Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2025 i Ask Science and Arts Magazine for Kids and Children

Nobel also invented blasting caps, small explosive charges that set off the dynamite. You add one only at the last minute.…

Ancient Americans were the first to grow and eat popcorn around 9,000 years ago. The Aztec people of southern Mexico called it totopoca, which if you say it fast kind of sounds like the popping noise the cooking corn makes. Archaeologists have unearthed ancient ears of popping corn in the American Southwest as well. When dropped in hot sand, lo and behold, the old kernels still popped after more than 1,000 years. This amazing feat is largely due to each kernel’s sturdy, protective outer layer, or hull. This hard hull, it turns out, is also key to what makes popcorn pop. Snack-robatics Surprisingly, no one really knew what goes on when popcorn pops until recently. In 2015, two French scientists decided to unravel the secrets of the acrobatic snack. At…

A pyrotechnician—someone who works with fireworks—might say that a firework is a bunch of chemicals arranged so that they explode in a particular order. The main ingredient in fireworks is black powder—old-fashioned gunpowder. When a spark ignites black powder, it burns very rapidly, releasing a lot of gas very quickly. The force of all that gas pushing out is what we call an explosion. Fireworks are filled with small, hard pellets called stars, made of a paste of black powder and other chemicals that explode and spark. Hundreds of these small stars exploding make the colored, sparkly part of the fireworks that you see in the air. Fireworks makers use many different kinds of stars to make their fiery effects. To create a firework, the stars are scooped up and…

In a small village in southeast Africa, children laugh and chase each other through the streets. Then a warning yell goes up and they all come to a stop. In the field beyond, hidden somewhere in the dirt, are plate-sized metal discs—explosive land mines. It’s too dangerous to play there. But soon this field will be safe again. The Hero Rats are on the way! Who Left this Bomb Here? Land mines are small, sneaky bombs that explode when someone steps on them. During wars, they act like a dangerous fence to keep enemies out. But after wars, many are left behind. Sometimes they sit for years—and then suddenly explode when an unlucky traveler steps in the wrong place. Leftover mines are a big problem in some parts of the…

Hello?” So begins the telephone call telling you that you have been awarded a Nobel Prize. Your work has made the world a better place. To you now will come money and fame and praise. Perhaps you have discovered a new chemical or something new about atoms. Perhaps you developed a miracle drug or figured out how economies work. You may have written words that changed the world or stood up for peace when war seemed the only choice. Above all, you have made a difference. But why are there these prizes in the first place? The answer is dynamite—dangerous dynamite, for inside is one of the scariest, most uncontrollable chemicals known: nitroglycerin. Hit a drop of nitroglycerin with a hammer and it will explode. Heat it or jostle it—KABOOM!…

In our January issue we asked you to make a pasta portrait. In our February issue we asked for posters featuring your favorite pet. In our March/April issue we asked for placards inspiring people to take care of rivers. And in our May/June issue we asked you to write a news story and told you that we had BIG news of our own. Well, here’s the news. Ask is moving! Beginning with your next issue, we’ll be part of Spider magazine. You’ll find the contest and letters there, as well as “Marvin and Friends,” “Nestor’s Dock,” and more. So this month instead of calling for new contest entries, we’re proudly presenting a parade of impressive pasta portraits and river placards. You can look forward to perusing the February pet posters…