I came across an article on the BBC Magazine website the other day entitled ten of the best kids questions which were apparently ten of the best questions asked by kids. Earlier the article intimated that parents don’t necessarily know enough science but as you’ll see, not all of the questions are entirely scientifically based.

At this stage, I’ve not looked up the answers — I’m just going to list the questions and then have a stab at it as if I was answering the question for my five year old. Do let me know what you would have done differently — and why! Shannon, consider this practice!

Why don’t all the fish die when the lightning hits the sea?

I don’t know. I would imagine that fish in a small area around the lightning strike may die, but given the size of the lightning strike and the fact it is a one off thing, rather than a continuing stream of electricity, I think there would be so much water that the electricity would be diluted quickly (in other words, would dissipate in large volumes).

How much does the sky weigh?

Around 990 millibars of pressure at sea level in our country, although it varies according to the weather. This basically represents the weight of the sky directly above you pressing down on you all the time. People can get little gadgets called barometers in their own houses to measure it.

Why can’t people leave other people alone?

Quite often, it’s that they are trying to help — they think someone else is doing something wrong and want to help them to do it better. Unfortunately much of the time this causes problems for the other person and makes life difficult for them, particularly when they don’t want the help (or the help is not right for them) but the person giving the ‘help’ generally doesn’t know that, or agree with it.

Why are birds not electrocuted when they sit on electricity wires?

Basically — and this is a bit simplified — but basically you get hurt when electricity goes through you. And electricity likes to go from where there is lots of electricity to where there is no electricity. Because the birds are standing on the wire, and not touching the ground, the electricity doesn’t go through the birds because there is the same amount of electricity touching both of the bird’s feet. If one foot was on a wire, and one foot was on the ground, it would get electrocuted.

What is time?

About half-past four… no, only joking. Time is a way that we measure what things happen in. The way we measure it doesn’t really mean anything — we could measure it differently and things would happen just the same — but it’s just our way of measuring when things happen so we can keep them in the right order.

Why is the moon sometimes out in the day and sometimes the night?

The moon goes round and round the earth all the time, and it doesn’t take exactly one day to do it, so some days it is out more in the day time and some days more in the night.

Why did God let my kitten die?

[Not exactly a 'science' question methinks -- so I'll skip this one as the correct answer to this will be dependent upon which religion (or none) you believe is right for your child]. I’ll merely suggest that ‘because you were naughty last thursday’ is perhaps a little insensitive.

Why do I like pink?

Probably because there are lots of nice things you like which are pink, so you associate pink with nice things, and then you feel pleased and happy when you see pink because it makes you think of nice things.

Why is water wet?

Water is made up of small things called atoms. In the case of water, you get two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom that go together to make water. The way these atoms join together in water make it sort of slippery, and it’s that slipperiness that feels wet.

Why does my best friend have two dads?

For the same reason that you have three Grandmas and Grandads. Because his Mammy and Daddy at some point decided they didn’t want to live with each other any more, and one (or both) of them wanted to live with someone else. Only one of them helped his Mammy make him as a baby but the other one helps look after him, which means he’s doing Daddy stuff too.