Children’s science questions|We also tell you what would happen if the Earth stopped spinning for one second.
The summary is made by artificial intelligence and checked by a human.
Much of the dust comes from living organisms such as humans, animals and plants.
Dust mainly consists of dead cells, textile fibers and soil, which is transported along with air currents.
Dust particles join together and form visible dust. Dust easily accumulates in places where the air current does not carry it away.
Where does dust come from and how is it in places where no one goes?
Oscar Heikkilä, 9
Large some of the dust originates from living organisms, such as humans and other animals and plants. Dust in apartments is mainly dead cells, i.e. a kind of building blocks of organisms’ bodies, textile fibers from clothes and soil material that has traveled outside in the soles of shoes, such as sand.
In practice, almost all materials in homes release dust particles. Along with the air currents, dust is transported from the interior to the outside and from the outside to the inside.
Individual dust particles are so small that they are invisible. Visible dust becomes when the dust particles join together. Dust ends up almost everywhere along with the air currents and easily collects in places where the air current does not carry it away. That’s why it can also be found in places where no one goes.
Indoors, the amount of dust decreases when cleaning. Outside, when it rains, dust settles on the ground and in waterways, and eventually it settles and turns into soil. However, new dust is constantly being created.
Anne Karvonen
lead researcher
Department of Health and Welfare
When falling asleep, several areas of the brain act like light switches between sleep and wakefulness and compete with each other.
What happens in the brain when a person falls asleep?
Viljami Vehviläinen, 10
Before it was thought that falling asleep is like all the lights going out in the brain at the same time, i.e. parts of the brain would fall asleep at the same time. Today it is known that there are several areas in the brain that act as light switches between sleep and wakefulness, competing with each other. The most well-known sleep area is located in the hypothalamus, while there are several waking areas, for example in the brain stem.
That competition between regions has been compared to a see-saw, where either sleeping or waking regions are alternately on the ground. Vigilance areas inhibit sleep areas and vice versa, and in the end one wins. The longer we are awake, the heavier the sleep zone becomes, until we absolutely have to fall asleep.
It is easiest to supervise during the day, while it is difficult in the early hours of the night. However, healthy people do not fall asleep uncontrollably. It is different for people with narcolepsy, who can suddenly fall asleep while doing something interesting.
However, it has been noticed in brain studies that even in healthy people, a small group of neurons that are used the most during vigilance may go into sleep mode prematurely. This is what happens when you watch for long enough.
In this case, a person easily makes mistakes in tasks that would require those neurons that have gone into a sleep state. Even driving a car when tired is dangerous because the driver usually doesn’t notice that he’s drowsy.
Henna-Kaisa Wigren
sleep researcher, university lecturer in neurophysiology
University of Helsinki
If the Earth stopped rotating, the winds would develop into tremendous winds.
What would happen if the Earth stopped spinning for one second?
William Adair, 10
The globe rotates around its own axis once every 24 hours, so the speed of rotation is quite ferocious! The speed caused by rotation on the Earth’s surface is greatest at the equator and decreases as you move towards the Earth’s poles.
At the equator, the speed is 1,674 kilometers per hour, which is clearly higher than the speed of passenger planes. In Southern Finland, for example, the speed is about half as low.
If the Earth were to suddenly stop moving for a second, according to the so-called law of continuity of motion, all loose objects on the Earth’s surface and all kinds of other bodies would continue to move eastward at the speed of the Earth’s surface. In one second, they would move about 460 meters at the equator and 230 meters in southern Finland.
It would also cause, for example, huge violent winds due to the high speed of air movement and wild tidal waves due to the violent speed of water movement. It would no longer be possible to live on Earth. Fortunately, the Earth can’t really stop for even a second.
Nurmi Registration
astronomy researcher, coordinator
Science Center of the University of Turku
Earth is a rocky planet, and the most common elements tend to form the solids that make up rocks.
Where did sand and stones come from?
Nea Ristimäki, 7
Maa belongs to the rocky planets. The name Kiviplaneta refers to the fact that, like other rocky planets, the most common elements on Earth tend to form solid minerals, i.e. substances that make up sand, rocks and rocks. The most common such elements on the earth’s surface are oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron and calcium.
Some of the planets, such as the giant planet Jupiter, on the other hand, belong to the gas planets. They consist of gaseous elements and do not contain stones, rock or sand.
On Earth, many natural phenomena can lead to the crystallization of minerals and thereby the creation of rock types. This can happen, for example, when rock melt cools or minerals otherwise crystallize in high temperatures deep in the earth’s interior. Minerals can also crystallize, for example, at the bottom of the sea, forming limestone, for example.
On the earth’s surface, rock types are exposed to the corrosive wear of air, rain and rivers. Weak minerals wear away, and durable minerals remain as small grains of sand or larger rocks.
Rivers and streams then carry the grains of sand and stones with them towards the seas. At the same time, the flow of water sorts the aggregate according to its grain size: fine sand is deposited on the calm shores of rivers or seas, and larger gravel consisting of loose stones is deposited in areas of higher flow.
Juha Karhu
professor emeritus of geology
University of Helsinki
Send the question, the questioner’s full name and age to lasten.tiedeskö[email protected]. The column is provided by Touko Kauppinen.