Kathy Simpson, age 13, of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, for her question:

 How did the Atlantic Ocean get its name?

If the earth were really flat, you would wonder what or who held it up. Ages ago, the people around the Mediterranean pondered the same problem. They were sure that the earth was a large, flat platform    but they did not know how it was supported. So they invented a sort of superman for the job. They called him Atlas and said that he held up the whole world on his mighty shoulders. They knew their gentle Mediterranean Sea and also the Strait of Gibralta, which they called the Pillars of Hercules.

Beyond this point they knew of a wild, fearsome ocean where few dared to venture. Mighty Atlas, they said, stood out here beyond the Pillars of Hercules. There were also legends that wild island warriors lived in these regions. Their legendary island was called Atlantis and the name of Atlas also was borrowed to name a mountain range in northern Africa. All this region was Atlas territory in ancient times. Later it seemed suitable to borrow his name for the Atlantic Ocean.