Page 78 - How It Works - Book of Amazing Answers To Curious Questions, 12

AMAZIG ANSWERS TO CURIOUS QUESTIONS -------------------

Why is the sky

blue and the
grass green?

his is a good question as it's often
Tquoted by folk in response to a question
that they deem either unimportant or
Ifbees are too unanswerable or both, so it's good to have a
scientific answer in your locker to fire back
heavy to fiy, how at them, so here goes. Grass is green
because it contains a pigment known as
chlorophyll, which is used in the process of
come they can? photosynthesis where a plant produces
leads to the question as to why chlorophyll is Why do sharks
sugar in the presence of sunlight. Now this
he idea that bees shouldn't be able to of the atoms in chlorophyll means it absorbs go into a tonic
green? Well, this is because the arrangement
Tfly has been around since the Thirties
when a scientist attempted to calculate the every colour from the Sun except green, state?
lift generated by a bee based on their wing which it reflects. Our eyes see this green
size with relation to body mass. The light and therefore grass is green!
calculations were based on aircraft lift which The sky is blue because of the way light any animals are capable of entering a
describes lift for a fixed wing design. Bees interacts with gasses in our atmosphere. Mtrance-like state called tonic
wings are moving in a complex arrangement Light from the Sun is made up of many immobility whereby they appear dead to
so trying to quantify this with calculations different colours, these all travel as waves their surroundings. In the case of sharks it
based on aircraft proved to be a big mistake. and each colour has an associated has been observed on many different species
High speed photography has shown us wavelength. Our atmosphere is filled with such as the lemon shark, reef shark and tiger
that the bee's ability to fly comes from the atoms and molecules of gas, mainly nitrogen sharks upon simply placing them upside
exotic way in which they flap their wings. and oxygen. When light hits these gas down. During tonic immobility the dorsal fin
The wings do not just go up and down, the molecules some of it may get absorbed and becomes straightened and the breathing and
root of the wing also moves the wing then released again in a different direction. muscle contractions become more relaxed. It
forwards and backwards so the tips of the The colour which is radiated will be the same is such a reliable behaviour in certain sharks
wing move in an oval-type way. The colour that was absorbed; however, some that it is used as a type of anaesthesia before
incredible speed at which the wings perform colours are more susceptible to this minor surgery.
this complicated movement creates air absorption and re-emission. It turns out that Some killer whales have learned to take
currents which are strong enough to allow the wavelength of light corresponding to the advantage of this by using their tails to
for the bee to fly. colour blue is absorbed more often than any create currents in the water that can turn a
of the other colours. This process is called shark over in order to eat it. The reason this
Rayleigh scattering (after the physicist Lord happens to sharks is unclear, but it can be
John Rayleigh). The reason we see a blue sky argued that tonic immobility has a role to
The bee's ability to is because the shorter wavelength 'blue' light play in survival, allowing the shark to blend
is scattered in all directions whereas the
into the surroundings by being completely
fly comes from the other colours are scattered much less. This motionless, but in this case it's obviously a
blue light is travelling in more directions than
disadvantage for the shark. It has also been
exotic way in which the other colours and whichever direction speculated that it may be something to do
you look, some of this blue light will be
with the mating ritual of certain shark
they flap their wings reaching you. Next time someone asks you, species as in some cases it can be induced
by massage.
you'll know.

What is an Indian summer? pushes air towards areas of low
pressure which makes wind. Due to the
he definition of an Indian summer is from a Frenchman who lived in America rotation of the Earth, these winds rotate
Ta period of mild sunny weather that called John de Crevecoeur who counter-clockwise about the northern
is out of season. The term is commonly mentioned it in a letter. The term had hemisphere and can sometimes curve
used to describe a sunny spell which spread to Britain by the 19th Century. south, picking up warmer air, bringing it
can occur after the first frost. The first Indian summers are caused by stalled further north and making it
recorded usage of the term was in 1778, high pressure. This high pressure unseasonably warm.

78 How It TtOrks WorldMags.net
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