The Great Expedition Series, Book 18

A Million Whys: The Polar Expedition for Curious Kids

By Crafty Clover. Published by Million Whys Press.

How Are the Arctic and Antarctica Different? How Do Polar Animals Stay Warm Without a Heater? How Do Icebreaker Ships Break Through Thick Ice? This book answers 150 questions like these, one question per page, each with a short video answer. Six expeditions: Two Poles, Two Worlds, The Sun That Will Not Set, Built for the Freeze, Polar Seas & Food Webs, Polar Travel & Research Stations, and Ice Detectives & Changing Ice.

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All 150 questions

Tap a question to watch its video and read the answer.

Expedition 1: Two Poles, Two Worlds

1. How Are the Arctic and Antarctica Different?
2. Why Is Antarctica Colder than the Arctic?
3. Is There Land Under the North Pole?
4. How Thick Is the Ice in Antarctica?
5. Was Antarctica Ever Warm and Green?
6. What Are the Arctic Circle and the Antarctic Circle?
7. What Is the Arctic Ocean Like?
8. What Is the Southern Ocean?
9. Why Is the Ground Frozen All Year in Parts of the Arctic?
10. Why Are There No Tall Trees on the Arctic Tundra?
11. What Is the Difference Between Sea Ice and an Ice Sheet?
12. How Does Ocean Water Turn Into a Sheet of Ice?
13. Why Is Old Sea Ice Less Salty than the Ocean It Came From?
14. Why Do Pancakes of Ice Form on the Ocean?
15. What Is an Ice Shelf?
16. Where Do Icebergs Come From?
17. Why Are Some Icebergs Flat Like Tables?
18. Why Do Some Icebergs Look Blue?
19. How Much of an Iceberg Is Hidden Underwater?
20. Why Does Ice Ooze Downhill Like Thick Honey?
21. What Is the Greenland Ice Sheet?
22. Why Do Giant Cracks Open in Polar Ice?
23. Where Is the Coldest Place on Earth?
24. Why Is Antarctica So Windy?
25. Why Are Some Valleys in Antarctica Free of Ice and Snow?

Expedition 2: The Sun That Will Not Set

26. What Is the Midnight Sun?
27. What Is the Polar Night?
28. Why Does the Sun Stay Up for Months Near the Poles?
29. How Long Is One Day at the North Pole?
30. Why Does the Sun Circle Around the Sky at the Poles Instead of Rising and Setting?
31. Why Is the Sun So Low and Weak Near the Poles?
32. What Does the Sky Look Like in the Blue Glow of Polar Twilight?
33. How Do People Sleep When the Sun Never Sets?
34. How Do People Living in the Arctic Stay Cheerful During Months of Darkness?
35. Why Do Plants Grow So Fast in the Arctic Summer?
36. Why Do Some Arctic Flowers Turn to Follow the Sun?
37. Why Don’t Reindeer Follow a Day-And-Night Clock in the Arctic?
38. What Do Animals Do During the Long Polar Night?
39. Why Are Arctic Summers So Full of Mosquitoes?
40. How Many Seasons Are There at the Poles?
41. What Is Diamond Dust?
42. Why Are Shadows So Long Near the Poles?
43. What Time Is It at the North Pole?
44. Why Can Stars Shine All Day During the Polar Night?
45. Why Does the Moon Stay Up for Two Weeks at the Poles?
46. What Happens on the Day the Sun First Returns After the Polar Night?
47. Why Do Polar Explorers Wear Dark Goggles?
48. Why Does the South Pole Get Less Sunshine Over a Year than a Sunny Beach?
49. Why Does the Sun Look Squashed When It Sits Near the Horizon?
50. How Do Scientists at the South Pole Celebrate the Middle of Winter?

Expedition 3: Built for the Freeze

51. How Do Polar Animals Stay Warm Without a Heater?
52. How Do Seals Keep Their Flippers Warm in Icy Water?
53. How Can Birds Stand on Ice Without Freezing Their Feet?
54. Why Do Many Arctic Animals Have Small Ears and Short Tails?
55. Why Are Polar Animals Often Big and Round?
56. Why Do Snowy Owls Have Feathers on Their Feet?
57. How Do Reindeer Find Food Under the Snow?
58. Why Do Reindeer Eyes Turn From Gold to Blue?
59. What Makes Musk Ox Wool So Warm?
60. How Do Lemmings Live Under the Snow?
61. How Can Some Fish Live in Water That Is Colder than Freezing?
62. Why Are Icefish Blood Clear Instead of Red?
63. How Can an Arctic Ground Squirrel Survive Below Freezing?
64. Why Don’t Polar Bear Paws Slip on Ice?
65. Why Does the Arctic Tern Fly From Pole to Pole?
66. How Deep Can Emperor Penguins Dive?
67. How Do Seals Breathe Through Holes in the Ice?
68. How Do Arctic Hares Hop Across Deep Snow?
69. Why Is the Arctic Willow Shorter than Your Shoe?
70. What Are Lichens, and Why Do They Grow on Bare Polar Rock?
71. What Are Snow Fleas?
72. Do Worms Really Live in Glaciers?
73. Why Do Sled Dogs Curl Up in the Snow to Sleep?
74. What Are Walrus Tusks For?
75. How Do Polar Animals Know When Winter Is Coming?

Expedition 4: Polar Seas & Food Webs

76. Why Are Polar Seas So Full of Life?
77. What Is Krill, and Why Does It Matter So Much?
78. What Lives on the Underside of Sea Ice?
79. Why Is Sea Ice a Nursery for Baby Animals?
80. Who Eats Whom in the Antarctic Ocean?
81. What Does the Arctic Food Web Look Like?
82. What Are Copepods?
83. Why Do Whales Visit Polar Seas to Eat?
84. How Can a Bowhead Whale Live for 200 Years?
85. Why Does the Southern Ocean Circle All the Way Around Antarctica?
86. Why Does Sinking Cold, Salty Water Matter for the Ocean?
87. Why Are Some Antarctic Sea Creatures So Big?
88. What Is a Brinicle?
89. What Is a Polynya?
90. How Do Millions of Seabirds Fit on One Arctic Cliff?
91. Why Do Arctic Bird Cliffs Have Bright Green Grass and Orange Rocks?
92. How Old Can a Greenland Shark Get?
93. Do Corals Live in Cold Polar Waters?
94. What Are Seal Whiskers For?
95. Why Do Some Seals Sing Under the Ice?
96. Why Is the Edge of the Sea Ice a Feeding Hotspot?
97. How Can Satellites Find Penguins From Space?
98. Why Do Polar Animals Grow So Slowly?
99. Why Are Polar Seas Busy in Summer and Quiet in Winter?
100. How Do Scientists Explore Under Polar Sea Ice?

Expedition 5: Polar Travel & Research Stations

101. How Do Icebreaker Ships Break Through Thick Ice?
102. How Do Ships Find a Path Through Sea Ice?
103. How Do Planes Land on Snow and Ice?
104. What Vehicles Drive Across Polar Snow and Ice?
105. Why Don’t Skis Sink Into the Snow?
106. Why Do Polar Travelers Wear Layers of Clothes?
107. Do People Really Live in Igloos?
108. What Is It Like to Live in a Polar Base?
109. Where Do Polar Stations Get Their Electricity?
110. Where Does Drinking Water Come From When Everything Is Frozen?
111. What Do Polar Scientists Eat All Winter?
112. What Happens to Trash in Antarctica?
113. Why Was Halley Vi Research Station Built on Giant Skis?
114. Why Are Some Polar Buildings Built Up on Stilts?
115. How Do Polar Scientists Call Home?
116. How Do Polar Travelers Stay Safe?
117. Why Do Batteries and Metal Act Strangely in Extreme Cold?
118. Why Do Eyelashes and Beards Get Frosty in the Cold?
119. Why Do Scientists Put Giant Telescopes at the South Pole?
120. How Do Weather Balloons Help Polar Scientists?
121. What Is a Research Ship That Spends a Year Frozen in the Ice?
122. What Are Ice Roads?
123. Why Do Compasses Go Haywire Near the Poles?
124. Can You Grow Vegetables in the Polar Winter?
125. How Do Supplies Reach the Bottom of the World?

Expedition 6: Ice Detectives & Changing Ice

126. Why Does Old Glacier Ice Fizz and Pop When It Melts?
127. How Do Satellites Measure Ice From Space?
128. How Do Scientists Use GPS to Watch Ice Move?
129. How Can Radar See Through Ice?
130. Are There Lakes Hidden Under Antarctic Ice?
131. Is There a Volcano in Antarctica?
132. Why Are Melt Ponds on Ice So Bright Blue?
133. What Is a Moulin?
134. Why Does Melting Land Ice Raise Sea Level but Melting Sea Ice Does Not?
135. Why Does White Ice Help Cool the Planet?
136. Why Are the Poles Warming Faster than the Rest of the World?
137. What Happens to Seals and Seabirds When Sea Ice Shrinks?
138. What Is the Difference Between Old and New Arctic Ice?
139. Can a Flower Bloom Again After 30,000 Years Frozen?
140. How Do Time-Lapse Cameras Watch Glaciers?
141. How Do Seals Help Scientists Study the Ocean?
142. How Do Robots and Flying Machines Help Scientists on the Ice?
143. How Can Kids Help Scientists Count Penguins?
144. What Jobs Do People Do in Polar Science?
145. Why Must Visitors Wash Their Boots Before Entering Polar Places?
146. What Can Kids Do to Take Care of Icy Places?
147. Do Other Planets Have Polar Ice Caps?
148. What Is a Whiteout?
149. Can You Make Sea Ice at Home?
150. What Polar Mysteries Are Still Waiting to Be Solved?