Oxygen
On Friday, I took James to see "Star Wars: Clone Wars." It was wretched. At some point, George Lucas decided that the "Star Wars" movies were kids' movies. Um, no. No they're not. Unless your idea of a kiddie movie involves the main character seeing the charred remains of his aunt and uncle...or dismemberment...or immolation.Actually, if your interested, the reasons behind the degeneration of "Star Wars" can be found here. Be warned. This is only for us diehards. The rest of you should not click that link.
Anyway, we went to this horrible movie. James loved it. On the way home, he asked me if there is blood in our brains. My boy is starting first grade today and he is beginning to ask some excellent questions.
What followed was a great conversation about oxygen. James listened intently, asking questions along the way. I told him about how our lungs take in oxygen, and our blood takes it all over our bodies. That led to a discussion of how trees and plants give off oxygen and how we give off what they need to live in turn. (I tried not to burden him with tough ideas like carbon dioxide or chemical formulas along the way). We talked a bit about the amazing world that God created and the intricacy and beauty of it all.
Then came the following exchange:
JAMES: So, does fire need oxygen to live?
DADDY: Actually, fire has to have oxygen. Without oxygen a fire will go out.
J: What about water? Does water need oxygen?
D: Water is partly made of oxygen. Without oxygen, it wouldn't even be water.
J: Then why does water put out fire?
D: ...
J: Daddy, why does water put out fire?
D: That's a great question, dude.
J: So why does water put out fire?
D: Did you like the movie? Who was your favorite character?
posted by Thurman8er @ 1:13 PM
7 Comments:
Parenting and their questions only get more challenging from here. Better study up! :o)
Sounds like James is ready for school. BTW, how does water put out fire?
I remember one parent-teacher conference when the mom looked at us and said, "I had to buy a set of encyclopedias when he was four because I couldn't answer the questions he was asking me!" The kid would literally read the encyclopedias *for fun*... not normal behavior for a 7th grade boy, but a nicer kid you couldn't find.
Thanks for the glimpse of what's ahead of me. Yikes.
To questions such as that I tend to say, "It has something to do with the same reason Noah made the ark out of gopher wood, thus outlawing instrumental music in the church." Seems to work about as well as it does with other questions of depth! :)
Well, I think it's obvious why water puts out fire... You see, every two Oxygen molecules in the water is tied to one Hydrogen moledule. And of course Hydrogen is very explosive (reference the Hindenburg). Oxygen can also be very flammable - Wikipedia backs me up on this one - "LOX is a common liquid oxidizer propellant for spacecraft rocket applications". So when the water is thrown onto the fire the ensuing explosion 'blows-out' the fire. That's how they put out oil well fires. Of course you don't see the expolsion - it's a "micro-explosion", those molecules are little suckers. I'm sure that's how it works, tell James, he'll understand.
I heard there was a head chopping scene in Clone Wars. Maybe that's where the question came from?
To Stoogelover...I literally cackled out loud after reading HIS comment! I thought of a child's retort to that..."But a flute and a tuba isn't made of WOOD!"
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