Monday, October 31, 2011

Common Science Questions To Ponder

Many people are interested in studying science in order to better understand the world around us. As children and even as adults, we are baffled and amazed by the way things work. From the Milky Way galaxy to leaf-cutter ant colonies, we are always working to learn more so that we can better understand our world as well as our place in it. There are a few science questions that are commonly asked by the curious.


Why Is the Sky Blue?


This is one of many age-old questions about our beautiful planet. The Sun, like all full-spectrum light, contains a mixture of all colors. When sunlight hits the molecules of air in our atmosphere, these molecules scatter blue light more than other colors, like red and violet, which causes the blue light to be very visible.








How Did Humans Evolve?








This is a tricky question. On the one hand, there are many people who don't agree with the theory of evolution and thus don't think humans evolved at all, but rather were created by God. However, the overwhelming majority of scientists today do support the theory of evolution and believe that humans evolved from a more primitive ancestor. There is still much research being done to learn about the genetic lineage of humans. Data suggests that there was a genetic split 8 to 4 million years ago between humans, chimpanzees and gorillas.


How Big Is the Universe?


Scientists don't have a clear-cut answer to this complex question. It has not been determined whether the universe is infinite or if there is some sort of boundary. Both of these answers, however, create more questions. Trying to understand that the universe may be "infinite" is incredibly difficult for us to grasp, yet if the universe does have a boundary, what is past that boundary? What we do know is how far into the universe we can see based on current technology. The furthest we can view is 10 to 12 billion light-years away in any direction.

Tags: better understand, better understand world, blue light, humans evolved, theory evolution, understand world