How do we make paper from trees? Try our kids’ quiz

Molly Oldfield
·2 min read
<span>Illustration: Hennie Haworth/The Guardian</span>
Illustration: Hennie Haworth/The Guardian

  1. Osian, 8, asks: how do we make paper from trees?

    1. Paper is made from leaves dried for a long time

    2. The tree gets broken down into a mushy pulp, which is spread out flat and dried, making paper

    3. The tree is shaved with an incredibly sharp knife, and these shavings are neatened into paper

    4. There is a tree called the Paper Tree, which grows ready-made pieces of paper

  2. Nova, 6, asks: why are some plants poisonous?

    1. No plant is poisonous! Anything growing naturally is good for you

    2. Plants become poisonous when they haven’t been cared for properly

    3. Because they were planted by an evil witch

    4. To protect themselves from getting eaten

  3. Eloise, 5, asks: why can we see the moon if it’s not a light?

    1. It is a light! The moon is burning all the time

    2. The rock the moon is made of glows powerfully

    3. The sun’s light reflects off the moon’s surface

    4. It’s made of cheese, which shines in the dark

  4. Edko, 4, asks: how deep can you dig down into planet Earth?

    1. About 12 metres down

    2. About 12,000 metres

    3. About 1,200 metres

    4. About 120,000 metres

  5. Esther, 6, asks: how many cows are there in the world?

    1. Between 1 billion and 1.5 billion

    2. Between 1 million and 1.5 million

    3. About 15 trillion

    4. About 150,000

Solutions

1:B - First the tree gets chopped up into little chips, then these chips are softened into a mushy pulp by using chemicals that break down the fibres or by grinding them with machinery. This pulp is then washed, bleached, spread out flat and dried, making paper., 2:D - Plants can’t run away from potential predators, so some have become poisonous for self-defence. This puts animals off munching them!, 3:C - The moon doesn’t create its own light, but reflects light from the sun off its surface, which is why we’re able to see it. The moon is bright enough that you can see it during the day or night, as long as it’s in the right part of the sky., 4:B - The deepest hole humans have managed to dig is the Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia, which is 12,262 metres deep – deeper than Mount Everest is tall., 5:A - According to the US Department of Agriculture, there were about 1 billion cows in 2022, but the Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates there are closer to 1.5 billion cows worldwide! That’s a lot of cowpats.

Scores

  1. 5 and above.

  2. 4 and above.

  3. 3 and above.

  4. 2 and above.

  5. 0 and above.

  6. 1 and above.

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a weekly podcast answering children’s questions, out now as a book.

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