Scienceland articles from June 1997

Scienceland archives from June 1997

Rain, rain, go away.... (rain makes it difficult for flying insects because the wet wings makes flying hard)(All About Rain, Clouds, and Water: Special Report)
June 22, 1997... These honey bees hurry back to their hives. Most insects cannot be seen during a rain. What's the reason?(*) All animals and machines that fly have a hard time flying in the rain. Water can weigh down their wings. Even airplanes with...

Hiding from the rain. (insects shelter from falling rain, and cold under leaves, flowers, branches and bushes)(All About Rain, Clouds, and Water: Special Report)
June 22, 1997... Many insects find shelter under leaves, flowers, branches, and bushes. Rain also means cold -- not the cold of winter, but a chill even on a warm spring day. The wet and cold are bad for insects, just as they are bad for other animals,...

Raindrops on a wing, raindrops on people. (insect wings are made of tiny scales and they can become drenched from rain drops, but humans wear raincoats that shed water so they do not get sick from fast falling body temperature)(All About Rain, Clouds, and Water: Special Report)
June 22, 1997... At right you see the large, magnified wing of a swallowtail butterfly. The round balls of water are actually tiny raindrops. From far away, a butterfly wing makes smooth patterns. But close up, the wing is made up of rows of tiny...

Animals that come out during the rain. (some animals like slugs, snails and frogs need rain to keep their skins moist, but humans need to wear rain gear to keep dry in the rain)(All About Rain, Clouds, and Water: Special Report)
June 22, 1997... While most animals look for protection from rain, the treefrog and snail are animals that need rain. They are animals that need moisture on their skins.(*) What other animals come out during a rain? Like frogs, people, too, can come out...

After the rain...some animals reappear, others disappear. (animals like spiders that sought shelter during the rain come out and repair their rain-battered webs, but moist-skinned animals like frogs disappear)(All About Rain, Clouds, and Water: Special Report)
June 22, 1997... Insects and their relatives (spiders) that found protection from the rain under leaves and branches gradually come out. The tree frog and snail that came out during the rain slowly disappear. The spider must get to work mending...

What is rain? (drops of water of different sizes falling from the sky is what we call rain)(All About Rain, Clouds, and Water: Special Report)
June 22, 1997... Rain is drops of water falling from the sky. Some are large. Some are small. A large drop of rain can splash half your face. A tiny drop, often, you cannot feel. Rain can pitter patter on the ground. Rain can drub on your umbrella....

Where does rain come from? (clouds are made of water, and rain falls from certain types of clouds. One kind of rain-making cloud is the dark nimbus cloud)(All About Rain, Clouds, and Water: Special Report)
June 22, 1997... Look up at the sky on a rainy day. There is no blue sky. There is no sunshine. Dark clouds cover the sky and the sun. Rain comes from these clouds. Rain Clouds There are ten different kinds of clouds. You can tell them...

What happens to the rain? (some rain runs off into rivers, some soaks into the ground, and some is taken in by plants. People and other animals get water from plants or from places like lakes and rivers)(All About Rain, Clouds, and Water: Special Report)
June 22, 1997... Do We Need Water? All plants and animals need water to live. Some plants live by taking water from the air (water vapor). Some animals take water from plants that hold water. What about people? Think carefully. Can people live...

Will there always be rain? (water goes in a circle from sky to earth to sky endlessly. It is invisible water vapor when it rises to make clouds but it is raindrops when it falls back down)(All About Rain, Clouds, and Water: Special Report)
June 22, 1997... The rainwater in the river flows into the ocean. The sun and the air make the water evaporate from the ocean. Water vapor rises and turns into clouds. Will there always be rain? Yes! Tell us how in your own words.

All kinds of clouds. (there are about nine kinds of clouds and their name combinations tells how they look and at what height they are. Cirrus are the highest)(All About Rain, Clouds, and Water: Special Report)
June 22, 1997... Clouds come in different shapes, sizes, and colors. Different clouds are found at different heights in the sky. The clouds different heights in the sky. The clouds in this picture are shown as we would see them if we were sitting on a cloud....

Can we stand on a cloud? (clouds are made of water vapor, a gas, and ice crystals; fog is one kind of cloud)(All About Rain, Clouds, and Water: Special Report)
June 22, 1997... Clouds are very much like fog. The only difference is that fog is near the ground. If you have ever been in fog, you know what a cloud feels like. You know that we cannot stand on a cloud or put anything on it. We can pass right...

Water at work. (a large amount of water is heavy enough to move water wheels or knock down buildings, or move machines to make electricity: special cameras take pictures of drops hitting liquid)(All About Rain, Clouds, and Water: Special Report)
June 22, 1997... A cupful of water is easy to lift. But a bucketful of water is heavy. The more water there is, the heavier it is. One reason people and animals are afraid of too much rain is that water is strong and heavy. Water and rain can hurt...

Carving out cliffs. (water running in a river bed washes away the loose sand and stones beneath the river digging the bed deeper and deeper and leaving high cliffs on each side. Sometimes waterfalls form on the sides)(All About Rain, Clouds, and Water: Special Report)
June 22, 1997... As water travels along a river, it carries with it sand and loose stones. The loose ground underneath the river slowly washes away. Soon the river bed is made of hard rock. Over many, many years, the river rushes against the rock. The...

A flood! (heavy snow melting can cause rivers to overflow and cover the ground. Great floods can even carry away houses and other structures)(All About Rain, Clouds, and Water: Special Report)
June 22, 1997... The power of water can help people very much. But it can also hurt people and ruin their homes and land. When heavy rains come or snow melts quickly, there can be too much water in a river. The water overflows and the ground everywhere...