Ten Fun Facts About Bikes

Whether you rely on your bike for transportation or exercise, you’ll enjoy these ten fun facts on this two-wheeled vehicle.

1. In 1817, Karl von Drais, a German baron, invented a horseless carriage that would help him get around faster. The two-wheeled, pedal-less device was propelled by pushing your feet against the ground, The machine became known as the “draisine,” and led to the creation of the modern-day bicycle.


2. The term “bicycle” was not introduced until the 1860s, when it was coined in France to describe a new kind of two-wheeler with a mechanical drive.


3. Orville and Wilbur Wright, the brothers who built the first flying airplane, operated a small bike repair shop in Dayton, Ohio. They used their workshop to build the 1903 Wright Flyer.


4. Fred A. Birchmore, 25, circled the globe by bicycle in 1935. The entire trip, through Europe, Asia, and the United States, covered forty thousand miles. He pedaled about 25,000 miles. The rest was traveled by boat. He wore out seven sets of tires.


5. There are over a half billion bicycles in China. Bikes were first brought to China in the late 1800s.


6. About 100 million bicycles are manufactured worldwide each year.


7. Over the past 30 years, bicycle delivery services have developed into an important industry, especially in cities, where the couriers have earned a reputation for their high speed and traffic-weaving skills.


8. Americans use their bicycles for less than one percent of all urban trips. Europeans bike in cities a lot more often—in Italy 5 percent of all trips are on bicycle, 30 percent in the Netherlands, and seven out of eight Dutch people over age 15 have a bike.


9. The Tour de France is one of the most famous bicycle races in the world. Established in 1903, it is considered to be the biggest test of endurance out of all sports. Lance Armstrong, an American cyclist, is the only rider to have won seven titles (1999–2005) after surviving cancer.


10. Bicycle Moto Cross (BMX), an extreme style of bicycle track racing, became a sport in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Maris Strombergs, of Latvia, received the gold medal for Men’s BMX, and Anne-Caroline Chausson, from France, took home the gold in the first Women’s BMX Olympic event.

Facts taken from:
 
Bicycle: The History by David Herlihy
The World Almanac Book of Records: Firsts, Feats, Facts & Phenomena by Mark Young

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Make a Groovy Lava Lamp

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The secret behind the lamp’s “lava” is science. Oil is lighter, or less dense, than water, so it rises to the surface. Salt is heavier, or more dense, than water, and sinks to the bottom. When you add the salt, blobs of oil attach to the grains and sink. Then the salt dissolves, and the oil returns to the top. The result? A liquid show for the eyes.

YOU WILL NEED

• Clear jar with lid
• Water
• Food coloring
• Glitter
• Vegetable oil
• Salt
• Flashlight
  

Fill the jar three-quarters full of water. Add drops of food coloring until you like the color you see. A few drops go a long way! Sprinkle in glitter for extra sparkle. Fill the jar almost to the top with vegetable oil and let the mixture separate. Pour salt into the jar until you see the cool lava lamp effect. When the bubbles stop, add more salt to see it again. Shine a flashlight behind the jar to watch your lava lamp really glow!

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Eggs-Periments: Balancing Egg

First get permission to use kitchen equipment and eggs.

YOU WILL NEED

• One raw egg
• Salt

HERE’S HOW

1. Take the raw egg and try to balance it on a hard surface (you will have a difficult time keeping the egg balanced).
2. Now, make a tiny mound of salt on a hard, smooth surface.
3. Very carefully balance the egg on top of the salt, then gently blow the excess salt away. With patience and a steady hand, you should succeed.

Note: Try this experiment without the salt about March 20, on the spring equinox, or about September 23, on the autumn equinox. During the equinoxes the sun appears directly overhead at the Equator, and the length of night and day are nearly equal worldwide. Carefully balance the egg on a hard smooth surface. If it doesn't balance, then try the experiment with some salt.

WHY?

Some people believe that the gravitational pull of the sun that occurs on the equinoxes can help keep an egg standing on its end. This idea is unproven, but it's interesting to test it. Another way to stand an egg up—on any day—is to use salt.
The salt crystals are almost perfect cubes, and they help form a pedestal that supports the egg.

 

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Peppermint Bark

Make your own delicious peppermint bark to eat or give as a gift.

YOU WILL NEED

• 15 to 20 red-and-white peppermint candies
• Resealable freezer bag
• Hammer
• 11-ounce (311-gram) bag of white chocolate
• Medium-size, microwave-safe bowl
• Red or green food coloring (optional)
• Cookie sheet
• Waxed paper
• Cellophane (optional)

HERE'S HOW

1. Unwrap the mints and seal them inside the freezer bag. Ask your parents to help you crush the mints by gently hitting them with a hammer.  Remove larger pieces of candy from the bag and set aside.
2. Pour the white chocolate chips into the bowl and microwave on 70 percent power for two to three minutes. Stir frequently until the chips are melted and smooth.
3. Add the crushed mints from the bag. To create holiday colors, slowly mix in drops of food coloring until you like the color.
4. Line the cookie sheet with waxed paper and spread out the chocolate. Decorate with the larger mint pieces. Refrigerate for about an hour. Break the hardened chocolate into pieces.
5. Wrap the candy in cellophane to give as a gift!

 

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Ice Cream Sandwiches Night

Ask your parents to join you when you make these homemade, ice cream sandwiches!

YOU WILL NEED (SERVES FOUR)

• 2 cups (475 mL) of your favorite ice cream or frozen yogurt
• 8 large cookies

RECOMMENDED COOKIE/ICE CREAM COMBOS

• Chocolate cookie/mint chocolate chip ice cream
• Peanut butter cookie/chocolate ice cream
• Vanilla cookie/strawberry ice cream
• Chocolate chip cookie/vanilla ice cream

HERE'S HOW

1. Let ice cream sit out for ten minutes.

2. Top four cookies with 1/2 cup (120 mL) ice cream.

3. Top each one with another cookie to form ice cream sandwiches!

4. Wrap the four cookies in plastic or wax paper and freeze until firm.

5. Break out these ice cream-filled sandwiches for dessert on a hot night.

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A Different Way to Wake Up

When Matty Sallin, 34, was working on a degree in art and technology at New York University, he got an interesting assignment in electronics class: Create something for the household. He decided to create an alarm clock.

"Everybody has to deal with these every day, and they are extremely unpleasant!" he says. He asked different people what they'd like to wake up to instead of a clanging, noisy alarm. A lot of them said, "The smell of bacon."

So Sallin and two classmates invented a new kind of alarm clock: a wooden box with a pig face and a digital clock that uses the smell of cooking bacon rather than sound to wake someone up. He explains, "There's no danger of burning, because I built it carefully. It uses halogen light bulbs instead of a flame for cooking and turns off automatically after ten minutes." Just a few easy steps are required to set the "alarm."

"What you do is put a couple of frozen strips in the night before," says Sallin. Bacon is cured, or preserved, so there is no danger of it spoiling overnight.

"If you set the alarm for 8:00, it will turn on at 7:50 and slow cook for ten minutes under the halogen bulbs," he says. Then the bulbs turn off and a fan blows the scent out through the nostrils of the pig.

"So instead of an alarm or a beep or a radio, you smell yourself awake," says Sallin. "Then you can open the door on the side and pull the bacon out and eat it."

When Sallin was a kid, he spent a lot of time making drawings of inventions. "I wanted to make an elevator in my back yard and a special tree house," he says. "But I never really thought I'd be called an inventor!"

Sallin got an A in the class and went on to other things—but people continue to hear about his invention and email him every day asking where they can buy his alarm clock.

These days he designs computer software, but if he decides to produce and sell his aroma alarm, maybe he can develop some other models. Any votes for cinnamon buns?

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Rattlesnake Rustlers

When Heather Ramirez of Auburn, California, went to the dentist recently with her husband Len, she wasn’t there to have her teeth cleaned. She and her husband are professional snake removers. They were there to catch and return to the wild a rattlesnake that had slithered indoors.

She describes her work as “protecting people from rattlesnakes—and protecting rattlesnakes from people.” In her part of the country, the northern Pacific rattlesnake (Crotalus virudis oreganos) often comes face-to-face with humans.

Studies show these snakes generally only bite people who are trying to catch or kill them. Keeping your distance prevents bites, which are serious but not usually fatal with today’s medicines.  A rattlesnake can even give a loud warning that says, “I am here, stay away” with the rattles located at the tip of its tail.

 “We find rattlesnakes everywhere,” says Ramirez. “In houses, in yards and woodpiles, under decks.”  She says that the snakes aren’t invading human homes—it’s the other way around: “These animals were here first, and we humans came in and built houses. We are living in their territory.”

Many people are frightened when they see a rattler and call for help right away. When the Ramirez phone rings, the couple drops whatever they are doing and rushes to work, often leaving a meal half-eaten on the table.

The team is good at finding snakes that have gone into hiding. A tool that looks like long spaghetti tongs allow them to handle the snakes without harming them (see photo), and the tongs are long enough that the snake cannot reach them to bite.

“Never pick up a rattlesnake,” says Ramirez. “I’ve been doing this job for 12 years, and I have never touched one with my hands. There’s no reason to take that risk.”

“We put the snakes in wooden crates in our pickup truck. Those crates are bolted to the floor and locked for safety,” explains Ramirez. She takes the captives to holding pens at her house until she can let them go far away from human activity.

Ramirez tells people to read all they can about snakes so they understand these amazing animals. For example, snakes actually help humans. Small mammals like rats, mice, and gophers carry fleas and ticks that spread serious illnesses like bubonic plague and Lyme disease to people. A snake might eat a dozen rodents a year, helping control the population—and the spread of disease.

Ramirez and her husband relocate more than a thousand snakes a year. “The longest was 5 feet 9 inches (1.8 meters), and I’m only five-foot-three, so that was amazing to see.” She enjoys every day working with snakes. “I just love my job!”

Snake Safety Tips

• If you see a snake, don’t touch it.  Go tell an adult.

• Snakes like warmth, and they often curl up at night next to big plastic toys outside that hold the warmth of the sun.  Look carefully when you go out to play.

• Never put your hands into woodpiles or dark corners of the garage in case a snake is hiding there.

• When you’re out playing, step on rocks and logs, not over them.  You don’t want to surprise a snake that might be hiding underneath.

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Here Come the Presidents

In 2007, just in time for Presidents’ Day, the United States Mint is releasing a brand new one-dollar coin that honors U.S. Presidents. It's the first in the Presidential $1 Coin Program, which is modeled after the popular state quarters series.
Four new designs will come out per year, each featuring a different U.S. President. You can start your collection this year with George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison!

“Coins are history in our pocket,” said April Stafford, United States Mint education program manager. “To actually hold that coin in your hand and ask, 'Why are we honoring this President?' is a very tangible way for kids to learn about our nation.”
The Presidential $1 Coin Act was signed by President Bush on December 22, 2005. It set out all the rules for when the coins get released and who appears on them. One rule says Presidents who served more than one term get only one coin unless the terms were not consecutive (served one after the other). Can you name the one U.S. President who served two non-consecutive terms? It’s Grover Cleveland, and he’ll get two coins.

The "heads," or obverse, side of the coins will feature an image of the President, his name, the dates he served in office, and which number president he was.
The reverse, or “tails,” side will feature the Statue of Liberty. All current U.S. coins have the word "Liberty" printed on them. But the Mint decided in this case, since the picture of the statue is so big, including the word was not necessary.
Another interesting thing about the $1 coin will be its edge lettering. "E Pluribus Unum," "In God We Trust," and the release year will be written along the side of the coins, which leaves more space on the face for a larger image of the President. Edge lettering has not been used on U.S. coins in more than 70 years. This feature will also help blind and visually impaired people figure out the coin's value more easily.
The U.S. Mint estimates more than 140 million people collect state quarters. They hope as many will begin collecting Presidential $1 coins. But what the U.S. Mint really wants is for people to use them to buy things. “This is another choice that we hope Americans will use when shopping,” says Stafford.

For more information about the Presidential $1 Coin Program, including lesson plans and other educational material, visit the United States Mint.

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Discovered: Oldest Writing in the New World

The Cascajal block, found in Veracruz, Mexico, shows an example of ancient writing.

Photograph by Michael D. Coe

Anthropologists study people who are no longer living. Items those men, women, and children left behind when they died—everything from clothing to jewelry and tools—tell anthropologists a lot.  And sometimes even their words survive.

Experts believe that a discovery in Mexico is the oldest example of writing ever found in the Americas. The people who created it probably lived 3,000 years ago, long before Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World.

Workers digging in a stone quarry happened to notice a stone block with marks carved onto its surface. They found the large piece of serpentine stone in Cascajal in Veracruz, Mexico, near the capital city of an ancient people called the Olmec.

“There are signs on the block that seem to show religious objects used by the Olmec,” says Dr. Stephen Houston, an anthropologist with Brown University in Rhode Island. “There is a pointy sign that looks very similar to something they used for blood-letting, and another that looks like a throne,” he explains.

Houston, an expert on the writing systems of ancient cultures, says the discovery is exciting because “it makes clear that the Olmec were literate, that they could read and write. It’s like hearing voices from the past," he says.

But experts don’t know exactly what the writing says. If you have ever tried to figure out a message written in code, you have a pretty good idea of the hard work ahead.  Finding other examples of Olmec writing could help crack the code.

Plenty of exciting finds await discovery, says Houston, maybe even by kids reading this article who decide to study past cultures when they grow up. “We could have whole sets of ancient writing which will basically make ancient people speak to us directly,” says Houston. “There are many puzzles to be solved, and this is just one of them.”

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U.S. Presidential Fun Facts

Abraham Lincoln's son Tad once fired on the Cabinet after receiving a pretend military commission.

Illustration by Bob Brugger

Did you know that Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States, was a tailor before he was President? Or that one of George Washington's favorite foods was ice cream? These are just two of the interesting facts about past U.S. Presidents National Geographic Kids has collected.

Many Presidents had unusual careers before entering the White House. Jimmy Carter, the 39th President, was a peanut farmer. Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, was a movie actor. And Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President, once worked chopping rails for fences.

According to John Riley of the White House Historical Association, Harry Truman was a haberdasher. A haberdasher (HAB-er-dash-er) is someone who deals in men's clothing and accessories, particularly hats.

Once in the White House, each President made his mark in different ways. In fact, before Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President, came to office, the White House wasn't even called the White House! People called the building the President's Palace, President's House, and the Executive Mansion. Roosevelt officially named it the White House in 1901.

Theodore Roosevelt wasn't the only President to invent a new expression. Martin Van Buren, the eighth President, is sometimes credited with creating the word "OK." Van Buren was from Kinderhook, New York. During his campaign, Old Kinderhook (O.K.) clubs formed to support the President. Later, "OK" or "okay," came to mean "all right."

There have been many other interesting presidential firsts. James Polk, the 11th President, was the first President to have his photograph taken. Theodore Roosevelt was the first President to ride in a car while in office. His fifth cousin and the 32nd President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was the first to ride in an airplane.

What will be the next big presidential first? First to ride in a spaceship?

Fast Facts:

• At 6 feet, 4 inches (1.9 meters), Abraham Lincoln was the tallest U.S. President.
• William Henry Harrison, the ninth President, was the only President who studied to be a medical doctor.
• Millard Fillmore, the 13th President, was the first President to have a stepmother.
• James Garfield, the 20th President, was the first left-handed President.

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