What is tapa cloth?

Tapa cloth is an unwoven kind of bark cloth made by soaking and pounding the soft inner bark of the paper mulberry and certain other trees.  It is the traditional fabric of Polynesia.  Tapa cloth was once widely used for clothing and mats on the islands of the South Pacific.

While modern woven cloth has replaced the traditional native tapa cloth, it is still manufactured on such islands as Tonga and Fiji for special ceremonial occasions.

To make tapa cloth, the tapa maker carefully peels off the white inner layer of mulberry bark and soaks it in water.  The water-soaked bark is then pounded on a log with a wooden club until the narrow strips widen into the proper width and thickness. 

By pasting overlapping edges with glue made from plant roots, the tapa maker fashions sheets of larger sizes.  The tapa cloth is then decorated with dyes made from plant juice.– Dick Rogers

What is a timberline?

Some mountains have trees growing clear to their tops, but on many high mountains there is a line above which trees stop growing.

The place where trees stop growing is called the “timberline”.  Trees don’t grow above it because they cannot survive the freezing temperatures there.

Above the timberline the mountainside is likely to be a cold desert with only patches of lichens, moss and stunted vegetation twisted by the strong winds of the mountain tops.

Here, the bitter cold keeps the water in the ground frozen for much of the year, and bigger plants cannot get enough water.

Just  below the timberline the tall pine forests stand alone.  There tough, needle-shaped leaves can withstand the icy winds and harsh living conditions on the cold mountainside better than the broad-leaf trees can.

The timberline is much higher on some mountains than on others.  It depends on the climate, and latitude.

What is the Statue of Liberty made of?

The Statue of Liberty is one of the United States’ most famous monument. This colossal statue of a robed lady with a torch in her raised right hand and carrying a tablet in her left, stands on Liberty Island in New York Harbor.  It is made of more than 300 copper sheets over a steel and iron framework. 

It was designed in 1881 by a French sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, and was presented to the people of the United States as a gift from the people of France.  Working from a model only 49 inches high, Bartholdi worked up a full-sized wood and plaster model which was divided into sections. 

Next, thin copper sheets were hammered over the wooden molds and shaped to their contours.  The copper shells were then bolted to the central framework.  The statue was taken apart from shipment from France and reassembled in the United  States.  Even though it is hollow, the statue weighs 225 tons.  It is 151 feet tall. – Dick Rogers

How was the grand canyon formed?

One of the great natural wonders of the world is Arizona’s Grand Canyon of the Colorado River.  The whole gorge is 217 miles long and, from rim to rim, 4 to 18 miles wide.

One of the most amazing things about it is that it was made by a river!  Almost hidden between the canyon walls a mile below, the rushing waters of the Colorado River, with the help of many smaller rivers flowing into it, carved out this great chasm in the course of millions of years.

Even now, the ceaseless cutting continues to carve deeper into the canyon floor.  Erosion from wind and rain have increased the size of the ever-widening, many-colored rock formations that resemble a fairyland of towering peaks and castles.

Color change with the shifting shadows and the changing light.  The Grand Canyon became a national park in 1919. – Dick Rogers

Why was the Eiffel tower built?

The Eiffel Tower is a huge tower in Paris, France.  It was built for the Paris Universal Exhibition (a world’s fair), held in that city in 1889.

The tower, named for its designer, Alexander Eiffel, was intended to be the symbol and main attraction of the fair, just as most world’s fairs have one structure to symbolize the particular fair.

When the fair ended, the tower was left standing.  Today it is the most famous landmark of the French capital.

The tower rises 984 feet in the air and contains 7,000 tons of iron and steel.  At the time it was built, it was taller than anything else anyone had ever built.  Now the Empire State Building is nearly 300 feet higher than the Eiffel Tower.

If you take an elevator to the top, you can see all over Paris.  You will also find a restaurant in the tower, as well as a weather station.  There is a tall TV antenna on top that sends programs al over the city. – Dick Rogers

Why do sunsets look red?

During the evening, when the sun is near the horizon we may see a beautiful sunset.  The reds and oranges of a sunset are caused by the filtering action of the sky.

Sunlight, as we know, is made of many colors.  We can see the colors that make up sunlight when we look at a rainbow.  As sunlight passes through the atmosphere, the different colors are scattered by the air.

During the day, when the sun is directly overhead, its rays do not have to travel through as much of the atmosphere to reach the earth.  The sunlight is scattered in such a way that we see more of the blue rays.  But at sunset, when the sun is low in the sky, the light rays must travel through much more of the earth’s atmosphere to reach the viewer.

As a result, the shorter blue rays are soon scattered out and we can see more of the longer orange and red rays of sunlight – and we have a reddish sunset.  The red color of sunrise is caused the same way. – Dick Rogers

How are rocks made?

Rocks are found almost everywhere.  Very small rocks are called sand.  Rocks bigger than sand have other names, like pebbles, or stone.  Big rocks are called boulders.  In fact, almost all the earth – the mountains and the ground itself – is made of rock.

Rocks are made of minerals.  A few are made of just one mineral, but most rocks are made of many minerals, of magma, that lies under the earth’s crust.  As the magma pushes to the surface of the earth.  It cools and hardens into such rocks as granite, basalt and lava.

Some rocks are formed from bits and pieces of older rocks that pile up in layers and harden into rocks we know as sandstone and limestone.  Still other rocks began as one kind of rock and later were changed into other kinds of rocks.  Some limestone, for example, was changed by hear and pressure deep down in the earth into marble.