Things I Learned Today

My kids ask me the strangest questions. Here were 3 things they asked me and their answers (I love the internet.)

Question: Is Jello made out of pigs hooves?
Answer: From http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/7953 Not pigs hooves, but it's a by-product of pig skin.

Question: The moon looks close, is it more than 2 miles away?
Answer: From http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu//cosmic_kids/AskKids/moondist.shtml The moon is about an average distance of 240K miles away from the earth.

Question: What happens if someone takes off their helmet in space?
Answer: Hubby and I disagreed over this one and it turns out that we were both right. From http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080831021006AAmPP0c
Here's what happens when you are suddenly exposed to the vacuum of space.

1. If you hold your breath, your lungs will rupture, which will be fatal even if you are taken back inside right away
2. If you exhale, all blood passing through your lungs will be deoxygenated. It takes about 15 seconds for blood to go from your lungs to your brain, so you have about 15 seconds of consciousness.
3. The liquid in any exposed mucus membranes (eyes, nose, mouth) will start evaporating, leading to rapid cooling, and severe frostbite after a couple minutes
4. After around 5 minutes, your brain will start sustaining permanent damage due to oxygen deprivation
5. You will also experience slight nitrogen narcosis ("the bends"), but the oxygen deprivation will kill you much faster than this.

Your chances of a full recovery are very high after 30 seconds of exposure. There may be permanent frostbite damage after 2 minutes. After 5 minutes, your chances of survival diminish rapidly.

Don't know if it's true, but whatever. It was a good enough answer for Bubba - you suffocate, you explode (on the inside) and you freeze to death.