What causes the monsoon? The monsoons are caused by a wind change between the seasons. When we picture a monsoon, many of us think of the monsoon season that comes to India every year, but India isn’t the only country to get a monsoon. Monsoons occur across most of Southern Asia and Northern Australia. Across […]
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Why is Mexico City sinking? Mexico City is sinking because they are pumping more water out of the underground aquifer than can be replaced. Mexico City is the capital of Mexico, and it has a population of almost 22 million people, which is over 17% of the population of Mexico. Since the beginning of the
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What is the Mercator projection? It is a map projection that tries to put the countries from a sphere onto a rectangle. Almost all world maps you see, and all of the ones we learned about at school, use the Mercator projection. Because of this, we all have a distorted view of how big countries
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How do animals sense earthquakes? No one actually knows how animals can sense earthquakes. They might be able to hear them. Possibly they can smell them. It could be that they sense the changing pressure. The surface of our planet is constantly moving and there are several hundred earthquakes a day. Many of them are
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What are the doldrums? They are an area of windless ocean where sailing ships used to get stuck. The doldrums are not a problem for modern shipping because they don’t rely on wind power. They are a problem for yachts and other types of sailing boats. A Salvadoran fisherman called Jose Salvador Alvarenga spent 14
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How quickly does a river cut through rock? It depends on the type of rock, the material the water is carrying, the amount of water, the speed of the water, and the acidity of the water. This is not a simple question. When we think about the erosive power of water we often think of
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What was Antarctica like before the snow? Before it froze, Antarctica was a tropical forest with large trees and a lot of wildlife. First, we need to settle the difference between the Antarctic and the Arctic. It can be difficult to remember which is which, at least for me. It gets easier when you learn
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What is a megalopolis? There is no specific number of people, but it is an extremely large group of cities that are joined together by their transport, economy, resources, and other things. The number of megalopolises is increasing year by year as more and more people move into urban areas. A city that has over
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What is a failed state? It is a state that can no longer control its own security and does not have control over its territory, borders, economy, and people. The expression “failed state” hasn’t been used since 2014 because it has the nuance that a state cannot be saved. The correct expression is “Fragile State”.
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What is asbestos? Asbestos is a material made of lots of mineral fibers. It can be woven into shapes and it is fire-resistant. Asbestos is a natural mineral that is mined and then processed. There are six different types of asbestos, and they are divided into two categories: amphibole and serpentine. The fibers in the
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