Questions My Kids Ask: Popcorn, Parks, Clouds, and Supper

I feel like I’m borrowed time. The only time I’ve had a chance to write today is during my lunch break. I’m subbing today and they were kind enough to take away the prep I would have had had I been covering for just one teacher. But I’m not even covering for just two teachers today. I’m covering three.

When you’re good, you’re good.

Either they really need somebody or they really trust me. I’m guessing it’s the former. There are a lot of subs in today.

Before I get to those questions, though, I need to give a big shout out to Momsranting. She is my 400th WordPress follower! Check out her latest post about when she was mistaken as her sister’s mother.

1. Why is it called popcorn?

It’s corn. When you heat it up it goes “POP”. That pretty much explains it all. But, you’re like me,  and God help you if you are, you’ll want more. Popcorn is the only variety of corn that will pop. It’s the only one with a droplet of water inside of its hard exterior shell. Those of you who have bitten down on a kernel from the bottom of the bowl understand how hard it is. Break your teeth hard. Water has a specific quality to it that makes it expand when it heats up and turns to steam. Once the internal pressure of the kernel reaches roughly 135 psi (car tires are about 35 psi) the shell breaks open and the gelatinous, starchy insides come busting out all gangsta and solidify as they quickly cool. It is now 40-50 times larger. If I were 50 times larger I’d be 7,250 pounds and 275 feet tall.

2. Can you take us to the park?

With spring finally making its appearance the kids are looking to be outside more and more and more. No sweat (actually, lots of sweat, but that’s because I sweat easily). Lets go! I mean, have you seen our park? It’s freakin’ awesome! I can walk some laps around the jungle gyms to get my Fitbit steps up while they play. Of course, I have to stop on occasion to give a push or two or hundred on the swings, but that’s just All In A Dad’s Work. Lately, Crash has been arranging his own playdates at school. We get to the park to find two or three of his friends there or on their way. And at what age do we stop calling them playdates? Can parents have playdates?

3. Why are those clouds following us?

Because it’s really far away. The closer something is the faster it appears to go by. The moon is even farther away than the clouds. Hence, it’s always following you like lost little puppy. Scientifically, it’s because the angular distance changes are smaller the farther away something is.

That’s not two people. That’s the same person who has moved. See area A? Compare it to area B and you’ll see it’s much larger. The same amount of time has passed to create both angle changes. It’s that angle change that made the closer cloud appear to move faster than the one farther away. So you can imagine the moon is another 240,000 miles or so away so it’s angle would be even smaller. That’s why you have to travel REALLY far to make the moon to appear to have moved. There’s math to go with this, but I have spared you. It’s called parallax if you’re interested. I’m interested in seeing how many clicks that link gets.

4. What’s for supper?

Hmmm. Right now it depends on what your mother took out of the freezer. If she took burger out we could have hamburger slop or meatloaf. Or we might have chicken something or other. I love to cook. DW loves to let me cook. We were made for each other. We don’t plan our meals in advance. We decide that day what we’re going to eat that night. But it’s Friday. I’ve cooked all week. It just might be a McDonald’s or a pizza night.

This is funny because Crash is working on fractions in school!

Can you guess what was for supper?