When were latitude and longitude invented? Latitude in about 600 BC and longitude in AD 1736. Latitude are the horizontal lines that measure your distance to the north or the south of the equator. Longitude are the vertical lines that measure your distance to the east or west of 0, which has been set as […]
#360 When were latitude and longitude invented? Read More »
Why do we say north, east, south, and west? The cardinal directions north, east, south, and west came about because of the position of the sun in the sky. Nobody has any idea when the idea of cardinal directions came about. Early civilizations would have had no need for directions such as north and south
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How did the Polynesians navigate? They used star compasses, maps of waves made using sticks, clouds, the color of the sky, and birds. From about 5,000 years ago, groups of people started to spread out from Taiwan into South East Asia. These were the people we call Polynesians. By 1200 AD, they had spread across
#347 How did the Polynesians navigate? Read More »
Why are diamonds so expensive? Because we believe they should be expensive, not because they are rare. We think that diamonds are expensive because they are rare, but they are not as rare as we think. Diamond is a structure made of carbon atoms that are arranged in a crystal structure. Diamond is one of
#336 Why are diamonds so expensive? Read More »
How do fossils form? They form when the bones of an animal are turned to mineral. A fossil forms when an animal dies in water or falls into water. This water is more commonly an ocean or a lake because for a fossil to form, the sediment at the bottom of the water has to
#333 How do fossils form? Read More »
Can we cover the Sahara Desert in solar panels? Technically, yes. Practically, no. The Sahara Desert is the largest hot desert in the world. It covers 9.2 million km2, which would make it the fifth largest country in the world, if it were a country. It is one of the most exposed areas on Earth
#330 Can we cover the Sahara Desert in solar panels? Read More »
How long has the Sahara been a desert? Possibly for 4.6 million years, but maybe as long as 7 million years., The Sahara goes through a 41,000-year cycle. The Sahara Desert is the largest hot desert on Earth. The largest deserts are actually the Antarctic and the Arctic deserts. The Sahara is 9.2 million square
#318 How long has the Sahara been a desert? Read More »
Where did the names of the continents come from? Generally, from Greek and Latin. There are seven continents and one continent that is almost completely underwater. In order of size, the continents are Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. The submerged eighth continent is Zealandia. The only part of Zealandia that
#313 Where did the names of the continents come from? Read More »
I learned this today. Why are some places more humid than others? It is because they are closer to a large, warm body of water, which causes warm winds and warm air can carry more water vapor than cold air. What is humidity? Humidity is the concentration of water vapor in the air. The air
#283 Why are some places more humid than others? Read More »
I learned this today. The Richter scale is a way of measuring the strength of an earthquake by looking at the height of its seismic wave. The Richter scale was developed in 1935 by Charles Francis Richter. He was an American physicist who was very interested in seismology. He came up with his system because
#256 What is the Richter scale? Read More »
