Bad News. You’re Not Smarter Than a 5th Grader

Sorry. You're not smarter than your fifth grader. At least not when it comes to science. Here are some some seemingly unanswerable questions...and the answers. 

Two out of three parents say they are totally clueless when their kids ask them a science related question like, "Why is the sky blue? Why is water wet?" One out of four admit to being frustrated by the fact that they can't help their children with their homework and one in five said that their kids know more about math and science than they do. Some even admit to making up an answer.

I'm here to help. Here are some of the most dreaded questions and their correct answers.

1. Why is the moon sometimes out in the day? The moon can be lit by the sun depending on where it is in the sky. It reflects the sun's rays, even during the day. It just depends on the moon's angle to the Earth.

2. Why is the sky blue? The sun's rays arrive on Earth in every color of the spectrum, but it hits particles in the air that make it shine blue.

3. Will we ever discover aliens? No one knows that.

4. How much does the Earth weigh? The Earth is weighed by its gravitational attraction to other nearby objects and it's a lot of zeroes. The Earths actual weight is 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilograms. That number is six septillion.

5. How do airplanes stay in the air? Planes lift up by driving air downward using specially designed wings. The push from that air flow is more powerful than gravity. This is also known as Newton's Second Law of Motion.

6. Why is water wet? Wet is a word we use for liquids and the way they feel, but not all liquids behave the same way.

7. How do I do long division? On paper.

8. Where do birds and bees go in wintertime? Bees quit flying. Birds head south (or migrate) to stay warm.

9. What makes a rainbow? Sunlight going through the air water in the air "splits" into all of the colors.

10. Why are there different time zones? Time zones were designed so that there would be light during the day all over the globe. If we didn't have different time zones, people would have midday in the middle of the night.