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That's IXL.com slash smarted. Hey there, Smartered Pants. Trusty narrator here, back with another batch of cool and curious questions from cool and curious Smartered Pants all around the world. Today we've got hiccups, hangers, owls and even a giant storm on Jupiter. So let's get Smartered. Our first question comes from Ella who asks, why do we hiccup? Ah yes, the mysterious hiccup. Hiccups happen when a muscle in your body called the diaphragm suddenly tightens or spasms without warning. The diaphragm sits just below your lungs and helps you breathe in and out. When it suddenly contracts, it pulls air quickly into your lungs and then your vocal cords snapshot right after, making that familiar hic sound. So what causes that spasm? Well a few things can trigger hiccups. Eating too quickly, drinking fizzy drinks, laughing a lot, or even swallowing air without realizing it. Most hiccups go away on their own but that hasn't stopped people from trying all kinds of tricks to stop them like holding your breath or drinking water upside down. Psst, they don't really work. Okay, next up, Lily listening on Spotify asks, why is it harder for people to sing higher and lower notes? Cool question. When you sing, you use your vocal cords which are two small bands of tissue inside your throat. Air from your lungs passes through them and makes them vibrate to create sound. To sing higher notes, your vocal cords have to stretch tighter and vibrate faster. To sing lower notes, they relax and vibrate more slowly. The tricky part is that your vocal cords can only stretch and relax so much. Everyone has a natural range, meaning a set of notes they can comfortably sing. Singing very high or very low notes pushes your vocal cords toward their limits, which is why it can feel harder to hit those extremes. That's also why singers practice so much because training helps them control those muscles better and expand their range. Alright, our third question comes from Mira, age five in Austin, Texas, who asks, what are hangers made of? Good question, Mira. Hangers that you use to hang up your clothes or coats can be made from a few different materials depending on the type. Many hangers are made of plastic, which is lightweight and easy to shape. Others are made of metal wire, which is thin but strong. Some hangers, especially fancy ones, are made of wood. Wooden hangers are sturdy and great for holding heavier clothes like coats. No matter the material, all hangers are designed to do the same job. Hold your clothes in shape so they don't get wrinkled or stretched out. Okay, that's three questions down, three more coming up, including a really cool one about Storms on Jupiter, which we'll get to right after these ads from our sponsors. 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Now you know I love an adventure, but Skylight has helped me make organizing the family less of a safari. Families are better when they're working together. Right now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15 inch calendars by going to myskylight.com slash smarted. Go to myskylight.com slash smarted for $30 off your 15 inch calendar. That is my SKY LIGHT.com slash smarted. Now back to Smarty Q. Our next question comes from River, one of our WhoSmarted podcast campers who asks, why does the color black absorb light and white reflect light? Great question. Let's see, light is made up of different colors and when light hits an object, a few things can happen. It can be absorbed, reflected, or passed through black objects absorb most or all of the light that hits them. That means they take in the light energy instead of bouncing it back to your eyes, which is why that object appears black. White objects, on the other hand, reflect almost all of the light that hits them. Because all the colors of light are bouncing back together, your eyes see that as white. That's also why black objects tend to get hotter in the sun, because they're absorbing more energy, while white objects stay cooler by reflecting it away. Question five comes from Smarty Pants Benjamin, who asks, why are owls nocturnal? Who? Who? Like you said, owls are nocturnal, which means they are most active at night. This gives them a big advantage when hunting. Owls have excellent night vision, allowing them to see in very low light. They also have incredibly sharp hearing. They can even hear tiny animals moving under leaves or snow. Their feathers are specially designed to let them fly almost silently, so their prey doesn't hear them coming. By being active at night, owls can hunt when many other animals are asleep, making it easier to find food and avoid competition. Alright Smarty Pants, we're down to our final question, and it's a big one about the biggest planet in our solar system. You'll find out what it is right after this quick break and a few ads from our sponsors. Now back to Smarty Q. Our final question comes from Smarty fan Lizzie in Trinidad, who asks, why is the great red spot on Jupiter not going away? And are there storms on Earth that have lasted as long? That is an amazing question. As you may know, the great red spot on Jupiter is a gigantic storm that has been raging for over 300 years, maybe even longer. It's so big it could fit multiple Earths inside it. One reason it lasts so long is because Jupiter doesn't have a solid surface like Earth. On Earth, storms eventually lose energy when they hit land, but on Jupiter, there's no land to slow them down. Also, Jupiter has very powerful winds and lots of energy in its atmosphere, which helps keep the storms going. As for Earth, we do have long-lasting storms, but not nearly as long. Hurricanes and cyclones can last for days or even a couple of weeks, but they eventually weaken, especially when they move over land or cooler water. That's a wrap on another episode of Smarty Q. If you've got a cool and curious question you'd like me to answer, have a grown-up help you email me at whosmarted at whosmarted.com, and I'll add it to my list. Until next time, keep on smarting, Smarty Pants.
