Why were alarm clocks the first consumer goods to stop being rationed during World War 2? Because, as you would expect, people couldn’t wake up in time to work. People have used many different methods to wake themselves up over the centuries. Some people relied on church bells. Some people used elaborate systems with candles […]
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
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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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Where did the circus come from? The modern circus was invented in 1768, but the idea of a show in an amphitheater goes back thousands of years. The word “circus” comes from Greek, through Latin into English. It simply means “ring” or “circle” and the Romans used them to show horse and chariot races, battle
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How are tower cranes assembled? By raising themselves up and adding in a piece at a time. There are many different types of cranes, but they are divided into two categories: mobile and fixed. We are looking at the cranes that are used to build skyscrapers today, and they are fixed tower cranes. Any type
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Why does an elastic band stretch? Because it is made of long chains of polymers that would rather be tangled together than straight. Rubber is famous for its ability to expand and return to its original size without any damage. There are natural rubbers and synthetic rubbers. The English word “rubber” was first used in
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How does antibiotic resistance happen? Bacteria develop the ability to survive an antibiotic, which is then passed on to future generations. The antibacterial power of some moulds has been known about since 1874, possibly even earlier. In 1897, Ernest Duchesne published a paper about the ability of moulds to kill bacteria. Alexander Fleming noticed that
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How does a skeleton key work? By removing all of the parts that would get caught on the wards. Skeleton keys are also known as pass keys or master keys. They are called “skeleton keys” because all of the main parts of the key have been stripped off and only the skeleton is left. People
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When did supermarkets start? The first supermarket was opened in 1916. Most of us don’t think twice about pushing a cart around a supermarket and then heading to the cash register to pay. However, that is a concept that is only slightly over 100 years old. A few changes in society had to happen before
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How do reflexes work? They work by using a reflex arc that bypasses the brain. There are many different types of reflex, but they are generally meant to protect us and to allow us to move around without having to think about everything. Our brains have a limited amount of processing space and if we
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