Fun Riddles

Question: I am taken from a mine, and shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost everybody.

What am I?

Question: What demands an answer, but asks no question?

Question: A man in New York City has $10. He spends $6.50 on flowers, and $3 on lunch (hot coffee and a hot dog). He then gets on the subway which will take him 7 stops for 50 cents. But he is forced to get off of the subway just 5 stops away from where he began.

Why is this?

Question: How can you throw a ball 20 meters, and have it come back to you without hitting anything?

Question: What word is shorter when you add two letters to it?