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This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Parents be honest. Who do you usually turn to when life feels overwhelming? Your group chat? The barista who remembers your coffee order? Or maybe that other parent you met in the school pickup line? I know because I do the same thing. And look, they're great to talk with, but let's face it, they're not trained to help with stress, anxiety, or those bigger questions that keep us up at night. That's where BetterHelp comes in. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform with over 30,000 licensed therapists who are trained and credentialed to actually help you work through life's challenges. For more than 10 years, they've been helping people find their right match. And with a 4.9 rating from 1.7 million reviews, chances are you're gonna find yours too. Getting started is easy. Just fill out a quick questionnaire and BetterHelp does the matching work for you. And if your therapist isn't the right fit, you can switch anytime at no extra cost. How awesome is that? So find the one with BetterHelp, our listeners get 10% off the first month at betterhelp.com WhoSmarted that's betterhelp.com WhoSmarted hey there WhoSmarted plus subscribers. Welcome to another edition of SmartYQs where I, the trusty narrator, answer questions from you, the smarty pants listeners. Remember, anyone can submit a question simply by emailing me@whosmartedhoosmarted.com before we begin, a few quick shout outs to some smarty fans who have written to us on Spotify. There's Willow and her mom in Qualicum Beach, Lilia in Australia, Maddie AKA Galanic, and Julian from Oregon. Thanks for listening, laughing, and learning to who Smarted? Now, without further ado, let's start the Smarty Q Smarty listener, Kai in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, asks, why is the ocean salty? Great question, Kai. The salt in the ocean comes from two main sources, dry land and vents in the seafloor. But how do these two sources make the ocean so salty? Let's start with dry land and rain. When rain falls over land, it erodes rocks and picks up small amounts of dissolved minerals like salt. The rainwater is still essentially fresh, but once it reaches the ocean, the minerals pool together. Organisms in the ocean use some of the minerals, which removes them from the water, but they tend to leave the salt alone, so it remains. Then we have the vents in the seafloor. How do they make the ocean saltier than a potato chip? You ask? Well, ocean water that has seeped through the sea floor and been heated by Earth's core gets released back into the ocean through the sea vents, similar to rainwater. These hydrothermal fluids and AKA hot water pick up minerals and metals from surrounding rocks that contribute additional salt to the ocean. How much salt, you ask? Try 120 million tons per cubic mile of seawater, of which There are about 332,519,000 cubic miles. Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. A happy belated birthday to our next smarty questioner, Hamilton in Houston, Texas, who asks, what is rope made from? I'll ask you one better, Hamilton. What isn't rope made of? Because rope can be made of pretty much any fiber. For starters, there's natural fibers like cotton, hemp, linen, silk, wool, or even hair. Then there's synthetic fibers like nylon, polyester, or acrylic. Even metals like steel. As it turns out, many ropes are made of ropes. How's that? Well, a standard rope, like one you might see on a pirate ship, is called a laid or twisted rope. Essentially, you can take different kinds of ropes and twist them around each other to make a thicker rope, but you always have to have one rope that twists in the opposite direction in order to hold it in place. And that's all the time we have for this question about ropes. But if you want more, maybe I can pull some strings. Get it? Pull some strings. Okay. Our final question comes all the way from France. Smartypants named Wilf wrote to ask us, will Earth one day be covered in water? Wow, great question. In short, it is possible that Earth may one day be entirely covered in water. However, it won't be because of sea level rise caused by climate change, at least not in the coming years. Tragically, coastal areas will experience unprecedented flooding and certain islands will be lost, however much land will remain. So why may Earth one day be covered in water? Because it may have been before. In a 2021 study, Harvard scientists found that geochemical calculations of the planet's water storage capacity suggested that three to four billion years ago. That's right, billion Earth could have been covered in water. So it could happen again. But I wouldn't hold your breath unless you're underwater. And there you have it, another fun fact filled episode of Smarty Qs made up of questions submitted by you, the Smartypants listeners. Again, if you have a question you'd like answered by me on SmartYQS, or if you just want to say, hi, trustee, you can email me@whosmartedhoosmarted.com that's whosmartedhoosmarted dot com thanks for subscribing to WhoSmarted plus and for supporting WhoSmarted. Foreign WhoSmarted is brought to you by Squarespace now, you know I'm good about creating new adventures and episodes of Whosmarted, but you don't know that I procrastinate on other stuff, like a website for one of our new projects. Oops. When the website builder Squarespace reached out about sponsoring WhoSmarted, I decided to test it out and now I feel silly for putting off building that website. Squarespace's blueprint AI thing literally built me a custom website in minutes. I just told it a few details about the project and boom. It generated everything. And everything you need is right there. I can schedule guest interviews, send email campaigns, even sell merch, all from one dashboard. Now it's your turn to stop procrastinating and start building. You can use Squarespace to launch that business site or any site that you've been dreaming about. But putting off today, there's no excuse anymore. Especially since you can head to squarespace.com smarted for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, you can use Code smarted to save 10% on your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com smarted code smarted this episode is sponsored by IXL. Look, I know back to school looks a little different when you're a homeschool family because maybe you're keeping up with your year round rhythm or maybe you're starting fresh with new plans and goals. Either way, it is the perfect time to reset, refresh and find tools that make life easier. That's where IXL comes in. IXCel is an award winning online learning platform that covers math, language arts, science and social studies from Pre K through 12th grade. It adjusts to your child's level, giving them just the right challenge at the right time. So learning feels motivating, not overwhelming. And what I love about IXL is how effortless it makes homeschooling. Everything is organized by grade and topic, so instead of hunting for lessons, you can jump straight into exactly what your child needs. And the real time feedback is a game changer. When kids make a mistake, IXL explains it instantly, helping them learn and move forward with confidence. Plus, you can see their progress at a glance with detailed reports. Over 15 million students use Excel and more than 75 studies show that it really works. So make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL today, WhoSmarted listeners get an exclusive 20% off when you sign up@ixl.com WhoSmarted that's ixl.com WhoSmarted Hey WhoSmarted plus subscribers, welcome to another edition of SmartYQS, where I, the trusty narrator, answer questions from you, the smart Smartypants listeners. Remember, you can submit your questions to me by emailing me@whosmartedsmarted.com or have your adult send us a message on our Facebook messenger page, which is whosmarted. Before we begin, a few quick shout outs to some amazing Smartypants. There's Colin in Lafayette, Colorado, who teaches his mom everything they learn from WhoSmarted. Also, a shout out to Elva in Massachusetts, who thinks the trusty narrator is so fun. Aw, thanks Elva. I also want to give a shout out to Audrey in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who thinks it's funny that we say smarty pants. Well, thanks to all you smarty pants for smarting with us and for supporting who Smarted. And speaking of smarting, it's time to start this month's Smarty Q. The first question comes from frequent contributor Olivia and sounds a lot grosser than it really is. Olivia asks, what is a vomitorium? I know, I know, but hear me out. Contrary to popular belief, a vomitorium is not a place where ancient Romans allegedly purged during feasts. Instead, it refers to a passage or corridor in an amphitheater or stadium through which crowds can enter and exit quickly. The term comes from the Latin word vomitorium, which means to spew forth. These passages allowed large numbers of people to enter or leave a venue quickly, preventing congestion. And this architectural feature is still used in modern stadiums and theaters for similar purposes. Okay, for our next question, my friend Finley would like to know why the Earth is round. Well, Earth is approximately spherical due to the force of gravity and its rotation. You see, gravity pulls all objects towards the center of mass. When a planet forms, the material is pulled inward by gravity. And because a sphere has the smallest surface area for a given volume, it is the shape that is most likely to form the thanks to gravity. But that's not all. The Earth rotates on its axis once every 24 hours. This rotation causes the material on the surface to spread out evenly, which also contributes to the spherical shape. This means Earth isn't perfectly round and is actually a shape known as an oblate spheroid. In summary, the combination of gravitational forces and Earth's rotation has shaped it into a roughly spherical form over billions of years. Our final question comes from Eli in Central Texas who asks what is dry ice and how does it work? First, dry ice is solid carbon dioxide or CO2 at a temperature of approximately minus 78.5 degrees Celsius, which is around minus 109.3 degrees Fahrenheit. It's called dry ice because it transfers directly from a solid to a gas without passing through a liquid phase. Hence it appears to be dry out the surrounding air. So how does it work? Well, dry ice undergoes a change as it warms up. Because the dry ice is much colder than the air, it immediately begins to change from a solid form into CO2 gas and as it turns into carbon dioxide gas, it causes the surrounding area to cool down. This makes dry ice useful for refrigeration, food preservation, shipping perishable items, and other freezing purposes where regular ice, which is frozen water, might not be suitable or effective. Oh, and is often used in movies or shows to look like fog or smoke. Oh, and one more thing, because dry ice is so, so cold, it should only be handled with special insulated gloves or tongs by an adult. Whatever you do, don't touch it. And there you have it, another fun fact filled episode of Smarty Qs made up of questions submitted by you, the smartypant listeners. Again, if you have a question you'd like me to answer on SmartYQS, simply email me at WhoSmartedHoosmarted.com that's WhoSmarted@WhoSmarted.com thank you so much for subscribing to WhoSmarted plus and supporting WhoSmarted.