World’s Playground

This is a term which has become very acquainted with city drivers. This article is not another letter to the editor. This is to create an awareness of reckless driving and to insist that something has to be looked into.

It is widely said that the city roads are often crowded with vehicles and so if the drivers, by any chance get any free stretch of road, seem to test their racing skills. But what is ironical is that how these bumpy roads seem to be like a racing track for them. Its quite unimaginable. One fact has to get deep into their minds and that is though vehicles are costlier, they can be brought back, but there is no rejuvenation of life, as all are not Christs.

Driving is not a thing to do for one to relax. One actually has to concentrate. gears and clutches and brakes are not playthings. There are others for that. Many don’t  make use of the front and rear mirrors, they  don’t understand that those are provided for some valuable purpose. Using cell phones and other music players while driving have blown up the issue. Be aware of the thing that the music which you hear while driving might very well be the last tune for you. Leave rash driving, not for the safety of other vehicles in your vicinity, but for yourself.

We have to dig into the root to curb these accidents. I mean nowadays getting a driving license has become as easy as getting a chocolate. Thank god! It has not got into provision or the stationery shops. The more you pay, the easier you get. Laws have to be made strict.

When one gets to read this, he shouldn’t read this as a third person, he has to read as if this is addressed to him. All these can be done. But the major motive of all these is to evoke individual awareness. Drivers! what is under your foot is not just a brake! but life! of you or any other! So beware.

Barcelona has just won the Uefa Champions League 2008-2009. The Bluered overcame this Wednesday (May 27) by 2 goals to nil to Manchester United with goals from Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi, getting the triple crown (league, Copa del Rey, Champions) in the season debut of Pep Guardiola.

The defending champion reigned the field during the first 10 minutes, capitalaizing on the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, with a peak figure 3 attempts on Valdes. But Barca rocked English domain, through a single move Eto’o (10 ‘), who made a record and Vidic set to the departure of Van der Sar.

Champions

From there, the Catalans were the owners of the process of checking, given the possession of the ball back and were very solid, despite the makeshift defensive quartet (Puyol, Toure, Pique, felyx).

Sir Alex Ferguson never found the key to the midfield, with Xavi and Iniesta were erected as the great figures of the match and the tournament. It was not the best performance of Messi so far this year, but it was enough to partner with Henry and company to generate uncertainty behind English. It was precisely the “Flea” who made it 2-0, after heading a giant as an excellent service from Xavi Hernandez.

Barcelona closed a magnificent season as the best in Europe and the world without a doubt. Gone are the minutes of a heart attack at Stanford Bridge. Who can be objectionable to some team Guardiola?

As our electricity consumption is shooting up everyday, there is a worldwide search to find an alternative energy. This nuclear energy definitely comes as a blessing in disguise for the world. With a very small amount of input energy given, the output we obtain from it is
unimaginable. This energy is obtained by two processes. One is the nuclear fission and the other is nuclear fusion.

In the nuclear fission processes, a heavy nucleus is bombarded with the neutron. Uranium is the most used fuel. It is classified into enriched and natural uranium based on its percentage. U.S and U.K are the suppliers of enriched uranium. For obtaining a continuous fission reaction, we use moderators. These moderators slow down the speed of neutrons. These slow down neutrons now easily penetrate heavy nuclei.

To carry out this reaction at an optimum temperature, coolants come into action. Heavy water is the mostly used coolant. Based on the coolant used, we have different types of nuclear reactors. Carbon-di-oxide is used as a coolant in gas cooled reactors. Light water is used as a coolant in LWR reactors. Prolonged usage of this light water as a coolant, spoils core. So its usage is constrained.

Nuclear fusion is the process of combining two lighter nuclei. To carry out this reaction, we need a higher temperature. so fission process is carried out as a prerequisite reaction. Helium is the by-product released in this reaction. This process is environment friendlier than fission process. And also, the energy produced in fusion is more than that of fission. Thus due to these advantages, nuclear fusion will emerge as the energy for future.

You go to a shop and purchase things, you can never come back home without a plastic cover. Scientifically speaking, plastics are a mixture of synthetic and semi synthetic organic solid materials used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are polymers of high molecular weight.

In our daily life, we can find wide range of applications of plastics right from the start of the day. Our brushes, paste and soap covers, buckets and mugs and the plates that we use to eat all contain plastics.

But plastics are one the products which should be eradicated. As we all know plastics are bio-non degradable products. So once we use the product and throw it outside, it goes under the sand and gets accumulated and never is degraded by the bacterial action. so its a main cause in stopping rain and also eradicating the soil manure. It blocks the small pores in the soil and never allows worm to come out and go in.

With all these disadvantages, why is it still in use. The answer is its cost. Its so less costly due to its easy manufacture and amount of raw material available. Its so light weighted and can is somewhat malleable and less ductile. Government is taking steps to eliminate plastics but mostly efforts all went in vain.

Black Holes are one of the most interesting phenomenon in Astrophysics. In terms of Relativity they are just regions in space in which the gravitational force is so high, so that even the light can’t escape from it. Its equivalent to a perfect “black body” in thermodynamics. It reflects nothing.

Escape Velocity is another important phenomenon in the field of Astrophysics. Its nothing but the velocity needed for a particle to escape from gravity pull. In Earth the escape velocity is 11km/s. In black holes the escape velocity is equal to that of light, so that light can’t escape from it.

“Event Horizon” is one of the important term which comes when speaking about black holes. It is the boundary, if crossed, the matter will fall inevitably into the black hole. This is otherwise called as the point of singularity. The volume is zero, so that the density is “infinite”.

Black Holes are the evolutionary end points of stars, which are 15 to 20 times bigger than sun. Very big stars which undergo a Supernova explosion and collapses within itself to form the point of singularity.

This concept was first told by geologist John Michell in 1783. In 1915 it was further developed by Albert Einstein in his theory of Relativity. In the same year Karl Schwarzchild also gave a solution for the radius of a black hole and it was famously called as “Schwarzchild Radius”. Scientist from Indian origin, Subramanhyan Chandrasekhar, did a great work in this field.

The black hole theory should be further studied and developed for a safer space travel.

I know I am quite late, I have already seen the movie too, but today I got a chance to complete the “DA VINCI CODE” novel. I should say, I am pretty excited.

In 2003, Dan Brown made a revolution among the Christian people with his bestseller novel “The Da Vinci Code”. Though the novel revolves around the fictional characters of Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu, it says that Jesus Christ is married to a lady called Mary Magdalene and they have a baby and still the descendants are present in the world.

This book revolves around the character of Robert Langdon, a Symbology professor in Harvard. He tries to solve the murder case of the famous curator Jacques Sauniere. As the police were suspecting him he tries to solve the mystery behind the murder of the Louvre museum’s curator with his own grand daughter Sophie. He ended up finally founding that Sophie was none other than one of the descendant of Jesus Christ.

The book tries to prove the lying secret behind the Holy Grail in “The Last Supper” painting of Leonardo Da Vinci. It states that Jesus is not God and he is just a human Prophet of God. He is married to Mary Magdalene. The “Holy Grail” doesn’t means the cup but it points the presence of Mary Magdalene in the last supper of Jesus Christ with his astoples.

It also tells about the Knight’s Templar group and their rituals. Jacques Sauniere, the grandmaster of “Priory of Sion”, and his three colleagues are saving the secret from the hands of the “Opus Dei”. With character of Silas, Dan clearly explains the horrible things which Opus Dei teach to people. With the character of Bishop Arringarosa, we can understand why Vatican is more interested in destroying the truth.

Though its not sure whether the facts are correct, but the story has its pace to attract the people. There is much eager waiting from the people for Dan Brown’s next novel.

Global warming is the increase in average temperature of the earth. it is mainly due to the greenhouse effect, discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1824. The green coloured glass allows light to enter but doesn’t allow it to go back. similarly the gases in the atmosphere like carbon di oxide, methane and nitrous oxide trap the re radiated sun’s radiation from the earth’s surface.  The average global temperature increased by 1 degree celsius, in the last century.

The major source of carbon di oxide is power plants. They emit carbon di oxide during the combustion of fossil fuels, for electricity generation. 20 percent of carbon di oxide comes from the burning of gasoline used in automobiles.

Methane entraps 20 times more heat than carbon di oxide. The rich sources of methane are rice paddies, bovine flatulence, bacteria in bogs and fossil fuel manufacture. Also, when the fields are flooded, anaerobic situation builds, as a result of which methane is released into the atmosphere.

The main sources of nitrous oxide include nylon and nitric acid production, cars with catalytic convertors, use of fertilizers in agriculture and the burning of organic matter. another major cause of global warming is deforestation, caused by increased urbanisation and industrialisation.

The main effect of global warming is that the weather conditions become more extreme, as a result of which plants and animals are not able to survive.
Another major problem is the increase in sea level. Coastal cities are facing this major threat. in the end of 21st century, the sea level is expected to rise from 18 to 59 cms. If this problem persists, the average temperature of the earth would rise by atleast 7 degrees in the next century.