Have you ever wondered what happened to the water puddle that was in the road just yesterday? Where did it go? This process is called evaporation. Evaporation is part of the water cycle, along with condensation, precipitation, and collection.

Here’s an easy way to learn about the water cycle!

Given the heart's never-ending workload, it's a wonder it performs so well, for so long, for so many people. But it can also fail, brought down by a poor diet and lack of exercise, smoking, infection, unlucky genes, and more.

Let’s gush about something really important: H2O! And with good reason – without water, we’d be nothing. Just dust--literally. Water is one of the most common substances on Earth, and one of the most vital; it’s a tremendously valuable resource, yet one we squander and pollute.

Water is deceptive. While it pours freely from the skies and seems to flow endlessly in rivers, it’s a finite resource; we only have what we have. Watch our video that models this water cycle. And although there is about 332,500,000 cubic miles of it on Earth – only one-hundredth of one percent of the world's water is readily available for human use. We really need to learn how to show it some respect.

With that in mind, consider the following facts – some wondrous, some disconcerting, all eye-opening:

• About 6,800 gallons of water is required to grow a day’s food for a family of four in the U.S.
• Water is the only substance found on Earth naturally in three forms--solid, liquid and gas.
• A person can live without food for more than a month; they can live without water for approximately one week.
• About 66% of the human body is water; newborn babies have even more--78 percent.
• A person must consume 2.5 quarts of water per day to maintain health (from all sources--i.e. water, food).
• 97% of all the Earth’s water is ocean or seas; only 1% of the Earth’s water is suitable for drinking water.
• The average U.S. residence uses more than 100,000 gallons of water (indoors and outside) per year.
• The average U.S. citizen pays on average 25 cents per day for water.
• The average shower of five minutes usess 15-25 gallons of water.
• When one inch of water drops as rain on one acre of ground it equals 27,154 gallons, which weighs 113 tons.
• The total amount of water used to manufacture a new car, including new tires, is approximately 39,090 gallons.
• The growing/production of a watermelon takes 100 gallons of water.

Two of our Fuddlebrook books address water—it’s importance and properties. Read The Case of the Missing Water and It’s Only Water to learn more about this incredible resource.

February is the month we think about valentines, Cupid, and candy hearts, but on a more serious note, it’s also American Heart Month. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States.  

The heart is part of your body’s circulatory system. It’s made up of the atria, ventricles, valves, and various arteries and veins. The main function of your heart is to keep blood that’s full of oxygen circulating throughout your body. Because your heart is crucial to your survival, it’s important to keep it healthy with a well-balanced diet and exercise, and avoid things that can damage it, like smoking.

Want to know more about this awesome organ?

• The average heart is the size of a fist in an adult.
• Your heart will beat about 115,000 times each day.
• Your heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood every day.
• The first open-heart surgery occurred in 1893. It was performed by Daniel Hale Williams, who was one of the few black cardiologists in the United States at the time.
• The first implantable pacemaker was used in 1958. Arne Larsson, who received the pacemaker, lived longer than the surgeon who implanted it. Larsson died at 86 of a disease that was unrelated to his heart.
• The earliest known case of heart disease was identified in the remains of a 3,500-year-old Egyptian mummy.
• The fairy fly, which is a kind of wasp, has the smallest heart of any living creature.  
•   Whales have the largest heart of any mammal.
• The giraffe has a lopsided heart, with their left ventricle being thicker than the right.  This is because the left side has to get blood up the giraffe’s long neck to reach their brain.
• Most heart attacks happen on Monday.
• Christmas is the most common day of the year for heart attacks to happen.
• The human heart weighs less than one pound. However, a man’s heart, on average, is two ounces heavier than a woman’s heart.
• A woman’s heart beats slightly faster than a man’s heart.
•  The beating sound of your heart is caused by the valves of the heart opening and closing.
• It’s possible to have a broken heart. It’s called broken heart syndrome and can have similar symptoms as a heart attack. The difference is that a heart attack is from heart disease and broken heart syndrome is by a rush of stress hormones from an emotional or physical stress event. Death from a broken heart is possible but extremely rare.            
• If you were to stretch out your blood vessel system, it would extend over 60,000 miles.
• Heart cells stop dividing, which means heart cancer is extremely rare.
• Laughing is good for your heart. It reduces stress and gives a boost to your immune system.

Read the fun Fuddlebrook story, Freddie Plays a Joke, to learn more. Then, watch our video that shows a heart model of a healthy and unhealthy heart, a model of a pumping heart, and a tasty treat from our sister series, The Quirkles®, entitled Yawning Yolanda’s Blood Candy, that demonstrates the four components of blood.

Here’s to a great and heart healthy February!