Kids Questions & Answers

The compound zinc oxide (ZnO) is called philosopher’s wool. Alchemists, as part of their rituals, would burn zinc in air and collect the residue, which formed into white woolly tufts. They called it lana philosophica in Latin, meaning philosopher’s wool. Zinc oxide has many uses: as white pigment in paints, component in zinc ointment for treating skin diseases, material in …

It is a feeling of fatness, much after a person has lost weight. The overweight person’s mind is still not accustomed to the new, leaner body, and continues to perceive the body as fat. This perception is called phantom fat. That is because the mind is not yet used to the internal body image. It is easier to lose fat …

Pesticide remains in vegetables can cause neurological and blood disorders, lung ailments and affect the reproductive system of women. Agriculture workers are as prone to risks as consumers. Prolonged exposure to raw pesticides (common among agricultural workers) or consumption of pesticide-infected vegetables can result in leukaemia and cancer of the skin, lips, stomach and prostrate. Complaints of chronic fatigue, excessive …

In cold countries, the soil freezes hard in winter. In summer, the top few centimeters may thaw, while lower down the stays frozen. This permanently frozen soil is called permafrost. Several extinct woolly mammoths, which died about 45,000 years ago, have been dug out of the permafrost in Siberia. The meat of one of them, preserved in this natural refrigerator, …

There are two types of immunity for infectious microorganisms: active immunity and passive immunity. Passive immunity is provided by artificial means such as injections of antibodies and vaccines. The agents used for passive immunity include antibodies from humans or animals.

It refers to the argument put forward by famous French mathematician Blaise Pascal to help a person arrive at a decision on the existence of God. You’d better believe in God, Pascal argued, because if you are right, you stand to gain eternal bliss and if you are wrong, it won’t make any difference, anyway. But if you don’t believe …

The term parthenocarpy originates from the Greek words ‘parthenos’ meaning virgin and ‘karpos’ meaning fruit. It refers to the production and development of seedless fruits. It has become important because: 1. Seeds are irritants when eating fruits. 2. Processing fruits requires removal of seeds; hence seedless fruits are desired. Parthenocarpy is of two types. Vegetative parthenocarpy: when seedless fruits develop …

It is a term to describe a range of nervous diseases in which the main symptoms are trembling and weakness of the muscles. It develops very slowly as a rule, often starting with a slight tremor in the hands, and progresses to a more widespread muscular debility.

Vilfredo Pareto was an Italian engineer-sociologist who, in the 19th century, studied the number of people in various income classes and represented his findings in diagrams. His conclusion was that 80% of the total wealth in the world is owned by 20% of people and that 20% of wealth is owned by 80% of people. A similar pattern is observed …

Large blocks of floating ice, called pack ice, cover much of the Arctic Ocean and the seas around Antarctica. Pack ice was a problem for explorers. In 1915, the Endurance, the ship used by Sir Ernest Shackleton to reach Antarctica, was crushed by pack ice and sank. The first ship to reach the North Pole was the Russian atomic icebreaker …