Listeners Questions: Dinosaurs 🦕🦖

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Speaker 1: Hi, science fans, Guess what. We are launching season four of sleep Tight Science this September, and we need your help to make it extra special. Did you know that your voice can be part of our show? We want to hear your amazing voices in our show opening. It's super easy and fun to join in. Just record yourself saying you are listening to sleep Tight Science. Then send your recording to the email address in our show notes. How cool is that. We can't wait to hear all your fantastic voices. Thank you for listening. You're listening to sleep Tight Science. Did you know that some dinosaurs, especially the smaller ones like velociraptor, had feathers? What This discovery helped scientists learn that birds today are actually a type of dinosaur. 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 our time answering questions that listeners have sent us. The cool thing is that all of these questions, except for a couple, follow a theme. The theme is dinosaurs. Dinosaurs were huge, amazing creatures that lived a very, very long time. Ago, way before humans, and came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from giant, long necked ones to fierce toothy ones. We have always been excited about dinosaurs at our house, so let's get right to the questions. Our first couple of questions are alike, so we might have some overlap. But this first one is from Charlie, who is five years old and his sister who is nine. They live in Melbourne, Australia. Their question reads, did the dinosaurs become extinct from lava, from volcanic eruptions or from the impact of a meteor? The extinction of dinosaurs is a story that has fascinated scientists and dinosaur enthusiasts like us for a long time. The end of the dinosaurs about sixty six million years ago marks one of the most significant events in Earth's history. The leading theories are only theories about what caused this mass extinction. They revolve around two major events, massive volcanic eruptions and the impact of a massive meteor. The most widely accepted theory for dinosaurs extinction is a large meteor's impact. This theory is supported by a layer of iridium found in geological formations around the world. Iridium is rare on Earth's surface, but is more common in meteors. The impact site, known as the Chicksaloub Crater, is located in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Scientists believe that when the meteor struck it caused catastrophic damage. The collision would have released an immense amount of energy equivalent to billions of atomic bombs. It would have triggered massive wildfires and tsunamis, and sent huge amounts of dust and debris into the atmosphere. This dust and debris could have blocked out sunlight for years, leading to a drastic drop in temperature and disrupting the climate on a global scale. Plants would have struggled to survive in these conditions. Without plants, the herbivorous dinosaurs would have starved, followed by the carnivorous dinosaurs that depended on them for food. The other major theory involves prolonged and massive volcanic eruptions in the Deccan Traps, a large volcanic province in modern day India. These eruptions would have lasted for thousands of years. They could have released enough ash and gases into the atmosphere who significantly alter the climate. The gases released, particularly sulfur dioxide, would have led to acid rain and a greenhouse effect warming the planet over a long period. This warming could have disrupted environmental and ecological processes, leading to a gradual decline in dinosaur populations even before the meteor impact. Now, some scientists believe these two catastrophic events may have worked together to cause the extinction of the dinosaurs. The volcanic eruptions could have already been weakening the ecosystems, making it difficult for the dinosaurs to thrive. The meteor impact might have been the final blow that pushed the dinosaurs and many other species to extinction. This combination of long term environmental stress caused by the volcanic activity, followed by the immediate and dramatic climate changes triggered by the meteor impact could explain why the extinction was so widespread and affected many species. So, Charlie, we couldn't find a definitive answer to your question, which is often the case when you are looking for the causes of events that occurred so long ago. The safe answer is that the extinction of the dinosaurs is likely due to a combination of these two major events, both the metior impact and the volcanic eruptions had the potential to drastically change the environment and climb on a global scale. While the exact details of how these events led to the end of the dinosaurs are still being studied, it is clear that these were major factors in their extinction. Thank you for the question, Charlie and your sister. Now, our next question comes from Digby, who is four years old and from Towoomba, Australia. Digby asks, if an asteroid killed all the dinosaurs, where is the asteroid? Now? That is a great question and we touched on this in the answer to Charlie's question. When the asteroid hit the Earth about sixty six million years ago, it didn't stay intact like the asteroids we see in movies. Instead, when the asteroid, estimated to be about ten kilometers or six miles in diameter, hit the Earth, it released an enormous amount of energy. This energy was so immense that it caused the asteroid to disintegrate or break apart upon impact. The impact created a massive crater known as the Chick Saloub Crater, located in what is now the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The energy from the impact would have vaporized much of the asteroid and the surrounding rock, forming a crater about one hundred and fifty kilometers or ninety three miles in diameter. The impact threw huge amounts of material into the atmosphere, including parts of the asteroid and the Earth's crust. This material was spread around the globe. An evidence of this impact, including a layer of iridium and shocked quartz, can be found in geological layers around the world. So the simple answer is the asteroid is all over the Earth. Here is an experiment you can try with your parents. You will need a raw egg, a high place to drop it from like a chair, a large sheet of paper or a drop cloth, and safety goggles. First, place a paper or drop cloth on the ground to catch the egg and make clean up easier. Then predict or gas what will happen to the egg when it hits the ground while wearing safety goggles. Drop the egg from the chair or ladder and observe what happens upon impact. The egg will likely break, demonstrating how the force of impact can cause disintegration, similar to the asteroid's fate when it hit earth. Remember to do this with your parents' help and permission. Thank you for the question, Digby, did you know that the dinosaur with the longest name is micropachy Cephalosaurus, which means tiny, thick headed lizard. Its name seems longer than the dinosaur, which was only about two meters long. Our next question comes from Freya, age six, from both Roseman Montana. Freya asks what was the first dinosaur ever discovered? The first dinosaur to be formally recognized and named was Megalosaurus. This discovery marked the beginning of what we now call dinosaurs. Megalosaurus, which means great lizard, was discovered in the early nineteenth century in England. The first scientific description of one of its bones was published in eighteen twenty four by a geologist and paleontologist, William Buckland. At the time, the concept of dinosaurs as a distinct group of prehistoric reptiles didn't exist yet. It wasn't until later in eighteen forty two that the term dinosaur, meaning terrible lizard, was coined by Sir Richard Owen, a British paleontologist, to describe Megalosaurus and a few other large extinct reptiles known at the time. So while fossils had been found earlier and people had been finding dinosaur bones for centuries without realizing what they were, Megalosaurus holds the title of the first dinosaur scientifically described and named, helping to start the field of dinosaur paleontology. Thank you for the question, Freya. Our next question comes from Alessandro, who is five. Alessandro asks what was the tallest volcano at the time of the dinosaurs. We couldn't find a perfect answer to this question. During the time of the dinosaurs. The exact height of ancient volcanoes are not well documented, as the landscape had changed significantly over millions of years due to geological processes like erosion, tectonic shifts, and new volcanic activity. However, we know there were large volcanic eruptions and extensive volcanic regions during the Mesozoic era when drnosaurs roamed the earth. We just talked about the Deccan Traps in present day India. While not a single volcano but rather a large volcanic province, the Deccan Traps were formed by a series of massive volcanic eruptions that occurred around sixty six million years ago, towards the end of the Crustacean period. These eruptions were so extensive that they covered a significant portion of what is now India, and they are often discussed in relation to the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. In terms of individual volcanoes, it's difficult to pinpoint which would have been the tallest during the dinosaur's time. Modern day volcanoes like Mona KaiA and mountains like Mount Everest have formed relatively recently in geological terms, long after the dinosaurs went extinct. So while we know that large scale volcanic activity was happening during the time of the dinosaurs, identifying which was the tallest volcano was not something we could find. Thank you for the question, Alessandro. Did you know that the smallest known dinosaur is the b hummingbird, which is still alive today. Birds are modern dinosaurs, so this tiny hummingbird holds the record. Our last question comes from Sasha, who is six years old and lives in London, England. Sasha would like to know why t Rex was the King of the dinosaurs. The Tyrannosaurus Rex or t Rex, is called the king of the dinosaurs because it was really big and strong. It had super strong jaws with really big sharp teeth that could bite through almost anything. The t rex was all so a great hunter. It could find and catch other dinosaurs to eat. Plus, it's famous and shows up a lot in movies and books about dinosaurs, which makes it even more special. The t rex was one of the largest meat eating dinosaurs that ever lived. It was about twelve meters or forty feet long and could weigh up to eight tons. Its massive size, powerful muscles, and strong legs made it pretty imposing. The t rex had incredibly powerful jaws equipped with long, sharp teeth that could be up to twelve inches long. These teeth were perfect for biting and tearing through flesh and bone, making the t rex a fearsome predator. While there's some debate among scientists about whether the t rex was a predator or a scavenger, its physical attributes, including keen vision, suggest it was well equipped for hunting. Its strong legs could help it to move quickly in short bursts to catch its prey. Numerous well preserved t rex fossils have been discovered, providing a wealth of information about its anatomy, diet and possible behavior. These discoveries have continually fueled public interest and scientific research, adding to its legendary status. Thank you for the question, Sasha. This episode was made with questions from Charlie and his sister in Melbourne, Australia, Digby from Toowoomba, Australia, Freya from Bozeman, Montana, Alessandro and Sasha in London, England. We love getting your feedback on our show. If you have any feedback, please send it our way, and if you want to make sure you get all the episodes, please ask your parents to subscribe. 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