September 2014 For ages 7 to 10

Drop
It!

From the publisher

of Cricket®
 Volume 13, Number 7 September 2014

Liz Huyck Editor

Meg Moss Contributing Editor

Karen Kohn Senior Art Director

Pat Murray Designer page 12
David Stockdale Permissions Specialist

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Cover Illustration © 2014 by Brian Biggs

2 Scoops
Photo acknowledgments: IFC (rt) Corrie White; 2 (lt) Jim Abernethy, (rb), (lb) NASA; 3 (all)
Collection of Judy and Michael Steinhardt, New York; 12–13 (all) Corrie White; 20 (lt) NASA; 22
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4 Nestor’s Dock
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Suggested for ages 7 to 10.

ASK1409_00C2_IFC.indd 2 8/5/14 9:08 AM

 Features
6 Oops! Or, What I Dropped
and What I Learned
10 Drip Drop
14 The Moon Is Falling!
by Tom Seddon

20 The Feather-Hammer Drop

by Lisa Chesters-Mazza

22 A Wild Ride
by Charlene Brusso page 21
26 Prince Rupert’s Drop

page 14
page 7

ASK1409_01_Contents.indd 1 8/5/14 9:10 AM

 by Meg Moss

WHERE DO THE TURTLES GO?

Right after they emerge They’ve discovered that
from their shells on Florida’s instead of floating aimlessly,
beaches, infant loggerhead the youngsters paddle to
sea turtles rush out into warm water and bask on the
the Atlantic Ocean— surface to soak up the sun.
and disappear. Several Some head toward patches
years later they of seaweed called sargassum,
return. Where have where there’s plenty of food
they been? Scientists and hiding places. Scientists
used to think the hope that knowing more
young turtles floated about the “lost years” of
They went around the ocean with young loggerheads will
that way!
the currents. But now some help them preserve this
marine biologists are spying endangered species.
Scientists raised the baby turtles on the turtles with the help
in a lab until they grew big
enough to carry transmitters the
of small satellite trackers.
size of cellphones.
Sea creatures inspired “The Boss”
“Biomimicry.”

Houston,
We Have a Fashion
Question
Do spacesuits need a new look? In a fashion-conscious
move, NASA recently asked the public to vote on
designs for its next spacesuit. Part of the Z series, the new suit
will actually be used on Earth to test materials and designs for
future spacesuits. Each of the three choices included a sporty light- The winner!
up design on its front. Which would you choose? (The winner, with “Technology”
nearly 150,000 votes, was “Technology.”)
“Trends in Society”
2 looks sporty.

ASK1409_02_Scoops.indd 2 8/5/14 10:42 AM

 Each mask is different—
and just a bit spooky.

Face Sticky
to
Face
Cheese
Cheese is great called casein. Mixing it with
Imagine gazing
on crackers hot water and calcium oxide
into the eyes of
and pizzas, but creates a thick, gooey glue
someone who
paintings? Experts that dries hard, holds fast, and
lived 9,000 years
working to restore a is even waterproof. In fact,
ago. A collection
500-year-old painting cheese glue was the most
of Stone Age masks
have discovered that the widely used glue before the
on display in Israel
wooden panels it’s painted 20th century. The downside?
lets you do just that. These
on are held together with— Along with being sticky,
stone masks are among the
cheese. In fact, glue made cheese glue is
earliest known portraits I find this
from cheese was common in stinky as well. painting
of human faces and are strangely
the Middle Ages, especially irresistible.
the oldest masks ever
for gluing wood. How does it
found. Most of the 12
work? Cheese (and other milk
masks have open holes
products) contains a protein
for the eyes and grins
that show off their
teeth. Archaeologists
believe that ancient
people who lived in the Israeli
desert crafted them to honor their
ancestors. The masks were
discovered at different
places in Israel many
years ago, but this is
the first time they
have been shown
er! together.
gy”

art © 2014 by Ariane Elsammak

ASK1409_02_Scoops.indd 3 8/5/14 10:43 AM

 You should invent a I can't. Gravity is
floating skateboard. a law of nature.

Besides, if scientists could control gravity they could do

much cooler things than make a floating skateboard.

Like floating
roller skates?

You could make

a feather weigh
a ton.

Or a boulder
as light as a
feather.

We could have flying cars that

run on anti-gravity.

4 ask

ASK1409_04_Nestor.indd 4 8/5/14 9:19 AM

 You could have
upside down
rooms!

You could have cities in

the sky, and flying cars, and
waterfalls that fall up, and...

That's great, Trip, but all I can do that.

I want is someone to make
a skateboard that floats.

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ASK1409_04_Nestor.indd 5 8/5/14 9:19 AM

 OOP
Let's test that
again.

on the Carpet nd jam-side

t
The Toas always seem to
la
r toast
Does you t unlucky? is questio
n
e y o u ju s a n s w e r t h
down? Ar tthews set out to g r a p h in g how it
a t o
Robert M of toast and pho T h e toast itself
ing lo t s ot yo u !
by dropp discovered—it’s n
he Or, what I dropped and
fell. And ( 10 c m ) across.
e . h e s
is to blam es are about 4 inc a st to fall art by Mike Gordon
a d s li c slic e o f to
Bre kes for a and), it h
as
im e it ta y o u r h
In the t f a table (or
from
n c e , so the ja
m
All around the
h t o ac t ly o
the heig to f lip over ex
im e
enough t w n . Then, spla
t. world, scientists
side is d o
are busy
dropping things.
They look Sometimes even
like this!
on purpose.

It’s Raining Buns

Everyone knows what a raindrop looks like, right? It’s . . . raindrop shaped.
But some scientists armed with high-speed cameras have found that we’ve been seeing rain all wrong.
Left to itself, water tends to pull into a round ball. But as it falls, air pushes against it. This doesn’t
stretch the drop out. Instead, it flattens the water ball into a shape more like a bagel or a bean.
art © 2014 by Mike Gordon

Small drops are rounder than big drops. But big drops can get quite flat in the middle. If they flatten
enough, they split into two new drops.

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ASK1409_06_Dropped.indd 6 8/5/14 9:23 AM

OPS!
ed and what I learned.
The Five-Second Rule
Many people follow the “five-second rule”—that it’s OK to eat dropped food
if you pick it right up. But is this really true?
To settle this important question, teams of scientists scientifically dropped
different kinds of food on different kinds of floors, clean and dirty. Then they
counted up how many bacteria and other icky things stuck. And the answer is
a firm . . . maybe. Sometimes. It depends on the food and the floor.
They found that sticky food picks up more floor germs than hard
food. And smooth floors left more germs than carpets. Of course,
it also matters how clean the floor is. So if you drop a cracker on
a clean carpet, munch away. But if your juicy apple slice goes
splat on a tile floor where the soccer team has just walked? You
might want to wash that off first. A
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, h
h
Toss Down Your Fish !

Just outside Bremen, Germany, there’s a tall Things inside the container float around for 10
tower that looks like the perfect place to seconds, just like in space. People come from
imprison a princess. But the tower of ZARM all over the world to test weightlessness at
was built for another purpose—dropping stuff. ZARM. They’ve tested how fires burn in space
Inside, the tower is hollow. An air catapult and even whether fish get space-sick.
shoots sealed containers up to the top. Then (They do.)
they fall back down into a pit of soft foam
beads. For the 10 seconds it takes to go up and
down, everything inside the container is in
free fall—the “floor” of the box is falling away
at the same speed as everything inside. This
art © 2014 by Mike Gordon

makes it feels like there is no gravity inside.

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ASK1409_06_Dropped.indd 7 8/5/14 9:23 AM

 Look Out Below would pack quite a punch if it hit Empire State Building, it would
What would happen if you the ground at 250 miles (400 km) feel no harder than being flicked
dropped a penny from the top of an hour. with a finger.
the Empire State Building? But don’t worry—a dropped But not everything falls as
Falling objects speed up—they penny will never get that fast. gently as a penny. If you’re walking
go faster and faster every second. Why not? Air! A penny has a flat around where it might be raining
That’s why things dropped from shape that catches the air like bricks, wear a hardhat.
higher up hit the ground harder. a parachute and slows its fall. If
It’s because they’re going faster. you were actually hit by a penny
Even an object as small as a penny dropped from the top of the

Moon Pox
Drop a rock or marble into a bowl of
flour. Plip! It makes a little crater, a round
dent with a ring of flour around it. If you
do this over and over, your bowl of flour
might start to look a bit like—the moon.
The moon has no air to burn up incoming
space rocks, so they smack into the surface,
covering it with craters.
Now try the same thing with sugar. The
craters look different! Astronomers (scientists who study
space) have discovered that the shape of craters can tell
them a lot about what moons and faraway planets are made
of. Dusty craters look different from rocky craters. Planets
with air have different-shaped craters from airless moons.
By dropping rocks onto different kinds of surfaces in labs,
they’re learning to read space rocks by their dents.

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ASK1409_06_Dropped.indd 8 8/5/14 9:24 AM

 Three Feet to Concrete
You probably don’t drop your toys on purpose (we
hope)—but if you do, chances are they won’t break,
at least the first time. And that’s no accident.
When an inventor invents a new toy or gadget,
before it goes to toy stores, engineers must test it
to make sure it won’t shatter and hurt someone. In
fact, a new product has to pass lots of tests. One
test is whether it can stand being dropped from
about table height (3 feet, or 1 m) to a hard concrete
floor. Does it break too easily? If it does, back to the
drawing board. Product testers spend a lot of time
dropping things, over and over.
They even test the cardboard package your
toy comes in. Can the box stand being dropped,
crushed, stacked, poked, shaken, and heated without
damaging what’s inside? What do they imagine
happens on the way to your house?

It's for
science!
The Drop that Didn’t FINALLY, after eight years, ONE DROP of
Back in 1927, Thomas Parnell set up an pitch dripped out.
experiment to find out just how slowly tar Since then, the pitch has continued to
pitch flows. Pitch is thick, black, sticky stuff flow at a rate of about one drop every ten
used to make roads. It looks solid, but it’s years. Nine drops have fallen so far. The
actually a very thick liquid. Parnell put some world’s longest running experiment should
into a big glass funnel and waited to see finally be done in, oh, about 100 more years.
how long it would take for the pitch to flow The funnel has its own webcam if you want
out. He waited. And waited. And waited. to watch for the next exciting drop!

Watch the drop!

thetenthdrop.com

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ASK1409_06_Dropped.indd 9 8/5/14 9:24 AM

 r i pD
D
o p ?
r d rer
t e
a wa captu
d at amera
l o oke peed c
e a l ly igh-
s
hite
e r r a h w n . i e W
ev n with a y do s by Corr
y o u t ak e
l the w
p h oto
e t s a l
Hav snapsho he drop
se o ft
The e y
j o urn
the

Chain of beads
The falling water pulls itself
into a round ball. The water
Time to go! in the tail of the drop springs
With more water, the back into little beads. These
tail gets too heavy for its fall too.
A water drop clinginess to hold it up. A
is made of a bunch of water drop separates and gravity
molecules, little bits of water. pulls it down.
These water bits stick to
each other a little. As gravity
pulls the water down, the
clinginess of water forms a
long tail.

10 ask

ASK1409_10_Caught.3.indd 10 8/5/14 9:30 AM

 D
p rop Plink!
Here the first drop is just
about to hit some water in
a bowl. Splash!
Water pushed out of the way by
the drop springs up to make a
crown-shaped splash.
Plip!
Pushed-away water flowing
back into the center sends a
new drop springing up from
the surface.

The next falling drop hits the up-drop—

making a little splashy umbrella.

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ASK1409_10_Caught.3.indd 11 8/5/14 9:30 AM

 Drip Drop Art
Photographer Corrie Wh ite uses water
This is the splash tray and the machine I
drops to make her art. use to make splashes. To get colors, I put
colored plastic in front of my camera flashes.
Colored lights make colorful splashes.

This is red water

dropping into green
water. I think it looks like
a rose in a vase.

Here is orange-colored
milk in front of a purple
background. The falling
milk popped up a drop of
milk into the air, and then
another drop came down
and made this splash. Liquids have a mind
of their own and
can surprise you
many times.

This looks to me like a

flying candy dish.
Ooo, pretty.

12 ask

ASK1409_10_Caught.3.indd 12 8/5/14 9:31 AM

 You always
wanted a crown.

This is white milk with blue

and red light. I moved the
camera back and forth to
get all the drop shapes into
one picture.

ne I
put
flashes.
.

First I made a small ring

of colored paint on black
glass. Then I dropped a large drop of
paint on top. All the colors mixed to form an
amazing paint crown. If you look closely, you
can see a smaller blue crown inside the big one.

I called this one “Jaws”

because it looks like a
giant claw with teeth. I
used white milk, colored
with a blue flash on the There is so much going
left and a red one on the on in this splash, it looks like
right, with yellow on top. a party hat. You can’t wear it,
though—much too wet! This was at
a very late stage in the splash, so
there was a lot of action.

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ASK1409_10_Caught.3.indd 13 8/5/14 9:32 AM

 a llin g !
is F
O N
The M O
by Tom Seddon
art by Dave Clark

The moon can't

be falling, it's
up in the sky.

W
hen an acorn hit her on Scientists in Newton’s day didn’t
the head, Chicken Little understand gravity very well. They
caused a barnyard panic. explained that apples fell down because
When he said the moon is falling,
Isaac Newton caused a scientific
revolution.

Under the Apple Tree

One fine day in 1665, Isaac Newton
text © 2014 by Thomas Seddon, art © 2014 by Dave Clark
I can make apples
fall up! I just need sat in the shade of an apple tree behind
an anti-gravity
machine.
his mother’s house, thinking. By chance
he saw an apple fall from the tree. It
made him wonder. Why did the apple
fall straight down? Why not sideways?
Why can’t apples fall up?

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ASK1409_14_Newton.indd 14 8/5/14 9:46 AM

 “The sky is falling!” cried Chicken Little.

they were “earthy” things and their The Moon on a String See, my apple is flying!

“natural home” was down on Earth. The As he sat under the apple tree,
moon and planets floated in the sky Newton was also thinking about
because they were “space” things and the moon and stars. What keeps
liked to stay in space. But this didn’t the moon moving around the
satisfy Newton. Earth? What keeps the planets in
Newton liked things to be simple. their orbits? Why don’t they fly off
He was sure that the universe works by into space?
following a few simple rules that are true These might seem like strange
text © 2014 by Thomas Seddon, art © 2014 by Dave Clark

everywhere—not one rule for apples questions, but think about what
and another for planets. But what are happens when you whirl an apple What goes
up must
those rules? on a string around your head. As come down.
Newton had already figured out long as you hold the string, the
that for things to move, they had to feel apple goes around you. But if you
a force, a push or a pull. Since gravity suddenly let go, the apple flies off
moves apples, it must be a force too. in a straight line. Crash!

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ASK1409_14_Newton.indd 15 8/5/14 9:46 AM

 This is because of a basic rule of
Ha! I've defeated gravity!
nature called inertia. This rule says that
things like to keep doing what they’re
Well don't let
go of that doing. Moving things keep moving
string.
straight ahead (and things standing still
keep standing still)—unless some force
makes them change.
Planets also naturally like to travel
straight. For them to move in a circle
instead, something has to keep tugging
them around.
Newton thought, Earth’s gravity
can pull apples from high up in trees. Falling Around
Could the same force pulling on the There was one problem with this idea.
apple also pull on the moon? Could If gravity pulls on the moon with the
Earth’s gravity be the mysterious, same force that it pulls on an apple, the
invisible string that keeps the moon moon should come crashing down. But
from flying off into space? what if gravity weakens with distance?

Obey Gravity—It’s the Law!

Isaac Newton did not discover gravity (people
had noticed it before!). But he did figure out the Gravity Law 1
rules for how it works.
Still, although Newton explained how gravity All matter pulls on
works, he was never able to explain exactly what all other matter.
it is—though he spent many years trying. Modern That force is gravity.
scientists sometimes think of gravity as a bending
of space itself. But in many ways, gravity remains
a great mystery.
Erased! No more gravity!
It's not that
kind of law.

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ASK1409_14_Newton.indd 16 8/5/14 9:46 AM

 apart two objects are. But it reaches all
the way to the moon (and beyond).
Another reason the moon doesn’t
fall is that unlike an
apple on a tree,
the moon is also
speeding through
space. It’s trying
to continue straight
on out into the galaxy.
Gravity curves the moon’s
path just enough to match
the curve of the Earth.
Many things do—heat, sound, smells. So the moon doesn’t fall
Sure enough, so does gravity. Newton to Earth. It falls around
soon worked out a simple formula for the Earth. The moon is
how gravity changes with distance. The always falling, but it never
pull of gravity gets weaker the farther falls down!

Gravity Law 2 Gravity Law 3

Gravity depends The pull of gravity
on mass. gets weaker with
More massive things distance but never
have stronger gravity. disappears entirely.

It floats!
Anti-gravity!

That's the
wind holding
it up.

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ASK1409_14_Newton.indd 17 8/5/14 9:46 AM

 Shoot the Moon
To help him think about the moon, Newton imagined shooting
cannonballs from the top of a very tall mountain. As soon as the ball uh-oh.
leaves the cannon, gravity starts pulling it downward.

At low speed the cannonball

would fly out, fall down, and
land at point A.

At higher speed the

cannonball would go farther,
all the way to point B.

But if the cannonball were

shot at a stunning 18,000
miles an hour (8,000 meters
per second), it would follow
path C. The curving fall of
the cannonball would match
the curve of the Earth. The
cannonball would fall around
the Earth—just like the moon.

If we just
get it going
fast enough.

Master of the Universe In fact, Newton went even farther.

Newton was the first to see that Earth Why just planets? What if everything has
and the moon are bound by gravity. gravity—even apples? Now this was a
And he didn’t stop there. Jupiter has revolutionary idea!
moons circling around it—so Jupiter The more he thought about it, the more
must have gravity too. So must the Newton was convinced he’d finally found
other planets. And the sun—its gravity one of the great rules of the universe. The
holds the planets in their orbits. force of gravity comes from matter itself,

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ASK1409_14_Newton.indd 18 8/5/14 9:46 AM

 the stuff everything is made of. Earth the gravity of the Earth, the sun,
is big—it’s made of lots of matter, so it and other planets. If the gravity
has a strong pull. But the moon is also calculations are correct, the
pulling back on the Earth—less strongly, curving path will reach its target.
because the moon is much smaller. Even In December 1968, Apollo 8 was
a falling apple has a tiny gravity, and the first crewed spacecraft to orbit the
pulls on the Earth a tiny bit. moon. The day after Christmas it began
This was a brand new idea, and “falling” back toward Earth—pulled
Less mass, less
Newton was the first to think it. by gravity. Crew member William gravity. Problem
solved!
Anders was radioed a question, “Who is
Gravity Rules driving?”
Newton’s new explanation of gravity Anders replied, “I think Isaac
soon solved all sorts of problems that Newton is doing most of the driving
had given scientists headaches for now.”
centuries. It explained why moons
orbit planets, and why planets orbit the
sun. It explained why things dropped
anywhere on Earth fall in the direction
of Earth’s center—that’s where most of
Earth’s mass is.
Gravity even solved the mystery of
the ocean tides. The cause of the tides
had baffled scientists for ages. But now
it was clear—the water in the oceans Thanks,
moves up a bit when it feels the distant Isaac!
tug of the moon’s gravity. That’s why
the rising tides follow the moon around
the Earth.
Rocket scientists still use Newton’s
formulas to figure out the paths of
spaceships and satellites. Sending a
spacecraft to the moon or Mars is tricky.
The ship must follow a giant curving
arc, while being constantly pulled by

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ASK1409_14_Newton.indd 19 8/5/14 9:46 AM

 On his last moon walk in 1971, Apollo 15’s
Commander David Scott did one final
experiment for the television cameras.

hammer feather

by Lisa “In my left hand, I have

a feather; in my right
Chesters- hand, a hammer. I’ll drop
Mazza the two of them here
and. . . .”

The Is there gravity

on the moon too?

Feather- It's everywhere!

Hammer
Drop that Earth
moves around the sun,
heavier things fell faster.
A rock twice as heavy as

H
e let go. Which do you but he also liked to a potato should fall twice
think hit the ground drop things. Galileo’s as fast. That’s what they
first? discoveries about gravity taught in school.
Scott was re-creating an eventually helped get But Galileo wasn’t
That's me!
experiment thought up by rockets to the moon. so sure. So he decided
the astronomer Galileo in If you guessed that to test it. He dropped
1590. Galileo is the hammer should hit balls of different weights
best known for first, you’re not alone. from towers (or rolled
making telescopes When Galileo was a boy, them down ramps) and
and arguing everyone believed that timed how long they

art by Adam Larkum

text © 2014 by Lisa Chesters-Mazza, art © 2014 by Adam Larkum

ASK1409_20_FeatherDrop2.indd 20 8/5/14 9:52 AM

 Because gravity is always
took to get to The moon has no air tugging on them, objects speed
the ground. And to slow a falling object. up as they fall.
he discovered But it does have gravity.
something The moon’s gravity is
amazing— weaker than Earth’s, since
dropped things the moon is smaller. But
fall at the same it’s enough for dropping
rate, no matter things.
how heavy they are. And sure enough,
Why? Falling when Scott let the
objects fall because hammer and the
of the pull of feather drop, they hit
gravity between the ground—exactly
the object and the together.
Earth. And the “How about that!”
tremendous force of Scott beamed. “Mr.
Earth’s gravity is the Galileo was correct
same whether it’s in his findings.”
pulling on a feather And Earth goes
or a hammer. around the sun, too.
But wait, you
say—feathers do fall
more slowly than
hammers. That’s quite
true, on Earth—but the
reason is air, not gravity.
Which one will
Air pushes against light hit Plush first?
feathers enough to hold
them up, but it isn’t
strong enough to hold Neither

up a heavy hammer. This

pushing of air fooled
people for a long time.

ask 21

ASK1409_20_FeatherDrop2.indd 21 8/5/14 9:52 AM

 Wi ld R
by Charlene Brusso
art by Mark Hicks

A i des te r clicks slowl y up i

ts
fir

r
a en , s u dden

ve
o . T h l y y st h
c
to p o u i l ’ l l ne
to e e n i ng, maybe shr ’re l, it fe you the
th

r
th u r i e p e ls as i f
,t ki n lum eo
As

ng g. m et th
ti i ng down
sid get
til
e,

Y
our stomach leaps up into your mouth, then sinks
down into your shoes as you scream around a
bend and turn upside-down. When the train
finally comes to a stop, you’re out of breath, your heart
racing. Another victory for gravity—one wild ride!

Up and Up!
Roller coasters are machines for
turning falling into fun. Coaster
cars don’t have engines. A big
chain drags them up the first
hill. After that, gravity pulls
them around the track.
On most coasters the first
hill is the tallest. Each hill after
text © 2014 by Charlene Brusso, art © 2014 by Mark Hicks

that is a bit shorter than the last

one. As they slide down each hill,
the cars have to build up enough speed to
carry them up and over the next hill. But as the coaster
rushes forward, the wheels rub against the track and the
cars push against the air. This rubbing and pushing steal
a bit of the cars’ energy. So they can only get over a
slightly shorter hill next time.

22 ask

ASK1409_22_Rollercoasters.indd 22 8/5/14 9:56 AM

 a aaand D
A o
The taller and steeper the first hill is, the faster you’ll

wn
be going at the bottom. Roller coaster designers

!
carefully figure out how steep each hill should be
to get as much speed as possible without sending
the cars off the track or making the people inside
r
ve

fly out or get sick. Ready? Wheee!

e
r

When the coaster speeds up a hill, your body G's

presses back into your seat, making you
feel like an astronaut during a rocket li n g
P ul
launch. The squashing force you feel
is called “g-force.” It’s measured by
comparing it to normal Earth gravity
(which is 1 g). A little extra g-force
is thrilling, but too much can be
uncomfortable. Most roller coasters try
to stay under about 3 or 4 g’s, which feels
like 3 or 4 times normal gravity.

I can get airtime

im e
A ir t any time I want.

As the car goes over the top of a hill and starts

to plunge down, for a second your body is
still traveling upward. This makes you
feel like you’re floating, about to
come out of your seat. This
floating sensation is called
“airtime.” If you like it, sit in
the rear car, lift your
feet, and look up as you go
over the hill.

ask 23

ASK1409_22_Rollercoasters.indd 23 8/5/14 9:56 AM

 When you go around a curve, you might
inertia
notice that the track slants sideways,
instead of lying flat. That’s because
the heavy, fast-moving cars naturally
want to continue on straight—the

nd
tilted track helps push them around
e Be
the curve. Your body also wants
h to keep going straight. The tighter
A ro u n d t the turn, the more you’ll feel like you
want to fly out sideways (thank you, safety bar!).

Into th A good roller coaster ride gravity

e

unfolds just like a good

Dark

action movie. Steep climbs

What's scary
about a tunnel? and drops are spaced between
more gentle hills and turns, to
let you catch your breath. To build
suspense, some coasters take riders
through dark tunnels. And then it’s . . . Aaaaa!

Upside-Down,
Loop-the-Loop!
Some roller coasters even
do loops. Why don’t you
fall out? You can see for
yourself with a pail and a
ball. Put the ball in the pail
and swing the pail quickly
in a complete loop over
your head. The ball stays
in—why? At each moment
around the curve, the ball wants to keep going straight ahead, off into
space. But it’s stopped by the pail. On a roller coaster, the force of the
cars trying to keep going forward sticks them to the track, even
upside-down.
If you look closely, you’ll notice that roller coaster loops
aren’t perfect circles—they’re teardrop-shaped. That
shape makes the car go faster around the top.
24 ask

ASK1409_22_Rollercoasters.indd 24 8/5/14 9:56 AM

 Is it safe?
Roller coaster designers work hard to
make sure their terrifying rides are
absolutely safe.
Wheels: Roller coasters have three
sets of wheels. These grip the track from
the top, side, and underneath.
Speed: Engineers control the speed of the ride by the
steepness of the hills. Riders like to go fast—but not so fast
that they can’t breathe.
G-force: Before a roller coaster is even built, computers can
figure out exactly how much squashing force (or “g’s”) a rider
ty will feel at any point in the ride. If it’s too much, engineers
make the hills less steep or curves less sharp.
Seats: Safety bars hold riders firmly in place, even
upside-down.
“You Must Be This Tall to Ride”: This isn’t
because coasters are too scary for kids. It’s for
safety—shorter riders might slip through
nd S the safety harness.
a top
lo w
S

At the end of the ride, as the cars

return to the station, strong brakes
on the track grab onto the cars and
bring them to a gentle stop. Ride’s
over! Time to go again!
Let's
ary— Go
c Why do we like to scare ourselves silly? It’s a trick of how
S

our brains work. When you feel yourself falling, your

Ag
That Was

ai n !

fear center sends out an emergency alert. Your body

floods with adrenaline, a chemical that wakes you up
and gives you a sudden burst of energy. But a moment
later another, slightly slower,
They're
part of your brain says, “Hey, right, fear is
wait, we’re on a ride! It’s OK!” thrilling!

Fear plus instant relief

equals thrilling!

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ASK1409_22_Rollercoasters.indd 25 8/5/14 9:56 AM

 Prince Glassblowers have been making these
fun drops for centuries. In 1660, Prince

Rupert’s Rupert of the Rhine gave one to the king

of England, and they’ve been known as
Prince Rupert’s Drops ever since.

Drop
s
ld
ho
Th o p
is c r
u r i o u s g l a s s de .
a b i g s u r p r is

.
Hiss

Plop, hiss! The water quickly cools the

drop, but for a minute the center still glows
hot orange.
The rapid cooling has done something
p!
D ro special to its insides.
Glass shrinks as it cools. Usually this
It starts with a blob of hot glass, fresh happens slowly, and the whole piece of glass
from the furnace. The glassmaker holds shrinks together.
the molten blob over water, on the end But when molten glass hits cold water, the
of an iron rod. Then she lets it drip like a outside cools and gets solid while the inside
thick glass raindrop. is still soft and hot.

26 ask

ASK1409_26_PrinceRupertsDrop2.indd 26 8/5/14 9:59 AM

 The tail is a
sensitive area.

BUT—if just one little crack starts

in the hard surface, the pulling
inside will make the whole drop
shatter—all at once.
This is the Prince Rupert’s drop’s

Day
ery
party trick. Snap the tail, and poof!
r Ev Instant glass dust.
a rt e
Sm
sy
r te

co u
Lo o
k , it il.
w o n’t
br eak! ap its ta
yo u sn
n til
U
Strrrrretch! When the hot glass on the
inside cools, it wants to shrink too—but
the outside shell is already hard. It can’t
get smaller. So as the glass inside
shrinks, it pulls tight.
You can’t see it, but the inside
of the drop is full of tiny glass
threads pulling the outer shell
in like rubber bands.
This pulling-in makes the
body of the drop quite strong.
You can even hit it with a
hammer and it won’t break.

ask 27

ASK1409_26_PrinceRupertsDrop2.indd 27 8/5/14 9:59 AM

 In our March issue we
asked you how your favor-
ite animal takes a bath. We
don’t have room to print
all the entries, so we’ve put
more on our website at
askmagkids.com/contest.
How Cheetahs Get Clean
Anna M., age 9, Rhode Island

Maya D., age 8

The Twins of Monarch

Rachel B., age 8, Virginia

Dear Ask, Dear Sara, Dear Whatson,

In the March Ask you wrote about Everyone applauds the astronauts, I love to read too! I’ve got a special
the toilets used in space. My great- but I’ll bet the astronauts applaud the reading place. Do you? I like
grandfather was an engineer and engineers who built them a working humourous adventure, both mixed
he designed, built, and tested the toilet. In space, little things count! together, and I’m starting up on
waste management system for the It’s great to have engineers in the mysteries. What’s your favorite?
Space Shuttle. My family enjoyed family—always someone around to Your book fan,
the article very much. tighten a bolt. Emma T., age 8, Kansas
Sara R., Three Cheers for Engineers!
Pennsylvania Bot

28

ASK1409_28_Contest.indd 28 8/5/14 10:00 AM

 Whale Spouting Shower
Rabbits Taking a Bath
Adrie, age 8, Pennsylvania
Natalie I., age 7, North Carolina

Cat
Avery V., age 7, Squirrel Swimming
Kansas Will T., age 7, Connecticut

Dear Emma, Dear Marvin, Dear Dylan,

My most favorite place to read is What is your favorite prank? I have You want to be careful pranking Mom
everywhere. Or in my big comfy chair, done lots of them. Do you have any and Dad—old pranksters can be pretty
with a nice cup of tea and a big bowl examples? Because I have to get my crafty. How about the old sugar-in-
of tasty worms. I find adventures most Mom and Dad back for some April the-salt-shaker trick? It’s been around
enjoyable when I’m reading about Fool’s tricks. I thought you would so long they might not suspect it. Or
someone else doing them. Why? Now have some ideas. tell them it’s national Talk Like a Duck
that’s a mystery. Prankster’s Club, Day, see if you can get them to quack.
Happy Tales! Dylan, age 9, Texas Good luck! Hide this magazine!
Whatson Marvin

ask 29

ASK1409_28_Contest.indd 29 8/5/14 10:00 AM

 Ellen B., age 6,
Tennessee

Abra D., age 9,

New York

Adam B., age 10,

Canada

How a Raccoon Bathes

Tara K., age 8, Colorado

Dear Plush, favorite ice cream flavor? Mine Dear Claire,

I think you are super awesome is peppermint! I drew you a dress Thank you for the lovely dress! Just the
and super fashionable. I love that I think you will love! You are thing for enjoying a nice peppermint
your sense of style. People don’t so cool! ice cream on hot summer days.
appreciate you enough and rules Your #1 fan, Claire M., Marvin’s pranks never bother me—we
are important! If there were no age 10, Maryland rule keepers have to rise above that
rules the world would be haywire! sort of thing. Unless you know a good
What is your favorite color? Mine trick I can get him back with...
is purple! How do you put up with Stay cool!
all of Marvin’s pranks? What is your Plush

30 ask

ASK1409_28_Contest.indd 30 8/5/14 10:00 AM

 September Contest

Drop the Ar
t
Corrie White makes lovely pictures of
drops falling—but what about after they’ve
splashed down? For this month’s contest,
drop some paint (or ketchup, or anything
else you like) onto a paper to make some
splashy shapes, or use the ones here. Then
find the picture hiding in the drops! Use a
I've always wanted
pen or pencil to turn them into something a purple dog.
fun. Is that blob an elephant’s body? An alien
spaceship? A dire dragon? Send us your
masterpiece, and we’ll show off the splashiest
in an upcoming issue of Ask.

Contest Rules:
1. Your contest entry must be your very own 5. Your entry must be signed or emailed by 6. Mailed entries must be postmarked by
work. Ideas and words should not be copied. a parent or legal guardian, saying it’s your September 30, 2014. We will publish the win-
2. Be sure to include your name, age, and full own work and that no one helped you. ning entries in an upcoming issue of Ask.
address on your entry. For information on the Children’s Online 7. Email scanned artwork (PDF, jpeg, or other
3. Only one entry per person, please. Privacy Protection Act, you or an adult can standard file type) to [email protected],
4. If you want your work returned, enclose a visit the Policy page at cricketmag.com. or mail to: Ask Contest, 70 East Lake St., Suite
self-addressed, stamped envelope. 800, Chicago, IL 60601. No faxes, please.

Hi Ratsputin! Dear Lizzie,

I have something good to tell you Leftovers are the whole point of food,
about food. At dinner take a small as far as I’m concerned. I like to wait
amount. Wait! Don’t dip your wings until dinner has had time to mature
in honey yet. That means, don’t get and grow some mold. I suppose if I take
sad. Then for seconds and thirds, small enough bites I could make meals
keep taking small amounts. This last the whole day! Then again, I can
way, you’ll get a lot of food and do that taking big bites too.
you won’t steal leftovers. Leftovers forever! Send your letters to Ask Mail,
70 East Lake St., Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60601,
Lizzie, New York Ratsputin or email us at [email protected].

31

ASK1409_28_Contest.indd 31 8/5/14 10:00 AM

 Hey Bug! Amal D.
asks:
Why do we have
brains? The brain is the body’s
cont
center. It’s full of neuron rol
s,
special “talking” cells th
at read
signals from the body an
d
signals back. This lets yo send
u sense
things, think, and move.
Th
neurons are connected ese
up in a
big network. Each neur
on can
connect to as many as
10,000
others. It’s these connec
tions
that make you smart.

The most important job of neurons is to keep all the body parts working together. The more neurons an animal has and the more
they’re connected, the more things it can do. But some very simple creatures like jellyfish don’t have brains. Instead they have a
network of neurons spread all over their bodies. If a light-sensing cell sees light, it sends a message
through the neurons to twitch a muscle or do something else.

But if neurons are spread out all over the body,

it takes signals longer to get around. Storing a big
bunch of neurons in a central place like a brain
means quicker thinking. It’s more efficient—signals
don’t have as far to travel, and neurons can make
lots of connections. Presto, you’ve got a brain.
Use it well! Hey, Kids! tions you
Have any ques
want answ ered?
ASK,
Send them to
70 East Lake St.,
IL 60601,
Suite 800, Chicago, to
or sen d them by email
32 [email protected].

ASK1409_32_Jimmy.indd 32 8/5/14 10:11 AM

 You Must Be Joking!
by Paul Brewer
“So this duck walks into a drugstore…” No, but seriously, what you
really need sometimes is a big book brimming with funny jokes
guaranteed to crack everyone up. Here are two! You’ll find gags for
all occasions, plus tips for becoming a great stand-up comic. Did you
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Are you ready for

a new adventure?
If your younger brothers and sisters are starting to steal
your Ask®, maybe it’s time to move up to Muse®, the
magazine of life, the universe, and pie-throwing for
readers 10 and up.
Parents' Choice Gold Honor Award

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32. Jimmy-IBC-EBKad.indd 3332

ASK1409_zzC3_IBC_Ad.indd 8/22/12 10:11
8/5/14 5:43 AM
PM
 text and art by Thor Wickstrom

Isn’t it about time to

harvest your acorns? Yep.

Are you sure you

don’t need some
Time to relax? help picking?
Done already? Avery, this is not
like you at all.
You worry me.
Relax!
Just getting Nope! I've got it
started. covered.

Oh! Look! You've harvested With a little

all your acorns! How did help from a Friend?
you do it so quickly?!? friend. What
friend?
My old friend,
gravity!

ASK1409_zzC4_BCMarvin.indd 3 8/5/14 10:20 AM