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| Alcohol - an alternative to petrol | ||
 Alcohol
produced from fermented sugar or corn is a bio-fuel that can be used as
a fuel in motor vehicles. The alcohol produced from the fermentation of
sugar is ethyl alcohol, commonly called ethanol. Ethanol
as a fuel source has been successfully adopted in Brazil where there is
a large source of sugar cane and conditions are suitable for fermenting
and distilling the sugar cane. In Brazil, ethanol-powered cars account
for over 90 per cent of all cars in the country. As reserves of
petroleum become more scarce and expensive, ethanol is becoming a more
desirable alternative. The use of bio-fuels like ethanol also helps to
improve air quality and reduce the production of greenhouse gases. When
cows burp or pass wind, they release methane gas. In fact, cows are
responsible for up to about 20 per cent of the methane in the
atmosphere. Imagine if the methane could be used as a fuel!
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Seeing red |
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Smell the taste |
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The greatest influence on the sense of taste is the sense of smell. What we call the 'taste' of food is actually the 'flavour' of food, which is the combination of its taste and its smell. In practice, it is very rare to taste something without smelling it as well, because the mouth and nose are close to each other and linked by an air passage at the back of the throat. The relationship between taste and smell is perhaps most noticeable when you have cold and your nose is blocked. Much of the flavour of food is lost, because the vapours are unable to travel up the nose. If your nose was blocked and your eyes blindfolded or closed, you would find it almost impossible to tell the difference between samples of finely grated apple, potato or onion placed on your tongue. However, if you chewed the food, you would cause vapours to be released from it. These would move from the back of the mouth up the nose, and would allow you to recognize the food. |
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The word "phobia" refers to a group of
symptoms caused by feared objects or situations. A phobia is a
persistent, irrational fear that causes a person to feel intense
anxiety. Phobias are the most common form of anxiety disorders, which
affect people of all ages, at all income levels and everywhere on Earth.
In some people, the response to a phobia can be fairly mild. For
example, a person who has a phobia from dogs might simply avoid dogs. In
other people, the phobia causes, or arises from, full-blown panic
attacks with symptoms such as short breath, sweating, irregular
heartbeats and shaking of the body. Why a person develops a particular
phobia is still not clear. There appear to be both biological and
psychological reasons. People develop phobias about many things such as
darkness, social situations, heights, depths, numbers, etc. |
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1) Acrophobia: fear of heights |
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2) Arithmophobia: fear of numbers |
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3) Bathophobia: fear of depth |
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4) Bibiophobia: fear of books |
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5) Brontophobia: fear of thunder and lightning |
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6) Cynophobia: fear of dogs |
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7) Diplophobia: fear of double vision |
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8) Electrophobia: fear of electricity |
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9) Glossophobia: fear of speaking in public |
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10) Iatrophobia: fear of going to the doctor |
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11) Laliophobia: fear of speaking |
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12) Logizomechanophobia: fear of computers |
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13) Lygophobia: fear of darkness |
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14) Rhabdophobia: fear of being severely punished or beaten |
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with a rod |
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15)Sophophobia: fear of learning |
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16)Trypanophobia: fear of injections |
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Why do igloos not melt? |
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 The
igloo, in fact, melts inside, but not to a great extent. The snowflakes
falling outside of the igloo, in the harsh Alaskan winter, quickly melt
when they land on its roof, and provide a replacement layer of
insulation for the igloo. The ongoing freezing and re-freezing of the
igloo hardens it, and transforms the blocks of snow that the Eskimos use
in the construction process into a solid, icy, domed refuge. The initial
freezing and re-freezing of the igloo takes place at end of the igloo's
construction. The igloo can withstand the weight of a massive polar
bear, should one happen along and have the urge to play "king of
the mountain." |
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Is Myna a member of the Parrot Family? |
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 No, Myna doesn't belong to the Parrot Family, though it can talk like parrots do. In India, Myna is also called "Farmer's Friend" because they eat the insects in the field. In Australia, they are known as "Garbage Birds" or "Flying Cane Toads", as they rampage their way through the country taking over the habitat of native birds and mammals. The myna birds were brought into Melbourne in 1862 to help rid market gardens of insects, and now, like everywhere else, they have become the common thugs of the bird world. According to an Australian Scientist, Myna is becoming an endangered species. |
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What are Falling Stars? |
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You must have made many wishes when you saw a falling
star. But do you know that falling stars are not actually stars? They
are solid bodies that travel through space, and are called meteors. |
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Why does the moon shine? |
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How do mirrors work? |
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Have you seen the colour of
the sky when the Sun is rising and setting? Doesn't it appear to be
red? It happens because the path of the sunlight through the atmosphere
is much longer at sunrise and sunset. By the time light reaches the
lower atmosphere, the colour at the blue end of the spectrum get
scattered even more than usual. Clouds take an orange-red colour as the
other colours of the spectrum have been scattered higher in the
atmosphere. For the same reason, dust in the atmosphere leads to
spectacular sunrise and sunsets.
The
moon rotates on its axis around the earth. It shines when the sun's
light beams onto its surface, and is reflected back to earth. Only one
side of the moon is visible from the earth, because the moon takes the
same length of time to rotate on its axis, as it takes to orbit the
earth. The lunar month is divided into halves. During the first half,
lasting approximately 14 days, the sun's light unrelentingly strikes the
moon, which has no atmosphere or air to protect it from these rays. It
increases the temperature of the moon beyond that of the boiling point.
The second half of the lunar month plunges the moon into cold, dark
nights.
When
the mirror is hit by particles of light called photons, it reflects the
photons back to us and they enter our eye.