210 items in this section. Displaying page 21 of 21
Why Do Horses Need Shoes?
Clip-clop, clip-clop goes a horse on the road. If you look carefully you will see that it walks on the tips of its toes – like a ballet dancer. Walking on tiptoe for a long time is difficult for us, but horses find it the easiest thing to do. The foot of a horse is divided into a toe with a broad tip. While other animals have nails and claws, the horse has a hoof surrounding the toe....
Why do Ears Pop?
Recently I went to the top of a skyscraper in a lift. After I had gone up a few stories, I felt a funny sensation in my ears. My eardrums seemed like they were growing and were about to burst. As I went a little higher, the sensation was worse. My fellow passengers in the lift told me to swallow a few times. This would help the sensation pass, they said. And, it did. This happens to a lot of people when they are flying, or skiing downhill at very high speeds, or going deep into a mine well....
The Colours of Light
A beam of light seems to have no colour. Actually, it is made up of coloured rays. Usually, these coloured rays combine to form the white light. But it is possible to see the different colours at certain times. For instance, when it rains and the sun’s rays pass through raindrops. Since the raindrop has many sides or surfaces, the rays split up into a fanshape of different colours. And we see the rainbow. Violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red....
Why Do Stars Twinkle?
Watching stars on a moonless night can be an quite an interesting experience. As clusters of stars take familiar forms – of a bear, a man in armor wielding a sword, millions of other stars simply twinkle. As if they were playing hide and seek with one’s eyes. We all know that each star is actually like the sun. And the huge collection of stars on the night sky is like a collection of many, many suns....
How Does Dew Form?
Remember walking to the school or the bus stop on a cold wintry morning? You can see the beautiful crystal drops of dew, and if you happen to be on the grass, they could well be soaking your shoes. Ever wondered why there is no dew in the summer or rainy seasons? Well, special as it looks, dew needs special conditions to form as well. When a warm and clear day is followed by a cool evening and night, which is clear (cloudless), dew is formed....
Why Do Turtles and Tortoises Live So Long?
Turtles and tortoises have been on planet Earth even before the dinosaurs. They are that old. The difference between a turtle and tortoise is that the turtle stays in water while the tortoise stays on land. But both creatures have one thing in common: they live to a ripe old age, from 120 years to almost 200 years! Some of them are huge, like the giant tortoises of the Galapagos Islands – they weigh beyond 200 kg; their shells are more than a metre long....
Why Do Plants Bear Fruit?
Do you like fruits? Have you ever wondered why plants produce fruits? Is it only because nature wants you to enjoy eating its fruits and sing its praises? The answer is no. Plants are much smarter than what you think they are. They actually use human beings, animals and birds who eat their fruits to propagate their kind. In other words, disperse their seeds. The fruit serves as a mother’s womb where the embryo of a baby plant is nurtured....
Why Do Rabbits have Buck Teeth?
What is it that makes every child remember Bugs Bunny? Its toothy smile of course! All rabbits have huge buck teeth in front, and with good reason. Being vegetarians they have to make a meal of leaf, grass, or vegetable. The plants, on their part, are very smart. Over a period of time they have developed ways of protecting their leaves from such animals, for they need leaves to make their own food. Why Do Rabbits have Buck Teeth?...
Why are Some Plants Non-vegetarian?
Are you scared of going to the forest because you think there are man-eating tigers in the forest? What would you do if there were man-eating plants too? Don’t worry. Man-eating plants do not exist. But insect and animal-eating plants do. They are what you would call non-vegetarian plants. In fact, there are 500 varieties of plant species that trap prey and eat it. The most famous among these carnivorous plants are sundews, pitcher plants, bladderworts and the Venus flytrap....
Why do we See a Face on the Moon
When people say that they see a man’s face on the Moon, they are actually seeing the uneven surface on the Moon. There are deep holes, called craters, and hills on the Moon’s surface. There is no man on the Moon. That the Moon is much smaller than the stars and even the earth. In fact, four moons put together would make one earth. The Moon looks big because it is much closer to us in comparison to the stars....
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