0

Thoughts about 2012.

21

How large is a googol in real terms? The number of grains of sand lying on the beach at Coney Island has been calculated at about 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 – one followed by only 20 zeros. Much smaller than a googol!

16

A green flash can occur at sunrise or sunset when some part of the Sun suddenly and briefly seems to change color from red or orange to green or blue. This is an optical effect caused by the larger refraction of light at the blue/ green end of the spectrum…

25

In 1896 the French physicist Henri Becquerel noticed that pitchblende had one very unusual property: photographic plates exposed to a sample of pitchblende reacted as if they had been exposed to light. This property was called radioactivity, but at the time many scientists dismissed it as being of little importance. However, the investigation of what caused the radioactivity was to lead to one of the most significant discoveries in science, a discovery that laid the foundations for modern nuclear physics.

22

An odd device patented in Britain in 1904 by a Prussian count, Vladimir Skorzewski, was a compressed air walking assister. It consisted of a seat and handlebars, shock absorbers, and leg extensions and soles attached to stirrups. The count’s notion was that the shock absorbers at the contraption’s joints would function much like a series of miniature pogo sticks. The user could bound along the street and still enjoy the comforts of sitting down while “walking”.

26

As the plane cuts through the air, the air that flows over the top of its wings has to travel a greater distance than the air flowing underneath its wings. So the air has to travel faster over the top than the bottom. Hence the air pressure on the top and bottom of the wings produces an upward force or lift that pushes the wings upwards.

21

Mutation is classified as somatic (when it occurs in somatic cells) and gametic (when it occurs in gametes). Somatic mutation, for example the brown spots in the iris of the eye cannot be passed on to the next generation while gametic mutation such as albinism can be passed on. An organism which has undergone mutation is called a mutant.

5

As every second ticks away, with every event that we experience, it turns into past, a moment that once was, but no longer exists. It is scientifically proven that memory is stored in the brain and that what we remember only encompasses around the average of eight percent of what we experience.

1

Some thought on the existence of time.

4

Why is it that people strive to be perfect?