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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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Travel in knots
Why is a ship’s speed measured in knots?
Vibhooshna , Erode, Tamil Nadu
View AnswerKnot is short for ‘nautical miles per hour’ but the origin of the term comes from the much older methods of measuring speed that involved trailing ropes with knots in them behind ships. Saying, "I'm travelling at five knots" means that after one hour of travelling at that speed, the ship would have moved five nautical miles. This is precisely like miles or kilometres per hour. A nautical mile is different from a mile on land, which is based on walking distance. This is why kilometres or miles are not used when travelling by sea.
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“Eye’ have it!
Why does the color eyes vary from one individual to another?
Pratyusha Hegde , Bengaluru, Karnataka
View AnswerThe coloured part of the eye is called the ‘iris’. It gets its colour from a pigment called melanin. The lack of this pigment results in blue eyes, some pigment gives green and lots of pigment gives brown eyes. How much of these pigments is in your eyes is determined by your genes, which means they are inherited from your parents.
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Scatter those mosquitoes!
How do insect repellents work?
Aparajitaa Sanyal , Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh
View AnswerMosquitos are only attracted to us by the carbon dioxide we emit. This includes the smell of sweat, although it is possible that they react to body heat as well. The reason why some people are particularly prone to attack is connected with their individual body smell. Repellents evaporate on the skin and work by blocking a mosquito’s sense of smell, preventing it from finding its target. This is how substances such as icaridine or diethyltoluamide (DEET for short) work when aplied over the skin.
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Kept in the dark?
Why do they make it dark in movie theaters?
Rashmi N , Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala
View AnswerA dark theatre aims to make your movie watching experience memorable and lasting. A dark place therefore makes the screen the brightest and therefore the movie lights up in the darkness. It helps the image stand out more. Light on dark stands out a lot better than light on light. Also, the surrounds can distract from the movie in front of you.