79 Fun Facts About 4th Grade

What is the capital city of California?

Sacramento is much smaller than Los Angeles, but it has been the seat of California's government since 1854.

Which city is the capital of Texas?

Houston, Dallas and San Antonio are all bigger, but the state government sits in Austin.

Which city is the capital of Florida?

Tallahassee sits in the Florida Panhandle and became the capital in 1824, long before Miami or Orlando were big cities.

New York City is the biggest city in New York, but which city is the state capital?

Albany, on the Hudson River about 150 miles north of New York City, has been New York's state capital since 1797.

Which is the largest US state by area?

It is bigger than Texas, California and Montana put together, and its capital, Juneau, cannot be reached by road.

Which is the smallest US state by area?

Rhode Island covers about 1,200 square miles, the smallest of the 50 states; Delaware is the next smallest, at roughly twice the area.

Which US state is made up entirely of islands?

Hawaii is a chain of 137 volcanic islands; the eight main ones include Oahu, Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii, which gives the state its name.

The Mississippi River flows south and empties into which body of water?

The Mississippi rises at Lake Itasca in Minnesota and runs about 2,340 miles south to empty into the Gulf of Mexico just below New Orleans.

How many Great Lakes are there?

There are five Great Lakes: Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario, so large and stormy they are sometimes called inland seas.

Which Great Lake is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area?

Lake Superior covers about 31,700 square miles, the largest freshwater surface on Earth; only the far deeper Lake Baikal and Lake Tanganyika hold more water.

The Grand Canyon in Arizona was carved by which river?

The Colorado River cut down through layer after layer of rock, leaving canyon walls that record nearly two billion years of Earth's history.

Mount Rushmore, carved with four presidents' faces, is in which state?

Mount Rushmore is in South Dakota's Black Hills; its 60-foot faces of Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Lincoln were carved between 1927 and 1941.

How many stripes are on the flag of the United States?

The flag has 13 stripes, one for each of the original colonies that declared independence from Britain in 1776, plus 50 stars for today's states.

Which city is the capital of the whole United States?

Washington, D.C. is not part of any state; it is a federal district on the Potomac River that has served as the national capital since 1800.

Who was the first president of the United States?

George Washington served as the first president from 1789 to 1797 and lived at Mount Vernon in Virginia, where he grew tobacco and wheat.

Which president issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863?

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president, issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring enslaved people in the rebelling states free in the middle of the Civil War.

Who was the main author of the Declaration of Independence?

Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration in June 1776, later became the third president, and died on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after it was adopted.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from the people of which country?

France gave the statue to mark the US centennial; it was built in Paris around an iron frame by Gustave Eiffel, shipped in crates and assembled in New York Harbor in 1886.

In which city can you visit the Liberty Bell?

The Liberty Bell is displayed in Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park; it cracked on its first test ring in 1753 and was recast twice by local founders John Pass and John Stow.

Which bird is the national bird of the United States?

The bald eagle has been on the Great Seal since 1782 and was formally named the national bird in December 2024; it is not bald, its head is simply covered in white feathers.

In what year did Christopher Columbus first sail across the Atlantic and reach the Americas?

Columbus left Spain in August 1492 with three ships and made landfall in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, believing he had reached Asia.

Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?

Neil Armstrong commanded Apollo 11 and stepped onto the Moon on July 20, 1969, followed by Buzz Aldrin, while Michael Collins stayed in lunar orbit.

Rosa Parks became famous in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a bus in which city?

Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1, 1955; the Montgomery bus boycott that followed lasted 381 days and helped launch the civil rights movement.

Which famous speech did Martin Luther King Jr. give to a huge crowd in 1963?

King delivered "I Have a Dream" at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963; the speech ran about 17 minutes, and he won the Nobel Peace Prize the next year.

What was the last name of the two brothers who made the first successful airplane flight in 1903?

Orville and Wilbur flew their Wright Flyer near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903.

Which Founding Father invented the lightning rod and bifocal glasses?

Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod in the early 1750s and bifocals; he also designed the Franklin stove and refused to patent any of his inventions.

The Pilgrims sailed to America in 1620 aboard which ship?

The Mayflower carried about 102 passengers across the Atlantic in 66 days, anchoring off the tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in November 1620.

Harriet Tubman helped about 70 people escape slavery via which network of safe houses?

The Underground Railroad was not underground and had no trains; the name was code for the guides and safe houses that led escapees north, and Tubman made about 13 trips.

Which was the first national park in the United States?

Yellowstone was created by Congress in March 1872 and is famous for Old Faithful, a geyser that erupts roughly every 60 to 90 minutes.

How many planets are in our Solar System?

Pluto used to be counted as the ninth planet until astronomers reclassified it as a dwarf planet in 2006.

Which is the largest planet in the Solar System?

Jupiter is so big that about 1,300 Earths could fit inside it, and its Great Red Spot is a storm that has been observed continuously since the 1830s.

Which planet is nicknamed the Red Planet?

Mars is called the Red Planet because rusted iron in its surface dust gives it a reddish color; it has two small, lumpy moons, Phobos and Deimos.

Which planet is the smallest in the Solar System and closest to the Sun?

Mercury, about 3,030 miles across, is the smallest planet and orbits closest to the Sun, circling it once every 88 days.

Which planet is famous for its bright rings made mostly of ice?

Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, has bright rings made mostly of water ice, with pieces ranging from dust grains to chunks the size of houses.

Earth is which planet from the Sun?

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, after Mercury and Venus, and takes about 365 and a quarter days to complete one orbit.

What was Pluto officially reclassified as in 2006?

A dwarf planet, orbiting in the Kuiper belt, the ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune; Pluto is smaller than Earth's Moon.

What is the name of the galaxy that our Solar System is part of?

The Milky Way, our home galaxy, is named for the hazy band of light across the night sky, made of billions of stars too far away to pick out one by one.

About how many bones does an adult human have?

An adult has 206 bones; babies are born with around 270, but many of them fuse together as a child grows.

How many chambers does the human heart have?

The heart has four chambers: two upper atria and two lower ventricles; a resting adult heart beats about 72 times a minute.

What gas do plants release into the air during photosynthesis?

Plants take in carbon dioxide and water, use sunlight to make sugar, and release oxygen, the gas animals need to breathe.

What is the chemical formula for water?

H2O: each water molecule is two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen atom, and water occurs naturally on Earth as ice, liquid and vapor.

How many degrees are in a right angle?

A right angle is 90 degrees, a quarter of a full 360-degree turn; you find it in the corner of a square or a sheet of paper.

How many sides does a hexagon have?

Six: the name comes from the Greek word for six, hex, and honeybees build honeycomb from the shape.

How many degrees are in a straight angle?

A straight angle measures 180 degrees, half of a full 360-degree turn; its two sides point in exactly opposite directions to form a straight line.

Which is the only even number that is also a prime number?

2 is prime because its only divisors are 1 and itself; every other even number is divisible by 2, so no other even number can be prime.

How many items are in a dozen?

A dozen is 12, often shortened to 'doz' or 'dz' on egg cartons and price tags.

How many days are in a leap year?

366 days, with the extra one added to February every four years to keep the calendar lined up with Earth's trip around the Sun.

Which is the largest animal that has ever lived on Earth?

The blue whale can reach about 100 feet long and weigh around 200 tons, heavier than any dinosaur known from fossils.

Which is the fastest land animal?

The cheetah can sprint at around 60 to 70 miles per hour thanks to its long legs and flexible spine, fast enough to run down antelope from far behind.

Which is the tallest animal living on land?

Giraffes stand up to about 18 feet tall, the tallest of all land animals; they are also the largest ruminants, chewing cud like cows.

A caterpillar turns into a butterfly inside a hard case called what?

Butterflies go through four life stages: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and winged adult.

Which is the only mammal that can truly fly?

Bats are the only mammals capable of powered flight, flapping wings of skin stretched between very long finger bones; flying squirrels and sugar gliders only glide.

Which is the largest and heaviest bird alive today?

The ostrich, up to 9 feet tall and over 300 pounds, cannot fly but can run about 43 miles per hour and lays the biggest eggs of any living bird.

Which animal carries its baby, called a joey, in a pouch and is native to Australia?

Kangaroos are marsupials from a group called macropods, meaning 'large foot'; a newborn joey is about the size of a jelly bean when it climbs into the pouch.

Which is the largest species of bear?

The polar bear is the largest bear species; under its white fur its skin is black, and a big male can top 1,500 pounds.

How far can an owl turn its head?

An owl can rotate its head about 270 degrees in either direction because its eyes are fixed in their sockets; extra neck vertebrae and special blood vessels make the twist safe.

Which is the smallest kind of bird in the world?

Hummingbirds are the smallest mature birds; the bee hummingbird is about two inches long and weighs less than a penny.

Which of these is a mammal, not a fish?

Dolphins are mammals: like whales they breathe air through a blowhole, nurse their young with milk, and use echolocation clicks to find their way.

Which is the largest and deepest ocean on Earth?

The Pacific covers about 63 million square miles, more than all of Earth's land combined, and holds the Mariana Trench, the deepest point in any ocean.

Which is the longest river in the world?

The Nile flows about 4,100 miles north through northeastern Africa to reach the Mediterranean in Egypt; the Amazon is wider and carries far more water.

Which is the largest hot desert in the world?

The Sahara stretches across northern Africa and covers about 3.5 million square miles, close to the size of the United States; only the polar deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic are bigger.

Which continent has the South Pole?

Antarctica, the coldest continent, surrounds the South Pole; it has no permanent residents, only scientists at research stations such as Amundsen-Scott at the pole itself.

Which is the highest mountain on Earth above sea level?

Mount Everest rises 29,032 feet on the border of Nepal and Tibet, where it is known locally as Sagarmatha and Qomolangma.

What is the imaginary line dividing the Northern and Southern Hemispheres called?

The equator is the line of zero degrees latitude, halfway between the poles; countries on it, like Ecuador and Kenya, are warm all year round.

The Great Pyramid of Giza was built as a tomb for which Egyptian pharaoh?

The Great Pyramid was built around 2560 BC for Khufu, a Fourth Dynasty pharaoh also known by his Greek name Cheops; of the Seven Wonders, only it survives largely intact.

Most of the Amazon rainforest is in which country?

Brazil holds 60 percent, Peru 13 and Colombia 10; the whole rainforest has an estimated 390 billion trees.

Niagara Falls sits on the border between New York and which country?

Niagara Falls straddles the New York–Ontario border with Canada; it is actually three waterfalls, and the largest, Horseshoe Falls, lies mostly on the Canadian side.

Which pilot became the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932?

Amelia Earhart flew solo from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland in May 1932, four years after crossing as a passenger; she vanished over the Pacific in 1937 while trying to circle the globe.

Which type of animal is a frog?

Frogs make up nearly 90 percent of all amphibian species; their scientific order name, Anura, means 'without tail'.

What share of Earth's atmosphere is made up of the gas humans need to breathe?

Oxygen is roughly one fifth of the atmosphere, about 21 percent; nitrogen makes up about 78 percent, and the oxygen came from photosynthesis by plants and other organisms.

Which continent is the largest in the world by both land area and population?

Asia covers about 30 percent of all the land on Earth and is home to more than half of the world's people.

Which is the longest bone in the human body?

The femur is also the thickest bone, and its length is about a quarter of a person's height.

What is the largest organ of the human body?

Skin makes up roughly 16 percent of your body mass and covers about 1.5 to 2 square metres on an adult.

Which bird is the fastest animal on Earth when it dives for its prey?

In its hunting stoop the falcon can top 320 km/h, faster than any cheetah on the ground.

Which part of a plant takes in water from the soil?

Roots anchor a plant and draw water and minerals from the soil through tiny root hairs; the water then travels up the stem to the leaves.

What kind of object is the Sun?

The Sun is a star, a giant ball of hot plasma powered by nuclear fusion at its core, and it sits at the centre of our Solar System.

Which three colours are usually taught as the primary colours in art class?

Art classes teach red, yellow and blue as the primary colours of paint, mixed to make orange, green and purple; screens mix light using red, green and blue instead.

Roughly how long is the Great Wall of China, counting all of its sections?

Despite the famous myth, the wall cannot be seen with the naked eye from the Moon.

At what temperature does water freeze on the Celsius scale?

Water freezes at 0 °C, which is 32 degrees Fahrenheit; unusually, it expands as it turns to ice, which is why ice floats.