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Diggin' Earth/Mindy's Mystery
'Diggin' Earth' - The kids try to dig into the Center of the Earth (a la Commander Cressida), but after finding out that the center is much too hot and the layer of Earth leading up to it is solid rock, they re-vamp their plans. They decide to become the kids to dig down the deepest into the Earth. Learning about the layers of the Earth inspires Jet to make an Earth Layer Cake. Curriculum: Earth's structure consists of molten nickel-iron core, magma mantle, and crust. The reason we can't easily dig down through to the core is because the Earth's crust is 10-30 miles thick! And made of really hard rock. Inside of that is the mantle. The core is nickel and iron, the heaviest stuff, which gravity pulls to the center. In fact, it gets so hot in the core that even the nickel and iron melt. 'Mindy's Mystery' - Mindy can't sleep one night, having been kept awake by a sweet, strong smell from outside. Sydney, Sean, Jet, and Sunspot become detectives and try to crack the case of the sweet smell. At the same time, Mitchell is investigating what kept him up last night - a very bright 'annoying' light. In the end, there's a common source - the sweet smell was from a nocturnal flower, the Moonflower, which only blooms at night, after sundown. And the bright light was from the Moon! Curriculum: Moonflowers are nocturnal bloomers. After sunset as the Moon rises, these huge white flowers bloom, emit a very sweet smell, and glow in the moonlight. In the morning, they close their fragrant blooms. Moonflowers' scent attracts the night moths that feed on their nectar. Moonlight doesn't originate on the Moon. The Moon (like the planets) shines by reflected Sunlight. The Sun, of course, only lights up 1/2 of the Moon - the half that is facing the Sun.
