How old are the Easter Island statues and why do you burp after fizzy drinks? The kids’ quiz

1. Ben, 8, asks: how old are the Easter Island statues?

   1. The oldest are nearly 800 years old

   2. They are roughly 80 years old

   3. They are about 8,000 years old

   4. They were made by alien civilisations, so there is no way of knowing

2. Aariya, 8, asks: why do fizzy drinks make you burp?

   1. Fizzy drinks are very noisy drinks – they love making burp sounds

   2. The bubbles tickle your stomach, and a burp is like a tummy laugh

   3. They don’t! You are very unusual if they make you burp

   4. Carbon dioxide in the drink builds up in your stomach and is released as a burp

3. Finn, 9, asks: why can you see your breath in the cold?

   1. This only happens if you’re related to dragons

   2. It helps adults track you so you get to school on time

   3. Your moist breath turns from gas to tiny water droplets, as cold air cannot hold as much moisture

   4. It’s magic!

4. Sofia, 8, asks: which bird lays an egg the same size as itself?

   1. Ostrich

   2. Blackbird

   3. Robin

   4. None – but the kiwi gets very close!

5. Isla, 10, asks: what is the most venomous animal that affects humans?

   1. The box jellyfish

   2. The gila monster

   3. A fluffy bunny rabbit

   4. The cone snail

Solutions

1:A - The Easter Island statues (known as “moai”) were mainly built between 1250 and 1500, so the oldest are nearly 800 years old!, 2:D - Fizzy drinks contain carbon dioxide gas, and these air bubbles build up in your stomach. Sometimes your body can’t process all this gas in one go, so it lets some out as a burp., 3:C - The air we breathe out is quite wet, but the water is in gas form (vapour). When we breathe out on a cold day, the cold air cannot hold as much moisture as warm air, so the water vapour turns to tiny water droplets, which looks like a misty cloud., 4:D - No bird lays an egg the same size as itself, but Guinness World Records says the brown kiwi of New Zealand lays the biggest in proportion to its body size. They can lay eggs weighing almost a quarter of their body mass! That’s like a human giving birth to a four-year-old child., 5:A - The gila monster and cone snail are both highly venomous! However, the box jellyfish is thought to be the most venomous. They live off the north Australian coast and in the Indo-Pacific region. Stick to fluffy rabbits!

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.