What brings you down but never up?

What is the next number in this matchsticks series riddle?

There was a kingdom in which the king had no heir to take over his thrown. Even the queen was dead and he himself was on the verge of dying. He thought about it and then summoned all of the teenagers. He gave one seed each to all of them and asked them to grow the plant. He announced that the one with the most beautiful plant will become the king/queen of the empire after the death of the king.

After a month, all of them were called. The king looked at all of the plants but announced the girl with an empty pot as the queen of the empire. Why?

If an earthquake is 1 point higher on the Richter Scale than another earthquake which is actually 10 times stronger, how much stronger would an earthquake be if it was just half a point higher on the Richter scale?

John gave half of the apples he had plus one more to Jacob. He gave half of the remaining ones plus one more to James. Now, John was left with just one apple.

Can you find out how many did he have in the beginning?

Manish and Manoj play 5 games of chess.
Both Manish and Manoj win the exact same number of games. There is no tie at all.

How?

What has many teeth, but cannot bite?

Can you decipher the below rebus?

PBLUESAISNUERSES

John has eleven friends. He has a bowl containing eleven apples. Now He wants to divide the eleven apples among his friends, in such a way that an apple should remain in his bowl.
How can He do it?

What is the word or phrase below?
R | E | A | D