What whales are really thinking when they kersplash
Why do whales jump out of the ocean? Do they need extra air?
That’s a good question. I always thought they just did it for the hell of it, because they could. Like, “Hey, I’m a whale. Watch this. KERSPLASH.’’
Not so.
It turns out no one knows for sure why whales breach or slap the water with their fins or tails, but there are a few reasonable guesses.
The most popular idea is that it is a form of communication. The sound of a giant whale’s body smacking into the water can carry for long distances and might help let other whales know who is out and about and where they are.
Or it might be a way of warning off predators or hustling up some prey or attracting a mate.
I’ve heard the expression “spic and span” as a reference to cleaning and realized that I have no clue where it could have come from.
Actually it’s “spick” and span. Spic didn’t come along until Proctor & Gamble used it on their cleaning product.
The “span” part came first. It’s from “spann-nyr,” Old Norse for a fresh chip of wood. That “spann’’ also is the source of our word “spoon,” by the way.
It came into English around 1300 is “span new.”
The “spick” part is Dutch and meant a nail or a spike. So a brand new ship with new nails and timbers was “spiksplinternieuw.”
The sense of spick and span as some clean came along in the 1600s and has been with us since.
What is the energy that propels all the planets to continually orbit the sun?
Gravity.
Heavier objects produce a bigger gravitational pull than lighter ones, and the sun is the heaviest object in our solar system, about 1,000 times heavier than Jupiter, the largest planet.