Who invented the game of tennis?   A Welshman, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield devised the game of tennis in 1873. However he based his ideas on a much earlier form of court tennis whose origins date from ancient Egyptian-Arabian fertility rites.  The game was played intermittently up until the thirteenth century, from which time  it is known that it became a popular pastime in  the parks and chateaux of France. It...

How is a cuttlefish like a jet plane?   The cuttlefish moves underwater and the jet plane moves through the air, but both use the same method — jet propulsion. The cuttlefish has a bag or cavity into which it lets water. When it is full, muscles in the cavity stop any more water coming in and push the water out of an opening in the back of the cuttlefish. It...

How do waves erode cliffs?   The wind blowing over sea produces waves. These waves pound all around our coastline. They can wear, or erode even the hard rocks in cliffs, but this takes a very long time. There are two main ways in which this erosion occurs. The cliffs are not smooth but have lots of holes and crevices in them. When the waves pound against the cliffs, the air...

How does the Moon cause tides? The Earth is attracted lo every in space by the force of gravity. This is a force between objects which depends on how heavy they are and how far apart they are. The force is greater the heavier and closer together the objects are. The Moon is our closest neighbour. It orbits around the Earth at an average distance of 384,400 km  and  238,7o0 km...