Shakespeare’s play Henry IV begins with a king (King Henry) beginning a pilgrimage after killing King Richard II. Henry believes that by gaining the throne of England he has done an honourable deed, yet he admits that the fighting and bloodshed could continue, . . . “ill sheathed knife” . . . (I.1.17). He, also, admits…
Cryogenics is a study that is of great importance to the human race and has been a major project for engineers for the last 100 years. Cryogenics, which is derived from the Greek word kryos meaning “Icy Cold,” is the study of matter at low temperatures. However low is not even the right word for…
Wind chimes produce clear, pure tones when struck by a mallet or suspended clapper. A wind chime usually consists of a set of individual alloy rods, tuned by length to a series of intervals considered pleasant. These are suspended from a devised frame in such a way that a centrally suspended clapper can reach and…
Where Chaos begins, classical science ends. Ever since physicists have inquired into the laws of nature, they have not begun to explore irregular side of nature, the erratic and discontinuous side, that have always puzzled scientists. They did not attempt to understand disorder in the atmosphere, the turbulent sea, the oscillations of the heart and…
Conductivity is the ability of a substance to carry electricity. Some substances like copper, aluminum, silver and gold do it very well. They are called conductors. Others conduct electricity partially and they are called semi-conductors. The concept of electric transmission is very simple to understand. The wire that conducts the electric current is made of…
The invention of the water turbine was so successful that eventually, the idea came about for extracting power from steam. Steam has one great advantage over water-it expands in volume with tremendous velocity. To be the most effective, a steam turbine must run at a very high speed. No wheel made can revolve at any…
Definitions Machine- A device that makes work easier by changing the speed, direction, or amount of a force. Simple Machine- A device that performs work with only one movement. Simple machines include lever, wheel and axle, inclined plane, screw, and wedge. Ideal Mechanical Advantage (IMA)- A machine in which work in equals work out; such…
RESONANCE: “The property whereby any vibratory system responds with maximum amplitude to an applied force having the frequency equal to its own.” In english, this means that any solid object that is struck with a sound wave of equal sound wave vibrations will amplitude the given tone. This would explain the reason why some singers…
Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia are disorders in pregnant women. Pre- eclampsia is hypertension and eclampsia is the worsening of pre-eclampsia where the woman experiences convulsions or goes into a coma. The complication of eclampsia in a pregnant woman can put her and her unborn child at risk. A risk that may be fatal. This is only…
Few people recognize his name today, and even among those who do, the words Nikola Tesla are likely to summon up the image of a crackpot rather than an authentic scientist. Nikola Tesla was possibly the greatest inventor the world has ever known. He was, without doubt, a genius who is not only credited with…
Black Light. What is it? It is a portion of the Ultra-Violet Spectrum that is invisible to our eyes. We cannot distinguish it. However, when this radiation impinges on certain materials visible light is emitted and this is known as “fluorescence.” Fluorescence is visible to the human eye, in that it makes an object appear…
At the time Georg Simon Ohm was born not much was known about electricity, he was out to change this. Georg grew up in Bavaria which is why most information about Georg is in German. There is even a College named after him: Georg-Simon-Ohm Fachhochschule Nuernberg. To much dismay not a whole lot has been…
With this definition of the flux being, we can now return to Faraday’s investigations. He found that the magnitude of the emf produced depends on the rate at which the magnetic flux changes. This fundamental result is known as Faraday’s law of induction. The minus sign is placed there to remind us in which direction…
The shuttle, a manned, multipurpose, orbital-launch space plane, was designed to carry payloads of up to about 30,000 kg (65,000 lb) and up to seven crew members and passengers. The upper part of the spacecraft, the orbiter stage, had a theoretical lifetime of perhaps 100 missions, and the winged orbiter could make unpowered landings on…
A gun is a weapon that uses the force of an explosive propellant to project a missile. Guns or firearms are classified by the diameter of the barrel opening. This is known as the calibre of the gun. Anything with a calibre up to and including .60 calibre(0.6 inches) is known as a firearm. The…
In the Geiger-Muller tube, particles ionize gas atoms. The tube contains a gas at low pressure. At one end of the tube is a very thin “window” through which charged particles or gamma rays pass. Inside the tube is a copper cylinder with a negative charge. A rigid wire with a positive charge runs down…
In modern society, radio is the most widely used medium of broadcasting and electronic communication: it plays a major role in many areas such as public safety, industrial manufacturing, processing, agriculture, transportation, entertainment, national defense, space travel, overseas communication, news reporting, and weather forecasting. In radio broadcasts, they use radio waves which can be both…
Chromium is a very hard, brittle, gray metal, which is sometimes referred to as Siberian red lead. It does not rust easily and becomes shiny and bright when it is polished. The shiny trim on our automobile bumpers and door handles is usually electroplated chromium. Most chromium comes from something called chromite which is a…
Charles Babbage may have spent his life in vain, trying to make a machine considered by most of his friends to be ridiculous. 150 years ago, Babbage drew hundreds of drawings projecting the fundamentals on which today’s computers are founded. But the technology was not there to meet his dreams. He was born on December…
How Wind Tunnels Work A wind tunnel is a machine used to fly aircraft, missiles, engines, and rockets on the ground under pre-set conditions. With a wind tunnel, you can choose the airspeed, pressure, altitude, and temperature to name a few things. A wind tunnel is usually has a tube-like appearance with which wind is…