Physical Properties
Santa is baking Christmas cookies and mixes flour, sugar, butter, and chocolate chips together. Is this a mixture or a solution?
A mixture. The ingredients are combined, but they do not dissolve into one another.
One of Santa's reindeer got lost in the desert. Where could you go to find the lost reindeer?
Arizona, Egypt, somewhere warm.
When you sit by the fireplace and feel the warmth on Christmas night, what type of energy is coming from the fire?
Thermal energy
Gravity
Who stole Christmas?
The Grinch
When you dissolve sugar in hot water to make a sweet holiday drink like hot chocolate, is it a mixture or a solution?
Solution
Santa is trying to drop off a gift at a house that is located by a U-Shaped Valley. Where in the world could this house be located?
When you open a Christmas present and hear the sound of wrapping paper tearing, what type of energy is being produced?
Sound energy
What are the names of Santa's reindeer (8)?
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder (or Donder), and Blitzen.
If you mix water and oil to make a special Christmas salad dressing, what kind of mixture is it?
Mixture: Oil and water don't mix
Santa's sleigh flies through a canyon formed by years of erosion. How are canyons like the Grand Canyon formed over time?
Canyons are formed by the erosion of rock by rivers or other water sources over millions of years. The river cuts through the land, carving out the canyon as it wears away the rock layers.
Santa uses reindeer to pull his sleigh through the air. What type of energy do the reindeer use to move?
Chemical energy, from the food they eat.
If Santa's sleigh slows down as it flies through the air, what type of force is acting on it to cause the decrease in speed?
Friction
What country started the tradition of putting up a Christmas tree?
Germany
Santa's sleigh is made of wood and metal, and it floats through the sky. If Santa's sleigh is more dense than air, how do the reindeer help it fly?
The reindeer generate enough lift through their magical powers to overcome gravity, allowing the sleigh to fly despite being denser than air.
During a Christmas snowstorm, snow piles up in a specific area to form a large mound. What natural process causes these snow mounds or drifts to form?
Erosion and Deposition
On Christmas morning, the twinkling lights on the Christmas tree shine brightly. What type of energy is used to make the lights glow?
Electrical energy. The electricity flows through the wires to power the lights, converting electrical energy into light energy.
Why does the snow on Christmas morning cover the ground and stop moving? What force keeps the snow in place?
What is the most popular Christmas sweet in the United States?
Sugar cookies
If you add a candy cane to your hot chocolate, why does the candy cane sink at first, but then start to float as it dissolves?
When the candy cane is solid, it's denser than the hot chocolate, so it sinks. As it dissolves, its density decreases, allowing it to float.
Santa's sleigh flies over snowy mountains on Christmas Eve. How are these mountains formed over time?
Mountains are formed through the movement of tectonic plates. When plates collide, they can push the Earth's crust upward, creating mountains. Erosion from wind, water, and ice then shapes and smooths them over time.
Santa’s sleigh uses magical energy to fly through the sky. What forms of energy do we use in the real world to make things move, like cars or airplanes?
In the real world, we use mechanical energy, which comes from fuel (chemical energy) or electricity (electrical energy) to move vehicles like cars and airplanes.
Why does a sled slide faster down a snowy hill on Christmas Day compared to a grassy hill?
The snow provides less friction than grass, so the sled slides faster because there is less resistance to the motion of the sled.
How many Christmas trees are sold in the United States each year?
25 to 30 million