Question of the Day 4/30

Cricket Volumes

As a rule of thumb, a quart jar will hold about 1,000 crickets.

1. Would the same jar hold more or less than 1,000 ants?
2. About how many quart jars would you need if you wanted to collect 2,000 crickets?

Question of the Day 5/4

Length of a Shrew

The tiny shrew, which looks something like a mouse, has a head and body length of about 1.7 inches and a tail length of about 1.2 inches.

1. Which is longer, the length of the shrew's head and body or the length of its tail?
2. About how long is the entire shrew from head to tail?

Question of the Day 5/3

Penguin vs. Human Swimmers

Penguins can swim about 15 miles in 1 hour.  A fast human can swim about 3 miles in 1 hour.  

1. About how many more miles than a human can a penguin swim in 1 hour?
2. About how far could a penguin swim in 2 hours?

Question of the Day 4/27

Paper in Trash Heaps

Some  people claim that the average 10-ton pile of municipal trash contains 6 to 7 tons of paper.

1. Is more or less than half of the pile paper?
2. If people begin to recycle more paper, what will happen to the amount of paper in the municipal trash?

Question of the Day 4/26

A Long Monopoly Game

The longest game of Monopoly on record lasted about 1,680 hours.

1. About how long do you think a Monopoly game would ordinarily last?
2. About how many hours longer than an ordinary game was the longest Monopoly game?

Question of the Day 4/25

Body Muscle

Less than half of the average person's body weight is muscle.

1. How much of a person's body weight is not muscle?

Bonus: If a child weighs about 70 pounds, about how much do the child's muscles weigh?

Question of the Day 4/24

Pumping Blood

As a rule of thumb, your heart pushes about 5 tablespoons of blood into your arteries with each beat.

1. About how many tablespoons of blood are pushed into your arteries in 2 beats?
2. In 3 beats?
3. In 10 beats?

Question of the Day 4/20

The Three-Toed Sloth

The three-toed sloth, also known as the ai (pronounced "eye"), is one of the slowest moving land animals.  It moves an average of about 6 to 8 feet per minute, for an average speed of .068 miles per hour.

1. About how many feet does the ai travel in 2 minutes?
2. Can the ai travel 18 feet in 3 minutes?

Question of the Day 4/19

Types of Bears

Scientists have identified seven different types of bears in the world.  Three of these different types can be found in North America.

1. How many types of bears in the world cannot be found in North America?
2. What fraction of the types of bears in the world can be found in North America?

Question of the Day 4/18

Making Cookies A cookie recipe call for 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of sugar for each batch of cookies.

1. If you wanted to make twice as many cookies, how many cups of sugar should you use?
2. How many cups of flour?
   

Question of the Day 4/17

Hibernation

The burrow ground squirrel, which lives in Alaska, hibernates for about 9 months of the year.

1. For about how many months of the year is the burrow ground squirrel active (not hibernating)?

**There are 12 months in a year.

Question of the Day 4/16

Elephant Sleep

Most elephants need only about 2 hours of sleep each day.

1. About how many hours of sleep do you need each day?
2. About how many more hours of sleep do you need than most elephants?
   

Question of the Day 4/13

Elephant Meals Elephants spend about 16 hours of every day eating. (24 hours in a day)

1. About how many hours a day do elephants not eat?
   

Question of the Day 4/12

New Books Every day about 125 new books are published in the United States. About 8 of these books are children's books.

1. About how many books for adults are published each day?
2. About how many children's books are published in 2 days?
   

Question of the Day 4/11

Planting Flower Bulbs As a rule of thumb, plant a flower bulb three times as deep as its length.

1. About how many inches deep should you plant a 1-inch bulb?
2. About how many inches deep should you plant a 2-inch bulb?
   

Question of the Day 4/10

Baby Weights The average newborn human baby usually doubles its weight in 6 months.

1. About how much will a baby weigh in 6 months if it weighed about 7 pound at birth?
2. If it weighed 7 1/2 pounds at birth?
3. About 8 pounds?
   

Question of the Day 4/9

The Oldest Living Animal The oldest living animal on record was found in 1982. At that time, this clam was 220 years old.

1. If the clam is still alive today, how old is it?
   

Question of the Day 4/6

Riddles

1. Why is getting up at 3:00 in the morning like a pig's tail?
2. What did the acorn say when it grew up?
3. What do you call a dead parrot?
4. Why is "smiles" the longest word in the English language?

Question of the Day 4/5

A Snail's Place

The slowest snails in the world move at a speed of about 23 inches per hour.

1. Do these snails travel more or less that 1 foot in an hour?
2. Do they travel more or less than 2 feet in an hour?
3. About how many inches do these snails travel in 2 hours?
   

Question of the Day 4/4

Making Potato Salad

According to some cookbooks, you should use about 1 1/2 potatoes and 1 egg per person when you make potato salad.

1. If you wanted to make enough potato salad for 2 people, how many potatoes should you use?
2. How many eggs should you use?

Question of the Day 4/3

Hot Dogs and Buns

Hot dogs often come in packages of 10. Buns usually come in packages of 8.

If we had a class picnic, would we need to buy more packages of hot dogs or more packages of buns? Why?