Aug. 9, 2023
Listener Questions P.5❓
In this special episode, we went on an adventure to learn about space, Earth, and the deep sea. We talked about endless space, why Earth orbits the Sun, the Big Bang, deep-sea animals, and how oceans began. We think these topics are super cool and hope you do too.
Sleep Tight!, Sheryl & Clark
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📢 Have an interesting science topic you would like investigated? Send us an email at hello@sleeptightscience.com and we may feature it in an upcoming show.
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About Sleep Tight Science
Sleep Tight Science is an engaging bedtime show for the whole family that answers the questions kids have about science. Each episode explores a fascinating topic in science and technology, from the mysteries of outer space to the wonders of the human body. Sleep Tight Science is the perfect bedtime companion for curious minds of all ages. Have an interesting science topic you would like featured? Send us an email at hello@sleeptightscience.com and we may feature it in an upcoming show.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker 1: You're listening to sleep Tight Science. Did you know that mosquitoes have a favorite color? What you see? Scientists have discovered mosquitoes are attracted to the color dark blue. It's like mosquitoes have their own little fashion sense. Hm hmm. Mosquitoes are attracted to dark colors because they can easily spot them against the bright sky. So if you are wearing black, navy blue, or any other dark color, you might catch the attention of these little flying critters. Hello, friends, and welcome back to sleep Tight Science, a bedtime show that answers your questions about science. In this episode, instead of following a specific topic, we will spend all of our time together answering questions that listeners have sent us. There have been so many questions that we decided to create episodes just like this to answer them. We are starting a new series of topics based on your questions in September. We will also make some slight changes to how the show sounds, making it even more suitable for listening during those quiet moments like sleep time. If you have any suggestions, we would love to hear them. This season's weather feels much different than in the past, with higher temperatures humidity and much more rain. With this change, there have also been many more mosquitoes. In our last episode, aren't asked why mosquito bites itch, but why are there more mosquitoes? So many more mosquitos in the first place. This is what we found out. Mosquitoes love warm and wet places. They lay their eggs in water, and when the weather gets warmer, like in the summer, these eggs hatch and guess what, more baby mosquitoes are born. But sometimes when it rains a lot during the spring and early summer, there are more puddles and standing water around. Mosquitoes really like to lay their eggs in these water spots, so with more rain, baby mosquitoes have more places to grow up. Now, mosquitoes are food for other animals like birds, fats, and fish. If more mosquitoes are around, these animals will have more to eat, which might explain why all the birds around our house seem to sing so loudly. Do you think the birds are happy that they have more to eat. We have all kinds of questions to share with you. Let's start with a question submitted to us by Gabriel, who is eight years old and lives in Canada. Gabriel asks, is there an end to outer space? Outer space is vast and seemingly endless, but some scientists believe it doesn't have an actual end like a wall or boundary you can reach. Instead, it keeps going on and on, stretching out farther and farther. Scientists call this idea the infinite nature of space. It means that space has no limit or edge you can reach. It's like looking up at the night sky and seeing countless stars and galaxies. There are even more beyond what we can see with our eyes or telescopes. The infinite nature of space is a mind boggling concept, but let's try to understand it together. You're standing on the shore of an endless ocean. No matter how far you look, you can't see the end of it. You can keep sailing on the water or walking on the shore, but the ocean keeps going and going, stretching out forever. That's a bit like what scientists think about space. Space is like a gigantic ocean, but instead of water, it's filled with stars, planets, galaxies, and so much more. We call this space because it's the vast empty area between all the celestial objects. Another way to imagine this is to picture our universe like an expanding balloon. As the balloon inflates, all the galaxies, stars, and planet's move away from each other. This means space itself is getting bigger and bigger, just like the balloon's surface. But no matter how much the balloon inflates, it never has an end or edge. It just keeps getting larger and larger. Similarly, space keeps expanding and we can't see or reach the end because it's constantly growing. Imagine if you had the fastest spaceship imaginable and you set out to explore the universe, you could see and discover an endless amount of different things. You would never be bored and never see the same thing twice. Thank you, Gabriel. Next Bridger from Camden, Maine asks why does the Earth orbit the Sun? Well, Bridger, because the amount of gravity exerted by the Sun is so much more than the Earth's gravitational pull, the Earth is forced into an orbit around the Sun. This force pulls the Earth towards the Sun, just like it does with the other planets in our Solar system. It's similar to how the Earth has captured the Moon since the Earth's gravitational pull is stronger than the Moon's. However, it's important to note that gravity on Earth causes objects to fall to the ground when dropped. Still, other forces come into play in space. Let's imagine a fun game with balls and strings to understand why the Earth orbits the Sun. You can use your imagination for right now and try this later. First, we need a big ball representing the Sun and a smaller ball representing Earth. Now, take a long piece of string and tie one end to the sunball and the other end to the earth ball. Hold the sunball in one hand and swing the earthball around in a circle with your other hand, like you're making the Earth go around the Sun. You'll notice that the earth ball keeps going around in a circle around the sunball. Why does this happen. It's because of gravity. Gravity is like a magical and visible thread that pulls things towards each other. The Sun has a lot of gravity, and it pulls the Earth towards it. At the same time, the Earth has a forward motion, just like how you're swinging it around with the string. Because of this forward motion and the Sun's gravity, the Earth keeps going in a circle. Around the Sun, just like your earthball keeps going in a circle around the sunball. And that's how our planet, the Earth, orbits the Sun. Thanks Bridger. Continuing on with our space theme, Colin in Norfolk, Virginia asks what caused the Big Bang? A long long time ago, even before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, even before well, everything, the whole universe, every spec of its energy, was compressed into a tiny, super duper small point. It was like a cosmic dot, and everything we know today was packed tightly inside it. Then something incredible happened. Boom, that tiny dot started to explode, expanding rapidly, creating space, time, and all the matter and energy we see in the cosmos today. This is often called the Big Bang theory. As the universe expanded and cooled down, matter and energy began to clump together, forming stars, galaxies, and all the amazing structures we observe in space. Scientists have gathered a lot of evidence supporting the Big Bang theory, such as the cosmic microwave background radiation, the abundance of light elements in the universe, and the observed expansion of galaxies. It's one of the most widely accepted explanations for the origin and evolution of the universe. Now, what caused this big explosion? Well, scientists are still trying to figure that out. It's like a big mystery. Some say it could be because of something called quantum fluctuations, which are like tiny vibrations in the fabric of space and time. Imagine you have a calm pond and suddenly a bunch of little ripples appear all over the water. Those ripples are like the quantum fluctuation that caused the universe to go boom. The Big Bang was like the starting point of everything we know, all the stars, planets, and galaxies. Thank you for your question, Colin. Our next question is from Nathan, who is from South San Francisco, California. Nathan wants to know how sea animals survive in the deep or deepest sea. Imagine going for a swim and going deeper and deeper into the ocean. The deeper you go, the darker and colder it gets, and the water pressure starts to feel heavy, like a big tight squeeze. But guess what. Sea animals that live in the deep or deepest parts of the ocean have some amazing adaptations that help them survive in such extreme conditions. Here are some of them. Animals living in these stepths have bodies designed to withstand this pressure. Many of them have flexible bodies and soft bones, which help them avoid being crushed by the weight of the water. One cool trick they have is making their own light. Some sea creatures, like certain types of fish and squids, have developed a fascinating ability called bioluminescence. They can produce their own light, which they use to communicate, find food, or confuse predators. Since food can be scarce in the deep sea, many deep sea creatures have slow metabolisms. This means they can survive on very little food and energy, which helps them endure long periods without eating. Just like you use your eyes, ears, and nose to explore the world, these sea creatures have special senses too. In the dark and vast ocean depths, animals rely on their senses to find food and navigate. Some deep sea creatures have incredibly sensitive eyes that can detect even tiny traces of light. Others have highly developed senses of smell or fuel vibrations in the water to locate prey. The deep sea can be super cold, but some animals have special adaptations to cope with the cold. They might have thick layers of fat or specialized proteins in their bodies that prevent ice crystals from forming and damaging their cells. These are just a few examples of how the fascinating creatures of the deep sea have adapted to survive in one of the most extreme environments on our planet. Thank you, Nathan. Did you know that peacock mantis shrimp is a bit like a mini karate expert of the sea. It is incredibly beautiful and colorful, But don't let looks fool you. These crustaceans have super strong claws that they used to punch its prey at lightning speed. And guess what. Its punch is so powerful that it is one of the planet's fastest and strongest pound for pound punches. Our last question comes from Alan MacDonald, who wants to know how were the oceans made? A long long time ago, when our planet Earth was just starting out, it was a super hot place with lots of volcanoes erupting all over the surface. These volcanoes spewed out hot molten rocks, gases, and steam into the air. As the Earth cooled down, the steam in the air started to cool too and turned into water droplets. Imagine you have a pot of boiling water on the stove and you can see steam rising from it. When you hold a plate above the pot, the steam touches the cold plate, cools down and turns back into tiny water droplets. That's what happened to our Earth. All those tiny water droplets in the air eventually fell back down to the Earth's surface as rain, and it didn't just rain a little bit, it rained a lot. This heavy rain went on for thousands and thousands of years, filling up the low areas on the Earth's surface with water. And guess what those low areas became the first oceans. It was like Mother Nature was creating giant water playgrounds for all kinds of amazing creatures to live in. As the Earth continued to cool, the rain kept coming down, and the oceans became even bigger and deeper. Over millions of years, our oceans turned into the vast and beautiful bodies of water that we know today. So there you have it. Our oceans were made by a fantastic combination of hot volcanoes, cooling steam, and lots of rain. Thank you, Alan for your question. In this episode, we learned some interesting things about space. We discussed whether there is an end to outer space and talked about what infinite space means and how if you traveled out into space you would just keep going. We discussed why the Earth orbits the Sun and how gravity plays a part in that. We looked at another space question regarding the Big Bang and what might have caused it to happen. We looked at how how sea animals survive in the deep sea and the adaptations that some of them have to help them survive there. We ended this episode by looking at how the oceans were made, tracing it back to when the Earth was just starting out. This episode was made with questions from Gabriel Bridger, Colin, Nathan, and Alan. I'd like to say thank you to Teddy, Rebecca, Jay from Scarsdale, New York, Romeo from Virginia, Ellie from Colorado, Magnolia, Sam from Illinois, Teddy from Nicomas, Florida, Cirsia from Ireland, Aria, gohad Leo Go and Harvey and Magnolia in South Florida. We hope to use your ideas in future episodes. Love It if you left us a review Wherever you listen to podcasts, your review might help others decide to listen to our show too. If you'd like to send us your questions, please send them to Hello at sleeptightscience dot com. Thank you, and sleep tight
Speaker 1: You're listening to sleep Tight Science. Did you know that mosquitoes have a favorite color? What you see? Scientists have discovered mosquitoes are attracted to the color dark blue. It's like mosquitoes have their own little fashion sense. Hm hmm. Mosquitoes are attracted to dark colors because they can easily spot them against the bright sky. So if you are wearing black, navy blue, or any other dark color, you might catch the attention of these little flying critters. Hello, friends, and welcome back to sleep Tight Science, a bedtime show that answers your questions about science. In this episode, instead of following a specific topic, we will spend all of our time together answering questions that listeners have sent us. There have been so many questions that we decided to create episodes just like this to answer them. We are starting a new series of topics based on your questions in September. We will also make some slight changes to how the show sounds, making it even more suitable for listening during those quiet moments like sleep time. If you have any suggestions, we would love to hear them. This season's weather feels much different than in the past, with higher temperatures humidity and much more rain. With this change, there have also been many more mosquitoes. In our last episode, aren't asked why mosquito bites itch, but why are there more mosquitoes? So many more mosquitos in the first place. This is what we found out. Mosquitoes love warm and wet places. They lay their eggs in water, and when the weather gets warmer, like in the summer, these eggs hatch and guess what, more baby mosquitoes are born. But sometimes when it rains a lot during the spring and early summer, there are more puddles and standing water around. Mosquitoes really like to lay their eggs in these water spots, so with more rain, baby mosquitoes have more places to grow up. Now, mosquitoes are food for other animals like birds, fats, and fish. If more mosquitoes are around, these animals will have more to eat, which might explain why all the birds around our house seem to sing so loudly. Do you think the birds are happy that they have more to eat. We have all kinds of questions to share with you. Let's start with a question submitted to us by Gabriel, who is eight years old and lives in Canada. Gabriel asks, is there an end to outer space? Outer space is vast and seemingly endless, but some scientists believe it doesn't have an actual end like a wall or boundary you can reach. Instead, it keeps going on and on, stretching out farther and farther. Scientists call this idea the infinite nature of space. It means that space has no limit or edge you can reach. It's like looking up at the night sky and seeing countless stars and galaxies. There are even more beyond what we can see with our eyes or telescopes. The infinite nature of space is a mind boggling concept, but let's try to understand it together. You're standing on the shore of an endless ocean. No matter how far you look, you can't see the end of it. You can keep sailing on the water or walking on the shore, but the ocean keeps going and going, stretching out forever. That's a bit like what scientists think about space. Space is like a gigantic ocean, but instead of water, it's filled with stars, planets, galaxies, and so much more. We call this space because it's the vast empty area between all the celestial objects. Another way to imagine this is to picture our universe like an expanding balloon. As the balloon inflates, all the galaxies, stars, and planet's move away from each other. This means space itself is getting bigger and bigger, just like the balloon's surface. But no matter how much the balloon inflates, it never has an end or edge. It just keeps getting larger and larger. Similarly, space keeps expanding and we can't see or reach the end because it's constantly growing. Imagine if you had the fastest spaceship imaginable and you set out to explore the universe, you could see and discover an endless amount of different things. You would never be bored and never see the same thing twice. Thank you, Gabriel. Next Bridger from Camden, Maine asks why does the Earth orbit the Sun? Well, Bridger, because the amount of gravity exerted by the Sun is so much more than the Earth's gravitational pull, the Earth is forced into an orbit around the Sun. This force pulls the Earth towards the Sun, just like it does with the other planets in our Solar system. It's similar to how the Earth has captured the Moon since the Earth's gravitational pull is stronger than the Moon's. However, it's important to note that gravity on Earth causes objects to fall to the ground when dropped. Still, other forces come into play in space. Let's imagine a fun game with balls and strings to understand why the Earth orbits the Sun. You can use your imagination for right now and try this later. First, we need a big ball representing the Sun and a smaller ball representing Earth. Now, take a long piece of string and tie one end to the sunball and the other end to the earth ball. Hold the sunball in one hand and swing the earthball around in a circle with your other hand, like you're making the Earth go around the Sun. You'll notice that the earth ball keeps going around in a circle around the sunball. Why does this happen. It's because of gravity. Gravity is like a magical and visible thread that pulls things towards each other. The Sun has a lot of gravity, and it pulls the Earth towards it. At the same time, the Earth has a forward motion, just like how you're swinging it around with the string. Because of this forward motion and the Sun's gravity, the Earth keeps going in a circle. Around the Sun, just like your earthball keeps going in a circle around the sunball. And that's how our planet, the Earth, orbits the Sun. Thanks Bridger. Continuing on with our space theme, Colin in Norfolk, Virginia asks what caused the Big Bang? A long long time ago, even before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, even before well, everything, the whole universe, every spec of its energy, was compressed into a tiny, super duper small point. It was like a cosmic dot, and everything we know today was packed tightly inside it. Then something incredible happened. Boom, that tiny dot started to explode, expanding rapidly, creating space, time, and all the matter and energy we see in the cosmos today. This is often called the Big Bang theory. As the universe expanded and cooled down, matter and energy began to clump together, forming stars, galaxies, and all the amazing structures we observe in space. Scientists have gathered a lot of evidence supporting the Big Bang theory, such as the cosmic microwave background radiation, the abundance of light elements in the universe, and the observed expansion of galaxies. It's one of the most widely accepted explanations for the origin and evolution of the universe. Now, what caused this big explosion? Well, scientists are still trying to figure that out. It's like a big mystery. Some say it could be because of something called quantum fluctuations, which are like tiny vibrations in the fabric of space and time. Imagine you have a calm pond and suddenly a bunch of little ripples appear all over the water. Those ripples are like the quantum fluctuation that caused the universe to go boom. The Big Bang was like the starting point of everything we know, all the stars, planets, and galaxies. Thank you for your question, Colin. Our next question is from Nathan, who is from South San Francisco, California. Nathan wants to know how sea animals survive in the deep or deepest sea. Imagine going for a swim and going deeper and deeper into the ocean. The deeper you go, the darker and colder it gets, and the water pressure starts to feel heavy, like a big tight squeeze. But guess what. Sea animals that live in the deep or deepest parts of the ocean have some amazing adaptations that help them survive in such extreme conditions. Here are some of them. Animals living in these stepths have bodies designed to withstand this pressure. Many of them have flexible bodies and soft bones, which help them avoid being crushed by the weight of the water. One cool trick they have is making their own light. Some sea creatures, like certain types of fish and squids, have developed a fascinating ability called bioluminescence. They can produce their own light, which they use to communicate, find food, or confuse predators. Since food can be scarce in the deep sea, many deep sea creatures have slow metabolisms. This means they can survive on very little food and energy, which helps them endure long periods without eating. Just like you use your eyes, ears, and nose to explore the world, these sea creatures have special senses too. In the dark and vast ocean depths, animals rely on their senses to find food and navigate. Some deep sea creatures have incredibly sensitive eyes that can detect even tiny traces of light. Others have highly developed senses of smell or fuel vibrations in the water to locate prey. The deep sea can be super cold, but some animals have special adaptations to cope with the cold. They might have thick layers of fat or specialized proteins in their bodies that prevent ice crystals from forming and damaging their cells. These are just a few examples of how the fascinating creatures of the deep sea have adapted to survive in one of the most extreme environments on our planet. Thank you, Nathan. Did you know that peacock mantis shrimp is a bit like a mini karate expert of the sea. It is incredibly beautiful and colorful, But don't let looks fool you. These crustaceans have super strong claws that they used to punch its prey at lightning speed. And guess what. Its punch is so powerful that it is one of the planet's fastest and strongest pound for pound punches. Our last question comes from Alan MacDonald, who wants to know how were the oceans made? A long long time ago, when our planet Earth was just starting out, it was a super hot place with lots of volcanoes erupting all over the surface. These volcanoes spewed out hot molten rocks, gases, and steam into the air. As the Earth cooled down, the steam in the air started to cool too and turned into water droplets. Imagine you have a pot of boiling water on the stove and you can see steam rising from it. When you hold a plate above the pot, the steam touches the cold plate, cools down and turns back into tiny water droplets. That's what happened to our Earth. All those tiny water droplets in the air eventually fell back down to the Earth's surface as rain, and it didn't just rain a little bit, it rained a lot. This heavy rain went on for thousands and thousands of years, filling up the low areas on the Earth's surface with water. And guess what those low areas became the first oceans. It was like Mother Nature was creating giant water playgrounds for all kinds of amazing creatures to live in. As the Earth continued to cool, the rain kept coming down, and the oceans became even bigger and deeper. Over millions of years, our oceans turned into the vast and beautiful bodies of water that we know today. So there you have it. Our oceans were made by a fantastic combination of hot volcanoes, cooling steam, and lots of rain. Thank you, Alan for your question. In this episode, we learned some interesting things about space. We discussed whether there is an end to outer space and talked about what infinite space means and how if you traveled out into space you would just keep going. We discussed why the Earth orbits the Sun and how gravity plays a part in that. We looked at another space question regarding the Big Bang and what might have caused it to happen. We looked at how how sea animals survive in the deep sea and the adaptations that some of them have to help them survive there. We ended this episode by looking at how the oceans were made, tracing it back to when the Earth was just starting out. This episode was made with questions from Gabriel Bridger, Colin, Nathan, and Alan. I'd like to say thank you to Teddy, Rebecca, Jay from Scarsdale, New York, Romeo from Virginia, Ellie from Colorado, Magnolia, Sam from Illinois, Teddy from Nicomas, Florida, Cirsia from Ireland, Aria, gohad Leo Go and Harvey and Magnolia in South Florida. We hope to use your ideas in future episodes. Love It if you left us a review Wherever you listen to podcasts, your review might help others decide to listen to our show too. If you'd like to send us your questions, please send them to Hello at sleeptightscience dot com. Thank you, and sleep tight