The human being is, by nature, an extremely curious species. That, together with our marvelous brain, is what you have not allowed to evolve.
Curiosity is innate since childhood, and that leads us to ask ourselves all kinds of questions. Sometimes they are very simple and straightforward, but they are not easy to understand. And we don’t always bother looking for the answer.
One of the most recurrent is: Why is the sky blue? But there are many others. We will try to answer 10 curious questions about nature. How many can you guess on your own?
We have tried to explain everything in simple language, for the whole world to understand, without delving into technical or scientific concepts.
The point is that we never have to ask ourselves these questions again …
Curious questions about Nature
Why is the sky blue?
It is one of the questions that children ask the most, but that many adults do not know how to answer: Why is the sky blue?
Although we see sunlight as white light, in reality light is made up of all the colors of the rainbow.
When the sun’s rays reach Earth, they penetrate the atmosphere, which is made up of gases and particles.
Light is scattered when it hits these particles, separating into the different colors, similar to what happens when light passes through a prism:
Light travels through waves, and each color has a different wavelength.
Blue light has the shortest waves, and this makes will be dispersed more than the rest throughout the atmosphere. That is why the sky has a predominant blue color.
Why is the sunset red?
The previous explanation helps us to answer another curious question about Nature. Why are sunsets red and orange?
We have seen how the atmosphere scatters the colors that make up light. When the Sun is higher, at dawn or during the day, blue light is the most scattered, having a shorter wave, and therefore more is seen.
At sunset, the sun has changed position and its light has to pass through more atmosphere to reach our eyes. This causes the blue light to scatter so much that it almost fades, and red and yellow break through, becoming the predominant colors.
We already know that the color of the sky depends on the atmosphere. As on Mars the atmosphere is much thinner and has different particles, during the day the sky is orange there, and the sunset is blue …
Why is it that if the Earth is round, no one is upside down or falls “down”?
Yes the earth is round (it is actually spherical), Why do we see everything flat? Why are those who live at the South Pole not upside down, or not they fall?
Indeed, the Earth is spherical, but no one it falls why the force of gravity pulls us to the ground. It is a force that increases with mass, so no matter how big the object is, it will never be able to escape gravity unless a greater counter force is used, like making rockets in spaceships.
Human beings see the flat Earth because we are tiny, compared to Earth. We cover very little terrain with our eyes, and that is why it seems flat to us. But it is enough to ascend to about 10,000 meters with a plane, to see the roundness of the Earth.
Finally, the people of the South Pole, or Argentina for example, do not fall down, why in space there is no up or down. We humans create these artificial references, to guide us.
But the Universe is a 3D space, and when we leave the Earth in a space suit, for example, it is enough to float upside down so that Argentina is above, and Alaska is below … Who should fall down so?
Why do the hours have 60 minutes?
We count in base 10, that is, we use 10 numbers, according to the number of fingers. Then, Why does an hour have 60 minutes and a minute, 60 seconds?
Thousands of years ago the Sumerians and Babylonians used the base 60, with 60 different numbers. They also counted on their fingers, but 10 were too small for them, so they used a curious trick.
If you pay attention, the fingers are divided into three parts, the phalanges (except the thumb which has two):
The Babylonians counted by touching the phalanges of the other 4 fingers with the thumb, and as each finger has 3 phalanges, in total they are 4 x 3 = 12. Each time they completed the hand they raised a finger of the other hand, and since there are 5 , in total they are 5 x 12 = 60 phalanges.
This system lasted for millennia. The Romans used it in some tasks because they didn’t like decimals, and 60 is a very divisible number. It can be divided by 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 without decimals.
It was not until the 16th century that clocks were manufactured that were accurate enough to measure minutes and seconds.
Then it was decided to adopt the measurements of the Greek astronomer Ptolemy, who used base 60 to count and had divided an hour into 60 small parts, which were called minutiae primae. In turn, they were divided into another 60 parts, called minutiae secundae.
This is the origin of the minutes and seconds.
Why do the seasons exist?
Many people think that it is summer when we are closest to the Sun, and that is why it is hotter, and it is winter when we are further away. But it’s not like that.
In the Northern Hemisphere it is summer when we are farthest away, and winter when we are closest. This relative distance to the Sun is negligible, compared to the total distance from the Sun to Earth.
What causes the seasons is the tilted axis of the Earth:
The Earth is tilted. It is believed that by the collision with a large meteorite, and the ejected material gave rise to the Moon.
Being inclined on its axis, the sun’s rays strike with different force and angle in different areas of the Earth.
As the Earth revolves around the Sun, depending on the position at different times of the year, each area of the planet receives a different amount of light, giving rise to the seasons. When in the Northern Hemisphere it is winter, in the Southern Hemisphere it is summer, and vice versa. If in one hemisphere it is autumn, in another it is spring.
Why are all the planets round?
The planets of the solar system they are very different from each other. There are rocky ones, there are gaseous ones, with rings, bigger or smaller … They practically only have one thing in common: they are all round.
Other planets outside the Solar System that we know of (exoplanets) are, too. Why?
The cause is the gravity, which is a universal law that applies throughout the universe.
Almost all the planets formed when scattered matter of the universe was gathering. When that matter reaches a certain mass, gravity appears, attracting everything near that mass.
Gravity attracts from all sides at the same time in 3D space, and the only geometric shape that is the same on all sides is the sphereThat is why over millions of years, with the help of gravity and rotation, the planets become round.
Other celestial bodies, such as meteorites, they are not round because they are very small, and their gravity is very low, they do not exert enough attraction.
Why do we sometimes see the Moon during the day?
Surely sometime, when looking at the sky, you have wondered why can you see the moon, if it is daytime.
We associate the Moon with the night, but in reality they have no relationship.
The Moon is always there, in the sky. At least 6 hours, during the day. But the Moon does not emit light, but reflects that of the Sun.
So depending on the position of the Sun and the Moon itself based on their orbits, there are days when the Sun illuminates the Moon and we can see it at sunrise and sunset. At other times the Sun does not illuminate it and we do not see it, but it is still there …
Why are the sea salty and the rivers sweet?
Most of the water on our planet comes from the rains that the clouds produce formed by the different gases that our atmosphere has.
East rain water mixes with carbon dioxide in the air, forming carbonic acid. Said acid erode rocks, dragging mineral salts that end up in the rivers. And from the rivers, to the sea.
Through millions of years, these mineral salts have been accumulating in the sea, and due to its high concentration, it makes seawater taste salty.
On the contrary, the river water is sweet despite the fact that it transports the salts from the rocks towards the sea, precisely because these salts do not accumulate.
The same happens with lakes, which although they seem stagnant, they are not, the water always has outlets or seeps under the ground that prevent salts from accumulating.
Why do we walk on two legs?
Human beings are practically the only mammal that walks on two legs (legs). For what is this?
The truth is scientists don’t know yet. Some theories say that when the first hominids left the forest and trees to enter the savannah, needed stand to see further, above the herbs.
Others claim that it is to save energy, or because the brain more advanced than other mammals encouraged us to use hands for more than just supporting them on all fours.
The reality is that this change has made us what we are. The females had to modify the pelvis to support the full weight, leaving less room for Exit of babies. Children had to be born with a smaller head and less formed brain, that’s why They take years to develop, reinforcing the family bond.
And having our hands free and a creative brain made us learn to use them to create tools, giving rise to technology.
Why do men have nipples?
In mammals, the nipples are used to suckle the young. Therefore, they only have functionality in females.
If they are of no use,why in millions of years of evolution, men have not lost their nipples?
The reason is that nipples develop very early in the fetus, before the Y chromosome intervenes, which is the one that decides the sex of the baby.
When the sex is fixed, the nipples are already developing, and there they stay …
We have seen 10 curious questions about Nature.