small area.
    • The capacity of Altamont Pass Wind Farm is 576 Megawatts (MW) power.

    More Facts

    • More than 30 percent of Denmark’s electricity is produced by wind power.
    • The production of energy through wind power is increasing all over the world at the rate of 25 percent every year.
    • In the year 2010, the share of wind power in the production of electricity around the world has been 2.5 percent.
    • The capacity to generate wind power around the world increased to 4 times more during 6 years starting from 2000 to 2006.
  • Pluto Facts For Kids | A Dwarf Planet

    Pluto Facts For Kids | A Dwarf Planet

    Pluto is the only planet that was discovered in the 20th century. Pluto was moved down to the status of a dwarf planet in 2006, which makes it even more interesting to study this planet. So let’s have a short but interesting journey of this mysterious dwarf planet in Pluto facts for kids.

    Discovery

    Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930. He was an American astronomer. Tombaugh was only 24 at the time of discovery.

    How Was Pluto Discovered

    Following the discoveries of Uranus and Neptune, at first Pluto was thought to be the third planet as other 6 planets had always attracted the eyes of keen observers for many years. These six planets were noticeable to the unaided eye which is why ancient people knew them. On the contrary, the existence of Pluto was previously based on the assumption that the circular path of Uranus was seemingly disturbed by another body that is quite far-off. However, this assumption was proved to be wrong because the size of Pluto is too small to cause any such disturbance. At the start of 20th century, an astronomer from USA named Percival Lowell built an observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona and set off to explore Pluto. But in 1916, he died without achieving any success. In 1929, a young astronomer named Tombaugh was signed up to this task and continued the search by means of a specially-built camera. At last Tombaugh discovered Pluto in February 18, 1930.

    Size

    The diameter of Pluto is more or less 2,284 kilometers. Moon (which is the only satellite of our planet) is bigger than Pluto. Pluto is about two-third the size of our Moon.

    Color

    Observations of this planet reveal that its color is somewhat red but unlike Mars which has a more reddish surface, it is only moderately red that shows the planet is not just made up of ice.

    Orbit

    Pluto requires 247.7 earth years to complete its orbit around the Sun.

    Location

    Pluto is located in the Kuiper Belt. Kuiper belt is found away from the last planet of our solar system; Neptune. This belt is made up of rock and ice formed of the fragments that were left behind after the solar system was formed.

    Distance

    Pluto lies at an average distance of 39.5 AU (Astronomical Unit) away from the Sun. One AU is equal to 150 million kilometers (which is the distance between the Earth and the Sun).

    Mass

    The mass of Pluto is about 1.2 × 1022 kg.

    Density

    The density of Pluto ranges from 1.92 g/cm3 to 2.06 g/cm3.

    Composition

    The core or the innermost part of Pluto is assumed to be made up of rocky material. The mantle layer wrapping it up is perhaps made up of thick water ice. The outermost part of Pluto is made up of methane, nitrogen and carbon monoxide in ice forms.

    Moons Of Pluto

    Pluto has 5 moons; Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos and Styx. Discovered in 1978, Charon is by a long way the largest moon of Pluto. Its size is about half that of Pluto and orbits the planet at a distance of about 19,640 km.

    Atmosphere

    Pluto has a thin layer of atmosphere which was discovered in 1988. Scientists observed the atmosphere of Pluto when it passed a star and the light of this star slightly faded while it entered the planet and thus signaling the presence of atmosphere. When Pluto reached perihelion (a point from where Pluto lies at the minimum distance from the Sun) in 1989, many of its gases vaporized from the solid-icy state (a process known as sublimation) because it came closer to the Sun than usual. At aphelion (a point from where Pluto lies at the maximum distance from the Sun), it is impossible to examine its atmosphere because of the greatest distance from the Sun and thus lack of sunlight allows gases to solidify.

    Temperature

    A very small amount of sunshine reflected from the surface of Pluto is referred to as Albedo. The albedo of Pluto is 0.55 (which means the surface of Pluto reflects back 55 percent of sunlight) and Moon’s albedo is 0.1 (meaning 10 percent of sunlight is reflected back from its surface). Because we do not know much about albedo as well as Pluto’s atmosphere, it is very hard to determine the precise surface temperature of this planet. However, it is estimated that its temperature varies between 45 K and 60 K.

    Symbol

    The symbol used for Pluto is ♇. It is made up of two letters ‘P’ and ‘L’ that are merged into one letter. These two letters represent initials of the first two letters after the name of this planet (Pluto) as well as the initials of the name of the person (Percival Lowell) who initiated the project that led to the discovery of Pluto.

    Interesting Pluto Facts For Kids

    Pluto became a Dwarf planet on August 24, 2006 by International Astronomical Unit. It is no longer the 9th planet. Our Solar System now consists of only 8 planets.

    It is by far the biggest of all objects lying in the Kuiper belt.

    Pluto is the least studied planet in our solar system primarily because earth’s satellite has never been able to reach this planet.

    The unusual behavior of Pluto’s orbit at times becomes so big that it takes this planet nearer to the Sun rather than Neptune. Pluto will not come any closer to the Neptune’s orbit up to the year 2226.

    Charon is the biggest satellite of Pluto.

    Because the rotational period of Pluto is equal to the speed at which Charon orbits around it, the side of Pluto facing Charon is always the same.

    Pluto lies very far away so much so that it takes over 5 hours for sunlight to arrive at this planet though it travels at a speed of about 186,000 miles per second.

    The Sun rises in the west of Pluto and sets in the east.

    When Charon was not discovered yet, Pluto was believed to be the moon of Neptune that got away from its orbit for unknown reasons.

    More Pluto Facts For Kids

    The Sun appears like a very bright point from Pluto and looks a lot like a star. But the brightness of this point is so strong that a full Moon’s light is 100 times less intense than this point.

    Pluto is invisible to the naked eye.

    Pluto is not the ninth planet anymore. It is now a dwarf planet. Dwarf planets are smaller than Mercury (the smallest planet in our solar system).

    Hubble Space Telescope discovered two new satellites of Pluto in 2005.

    The point at which Pluto lies at the closest distance from the Sun is called perihelion. Pluto’s perihelion is about 29.7 AU. It was in 1989 that Pluto last reached its perihelion.

    The point at which Pluto lies at the farthest distance from the Sun is called aphelion. Pluto’s aphelion is about 49.5 AU.

    The surface temperature of this planet is freezing cold which makes carbon monoxide gas as well as nitrogen gas to exist in ice forms over Pluto.

    Now that, how did you find these Pluto facts for kids? Are they really helpful and is it what you’re looking for?

  • Middle School Science Projects | Top 3 Projects

    Middle School Science Projects | Top 3 Projects

    If you are to show your middle school science projects tomorrow then you must not worry too much since I’m bringing you some of the most significant and useful science fair projects that are not only easy to learn but your kids will love it! These projects may not cost you too much which is why you can easily try this at home. You should select a project which is easy to learn and can be done quickly. Hypothesis is a good idea to start with. Normally, students are not supposed to use hazardous chemicals or animals in their projects, so while you’re doing it make sure you play safe that may not concern your teacher.

    Middle School Science Projects

    Project # 1

    Egg- Floating Project

    You’ll Need!

    • The Glass
    • An Egg
    • A salt

    1How To Do this?

    How to do This?

    Pour 250 ml of freshwater in the glass and drop the egg into it. Whoa! It sinks. How to get it floating?

    Take the egg out of water, and get the salt. Put four teaspoons of salt into the water. Now grab the egg and drop it into the saltwater. Yipee! It floats! You did it.

    Moreover, you can neither make the egg floats nor sinks. For that you need to take out some (half) saltish water from a 250-ml glass. Drop an egg in the water. It floats. Now start pouring gradually the freshwater into the half-filled-glass of saltish water. You’ll see that as you’re transferring freshwater into it, the egg begin to dip down a little and start leaving the water surface. Stop pouring freshwater when you see the egg leaves the surface. It’s not completely drowned but it will hang around in the middle of the water body. That’s it! You see how simple it was?

    Project # 2

    How to Make a Glowing Ice Bulb?

    Things You Need

    • Light Emitting Diode (LED)
    • Balloon
    • Electrical Tape
    • Two Batteries
    • A one-foot Wire

    2Step 1: First you attach wire to the light emitting diode (LED). Wrap the naked part of the wire with an electrical tape so that it may not give current.

    Step 2: Now take the balloon (bear in mind that there should be no air in the balloon). Stuff light emitting diode (LED) into the balloon while leaving the wire outside.

    Step 3: Now is the time to fill balloon with water and tie a strong knot. Don’t forget that wire should not be stuffed in balloon.

    Step 4: Put the water-stuffed-balloon into the freezer and let it be there until the water freezes completely.

    Step 5: Now remove the balloon rubber and if it is hard for you to do this, you can put it under hot water for a while. This will untie the rubber.

    Step 6: Now attach the batteries with the wire and see the magical glowing ice bulb.

    Project # 3

    Let’s do Triangle Test!

    Do you have an acute sense of smell? Is your nose sharp enough to identify the difference between two closely associated smells? Can you remember what you smell? Well, the ‘Triangle Test’ will help you to go through all these tests. Are you ready to do this? Let’s do it.

    Materials You Need

    • Sharp knife
    • Lime
    • Lemon
    • Coffee filter paper
    • Pencil
    • Scissors
    • Ruler
    • spoon

    How to Investigate?

    Step 1: First you take the coffee filter paper and cut it into strips with the length measuring 3 inches, and a width of ¼ inch. You take three strips for each test. This is why it is known as triangle test.

    Step 2: Take the test strip and dip it in a citrus-fruit oil in such as a way that only its ends go wet. This is the same oil which you have smelled.

    Step 3: cut tiny pieces of lime peel and lemon peel.

    Step 4: now place the peel with its skin side down onto the ends of a filter paper strips.

    Step 5: press the peel with a small spoon to squash out its oil onto the paper. Perform the same procedure for each of the strips so that you have one lemon strip, one lime strip, and either one for the third strip in the end.

    Mark the ends of strips (with number) so that you may recognize which is which. Call a friend and blindfold him/her and tell him that you’re going to offer three smells and tell you which two are the same. The moment you place the strip under your friend’s nose, state the number. You must give three trials for the test, while changing order in which you offer the strips. You may give your friend a tissue or a sleeve so that his nose goes refresh between the sniffs.

    Hypothesis | Middle School Science Projects

    1. Is it possible to come up with any chemical that will wipe out all the household insects?
    2. How much percentage of water is included in an orange?
    3. Do colored candles burn quickly than white candles?
    4. What make insects or fly to go around the lamp light? Is it light or heat?
    5. What if you give water (containing detergent) to plants? How much does it affect the plant growth?
    6. Can you clone a plant?
    7. Light travels faster in which medium; water or air?
    8. Do road-side boards affect drivers?
    9. What is the evaporation rate of water?
    10. If you take a hearty breakfast just before going for your exam, would it yield better results?
    11. Do worms make a good pet?
    12. How easy it is to remember things in the form of images as compared to those of simple texts?
    13. Can you read backwards?
    14. Do cars affect air quality?
    15. What is it that makes bridges strong enough to stand for years?
    16.  Can you build a simple tool to measure the angel of a slope?
    17. Can you find tiny ‘bugs’ from the soil by using Berlese funnel?
    18. Is studying with music is helpful? It is believed that students are better able to learn history facts while listening to music!
    19. If you drop a ball from your height, to say, would it bounce back to the same height? If not! Why?
    20. Do boys perform better in math than girls?

    Never Try these Projects!

    • Start performing surgery on your pet animals.
    • Experimenting by giving alcohols or drugs to animals or even humans.
    • Prepare a hypothesis of questions that embarrass others.
    • Make your animals to go through stressful processes.
    • Set anything on fire and experimenting something that can cause explosion.
    • To show drugs, firearms, or even preserving animal parts.
    • Using hazardous chemicals that may cause your skin to burn.

     

     

     

  • Science Facts For Kids

    Science Facts For Kids

    Here I am bringing you some of the most exciting and least understood science facts for kids. These facts include the study of earth, study of human body, few animals, and some other insights of biology.

    • In olden times, the Indian medical doctors allowed the ants to bite the two sides of a wound (while doing surgery) and then split the rest of the body from the ant’s head such that the head remains there. In this way, the jaws of the ant did the work of stitching.
    • Do you know why your vomit appears soupy at times? It’s because the food has settled inside your abdomen for some time. However if you vomit just after eating food, it will come out as it is.

     Science Facts For Kids

    • In Stone Age people used to practice trepanning in which a person would make a hole inside the skull of another by means of a stone so that pain is alleviated. They believed that there were some evil spirits inside the skull and by doing so, those spirits would run off. That’s why most of them lived with holes inside their skull.
    • If there are lice in your hair, it may not always be visible because they have the ability to alter their appearance according to the shade of your hair.
    • There are almost two hundred and fifty million cells of blood within one droplet of blood.
    • Of you gulp down the poison of a snake, it will not kill you. It’s because there is an acid in your stomach which mixes with it to change the properties of that poison.
    • Like in cleaning detergents, urine also possesses special chemical that was once employed for washing things.
    • There are various animals that have a tendency to act in response to the venomous gases. That’s why British miners tended to cage budgies while moving into the mines for if there was an indication of a leakage of gas, these animals would expire immediately.
    • The scientists are conducting a research on constructing a tadpole robot that should go for a dip inside the blood vessels of a human and carries the medication at the most needed place.
    • The faeces of people from the Stone Age are now known as ‘coprolites’ and today archaeologists examine these (in order to know the diet of those persons) by submerging the matter in water for about 3 days. In this way, it becomes liquefied.
    • There is a venom inside green potatoes and is called as solanin.
    • When the plants or animals decompose with the passage of million years, they are turned into oil that we use today. It happens under the ground.
    • The molten rock below the surface of the earth is called ‘Magma.’ When it comes to the surface it is called ‘Lava’.
    • Pacific Ocean has the world’s largest number of active volcanoes. These are known as ‘Ring of Fire’.
    • The speed of the rotation of the earth is 29.8 km/sec.
    • The approximate diameter of the earth is 24,756 km.
    • The specific gravity of the earth is 5.52.
    • ‘Ether’ is the medium through which light travels through space.
    • Cyclone is the most destructive natural disaster.
    • The center of cyclone is known as Eye.
    • Homo sapiens is the species to which Humans belong.
    • Chimpanzee is the only animal that resembles most to human beings in terms of mental and physical capabilities.
    • The humans were evolved in reptile.
    • Heterotrophs were the first organisms on planet earth.
    • It’s not possible to live on moon because of the lack of water.
    • Human beings were believed to have evolved in Africa.
    • Nerve cell is the largest cell in the human body.
    • ‘O’ is a universal blood donor.
    • There are total 206 bones in the human body.
    • Liver is the largest gland in the human body.
    • An average adult has 5 – 6 liters of blood in his body.
    • Iron is the main constituent of hemoglobin.
    • Cerebrum is the largest part of human brain.
    • There are total 24 ribs in a human body.
    • Duck-billed platypus is the only mammal which lays eggs.