Kids Science Trivia
Mammoth Cave, Spinning
Jenny
Introduction
Science Trivia page
includes information about the discovery of Pluto, how caves develop, Mammoth
Cave, bones of the human skeleton, Genghis Khan, industrial revolution and much
more.
PLUTO
Pluto was discovered
in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh an American astronomer because it was thought a
planet had disturbed the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. It was considered the
ninth planet until 2006 when it was renamed a dwarf planet.
11-year old girl names Pluto
Venetia Burney, an
11-year-old schoolgirl in Oxford, England submitted the name Pluto. She
suggested the name became Pluto comes from the name of the god of the
Underworld in Roman mythology. Pluto was given this name because it is so far
from the Sun that it is in perpetual darkness.
Native American Sinagua farmers lived in
these
caves near Sedona, Arizona. Myrna Martin
CAVES
Caves are holes in
the ground that are usually hollowed out by water. Rainwater trickles through
the caves dissolving the minerals in the rocks. The dissolving minerals form
pockets, hollows and tunnels usually in the rocks. Caves form when there is
adequate precipitation, enough plants and animals producing carbon dioxide and
gentle hills that allow the water to drain slowly. The caves in the picture
above were sand in sandstone. Native American farmers built homes in the caves
and lived there from A.D. 1200 – 1450.
MAMMOTH CAVE
Mammoth Cave
was discovered in 1799 and is the longest known cave system in the world. The
entire cave system has 560 km of caves and passages. The longest underwater
cave system in the world is the Nohoch Nah Chich system in Mexico. Over 51 km
of underwater passages have been mapped.
SKELETON
The skeleton is
the bones that provide the framework supporting the body and hold the different
parts together. There are 206 bones in the adult human body. The baby’s
skeleton contains 300 or more bones. Some of these bones fuse (join) together
as the baby grows.
GENGHIS KHAN
Genghis Khan
was one of the most feared conquerors in history. He was a Mongol leader whose
name means “lord of all.” Genghis Khan
led an army of 250,000 men. His army had more than one million horses. The
soldiers lived on a diet of smoked sheep meat and dried milk. The Mongol Empire
as the largest continuous land empire of all time.
The spinning jenny was
created
in 1764 by a Lancashire weaver.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
The
Industrial Revolution began with the invention of machines like the spinning
jenny, water wheel, and steam engines that drove machines. The spinning jenny
was created in 1764 by a Lancashire weaver. It was designed to help cottage
weavers to quickly spin wool or cotton fibers into yarn or thread. His design
used lots of spindles at once turned by a single wheel. A seed drill was
invented that made holes and planted seeds in them. This process greatly
speeded up the planting process for farmers.
STEAM ENGINE
The steam
engine was developed in the 1780s by James Watt to drive machines with steam
instead of water. The steam engine quickly replaced water as the main source of
power in factories. The discovery in 1784 by Henry Cort of a method to remove
impurities in cast iron to make wrought iron. Wrought iron became a key
material that fueled the Industrial Revolution.
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Science Trivia Science page includes information about the discovery of Pluto, cave formation, Mammoth Cave, bones of the human skeleton, Genghis Khan, industrial revolution, spinning jenny and much more science trivia.
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