When you throw a ball, it isn’t flying like a bird or a bumblebee, animals that have to work to hold themselves up. And in this great picture from our friend Matthew Peterson, creator of ST Math, the math shows that flying fish fly for real, too. A ball would follow the red line and plop back down into the water, but we see from the shape of a flying fish’s path that they stay in the air longer. The fish zoom at up to 37 miles an hour before “taking off”, then, by holding their fins open like wings, they can glide up to 4 feet above the water.
Wee ones: Pick up 2 things you’re allowed to throw, and toss them in the same direction. Which one hit the floor farther from you? Did either one move farther than that?
Little kids: Point to the 4th fish picture from the left in the bottom picture. Is that the highest the fish flew? Bonus: Of the 13 fish pictures in the bottom picture, how many come after the 4th?
Big kids: If a flying fish swims 10 seconds to take off, then flies for 2, then swims for 10, flies for 2…what is it doing at 30 seconds? Bonus: How much time does it spend flying in 1 minute, if it starts with a 10-second swim?
Answers:
Wee ones: Different for everyone…you might toss a ball, a stuffed animal, or a bean bag. The ball might keep rolling!
Little kids: The fish at the 5th, 6th,7th, 8th and 9th spots are higher. Bonus: 9 more fish pictures.
Big kids: It’s swimming. It finished its last flight at 24 seconds. Bonus: 10 seconds, since it does 5 flights (5 12-second chunks). Another way to get it: it spends 1/6 of each 12-second chunk flying, and since the minute contains complete sets of 12 seconds, it spends 1/6 of the minute in the air.
