Science Outside the Square

When Farmer Brown died, he left 17 horses to his three daughters. His will stated that he wanted the eldest to have half the horses, the second eldest to have a third, and the youngest a ninth. “Oh dear,” said the eldest. We can’t divide 17 horses that way; we’d have to chop one of them up!” “That’s terrible!” cried the second eldest. “The only solution is to sell the horses and share out the money according to Father’s wishes.” But the youngest was much cleverer than her sisters. “I know how we can solve this,” she said, “but first we must borrow something from Farmer Smith.

What did she want to borrow and why?

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Check out The Science Spot Kid Zone for all sorts of information and activities developed specifically by a Science teacher for students of your age.

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Do you know what these objects are?

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Sunlight is actually a mixture of all the colours of the rainbow. These colours have different wavelengths and behave slightly differently. Blue light has a shorter wavelength and is bent (refracted) and scattered more. When we look up, we see this scattered light as a blue “glow” coming from above. For a more detailed explanation, plus why sunsets are red, go to this site.

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A hunter set out to shoot a bear. He walked from his camp 10 km to the South and then a further 6 km to the East. At this point he found a bear, shot it, and decided to walk back to the camp. After consulting his map, he realised that he could take a 10 km route in a straight line to reach the camp. What colour was the bear?

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