Why do things look darker when they are wet?
When light strikes an object, some of it penetrates the object, and some of it is reflected and reaches your eye. When an object is wet, more light penetrates the object, so less light is reflected. As a result less light reaches your eye and so the wet object looks darker. Read on for a more detailed explanation.

What animal's name means river horse?
Word History The ancient Greeks gave the name hippopotamos to a big, barrel-shaped animal they saw in Africa. English, using the Latin spelling hippopotamus, has kept this name. It is a combination of the Greek words hippos meaning "horse" and potamo, meaning "river."