The Doll's Storybook

Stories about dolls who live in our world. Although these stories are suitable for children, they should check with their parents before reading and always be careful online. Readers are invited to donate to a charity supporting pediatric cancer treatment and research. Images shown are taken by the author or from a free image website with attribution and appreciation. The author has no connection with Götz Puppenmanufaktur, but gives them credit for the amazing dolls they produce.

Showing posts with label evaporation. Show all posts

Friday, November 22, 2024

Water, Water

Mandy was knitting peacefully in the workroom, when she heard the door open. It was Emil, Billy and Mariah.
"What's up?" Mandy asked, looking up from her knitting.
"Well," Billy began, "we were having an argument."

"A disagreement," Emil said.
"We were looking at things differently," Mariah corrected.
Mandy looked at the three dolls. "About what?" she asked.
"About water," Emil said. "About where it comes from. We know it doesn't just come out of the faucets by magic."

"I said the water comes from inside the earth," Emil explained.

"I said it comes from the sky," Billy said.

Mariah said, "I said I think that it comes from the oceans."

"The reason I think it comes from the earth," Emil said, "is because the pipes that bring water into the house come out of the ground. I know, because I've seen where the controls for the sprinklers are, and they are underground."

"But when it rains," Billy pointed out, "we get water everywhere, and it comes from the sky. You can see it coming from the sky if you're outdoors when it rains."

"The oceans are full of water," Mariah said. "There's so much of it there, I'm sure that must be where water comes from."

"Well, you're all right," Mandy said, "but there's more to it than that."

The other dolls were puzzled.
"You see," Mandy began, "All the water we have on earth is connected."

"When it rains," Mandy continued, "some of the rain runs down into the earth, where it is stored underground. People can dig down to get water. They make a well, which is a place where you can get water from under the ground. You need a pump, or a bucket on a rope to get the water from a well."

"Some of the rain runs off," Mandy continued. "That water ends up in lakes and rivers."

"The water in the lakes, rivers and the oceans evaporates (ee-VAP-er-ates)," she explained. "That means the air takes up the water, so it disappears. When it's warm, the tiny drops of water spread out in the air and rise to where it's cooler higher up in the atmosphere. Then they cool off. When the drops of water get cool enough, the air around them shrinks. That means it takes up less space than it did when it was warm. The tiny drops connect with other tiny drops. That makes them heavier, and they come back down as rain."

"We save the rain water and water from streams and rivers in a place called a reservoir (REH-zih-vor)." Mandy explained. "That's like a lake designed to hold water for when people need it. We don't have a well, so, like most people in our town, we buy water from a company that gets the water from underground and cleans it, so it's safe to drink or wash with."

"We're a long way from the ocean," Mandy went on, "but the water in the ocean is salty, so people can't drink it without taking out the salt. Too much salt can make them very sick."
"I remember that!" Billy exclaimed. "Before you came, Emil, we used the sun to change salt water into fresh water. We made the water salty first, so it would be like the ocean. It was a fun ex...experiment (ex-PER-a-mint)."

"Yes," Mandy agreed. "We used the sun to make the salt water evaporate," she explained, "but it wasn't really an experiment, because we knew what would happen ahead of time. An experiment is where you have an idea––that's called a theory (THEE-uh-ree)––and you want to find out if it's true. I would call what we did a lab exercise."
"The water left the salt behind when it evaporated," Billy remembered, "but you knew it would."

"That's right, Billy," Mandy agreed. "When the water in the ocean evaporates, it leaves the salt behind, so the rainwater isn't salty."
"So we know how to make drinking water from the ocean," Billy pointed out, "but the rain gives us the water from the ocean already drinkable. Interesting."

"Yes," Mandy agreed, "but the company that sells us water cleans it first, before it comes into our home. Now," she went on, "people have developed a special windmill that takes the water out of the air and another kind of machine that does the same thing but that runs on fuel, so people can have water where there isn't any. But that's the same water. All the water we've been using has been on the earth for about four billion years."

"How much is a billion?" Emil asked.

"It's a lot, especially in doll years." Mariah said. "It's like almost how old the earth is."

"People hadn't invented vinyl yet," Billy pointed out, "so there were no dolls then. It was even before dinosaurs. Real ones, even, not just vinyl ones," he added.

"Where was the water before that?" Mariah wanted to know.
"Scientists are still figuring that out, Mariah," Mandy replied. "They think that some of it came from comets that struck the earth. A comet is a big chunk of ice and dust that comes from space, far outside our atmosphere. A comet looks like a streak of light in the night sky."

"Scientists think some of our water also came from the sun," Mandy continued. "The earth keeps reusing the same water over and over. Maybe someday people will figure out how to make water from its elements (EL-uh-mints), that's what we call the little bits that make up everything. Water is made from a gas called hydrogen (HY-druh-jun) and another gas called oxygen, (OX-uh-jun), but right now its dangerous and complicated to make water from them. We can only use what we have for now."

"We have to keep our water clean," Mandy told them. "That means we shouldn't throw trash on the ground or dump medicine or chemicals onto the ground or any place it can end up in the water, like the sink or the toilet."
"We should put trash in the trash can or waste basket," Emil agreed,

"We should ask a grownup where to put medicine or chemicals," Mariah pointed out. "We shouldn't put those in the trash if we don't need them anymore."

"And even if the water is clean," Billy said, "most dolls need to keep it out of their eyes. Some dolls can get silver eye if their eyes get wet! That would make their eyes look strange."

The dolls all agreed that it was true. There was no difference of opinion, but they all wondered if a doll with silver eye could still see, with or without special glasses.

Cast--
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia

Ocean photo by Sean O.
Pump photo by Fikri Rasyid
River photo by Jon Flobrant
Comet photo by Casey Horner
All of the above available on Unsplash.

The story about the lab exercise Billy mentioned is here.
You can learn more about how to have clean water here.
You can learn more about silver eye in dolls here. (You will have to scroll down to find silver eye.)

You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.

Do you have questions or comments for us? Would you like to order an autographed copy of one of our books? You can email us at thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. We are not affiliated with St. Jude in any way other than these donations.

"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook and More Classic Tales Untold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are available from BookBaby and other booksellers worldwide, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Author's page on Amazon.

Royalties (net proceeds) go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don't get free shipping elsewhere, buy from Book Baby. Half of the price goes to charity (specific information available upon request). Autographed copies of all three books are available from the author. (Multiple books to the same address have a discount on shipping.) To inquire, email thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

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Friday, April 12, 2024

Heat Wave

It was very hot. The dolls were sitting on the workroom table with the fan running. Veronika was helping Mandy put up her hair, because she was pretending her long hair felt hot on her neck.

"Nothing fancy," Mandy told her. "I just want it up off my neck."
"Why is it so hot," Charlotte asked.

"It's hot because it's summer," Billy observed.

Charlotte tried to roll her eyes, but it's hard to do, because her eyes don't move. "I know that, silly," she said. "I mean, why is it hot in the summer?"

The dolls all looked at Mandy, because it was a Mandy kind of question.

"Remember," Mandy began, "when we talked about the seasons? We pretended the old tether ball was the sun, and my ball of yarn with a needle through it was the earth."

The dolls all thought back.

"Yes," said Mariah, enjoying the breeze from the fan on her neck. "The needle was the earth's axis, except you can't see the real one."

"You can't knit with it, either," Billy added, which caused Jolena to poke him with her elbow.
"You said the axis in the part of the world we live in comes out at the North Pole," Mariah explained. "It's tipped more toward the sun in the summer. I remember, because I got to be summer when we were taking turns being the seasons. I got to hold the earth with the North Pole tipped toward the sun."

"That's right," Mandy said. "Now, think about what happens if the axis at the North Pole is tipped toward the sun. Remember that the air surrounds the earth. It's as if the earth is a ball inside a ball of air."

"I think maybe there is less air for the sun to go through in the summer," suggested Jolena.

"Very good, Jolena!" exclaimed Mandy.
"I have to use the air when I do my tricks on skis," Jolena said. "The air helps me, so I have to know a little bit about it." She could feel the moving air from the fan blowing her hair across her face.

"I can tell that you have been thinking about it," Mandy told her. "Now," Mandy went on, "the air that covers the earth is called the atmosphere (AT-mus-feer). When our part of the earth is tipped toward the sun, there is less atmosphere for the sun to have to shine through."

"But why is that?" asked Billy.

Mandy thought for a moment. "OK," she said, "just imagine you are standing on the diving board over the center of a pool. Suppose you dive straight down through the water to a point on the bottom that is right under the diving board."

"At the same time," Mandy went on, "Jolena is standing over on the side of the pool, away from the board. She dives toward the same spot on the bottom of the pool, but from the side. Who will get there first?"

"I will get there first," Billy said. "Boy dolls are faster than girl dolls."

Jolena gave Billy a playful swat. "No they aren't," she cried.

Mandy laughed. "You're right about who gets there first, but not about why."

Mariah had been looking thoughtful. "I think Billy had less water to go through than Jolena," she said.

"That's right," Mandy agreed. "When you dive at an angle, you have to go through more water before you get there. That's how it is with the sun's rays. In the summer the sun's rays are like Billy's path through the water in the pool. They don't have to go through as much atmosphere."

"I thought," Charlotte said, "that maybe it's hotter in the summer because the days are longer."

"Having longer days in the summer does add to how hot it gets," agreed Mandy, "because the sun heats up the earth during the day. We have to add that to how the sun has much less atmosphere to get through."

"So how can we cool off," Charlotte wanted to know. "I'm tired of pretending to be too hot."

"I feel cooler when I go for a bike ride," Billy said.

"Good point!" Mandy exclaimed. "That's because you're moving through the air. The air moving across your vinyl cools it off and makes you feel cooler, the way this fan cools us," she explained, "so riding your bicycle is a good way."

"We could play in the sprinkler," Veronika suggested, "but we will have to wear swim goggles if we're going to get our faces wet. We don't want water to get into our heads and make the inside moldy."

"Yes," agreed Jolena. "They will have to take your head off to clean out the mold!"

"That's right," Veronika said. "I'd like to keep my head on!"

"How does playing in the sprinkler cool you," Billy asked.

"There are two things," Mandy said. "First, the water coming out of the pipes in the ground is cool, because not so much heat from the sun can reach it. The water makes you feel cooler right away."

"Second," Mandy continued, "when you get your vinyl wet, the water evaporates (ee-VAP-er-ates). It turns back into a gas and goes into the air. It uses the heat from your vinyl to do that, so that cools you off."

"I remember," Charlotte said, "when we did the experiment where we took the salt out of the salt water. We made the water evaporate."

"Yes," Billy agreed. "We used the sun's light to do it." They thought about that fun experiment.

"That's right," Mandy agreed. "It's the same thing that happened in our pan of water. The sun warmed the air under the plastic wrap. That made the water in the pan evaporate. Then it condensed back into water when it reached the plastic wrap covering the pan."
"If we get tired of playing in the sprinkler," Mariah said, "we could go to a movie. They have air conditioning, so it's cool inside."

The dolls talked for a bit about what movie they would like to see. They decided on the Disney movie "Frozen."

Then Charlotte had another idea. "We could make popsicles," she said. "We could sit in the shade and pretend to eat them. That would make us cool inside, because the popsicles are frozen."

"I have a good recipe for popsicles," Jolena said. "I pour the mixture into plastic cups and put them in the freezer. Later, after it starts to freeze, I put a plastic spoon in it." Then she smiled and continued, "but I don't have to worry about the heat for a while."

All the dolls looked at Jolena. She could tell they wanted to know why, so she told them.
"I'm going to fly to Argentina (are-jen-TEEN-uh) tomorrow," Jolena said, "with my skis and the other dolls on the Doll Ski Team. It's winter there, because that part of the earth is tipped away from the sun. We're going to practice skiing in real snow for a week."

"I had better finish packing," Jolena added. "I have to go tomorrow."
"We'll help," Mariah suggested.

The dolls all helped Jolena pack her clothes and her ski equipment.

That gave Jolena time the next day to mix up some juice and yogurt in a bowl for popsicles, so her friends could use them to cool off while she was gone.

"Now we'll keep cool," said Billy. "We know lots of ways we can cool off when it's hot."

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London