Gear

We just learned about the Motor or engine that makes things move.

One very important part of most engines is the Gear.

Gears are wheels that have teeth on the end, and usually a hole in the middle.
The teeth on the end can match up with other gears that also have teeth.
So when one gear moves, it also turns the other gear.

If there is a big wide gear that is moving very slow, it can be hooked to a small gear that will spin very fast.
Or it can be hooked to a gear that is sideways, to change the direction of the movement.

Gears are in everything from car motors to clocks to bicycles.
Pretty much everything with moving parts uses at least one gear to help control the movement made by the energy!

The teeth on gears are called "cogs", and gears are sometimes called cogwheels.
Sometimes people will even refer to themselves as a "cog in the machine" meaning that they are just one part of a bigger machine that makes things work.



(from: wikipedia - gear)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rockets - Star Tracker

Portuguese Man o' War

We just learned about the Blue Button hydrozoan that looks like a jellyfish.

Another animal that looks like a jellyfish but isn't, is the Portuguese Man o' War, also called the pyhsalia physalis or blue bottle.

Just like the blue button, this is a hydrozoan.
The Man o' War has a very powerful venomous sting, and can kill fish or even humans!

They live on top of the water, floating along the surface with the stingers underneath.
The blowing wind and moving water moves these animals along, as they don't have any way to swim.

Sometimes the tentacles of these animals will fall off and go floating off in the water, but they can still sting someone.
Even if these animals float up onto a beach they can still sting.

Usually a sting from the man o' war is like a mark from a whip, and can sometimes cause people to have trouble breathing.

Because they are so dangerous, usually if they are found on a beach it will be closed until they go away.



(from: wikipedia - portuguese man o' war)


Portuguese Man-of-War | World's Weirdest - Nat Geo WILD

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cephalopods - Flapjack Octopus

Parotid Gland

We just learned about the Labial Commissure of the Mouth where your upper and lower lips meet.

Another part of the mouth is the Parotid Gland.

This is the part of the body that makes saliva or spit and sends it out to the parts of the mouth that need it.


(from: wikipedia - parotid glad)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Mouth - Wisdom Tooth

Outworks

We just learned about the part of a castle called the Roundel.

Another part of castle buildings are Outworks.

These are extra things built on the outside of the castle to help defend it.

There are a lot of different types of outworks:

ravelin - A triangular shaped wall outside the main wall of a castle

(from: wikipedia - ravelin)

tenaille - A v shaped wall that looks like a pair of pincers out in front of another wall

(from: wikipedia - tenaille)

lunette - A half moon shaped wall outside of the castle walls

(from: wikipedia - lunette (fortification))

There are other types of outworks like flèches, caponiers and more!
People really worked hard to come up with ways to protect the walls of their castles.


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Blarney Castle

First Council of Nicea

We just learned about the story called The Golden Legend.

Another part of early Christianity was the First Council of Nicea.

As Christianity was spreading all over the world, some people were arguing over what the meanings were of different parts of the teachings of Jesus and the Bible.

One of the biggest things people fought about was whether God the father was really Jesus' father or whether Jesus was as powerful as God the father.

A few hundred church leaders were all invited to come together and figure out what the right answer was, to a place called Nicea.

After they talked, they wrote up the Nice Creed, a way for people to remember what the real truth was.
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father [the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God,] Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father By whom all things were made [both in heaven and on earth]
Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man
He suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
And in the Holy Ghost.

(from: wikipedia - first council of nicea)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Urban - Bishop of Macedonia

Akan Goldweights

We just learned about the Burkina Faso Masks.

Another work of African sculpture is the Akan Goldweights, made around 1400 AD in West Africa.

These are sculptures that were used as weights to measure how much gold someone was trading.
Each sculpture had a different weight, so if someone had found some gold and wanted to trade it in, they would use different weights to figure out how much money it was all worth.

The weights were made as different shapes to tell stories about the Akan people of West Africa.
Each shape had different meanings, like a shield might tell a story about bravery, or swords with two sharp edges might mean that two people were working together for peace.

There are many of these old gold weights in the world in museums, and people even today make them as souvenirs or gifts to keep as a reminder of the past.


(from: wikipedia - akan goldweights)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Flying Horse of Gansu

Norwegian - Counting to Twenty

We counted to 15 in Norwegian, let's keep going!

16 seksten - sounds like sah-ee-s-t-n
17 sytten - sounds like suh-t-n
18 atten - sounds like ah-t-n
19 nitten - sounds like nee-t-n
20 tjue - sounds like shoo-ah


(from: wikipedia - norwegian language)

Greek: δεκαέξι (dekaéxi), δεκαεπτά (dekaeptá), δεκαοχτώ (dekaochtó), δεκαεννέα (dekaennéa), είκοσι (eíkosi)

ASL: sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty

Italian: sedici, diciassette, diciotto, diciannove, venti

German: sechzehn, siebzehn, achtzehn, neunzehn, zwanzig

Spanish: dieciséis, diecisiete, dieciocho, diecinueve, veinte

French: seize, dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf, vingt