It's the big one:
Dominic: Mummy, is God real?
Me: Well, some people think so, but other people don't.
Dominic: Yes, but what do you think is true?
Fortunately, only a few hours later, he was back on normal form:
Dominic: Mummy. Why is milk white?
3 comments:
ooh, ooh, I can answer that one. Milk is white because cows are black and white and nobody would drink milk if it was black.
I wouldn't care to speculate on the God issue mind...
Have you asked him if Santa Claus is real? Or if Max is real?
Everytihng in milk is actually transparent but it forms a very fine emulsion of water and fat droplets. Multiple scattering of light from all these fat droplets reduces the usuaul wavelength dependence of Rayleigh scattering (which leads to the sky being blue). A mix of all wavelengths of light apears white.
Jonny's answer can't explain why brown cows produce white milk, although some people believe that they produce chocolate milkshakes.
Chris Marrows (prompted by Christine to use the power of science)
PS Some friends kids (aged 7 and 9) write down all their science questions for us to answer when we visit. We did why the sky is blue (but red at sunrise and sunset) and why leaves are green not so long ago.
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