Now, as the heading says this article of mine is going to be very different and I shall tell you why…
Mainly because everyone is posting articles about the current situation in the country or something related to it. Do not get me wrong that is very important, but I think we can all take a break from it for at least 10 minutes.
I am going to use my last article to talk about all the simple, yet unexplained phenomenon’s in the natural world. The inspiration is from a question my 8-year-old cousin asked me not too long ago. As all good questions, his started with a why? And this was the question:
Why is the sky blue?
Now I am sure many of you know the answer to this, because of science, and because it piqued your curiosity when you were younger. So, you found out.
Some of you may think it is because the sea is reflected into the sky, thus making it blue. But then why isn’t the sky above land brown or green? No, it is not because majority of the Earth’s surface is the blue sea. (Believe it or not, this is what I thought too!) That answer has been proven wrong. Read on to find out the REAL answer.
However simple questions may be one must always find an answer. That is how the human mind works.
Now this question got me thinking about the other things in our lives that we just take for granted but never really take notice off or find out the history. So, I have decided that I will be answering some of the most obvious things in the world, but never really knew why.
1. Why is the sky blue? The sky is blue because air molecules in our atmosphere filter blue light out of the colour spectrum.
2. Why do I remember things? Every time you experience something new, electrical charges fire through the white matter in your brain, creating chemical links that form a network of pathways out of neurons.
3. Why is yawning contagious? Researchers believe that yawning is just another way humans reinforce social bonds between people.
4. Why does chopping onions make me cry? Slicing into an onion releases a cloud of chemicals that react to form a burning chemical with a real mouthful of a name.
5. Why do they say money makes the world go around? Because it buys just about everything we need to survive: food, homes, gas for our cars, electricity, heat, water and cookies-and-cream milk shakes (okay that last one isn’t a necessity, but you get the idea). People invest money in stocks, bank savings plans, property and their education to eventually make more money.
Still interested? Well then, there are millions of websites on the internet answering many, many more of these normal, but unknown facts. As they say, google it!
By Sanchana Hiththatiyage, Farringtons School
