Mars Facts for Kids

Mars Facts for Kids Mars, or the 'Red Planet' as it is sometimes known, has a dusty, rocky surface and a thin atmosphere. Its relatively calm conditions and close proximity to earth make it the most likely destination for future planet exploration by humans. It has already been visited by a number of Mars Rovers in successful (and unsuccessful) robotic missions. These highly advanced robots gather samples and record important scientific data for scientists back on Earth to study.

Mars is nicknamed the red planet because it is covered with rust-like dust. Even the atmosphere is a pinkish red, colored by tiny particles of dust thrown up from the surface. Mars experiences violent dust storms which continually change its surface. Mars has many massive volcanoes and is home to Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in our solar system, it stands 21km high and is 600km across the base. Mars has a very thin atmosphere made mostly of carbon dioxide. It is not thick enough to trap the sun's heat like Venus, so the planet is very cold. Temperatures range from -120 Degrees Celsius on winter nights to 25 Degrees Celsius in the summer. Mars has many channels, plains and canyons on the surface which could have been caused by water erosion in the past. Mars has very weak gravity which cannot hold onto the atmosphere well. The polar ice caps consist of frozen Co2 (dry ice) which lies over a layer of ice.

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Mercury Facts for Kids

Mercury Facts for Kids Mercury is a small planet which orbits closer to the sun than any other planet in our solar system. As well as being very hot, it features a barren, crater covered surface which looks similar to Earth's moon.

• The surface of Mercury is very similar to our moon. It has a very barren, rocky surface covered with many craters.

• Being so close to the Sun, the daytime temperature on Mercury is scorching - reaching over 400 Degrees Celsius.

• At night however, without an atmosphere to hold the heat in, the temperatures plummet, dropping to -180 Degrees Celsius.

• Mercury has a very low surface gravity.

• Mercury has no atmosphere which means there is no wind or weather to speak of.

• There is also no water on the surface of Mercury, it is possible however that there could be water underneath the surface.

• Likewise, there is no air on the surface but it could be trapped underneath.

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Fun Elephant Facts for Kids

Fun Elephant Facts for Kids Check out these interesting elephant facts and learn more about the biggest land mammal in the world. Elephants are unique animals that live in parts of Africa and Asia. Scroll down for more information.

There are two types of elephant, the Asian elephant and the African elephant (although sometimes the African Elephant is split into two species, the African Forest Elephant and the African Bush Elephant). Elephants are the largest land-living mammal in the world. Both female and male African elephants have tusks but only the male Asian elephants have tusks. They use their tusks for digging and finding food. Female elephants are called cows. They start to have calves when they are about 12 years old and they are pregnant for 22 months. An elephant can use its tusks to dig for ground water. An adult elephant needs to drink around 210 litres of water a day. Elephants have large, thin ears. Their ears are made up of a complex network of blood vessels which with regulating an elephants temperature. Blood is circulated through their ears to cool them down in hot climates. Elephants have no natural predators. However, lions will sometimes prey on young or weak elephants in the wild. The main risk to elephants is from humans through poaching and changes to their habitat. The elephant’s trunk is able to sense the size, shape and temperature of an object. An elephant uses its trunk to lift food and suck up water then pour it into its mouth. An elephant’s trunk can grow to be about 2 metres long and can weigh up to 140 kg. Some scientists believe that an elephant’s trunk is made up of 100,000 muscles, but no bones.  Female elephants spend their entire lives living in large groups called herds. Male elephant leave their herds at about 13 years old and live fairly solitary lives from this point. Elephants can swim – they use their trunk to breathe like a snorkel in deep water. Elephants are herbivores and can spend up to 16 hours days collecting leaves, twigs, bamboo and roots.

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Fun Tiger Facts for Kids Enjoy these fun tiger facts for kids. Learn about different types of tigers, how big they are, how fast they run, how they hunt and more. Check out the wide range of interesting facts about tigers and their cubs.   The tiger is the biggest species of the cat family. Tigers can reach a length of up to 3.3 metres (11 feet) and weigh as much as 300 kilograms (660 pounds). Subspecies of the tiger include the Sumatran Tiger, Siberian Tiger, Bengal Tiger, South China Tiger, Malayan Tiger and Indochinese Tiger. Many subspecies of the tiger are either endangered or already extinct. Humans are the primary cause of this through hunting and the destruction of habitats. Around half of tiger cubs don’t live beyond two years of age. Tiger cubs leave their mother when they are around 2 years of age. A group of tigers is known as an ‘ambush’ or ‘streak’. Tigers are good swimmers and can swim up to 6 kilometres. Rare white tigers carry a gene that is only present in around 1 in every 10000 tigers. Tigers usually hunt alone at night time. Tigers have been known to reach speeds up to 65 kph (40 mph). Less than 10% of hunts end successfully for tigers Tigers can easily jump over 5 metres in length. Various tiger subspecies are the national animals of Bangladesh, India, North Korea, South Korea and Malaysia. There are more tigers held privately as pets than there are in the wild. Tigers that breed with lions give birth to hybrids known as tigons and ligers.

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Science Facts

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• One litre human blood contains about 4,000,000,000 - 11,000,000,000 white blood cells.

• Tachometer is an instrument used to measure the speed of revolution of a revolving disc or shaft.

• Sloth bears are used as performing pets due to their tameable nature.

• Ballistics is the branch of mechanics concerned with the study of projectiles.

• More than 80% of the total described animal species of the Earth are arthropods.

• Silicon is the second most abundant element in the Earth's crust (the first being Oxygen).

• As gamma rays are a form of ionizing radiation, they pose severe health hazard when absorbed by living tissue.

• The mass of Planet Saturn is roughly 95.152 times the mass of the Earth.

• Capillary feed fountain pen was invented by Lewis Edson Waterman.

• Polar bears are nearly invisible under infrared photography.

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Science Facts

• The safety match was invented by Gustaf Erik Pasch (in the year 1844). It was later improved by Johan Edvard Lundström.

• Cobalt-60 is an artificial radioactive isotope of cobalt used for sterilizing surgical        instruments.

• Photoelectric effect was discovered by Heinrich Hertz and Wilhelm Hallwachs in the year 1887.

• Sheep can recognize individual human and sheep faces, and remember them for years.

• Silumin is an alloy of aluminium and silicon used for casting purposes.

• Molten lava is up to 100,000 times as viscous as water.

• An acre of rich fertile farmland may contain up to 1,750,000 earthworms.

• The first colour photograph was created by the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, with the help of the English photographer Thomas Sutton, in the year 1861.

• Capybara is the largest living rodent in the world.

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