Sunspots

Sometimes if you look at the sun with the right kind of telescope, you can see dark spots on the sun.

This is caused by the magnetic field around the sun causing problems on the photosphere.

It creates some cold spots no the sun.
The normal temperature of the photosphere is over 10,000 degrees F, and the temperature of the sunspots can get below 5,000 degrees F.

That's still way hotter than Earth, but the difference in temperature makes a dark spot on the sun, and we call that a sunspot.

(from: wikipedia - sunspot)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Canopus

Spanish - September, October

Let's keep learning the months of the year in Spanish!

We've learned that January, February is Enero, Febrero, March, April are Marzo, Abril, May, June is Mayo, Junio and July, August is Julio, Agosto.

September - Septiembre - sounds like sep-tee-em-b-day /?/

October - Octubre - sounds like oh-k-too-b-day /?/


(from: wikipedia - Association of Spanish Language Academies)

Do you remember how to say it in French?
French - Septembre, Octobre

Gold

We just learned about the weird liquid metal called Mercury

Another chemical element is Gold, called "Au" for short (from the latin word "aurum") on the Periodic Table.

Gold is a very valuable metal, and we use it a lot in jewelry because it is shiny and pretty.

One of the reasons it works so well in jewelry is because it is the most malleable of all metal.
That means you can smash it with a hammer and it won't break into pieces, it will just flatten or change shape, kind of like a really hard piece of clay.

Gold also does not change when it is out in the air or when it gets wet, like the way that copper turns green unless it is polished all the time.

It is also a very good conductor of electricity, so it is used in computers and circuits a lot.

Because gold has so many uses and is so pretty, it has been used as money in the past.
People still will pay lots of money for gold no matter where in the world you are.

(from: wikipedia - gold)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Electrical Conductivity

Butterfly Eggs

We just learned about Mosquito Larvae

Let's learn about something pretty like butterflies!

Butterflies are beautiful creatures, and we know they come from caterpillars, but how?

Butterflies lay eggs on to a leaf, and the eggs stick to the leaf with a special glue. The eggs are protected by a hard outer shell called the chorion, and they are made waterproof with some wax.

The eggs usually hatch in a few weeks. If the eggs are laid close to winter time, they will hatch in the spring.

(from: wikipedia - butterfly)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rooster Comb

Stomach - Pylorus

After the food is all mushed up into chyme, it slowly goes out of your stomach into a tube called the pylorus.

Your stomach's job of mushing up all the food is done, so now it's time for your body to do something with all that mushed up food and it sends it down the tube.

(from: wikipedia - pylorus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Triceps

Cameroon

Cameroon is a country in Africa on the West coast, right on the Pacific Ocean.

(from: wikipedia - cameroon)

Just like Ghana, the Cameroon flag has the colors green, red and yellow..
These are sometimes known as the Pan African colors, and countries in Africa share them to show that they are all together in Africa.

The flag has a green stripe for the forests, a red stripe for unity (which means working together), a yellow stripe for the sun and desert, and a yellow star in the middle which also stands for unity.

(from: wikipedia - flag of cameroon)

To eat in Cameroon you might have ndolé, which is a stew of nuts, bitter leaves, and fish or beef.

(from: wikipedia - ndolé)

There is an active volcano called Mount Cameroon that erupts from time to time. The last time it erupted was in 2012.

(from: wikipedia - mount cameroon)

A musical instrument in Cameroon is called the Bamileke drum.

(from: wikipedia - bamileke)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Greece

Love your Enemy

During Jesus' Sermon on the Mount he told his follows that they should not hate their enemies, but instead should love their enemies.

This can be difficult to do, but God loves all of us.
It can be really easy to love the people who love us back, but to love even our enemies helps us to understand how God loves all of us.

(from: wikipedia - sermon on the mount)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Books of Poetry