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Curious Questions from Curious Minds!
Welcome to Curiopedia, where imagination and discovery take shape! Discover something new today with these curious questions from children. Click on the ‘View Answer’ button to find out the answer! If you want your (child’s) curious question answered and featured here, submit it now.
Month Year
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Birds of a feather…
Why do birds fly in bird formation?
S. Anuradha , Tanuku, Andhra Pradesh
View AnswerWhen the bird in front flaps its wings, a vortex of air directly behind is pushed downwards. This is called downwash. This causes a pressure difference with the air below the wings being higher pressure than the air above. As we know, air moves from the region of high pressure to a region of lower pressure (known as upper wash). The bird in another bird’s upwash has to spend less energy to fly as it is being pushed upwards by the upwash bird in front. The pressure difference increases as it goes towards the end of the V-formation, so the birds at the back spend very less energy than the birds at the front.
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March away
Why do soldiers march?
Akshin Karthick , Salem, Tamil Nadu
View AnswerWhen you talk of marching, you are talking of an organised, uniform, steady forward walking, in step with the rest of the troop. This is a major part of military basic training. A soldier learns to march and obey commands, and this is considered an essential element of military discipline. It also builds esprit de corps - team spirit within the unit.
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Round and round
Why does the Earth rotate?
N.T. Gowdhaanan , Erode, Tamil Nadu
View AnswerTo answer this tricky question, we have to look back in time to when Earth was born- 4.5 billion years ago. The solar system was formed out of gas cloud, called a nebula. At that time, there was lots of dust and gas coming together due to the force of gravity. The dust and gas was already moving around in a circle. As it all clumped together to form the sun and planets including earth, these new objects started to spin- and then spin faster. In theory, a spinning object will just keep spinning forever unless you add energy or take it away.
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Sea secrets
Why is sea water foamy?
Mohammad Nashwan , Mumbai, Maharashtra
View AnswerSea foams form when the ocean is agitated by wind and waves, particularly when it contains high amounts of dissolved organic matter (proteins, fats, dead algae). Algal blooms are a common source of thick sea foams. When large blooms of algae decay offshore, great amounts of decaying algal matter often wash ashore. Foam forms as this organic matter is churned up by the surf.