Book 4, Question 150
Why Do Lily Pads Float?
Lily pads float because they are flat, light, and full of air! Each pad is wide and thin, like a raft. Tiny air spaces inside make it even lighter.
More fun facts
- Lily pad stalks are full of airy spaces, which help the leaves float.
- There are about 60 kinds of water lilies. Most have round, waxy leaves on long stalks.
- Water lilies grow from thick underground stems called rhizomes.
- Giant Amazon water lily pads are the largest and strongest floating plants in the world, up to about 10 feet across.
- The underside of a giant lily pad is covered with a web of spiny veins that work like girders to make it strong.
- A giant lily pad two meters wide once held up a man in waders who weighed 102 kilograms.
Sources: National Park Service, National Geographic, National Geographic, BBC
Questions kids ask
Can a person stand on a lily pad?
Not on a small one. But a giant Amazon lily pad once held up a man weighing 102 kilograms.