How do rockets take off and why do we have windy days? Try our kids’ quiz

1. Eliza, 6, asks: how do rockets take off?

   1. By catching the wind at the right moment

   2. By spinning their giant propellers

   3. By burning fuel

   4. They are sucked up into space by a strong magnetic force

2. Thomas, 6, asks: how did the Egyptians build the pyramids?

   1. By hauling the stone blocks up ramps

   2. With ancient magic that put a spell on the stones

   3. With incredibly powerful tractors

   4. By carving them out of mountains

3. Cosmo, 5, asks: why do we have windy days?

   1. Clouds brushing against each other cause windy days

   2. When warm air rises, cold air moves down to take its place, which creates wind

   3. We have windy days when the Earth is turning faster than usual

   4. Windy days happen when people across the world are farting at the same time

4. Carl, 8, asks: who was the first person to build a robot?

   1. English scientist Charles Darwin

   2. Engineer George Devol from Kentucky, US

   3. German-born scientist Albert Einstein

   4. Italian artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci

5. Jocelyn, 5, asks: how long do mushrooms live for?

   1. Up to thousands of years

   2. Up to 2 years

   3. Up to one month

   4. Up to 2 days

Solutions

1:C - To take off, rockets burn up lots of fuel. This makes the rocket release flames and hot gases, which push against the ground and cause it to travel upwards., 2:A - Archaeologists are still unsure how the Egyptians built the pyramids, but most people agree that their huge stone blocks were hauled up ramps using sledges, rollers and levers., 3:B - The air is made up of billions of tiny particles. These particles move up and out when they heat up, so cooler air particles sink down to fill the space. This movement of particles causes the wind., 4:B - Human-like remote-controlled robots were developed in the 1920s, but the first digitally operated and programmable robot was created in the 1950s by inventor George Devol for use in industry., 5:A - The visible head of a mushroom lives for a few weeks, but the underground fungal network that creates it can live for thousands of years! A honey fungus in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, in the US, is estimated to be around 2,000 years old – but scientists say it could be as old as 8,650 years.

Scores

1. 5 and above.

2. 4 and above.

3. 3 and above.

4. 2 and above.

5. 0 and above.

6. 1 and above.

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a weekly podcast answering children’s questions, out now as a book.

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