Evaporation

We've learned that clouds are tiny bits of liquid water or ice floating in the part of our sky called the troposphere.
And we know that when there is water in the air that is not like tiny ice or water drops, that is called water vapor.

One way that water vapor is made is by something called evaporation.

Remember that water and air are all just tiny bunches of little things called molecules.

If you have a glass of water, there are water molecules in the glass, glass molecules around the water, and air molecules above the water.

You can think of water molecules sometimes as crazy little balls of energy that don't want to sit still.
The only way you can make them stay still is to trap them with other molecules like the ones that make a glass.

When you have dry air that is next to water, the water really wants to go jump to where the air is.
So the water molecules right at the top of the glass get really excited and then shoot off into the air.
When they shoot off into the air, they make the air a little more humid, and they create water vapor.
This happens over and over and over until the air is really humid and wet, then the water doesn't want to jump out anymore.

This isn't something you can see happening with your eyes, but we can tell it happens by watching the water disappear from a glass very slowly over time and then measuring the air for humidity.

The excited water shooting out of the glass into the air is called evaporation.

When the sun is heating up the oceans and lakes, lots and lots of water gets excited, and evaporates into the water vapor that creates clouds.

(from: wikipedia - evaporation)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lava Domes

Spider Eyes

We've learned that a spider's body is split up into the cephalothorax and abdomen.
A spider's eyes are on the cephalothorax.

There are so many spiders out there it's hard to keep track of what they are.
Even looking close sometimes it's very hard to tell the difference between two types of spiders.

One of the best ways to figure out what type of spider you're looking at is to look at the size, shape and place where it's eyes are.
Most spiders have eight eyes, but there are a few types of spiders that have six, four or two eyes.

The Caponiidae spider is one of the few spiders that has only two eyes.

(from: wikipedia - caponiidae)

Some spiders have big front eyes, and smaller eyes next to them

(from: wikipedia - jumping spider)

Some have small eyes up on their back.

(from: wikipedia - jumping spider)

And some spiders have two rows of eyes, one row right above the other.

(from: wikipedia - dolomedes)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Albatross

Rectum

We've now learn how food goes up the ascending colon on the right side of your body, across your transverse colon and down your descending colon and over to the middle at your sigmoid colon.

We've learned that feces is a fancy word for poop, or sometimes we say bodily waste.

When the bodily waste gets to your sigmoid colon, it goes down to the very last part of your colon called your rectum.
The rectum has nerve senses in it that send a message to your brain telling you that it's time to go to the bathroom.

When you go to the bathroom, your rectum pushes out the bodily waste, and you are finally done digesting the food that started all the way up in your esophagus!

(from: wikipedia - rectum)



Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lumbrical Hand Muscles

Arizona

We just learned about the US State of Alaska

Let's learn about the US State of Arizona!

Arizona is a US state in the far southwestern part of the US.
It borders Mexico on the south side of the state.

It's sometimes called The Grand Canyon State and The Copper State
It's state motto is Ditat Deus, which means God Enriches.

(from: wikipedia - arizona)

Arizona's flag has 13 red and yellow stripes like sun's rays, for the 13 original states.
The red and yellow are for Arizona's sunsets.
There is a copper star for the mining, and the blue color is for the Colorado River.


(from: wikipedia - flag of arizona)

The state seal has the year 1912 when Arizona became a state, and a mountain range with the sun rising behind it.
It has water and a dam, with fields and orchards.
There are cows, and a miner with pick and shovel.


(from: wikipedia - seal of arizona)

The Grand Canyon is a gigantic deep long canyon in Arizona that many people travel to see the natural beauty.

(from: wikipedia - grand canyon)

In the northwest part of Arizona, there is a place called the Four Corners.
It is the spot where the states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico all meet.
If you stand right on top of the four corners spot, you can be standing in four different states all at the same time.

(from: wikipedia - quadripoint)

There is a place in Arizona called the Petrified Forest. Some wood from a very old forest is so old that it has become hard like a rock, and you can find old logs that are just rocks like fossils!

(from: wikipedia - petrified forest national park)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Switzerland

Parable of the Rich Fool

We've learned about Jesus' teaching stories called the Parable of the Sower,
the Parable of the Weeds
the Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl,
the Parable of the Wandering Sheep,
the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant,
the Parable of the Wedding Banquet,
the Parable of the Bags of Gold,
the Parable of the Two Sons,
and the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Another parable Jesus told his followers was about a rich man whose farm grew so well that at harvest time he had so much grain from his crops that he didn't have enough room to store it all.

He decided to build himself bigger barns to store all of his extra grain so he could just relax and be rich for the rest of his life.
God was angry with the rich man and said he was being very foolish, because that night the man was going to die!
Since he kept all the grain and money to himself, all the things he had stored up for himself would not help him.

Jesus was telling his followers that we need to build up our treasures in heaven instead of on earth.
When we die we can't take all of our things with us, but if we have used the things he gave us to help other people then we are building up treasures in heaven for after we die.


(from: wikipedia - parable of the rich fool)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jesus as a young boy

Mona Lisa - Da Vinci

One of the most famous paintings in the whole world is the Mona Lisa.
It was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, one of the most famous artists of all time.

It might seem like just a nice painting of a woman, but there were many reasons why people liked it so much.

You might notice in the painting that the woman is sitting in front of what looks like a sky and mountains. She wasn't really sitting in front of that place, Da Vinci drew the background from his imagination. In the time when Da Vinci was living, people usually only painted pictures of real places they had in front of them. To paint an imaginary place without something to look at was a very big deal!

Da Vinci painted the woman's face and hands to look very bright compared to her hair and outfit. When something bright is put up against something dark it is called contrast, and artists sometimes use it to help things stand out more.

The painting also has very dark lines around the woman's hair and body, and the background looks fuzzy and has lighter colors. This helps make the woman look more important in the picture, and makes the background look far away.

The Mona Lisa also has very good perspective. That means it looks ike the woman's arms are in front of her body and the painting is behind her. Even though it is a flat painting, it looks almost like a real person was sitting there. These days we have 3D movies to go see, but in those days making a painting that looked real was the closest thing they had to 3D.

Da Vinci made this painting about 500 years ago, and even to this day it is one of the most well liked paintings in the world.

(from: wikipedia - mona lisa)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Planetary Nebula

German - Hello and Goodbye

We've now learned a whole year of Spanish words.
Muy bien!

Let's try another language now, how about German?

First let's learn how to say hello and goodbye.

Hello - Hallo - sounds like hah-low /?/

Goodbye - Auf Wiedersehen - sounds like ow-f vee-dah-zane /?/


(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

Do you remember how to say it in Spanish?
Hola! Adiós!

Do you remember how to say it in French?
Bonjour! Au Revoir!