Science & Mathematics Questions & Answers

Ages ago, people believed there was magic in the weaving of a spider’s web and the Greeks told a story about a girl, Arachne, who was to give all spiders the name of Arachnida. One day, Archne, who was skilled in the art of weaving, challenged the goddess to a contest. She proved herself better than Athene at the craft …

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a marble bell tower at Pisa, Italy. Even though the tower has been leaning since it was under construction, it has stood for hundreds of years, despite the fact that it looks as if it will fall any minute. The tower was begun over 800 years ago, in 1174, and completed in 1350. After …

The hermit Crab is soft-bodied and so would be extremely vulnerable to its enemies if it had no protection at all. For some reason it has become adapted over time to living within the old shells of mollusks, usually whelks but sometimes periwinkles and top shells. Only two pairs of legs are used for walking, the grip the shell and …

A lizard is capable of shedding its tail at any time. If a lizard is attacked it may sacrifice its tail in an attempt to surprise and confuse the enemy. When a lizard’s tail is caught by an assailant or a trap, it will simply snap off and enable the reptile to escape. Although some lizards’ tails can be four …

Dowsing is an ancient way of finding water. The dowser holds one end of the Y-shaped twig in each hand, and walks around until the stem twitches downward, showing where is buried.

Rainwater that sleeps into the ground filters down to the zone of saturation, where every crack in the rock is filled with water. (Below this point compact rocks stop the water going any deeper.) The top level of the zone of saturation is called the water table. This level rises and falls according to the weather, and walls sunk down …

One of the most difficult tasks of geology (the science or study of the Earth), has been to establish the age of the Earth. Until about fifty years ago the scientists had little information to help them with this problem. By careful observation they could discover whether one rock was older than another, but the further back they went in …

When Christopher Columbus made his first landfall in the Bahamas he was so certain that he had reached the East Indies that he called the natives ‘Indians’, the name by which they are still known today. He found them a friendly, peaceful people. Spaniards who explored what is now the southwestern United States found the natives equally friendly. They lived …

 When you overturn a sauce bottle that has been left untouched for some time, chances are, either the sauce will not come out at all or a gigantic blob will plop down on your plate. Getting ketchup to �flow� out of the bottle can be quite an ordeal. However, if you shake the bottle before overturning it, the thick gooey …

As day breaks, a reddish-white ball of light that we call the sun, rises. This red haze gives way to a golden-white sheen as the day advances and reappears when the sun sets in the evening. Does the sun really change colours, or does it only seem so? The explanation lies in-between. Light from the sun consists of three kinds …