How does salt make ice less slippery and why do bubbles pop? The kids’ quiz

1. Lily, 6, asks: how does salt stop ice from being slippery?

   1. It’s not actually salt, it’s a special chemical that makes ice sticky like glue

   2. Salt sucks up the sugar in the ice so it’s not slippery any more

   3. It doesn’t – it’s a myth!

   4. Salt lowers the freezing temperature of water, making the thin layer of water on top of the ice freeze-resistant

2. Martha, 8, asks: which language is the most spoken in the world?

   1. Mandarin Chinese

   2. English

   3. Spanish

   4. Japanese

3. Emily, 9, asks: what is the name of the region between Mars and Jupiter?

   1. The Marsi-Jupe

   2. The asteroid belt

   3. Cosmos Redshift 7

   4. The colossal galaxy (which is actually tiny)

4. Crentissa, 3½, asks: why do bubbles pop?

   1. They pop if something disrupts the delicate structure of the bubble

   2. They pop when they get bored with being bubbles

   3. When bubbles get hot, the air inside expands until they burst

   4. They’ve eaten too much popping candy

5. Robin, 8½, asks: can horses swim?

   1. Horses can’t swim due to their weight and size

   2. No – horses are allergic to being in water

   3. Horses can swim but some are afraid of water

   4. No, because they don’t have webbed feet or fins

Solutions

1:D - Salt lowers the freezing point of water, so it prevents the thin layer of water on top of the ice from freezing, and this water can melt at least some of the ice below it., 2:B - As of 2026 the language most spoken worldwide is English (roughly 1.5 billion people). If we only count native speakers – people who learned the language in early childhood – then Mandarin Chinese is spoken by about 990 million people, and English by 375 million., 3:B - The space between Mars and Jupiter is called the asteroid belt, and contains millions of bits of rock made when the solar system was just forming., 4:A - A soap bubble has a layer of soap around the outside, then a layer of water, then another layer of soap, with air inside it. If you poke a bubble with your finger, the delicate structure is ruptured, and the bubble pops. It will also burst if the water between the soap film layers evaporates., 5:C - All horses know how to swim, and do a stroke that looks like doggie paddle or trotting in water. In the wild, horses grow up swimming but domestic horses may be scared of water.

Scores

1. 5 and above.

2. 4 and above.

3. 3 and above.

4. 2 and above.

5. 0 and above.

6. 1 and above.