Discover exciting historical events that happened on 6th July, from giant hailstones to the first all-talking movie! Plus, learn why the sky is blue in a fun and easy way for kids.
Dear Students,
Have you ever looked up and wondered why the sky is blue? I’ll tell you in a moment—but first, let’s hop into our time machine and see what exciting things happened on 6th July in history!
🌍 1560: England and Scotland Shake Hands
On this day in 1560, England and Scotland signed the Treaty of Edinburgh, promising to be friendly neighbours (although they hadn’t always been best pals before).
But here’s something many people mix up:
- England is just one country.
- Great Britain is the big island that has England, Scotland, and Wales.
- The United Kingdom (or UK) includes Great Britain plus Northern Ireland.
- Ireland (Southern) is also a separate country all together.
It’s like nesting dolls—one inside the other! Isn’t it amazing how names tell stories about history and geography?
🌿1787: A Garden Grows in India
On 6th July 1787, a man named Colonel Robert Kyd started the Indian Botanical Garden in Howrah, near Kolkata. Today it’s called the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, and it’s famous for the Great Banyan Tree, which looks like a whole forest by itself!
👏1892: The First Indian MP in Britain
Imagine travelling across continents to stand up for your people! On 6th July 1892, Dadabhai Naoroji became the first Indian—and the first non-white person—to be elected as a Member of Parliament in Britain.
Naoroji was once the Diwan of Baroda and later helped found the Indian National Congress. He worked hard to make sure Indian voices were heard.
🏛️1923: The USSR Is Born
If you’ve heard of the USSR (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), it officially came together on 6th July 1923, when the leaders accepted the Treaty of Union. The USSR lasted until 1991 and played a huge part in 20th-century history.
🎬1928: The First All-Talking Movie
Before 1928, movies were silent, with words on the screen and live music. But on 6th July 1928, Lights of New York, the first all-talking movie, was released in New York City. Imagine the audience gasping when the actors finally spoke!
🌨️1928: The Giant Hailstone
Also on 6th July 1928, something enormous fell from the sky over Nebraska, USA—a hailstone weighing 1.5 pounds and 7 inches wide! That’s like a frozen cannonball dropping from a cloud. Thankfully, no one was squished.
🔫1947: The AK-47 Begins
Many of you have heard of the AK-47 rifle. On 6th July 1947, the USSR started making it.
But do you have any idea why is it called ‘AK-47’?
AK stands for Avtomat Kalashnikova—“Avtomat” means automatic in Russian, and Mikhail Kalashnikov was the inventor’s name. The 47 is for the year it was designed—1947.
☁️ So, Why Is the Sky Blue?
Now, as promised—why does the sky look blue instead of green, purple, or red?
It’s because of something called Rayleigh scattering.
☀️ Sunlight looks white to us, but it’s really made up of all the colours of the rainbow. When sunlight enters Earth’s atmosphere, it bumps into tiny air molecules.
Blue light has shorter, smaller waves than red light, so it scatters much more in all directions. That scattered blue light reaches your eyes from every part of the sky—so you see a big blue dome overhead!
And what about space? Space itself is black because there’s no atmosphere to scatter light. But if you mixed all the light from stars and galaxies, you’d get a pale colour called cosmic latte—like milky coffee!
🌟 Isn’t it incredible how much you can discover in just one day of history—and one look up at the sky? Keep exploring, keep wondering, and never stop asking questions!
