Science Facts for Kids
Mind-blowing science facts
Adding salt to water lowers its freezing point, which is why councils spread salt on roads in winter to prevent ice from forming.
The Earth's liquid iron core generates a magnetic field that extends far into space, protecting us from harmful solar radiation and allowing compasses to work.
Static electricity occurs when electrons jump from one surface to another. When you get a shock from a doorknob, billions of electrons are leaping at once.
Tardigrades, also called water bears, can survive being boiled, frozen, dried out, exposed to radiation, and even sent into the vacuum of space.
A single human hair can hold up to 100 grams of weight. Strand for strand, it is stronger than a copper wire of the same diameter.
Soap works by breaking the surface tension of water and attaching to grease and dirt, allowing them to be rinsed away.
Rust forms when iron reacts with oxygen and water. This chemical reaction is called oxidation, and it slowly eats away at the metal.
The lowest frequency sound a human can hear is about 20 hertz. Sounds below this, called infrasound, are felt rather than heard and can be produced by earthquakes and elephants.
The periodic table organises all 118 known chemical elements by their atomic number and properties. It was first published by Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869.
Red light has the longest wavelength of all visible light, at about 700 nanometres, while violet has the shortest at about 380 nanometres.