Science theories of 6th graders

The beguiling ideas about science quoted here were gleaned from essays, exams, and classroom discussions. Most were from 5th and 6th graders. They illustrate Mark Twain's contention that the "most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop." This file came from a net posting.

• One horsepower is the amount of energy it takes to drag a horse 500 feet in one second.
• (Alternative) It is the power of a horse 1 meter high, 1 kg in weight, 1 second old ...
• You can listen to thunder after lightening and tell how close you came.
• The law of gravity says no fair jumping up without coming back down.
• When they broke open molecules, they found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions.
• When people run around and around in circles we say they are crazy. When planets do it we say they are orbiting.
• Rainbows are just to look at, not to really understand.
• While the earth seems to be knowingly keeping its distance from the sun, it is really only centrificating.
• Someday we may discover how to make magnets that can point in any direction.
• South America has cold summers and hot winters, but somehow they still manage.
• Most books now say our sun is a star. But it still knows how to change back into a sun in the daytime.
• Water freezes at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees. There are 180 degrees between freezing and boiling because there are 180 degrees between north and south.
• A vibration is a motion that cannot make up its mind which way it wants to go.
• There are 26 vitamins in all, but some of the letters are yet to be discovered. Finding them all means living forever.
• There is a tremendous weight pushing down on the center of the Earth because of so much population stomping around up there these days.
• Lime is a green-tasting rock.
• Many dead animals in the past changed to fossils while others preferred to be oil.
• Genetics explain why you look like your father and if you don't why you should.
• Vacuums are nothings. We only mention them to let them know we know they're there.
• Some oxygen molecules help fires burn while others help make water, so sometimes it's brother against brother.
• Some people can tell what time it is by looking at the sun. But I have never been able to make out the numbers.
• We say the cause of perfume disappearing is evaporation. Evaporation gets blamed for a lot of things people forget to put the top on.
• To most people solutions mean finding the answers. But to chemists solutions are things that are still all mixed up.
• In looking at a drop of water under a microscope, we find there are twice as many H's as O's.
• Clouds are high flying fogs.
• I am not sure how clouds get formed. But the clouds know how to do it, and that is the important thing.
• Clouds just keep circling the earth around and around. And around. There is not much else to do.
• Water vapor gets together in a cloud. When it is big enough to be called a drop, it does.
• Humidity is the experience of looking for air and finding water.
• We keep track of the humidity in the air so we won't drown when we breathe.
• Rain is often known as soft water, oppositely known as hail.
• Rain is saved up in cloud banks.
• In some rocks you can find the fossil footprints of fishes.
• Cyanide is so poisonous that one drop of it on a dogs tongue will kill the strongest man.
• A blizzard is when it snows sideways.
• A hurricane is a breeze of a bigly size.
• A monsoon is a French gentleman.
• Thunder is a rich source of loudness.
• Isotherms and isobars are even more important than their names sound.
• It is so hot in some places that the people there have to live in other places.
• The wind is like the air, only pushier.

Music theories of 6th graders

• Agnus Dei was a woman composer famous for her church music.
• Refrain means don't do it. A refrain in music is the part you better not try to sing.
• John Sebastian Bach died from 1750 to the present.
• Handel was half German, half Italian, and half English. He was rather large.
• Beethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so deaf he wrote loud music. He took long walks in the forest even when everyone was calling him. I guess he could not hear so good. Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died from this.
• In the last scene of Pagliacci, Canio stabs Nedda who is the one he really loves. Pretty soon Silvio also gets stabbed, and they all live happily ever after.
• When a singer sings, he stirs up the air and makes it hit any passing eardrums. But if he is good, he knows how to keep it from hurting.
• Music sung by two people at the same time is called a duel.
• I know what a sextet is but I had rather not say.
• Caruso was at first an Italian. Then someone heard his voice and said he would go a long way. And so he came to America.
• A good orchestra is always ready to play if the conductor steps on the odium.
• Most authorities agree that music of antiquity was written long ago.
• Probably the most marvelous fugue was the one between the Hatfields and McCoys.
• My very best liked piece of music is the Bronze Lullaby.
• My favorite composer is Opus.
• A harp is a nude piano.
• A tuba is much larger than its name.
• Instruments come in many sizes, shapes and orchestras.
• The concertmaster of an orchestra is always the person who sits in the first chair of the first violins. This means that when a person is elected concertmaster, he has to hurry up and learn how to play a violin real good.
• I can't reach the brakes on this piano!
• The most dangerous part about playing cymbals is near the nose.
• A contra-bassoon is like a bassoon, only more so.
• I would like for you to teach me to play the cello. Would tomorrow or Friday be best?

• Kate Osipova, into Czech.
• Sherali Niyazova, into Uzbek.
• David Mucchiano, into Swedish.
• Alana Kerimova, into Kazakh.
• Jean-Etienne Bergemer, into French.
• Grzegorz Adamski, into Polish.
• Zlatan Dimitrov, into Bulgarian.
• Amir Abbasov, into Azeri.
• Falk Albert, into Chinese.
• Laura Mancini, into Spanish.
• Chema Bescos, into Catalan.
• Babur Muradov, into Russian.