Kid Facts - Learn something new every day!

Thursday, July 2, 2020

Locomotion No. 1

We just learned about the Salamanca steam locomotive.

Another famous steam locomotive was called Locomotion No. 1, made by George and Robert Stephenson in 1825 in England.

This was the first steam locomotive that was used to bring people along in passenger cars.

The first time this locomotive was put to the test it hauled 11 wagons of coal, and special passenger carriage, and then 20 more wagons that were filled with people.

The train could go about 12 miles per hour, and it took the people on a 10 mile trip from Shildon to Darlington.

(from: wikipedia - locomotion no. 1)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Machines

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Caracal

We just learned about the Serval.

Another type of wild cat is the Caracal, also called the Persian Lynx.
The name caracal comes from the Turkish words for "Cat with black ears".

This type of cat lives in Africa and Asia.
It has long legs, and long ears with black tufts on the end of them.

Caracals can be almost 2 feet tall, almost 3 feet long, and weigh about 40 pounds.
Their fur can be either light brown or red brown.

These cats are great jumpers, and can jump over 12 feet high!
Sometimes when they are hunting, they can jump into the air and catch a bird as it is flying by.

Long ago in ancient Egypt people used to keep caracals for pets to help with hunting.

(from: wikipedia - caracal)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Bathrocyroe Fosteri

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Far Sightedness

We just learned about the Near Sightedness.

Another type of refractive error that people can have is called Far Sightedness, also called hypermetropia.

If someone is far-sighted that means they can see far away very well, but they can't see up close very well.
An easy way to remember that is that if you are "far-sighted" you are good at seeing far away.

A lot of people become far sighted when they get older, and they can not see up close as well as they used to.
This is one of the reasons that old people will hold something out in their hand with their arm stretched out as far as it can go, because they can see far but not up close.

Older people will also get what are called "reading glasses" meaning that they only wear them when they need to look at something up close like when reading a book.

If someone is young and far sighted then it usually means there is a problem with the shape of their eyeball, or their lens or cornea are not the right shape.
This makes the light coming into the eye not focus on the retina, but focus past it, so it doesn't send the right signals to the brain.

For old people it is because the eye muscles are weaker and can't focus the lens as well as they used to.

(from: wikipedia - far-sightedness)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Frenulum of Lower Lip

Monday, June 29, 2020

Subglacial Lakes

We just learned about the Meltwater.

Another part of Antarctica is the Subglacial Lakes.

We know that sometimes the ice and snow melts and turns into ponds, rivers or lakes.
And sometimes these lakes are way deep down underneath the ice.

Antarctica has hundreds of lakes deep down underneath the glaciers, called "subglacial lakes".

The biggest one that has been discovered is Lake Vostok.
This is down underneath Vostok Station, and the water is over 2 miles below the ice.
Lake Vostok is 160 miles long, 30 miles wide, and 3,000 feet deep.
It has as much water in it as Lake Michigan.

(from: wikipedia - lake vostok)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Palisade

Sunday, June 28, 2020

Basilica of Saint-Denis

We just learned about the Notre-Dame de Paris.

Another part of early Christianity is the building of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, built in 1144 AD in France.

One of the church leaders in France named Abbot Suger was upset that the churches were not big enough to handle all of the people coming to worship, and he also believed that having a beautiful church filled with light and color was a way to show worship to God.

The church that he had people make was the first one that was later called "Gothic" style.
This type of building had 5 special things that made it gothic:

Pointed Arches - The ceilings, windows or roofs would have an arch shape that was pointy at the top.

Ribbed Vaults - The tall hallways in the churches had large supporting beams going back and forth along the ceiling that looked kind of like ribs.

Flying Buttresses - The outside supports that helped hold the building up are called buttresses. For these buildings, they had long buttresses that stuck way out from the church, so they called them flying buttresses.

Tracery - The windows or doors used stone or metal to make shapes.

Stained Glass Windows - Glass that was colored and then framed into windows for artwork and light.

(from: wikipedia - basilica of saint-denis)

(from: wikipedia - flying buttress)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Holy Tunic

Saturday, June 27, 2020

George Washington as President - Alexander Stirling Calder

We just learned about the statue of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark made by Charles Keck.

Another famous statue is George Washington as President, Accompanied by Wisdom and Justice made in New York in 1918 by Alexander Stirling Calder.

Calder's father was a sculptor, and as he grew up he studied art and helped his father with some of his projects.
He went to school in Pennsylvania, and then went to Paris when he was 20 to learn more about sculpture.
After he came back to the United States he became well known for making statues of important people.

In New York City they wanted to make a large arch for the 100th anniversary of George Washington becoming president.
They made it like the other famous arches in Paris and Rome.
Calder was asked to make a marble statue for this arch of Washington as President, and another artist made Washington as Commander in Chief of the military.
Sometimes they call these two statues Washington at Peace and Washington at War.