How long does it take until paint dries and does the world grow? The kids’ quiz

1. Xander, 3, asks: how long does it take until paint dries?

   1. About 20 minutes

   2. Up to 24 hours

   3. Up to four days

   4. Paint never dries – you have to avoid touching it

2. Max, 7, asks: why does pollution make the Earth bad?

   1. Humans need unpolluted air to breathe healthily

   2. It’s bad for animals and for ecosystems

   3. It increases levels of global heating

   4. All of the above

3. Lena, 8, asks: does the world grow?

   1. Yes, but it’s growing the wrong way and will soon be pear-shaped

   2. No, the size of the Earth has stayed roughly the same for millions of years

   3. Every 1 million years it gets 2cm bigger

   4. No, it’s getting smaller

4. Cody, 9, asks: is the sun a planet?

   1. Yes, but the people there use a lot of suncream

   2. Yes, but astronauts have never been able to visit it because it’s too far away

   3. No, it’s a star

   4. No, but it used to be

5. Scarlett, 8, asks: can you be heard in space?

   1. No, because the astronaut helmet is too thick to allow any sound through it

   2. Yes, but you have to shout really loud

   3. No, you can’t be heard in space

   4. Yes, but only when you're using your mobile phone

Solutions

1:B - There are two main types of paint. Water-based paint can take between one and two hours to dry, but paints based on oil or solvent can take anywhere from eight to 24 hours to be dry to the touch., 2:D - Pollution is bad for all life on Earth, but people all over the world are figuring out ways to fix it. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “super pollutants” including methane and black carbon (soot) are responsible for half of current global temperature increases., 3:B - We used to think the Earth was growing, but research shows it has not significantly changed in size in the last 620 million years., 4:C - The sun is a star. It’s about 100 times bigger than Earth, and about 10 times wider than Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system. It’s a 4.5 billion-year-old dwarf star., 5:C - On Earth, sound waves travel by moving through a medium such as air or water, causing particles to vibrate. In space, there is no atmosphere containing the particles sound needs to travel, so you can’t be heard in space.

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 podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World.