The Moon "draws" the water toward it. This causes the tides, whether it be neap or high tides.
As the water is "drawn", it will do so but the water will never REACH THE MOON! It's impossible! The Moons GRAVITY isn't strong enough for that to happen, this is the KEY point!
The Sun deserves a mention too! Technically it has a similar effect on the tides, if the Moon and the Sun are facing the same side of the Earth as each other, this causes high SPRING tides, if they are on opposite sides, again we can get high SPRING tides. If they are in any other position, we call that NEAP tides.
The Sun is 400 times further away from the Earth than the Moon is BUT the Sun is 400 times BIGGER than the Moon. Gravity is all about MASS, the BIGGER or the more DENSE the the MASS is, the greater its GRAVITATIONAL PULL. Distance has to be taken into account though aswell. Hopefully this paragraph explains the EQUAL (distance and size) effect of the Sun and Moon on our oceans.
Back to waves! You could say that water waves have a SHAPE, think of a CANDLE, when lit, the flame is shaped by GRAVITY! It's like a deformed triangle, it has a TIP! So do WAVES! It's just that you can't see it because the waves are so wide, the tip is unnoticeable. There'll always be a LEADING part of the WAVE and that's the TIP!
Due to the fact that the WAVE cannot reach the Moon or Sun because of the WEAKNESS of GRAVITY, the WAVE literally collapses. The collapse normally occurs on the shoreline because there's no MORE WATER to be apart of the wave. The COLLAPSE can also occur out at sea because the wave loses MOMENTUM (again GRAVITY). Waves follow each other as the PULL of the Moon and Sun on the oceans is CONTINUOUS.
Thanks for reading! Hope you get something out of it, I certainly enjoy writing this stuff :-)
Adam X
Friday 29 June 2012
Thursday 28 June 2012
Why do things expand when they get hot?
Back to the atom!!
An atom will jiggle more the more energy it gets. Heat is energy and is carried by the PHOTON. A photon can cause an electron to jump to an atomic orbital of higher energy. The atom is now excited. An excited atom will have energy and wants to move. This is very much like a solid becoming a liquid, the solid receives heat and the atoms of the solid get excited, the solid melts as the atoms disperse or fly away.
Another way atoms can get excited is through friction. IE if you rub your hands together, the electrons get excited and your hands heat up. Your hand will EXPAND in the process, you can't visibly see this with your naked eye, but it does.
When our walking, your feet feel the rubbing of your footwear, your feet heat up, they expand.
The PHOTONS that we humans emit are of an INFRARED wavelength, you can't see them with the naked eye either.
Thanks, Adam. Much love. :-) X
An atom will jiggle more the more energy it gets. Heat is energy and is carried by the PHOTON. A photon can cause an electron to jump to an atomic orbital of higher energy. The atom is now excited. An excited atom will have energy and wants to move. This is very much like a solid becoming a liquid, the solid receives heat and the atoms of the solid get excited, the solid melts as the atoms disperse or fly away.
Another way atoms can get excited is through friction. IE if you rub your hands together, the electrons get excited and your hands heat up. Your hand will EXPAND in the process, you can't visibly see this with your naked eye, but it does.
When our walking, your feet feel the rubbing of your footwear, your feet heat up, they expand.
The PHOTONS that we humans emit are of an INFRARED wavelength, you can't see them with the naked eye either.
Thanks, Adam. Much love. :-) X
Wednesday 27 June 2012
Why is light weird?
According to the laws of physics, light is STRANGE!
Imagine you're chasing a car that's moving at 30 km/h and you're moving at 29 km/h, you are 1 km/h slower than the car.
You are very close to the car and can almost keep up.
LIGHT BEHAVES TOTALLY DIFFERENT.
No matter how fast you chase the light, it always moves away from you at exactly the same speed. Even if you were flying at 999,999,999 km/h behind a beam of light, the light would still speed away from you at a full 1 BILLION KM/H. You may as well be standing still!!
Thanks, Adam. Much love. X
Imagine you're chasing a car that's moving at 30 km/h and you're moving at 29 km/h, you are 1 km/h slower than the car.
You are very close to the car and can almost keep up.
LIGHT BEHAVES TOTALLY DIFFERENT.
No matter how fast you chase the light, it always moves away from you at exactly the same speed. Even if you were flying at 999,999,999 km/h behind a beam of light, the light would still speed away from you at a full 1 BILLION KM/H. You may as well be standing still!!
Thanks, Adam. Much love. X
Friday 22 June 2012
How does my microwave cook my food?
It heats it up! Whilst this is correct, it's not holistically accurate.
Let's start with the known fact that everything is made of ATOMS. The microwave, the food and the dish/plate.
Microwaves are a specific wavelength and are made of photons.
The electricity (electrons) running through the microwave creates PHOTONS through the ELECTRONS being excited to a higher energy level of their respective atom and then dropping back to a lower energy level. The electron emits a PHOTON of the MICROWAVE wavelength which then travels at the SPEED OF LIGHT inside the microwave machine.
Most of these PHOTONS will be absorbed by the electrons of the atoms in your food. This gives the atoms energy and allows them to move. This softens your food and heats it up as the food is constantly being hit by PHOTONS. Some atoms in the food will evaporate (probably the water in it) and when the timer pings, the electron flow is stopped and thus so is the PHOTONS from being emitted by the microwave. The food is piping hot as its atoms have been excited by the huge flux of photons and it's steaming some atoms off still. The food (or rather the atoms) is now ready to be eaten.
Thanks, Adam.
Much love. :-) X
Let's start with the known fact that everything is made of ATOMS. The microwave, the food and the dish/plate.
Microwaves are a specific wavelength and are made of photons.
The electricity (electrons) running through the microwave creates PHOTONS through the ELECTRONS being excited to a higher energy level of their respective atom and then dropping back to a lower energy level. The electron emits a PHOTON of the MICROWAVE wavelength which then travels at the SPEED OF LIGHT inside the microwave machine.
Most of these PHOTONS will be absorbed by the electrons of the atoms in your food. This gives the atoms energy and allows them to move. This softens your food and heats it up as the food is constantly being hit by PHOTONS. Some atoms in the food will evaporate (probably the water in it) and when the timer pings, the electron flow is stopped and thus so is the PHOTONS from being emitted by the microwave. The food is piping hot as its atoms have been excited by the huge flux of photons and it's steaming some atoms off still. The food (or rather the atoms) is now ready to be eaten.
Thanks, Adam.
Much love. :-) X
Monday 18 June 2012
How long does it take for blood to circulate the human body?
About 1 minute. Here's the SCIENCE!
The average human heart pumps roughly 0.07 litres of blood per beat.
The average heart beats 70 times per minute.
70 x 0.07 = 4.9 litres.
The average human body contains 5 litres of blood.
All signs say 1 minute!!
Other factors are:
HEALTH
HEIGHT
ACTIVE OR AT REST
Thanks, Adam King :-) X
The average human heart pumps roughly 0.07 litres of blood per beat.
The average heart beats 70 times per minute.
70 x 0.07 = 4.9 litres.
The average human body contains 5 litres of blood.
All signs say 1 minute!!
Other factors are:
HEALTH
HEIGHT
ACTIVE OR AT REST
Thanks, Adam King :-) X
Sunday 17 June 2012
Why is urine yellow?
Urine is waste (we already know that), it is what is left over after our body has removed all the goodness and nutrients that we need.
Urine contains salt water too.
The major waste product from cells in the body is ammonia, and the major waste product from blood is a broken form of heme called bilirubin. In the liver, each of these is converted into a less hazardous form: ammonia is converted to urea, and bilirubin is degraded to urobilins. Salt, water, and urea are all colorless, but urobilins (which come from degraded pigments) are yellow.
So, if you drink a lot, your urine will be more dilute and clearer, and if you get dehydrated, your urine will contain less water and be darker yellow.
Thanks, Adam King. :-) X
Urine contains salt water too.
The major waste product from cells in the body is ammonia, and the major waste product from blood is a broken form of heme called bilirubin. In the liver, each of these is converted into a less hazardous form: ammonia is converted to urea, and bilirubin is degraded to urobilins. Salt, water, and urea are all colorless, but urobilins (which come from degraded pigments) are yellow.
So, if you drink a lot, your urine will be more dilute and clearer, and if you get dehydrated, your urine will contain less water and be darker yellow.
Thanks, Adam King. :-) X
Monday 11 June 2012
The rock cycle
Rocks are made of grains that fit together. Each grain in the rock is made from a mineral, which is a chemical compound. The grains in a rock can be different colours, shapes and sizes.
Some types of rock have interlocking grains that fit tightly together. Granite is a rock with interlocking grains. Other types of rock have rounded grains. Sandstone is a rock with rounded grains.
Rounded grains - Sandstone:
Interlocking grains - Granite:
Porous rocks
Rocks with rounded grains are more likely to absorb water than rocks with interlocking grains. THIS IS BECAUSE THE WATER CAN GET INTO THE GAPS BETWEEN THE GRAINS. Rocks that absorb water are called POROUS.
Rocks with rounded grains are usually softer and easier to crumble because they lack the structure of rocks with interlocking grains. Plus, if the porous rock gets more water into it, that alone will make it softer.
Rounded grains with water effect:
Interlocking grains with water effect:
So from this, we can gather that a rock with interlocking grains will be more structured and durable enough to resist damage either via water or compaction.
Sedimentary rocks:
There are 3 main types of rock; sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic.
The formation of sedimentary rocks:
A river carries/transports many things besides water and one of them are broken pieces of rock as it flows in its given direction. All rivers flow to the sea and when the river meets the sea there is a great difference in depth, so anything that has a bit of weight will sink to the bottom of the sea. We refer to this as the rocks being DEPOSITED. These DEPOSITED ROCKS build up in layers from the seabed, called SEDIMENTS. This process is called SEDIMENTATION.
Simply put, layer upon layer stack on top of each other. As this happens the layers that are at the bottom will be compacted and crushed due to the weight pressure of the layers above. With this happening in the sea, water is squeezed out from between the pieces of rock and crystals of different salts are formed.
IT'S PROBABLY A GOOD IDEA TO MENTION HERE THAT ALL ROCKS ARE MADE OF MINERALS.
The crystals that form act as a cement because they cause the pieces of rock to stick together. This is known as CEMENTATION.
These processes make the type of rock known as SEDIMENTARY ROCK. This process may take MILLIONS of years for the SEDIMENTARY rocks to form but due to the nature of the CYCLE, SEDIMENTARY rocks are constantly moving on to the next phase.
This is the established order of the SEDIMENTARY rock formation:
SEDIMENTATION - COMPACTION - CEMENTATION
IGNEOUS ROCKS:
Igneous rocks are a product of the inner Earth - a very hot place that has the ability to melt rock. MOLTEN (LIQUID) ROCK is the product of melted rocks and is known as MAGMA. MAGMA does eventually undergo the law of cooling and when cool enough, IGNEOUS ROCKS are formed.
You may be wondering to yourself - isn't a rock a rock? True, but you can tell a tremendous amount of information from a rock and it's composition by taking a closer (much closer) look.
Igneous rocks are comprised of randomly arranged INTERLOCKING crystals. Now, the size of the crystals depends upon how quickly the MAGMA cooled and solidified. The longer the cooling process, the bigger the crystals. That is, they have more TIME to stick together and arrange themselves, meaning a larger crystal.
Metamorphic rocks!
The 3rd type of rock in the rock cycle. The key word to pick out here is MORPH - that is, metamorphic rocks are formed from OTHER rocks by a change in HEAT or PRESSURE. They are MORPHED from other rocks.
As we know, the Earth is constantly moving, whether it be spinning on its axis, orbiting the Sun or even the movement of its tectonic plates.
Earths movements cause rocks to be either crushed or buried. All this compaction causes heat via the pressure that the is applied on the rock. The heat doesn't cause any melting but instead causes a CHEMICAL REACTION. It allows the chemical composition of the rock to be change. The MINERALS that make up the rock are altered, giving us a NEW ROCK. The heat allows the reaction to take place as HEAT IS ENERGY or rather HEAT GENERATES ENERGY.
On occasion, METAMORPHIC rocks are formed when rocks close to some MOLTEN MAGMA and are subsequently HEATED UP.
A KEY POINT TO NOTE HERE IS: ROCKS THAT DO MELT FORM IGNEOUS ROCKS - NOT METAMORPHIC.
When a METAMORPHIC rock is formed under pressure, its crystals become arranged in layers. Slate, which is formed from shale, is like this. The slates on your roof may spring to mind here. Slate can be split into flat sheets - hence why it's so appropriate for roofing.
MARBLE is another fine example of a well used metamorphic rock and is formed from limestone. Metamorphic rocks can contain fossils if they were formed from sedimentary rock (the fossils would be compacted) but the fossils are usually squashed due to the nature of the sedimentary rock process.
METAMORPHIC rocks can be formed from either IGNEOUS or SEDIMENTARY rocks.
Weathering is also a key part of the rock cycle. Rocks are gradually worn down by the weather. There are 3 types of weathering that can occur:
Physical
Chemical
Biological
Physical weathering is caused by actual physical changes in the surrounding weather, changes such as temperature (increase/decrease), freezing, thawing, wind, rain or waves.
Temperature:
When something gets hot it expands - a rock is no different. It's also the same scenario if something gets cooled it contracts - a rock is no different. This constant expansion and contraction causes the rock to crack and crumble. In climates such as the DESERT, the temperature goes from one extreme to the other so this type of weathering is very common.
Wind has the ability to blow tiny grains of sand against a rock. These wear the rock away and weather it. Rain and waves too have the ability to wear away rock over long periods of time.
When water freezes, it expands, this is how many things are damaged IE water pipes and rocks are no different. Water will find get into anything it can, it can and getting into the crack of a rock is easy. Once the water freezes, it could either widen the crack or split the rock. It could take years for a very large rock to split as the crack could be very minor to begin with and be gradually expanded.
Biological weathering:
Animals and plants too can wear away rocks. Animals can set up home within a rock and create or widen cracks that split it.
We all have weeds in our garden and plenty in between the flags/stones of our paths, where there is soil and the ability to receive water, you will find a plant.
This plant may start small and stay small or it could grow to be very big. It's roots would cause the cracks to expand (it's important to note that the cracks may be minuscule but are still cracks). Eventually, pieces of rock would break away.
Me and you are examples of biological weathering, we tread on rocks often and the constant pounding will eventually cause wear and tear of the rocks.
Chemical weathering:
Rainwater is naturally slightly acidic because CO2 from the air dissolves in it. Minerals in rocks may react with the rainwater, causing the rock to be weathered.
Some types of rock are more reactive than others. Limestone is made of a mineral known as CALCIUM CARBONATE (CaCO3). When acidic rainwater hits the limestone a reaction takes place that results in the formation of new soluble substances. These are washed away and the rock is weathered.
The more ACIDIC the rain is, the greater the chemical weathering. Rain that is more acidic contains fossil fuels that have been burned IE oil.
Difference between WEATHERING and EROSION:
Weathering is the wear and tear of the rocks.
Erosion is the transportation of the broken pieces of rock from the weathering.
Examples of the types of each rock:
SEDIMENTARY: Limestone, sandstone.
IGNEOUS: Basalt and granite.
METAMORPHIC: Slate and marble.
Many thanks, Adam. :-) X
Some types of rock have interlocking grains that fit tightly together. Granite is a rock with interlocking grains. Other types of rock have rounded grains. Sandstone is a rock with rounded grains.
Rounded grains - Sandstone:
Interlocking grains - Granite:
Porous rocks
Rocks with rounded grains are more likely to absorb water than rocks with interlocking grains. THIS IS BECAUSE THE WATER CAN GET INTO THE GAPS BETWEEN THE GRAINS. Rocks that absorb water are called POROUS.
Rocks with rounded grains are usually softer and easier to crumble because they lack the structure of rocks with interlocking grains. Plus, if the porous rock gets more water into it, that alone will make it softer.
Rounded grains with water effect:
Interlocking grains with water effect:
So from this, we can gather that a rock with interlocking grains will be more structured and durable enough to resist damage either via water or compaction.
Sedimentary rocks:
There are 3 main types of rock; sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic.
The formation of sedimentary rocks:
A river carries/transports many things besides water and one of them are broken pieces of rock as it flows in its given direction. All rivers flow to the sea and when the river meets the sea there is a great difference in depth, so anything that has a bit of weight will sink to the bottom of the sea. We refer to this as the rocks being DEPOSITED. These DEPOSITED ROCKS build up in layers from the seabed, called SEDIMENTS. This process is called SEDIMENTATION.
Simply put, layer upon layer stack on top of each other. As this happens the layers that are at the bottom will be compacted and crushed due to the weight pressure of the layers above. With this happening in the sea, water is squeezed out from between the pieces of rock and crystals of different salts are formed.
IT'S PROBABLY A GOOD IDEA TO MENTION HERE THAT ALL ROCKS ARE MADE OF MINERALS.
The crystals that form act as a cement because they cause the pieces of rock to stick together. This is known as CEMENTATION.
These processes make the type of rock known as SEDIMENTARY ROCK. This process may take MILLIONS of years for the SEDIMENTARY rocks to form but due to the nature of the CYCLE, SEDIMENTARY rocks are constantly moving on to the next phase.
This is the established order of the SEDIMENTARY rock formation:
SEDIMENTATION - COMPACTION - CEMENTATION
IGNEOUS ROCKS:
Igneous rocks are a product of the inner Earth - a very hot place that has the ability to melt rock. MOLTEN (LIQUID) ROCK is the product of melted rocks and is known as MAGMA. MAGMA does eventually undergo the law of cooling and when cool enough, IGNEOUS ROCKS are formed.
You may be wondering to yourself - isn't a rock a rock? True, but you can tell a tremendous amount of information from a rock and it's composition by taking a closer (much closer) look.
Igneous rocks are comprised of randomly arranged INTERLOCKING crystals. Now, the size of the crystals depends upon how quickly the MAGMA cooled and solidified. The longer the cooling process, the bigger the crystals. That is, they have more TIME to stick together and arrange themselves, meaning a larger crystal.
Metamorphic rocks!
The 3rd type of rock in the rock cycle. The key word to pick out here is MORPH - that is, metamorphic rocks are formed from OTHER rocks by a change in HEAT or PRESSURE. They are MORPHED from other rocks.
As we know, the Earth is constantly moving, whether it be spinning on its axis, orbiting the Sun or even the movement of its tectonic plates.
Earths movements cause rocks to be either crushed or buried. All this compaction causes heat via the pressure that the is applied on the rock. The heat doesn't cause any melting but instead causes a CHEMICAL REACTION. It allows the chemical composition of the rock to be change. The MINERALS that make up the rock are altered, giving us a NEW ROCK. The heat allows the reaction to take place as HEAT IS ENERGY or rather HEAT GENERATES ENERGY.
On occasion, METAMORPHIC rocks are formed when rocks close to some MOLTEN MAGMA and are subsequently HEATED UP.
A KEY POINT TO NOTE HERE IS: ROCKS THAT DO MELT FORM IGNEOUS ROCKS - NOT METAMORPHIC.
When a METAMORPHIC rock is formed under pressure, its crystals become arranged in layers. Slate, which is formed from shale, is like this. The slates on your roof may spring to mind here. Slate can be split into flat sheets - hence why it's so appropriate for roofing.
MARBLE is another fine example of a well used metamorphic rock and is formed from limestone. Metamorphic rocks can contain fossils if they were formed from sedimentary rock (the fossils would be compacted) but the fossils are usually squashed due to the nature of the sedimentary rock process.
METAMORPHIC rocks can be formed from either IGNEOUS or SEDIMENTARY rocks.
Weathering is also a key part of the rock cycle. Rocks are gradually worn down by the weather. There are 3 types of weathering that can occur:
Physical
Chemical
Biological
Physical weathering is caused by actual physical changes in the surrounding weather, changes such as temperature (increase/decrease), freezing, thawing, wind, rain or waves.
Temperature:
When something gets hot it expands - a rock is no different. It's also the same scenario if something gets cooled it contracts - a rock is no different. This constant expansion and contraction causes the rock to crack and crumble. In climates such as the DESERT, the temperature goes from one extreme to the other so this type of weathering is very common.
Wind has the ability to blow tiny grains of sand against a rock. These wear the rock away and weather it. Rain and waves too have the ability to wear away rock over long periods of time.
When water freezes, it expands, this is how many things are damaged IE water pipes and rocks are no different. Water will find get into anything it can, it can and getting into the crack of a rock is easy. Once the water freezes, it could either widen the crack or split the rock. It could take years for a very large rock to split as the crack could be very minor to begin with and be gradually expanded.
Biological weathering:
Animals and plants too can wear away rocks. Animals can set up home within a rock and create or widen cracks that split it.
We all have weeds in our garden and plenty in between the flags/stones of our paths, where there is soil and the ability to receive water, you will find a plant.
This plant may start small and stay small or it could grow to be very big. It's roots would cause the cracks to expand (it's important to note that the cracks may be minuscule but are still cracks). Eventually, pieces of rock would break away.
Me and you are examples of biological weathering, we tread on rocks often and the constant pounding will eventually cause wear and tear of the rocks.
Chemical weathering:
Rainwater is naturally slightly acidic because CO2 from the air dissolves in it. Minerals in rocks may react with the rainwater, causing the rock to be weathered.
Some types of rock are more reactive than others. Limestone is made of a mineral known as CALCIUM CARBONATE (CaCO3). When acidic rainwater hits the limestone a reaction takes place that results in the formation of new soluble substances. These are washed away and the rock is weathered.
The more ACIDIC the rain is, the greater the chemical weathering. Rain that is more acidic contains fossil fuels that have been burned IE oil.
Difference between WEATHERING and EROSION:
Weathering is the wear and tear of the rocks.
Erosion is the transportation of the broken pieces of rock from the weathering.
Examples of the types of each rock:
SEDIMENTARY: Limestone, sandstone.
IGNEOUS: Basalt and granite.
METAMORPHIC: Slate and marble.
Many thanks, Adam. :-) X
Thursday 7 June 2012
The Plasma state.
PLASMA IS A STATE OF MATTER, just like gas, liquid and solid. It is far less common with regards to life on Earth yet extremely common in the Universe as a whole.
You may well be familiar with the 3 aforementioned states of matter. The easy way to remember where PLASMA lies with regards to physical change in matter is this:
The hotter something becomes, the less structured the atoms are that comprise the substance.
Here are the states:
SOLID: TIGHTLY PACKED ATOMS
LIQUID: LOOSELY PACKED ATOMS
GAS: FREE-FLOATING ATOMS
PLASMA: ELECTRONS ARE RIPPED FROM THE ATOMIC NUCLEUS, PARTICLES WHIZZING ALL OVER THE PLACE - NO ORDER AT ALL.
What this shows is the more ENERGY something is given/ or has the less order there is because the particle is travelling much much faster.
Our Sun is in the PLASMA STATE - the Suns core has a temperature of a whopping 15,000,000 degrees C!
It is due to the PLASMA STATE that NUCLEAR FUSION can occur though because we have these PROTONS whizzing about all over the place and eventually because they are travelling at such a speed, they smash into each other and NUCLEAR FUSION has begun.
You may well be familiar with the 3 aforementioned states of matter. The easy way to remember where PLASMA lies with regards to physical change in matter is this:
The hotter something becomes, the less structured the atoms are that comprise the substance.
Here are the states:
SOLID: TIGHTLY PACKED ATOMS
LIQUID: LOOSELY PACKED ATOMS
GAS: FREE-FLOATING ATOMS
PLASMA: ELECTRONS ARE RIPPED FROM THE ATOMIC NUCLEUS, PARTICLES WHIZZING ALL OVER THE PLACE - NO ORDER AT ALL.
What this shows is the more ENERGY something is given/ or has the less order there is because the particle is travelling much much faster.
Our Sun is in the PLASMA STATE - the Suns core has a temperature of a whopping 15,000,000 degrees C!
It is due to the PLASMA STATE that NUCLEAR FUSION can occur though because we have these PROTONS whizzing about all over the place and eventually because they are travelling at such a speed, they smash into each other and NUCLEAR FUSION has begun.
Wednesday 6 June 2012
Milky Way Galaxy Facts
Thanks, Adam King :-)
P.S CHECK OUT MY YOUTUBE VID FOR THIS BLOG. Type in - Kingyscience. X
Tuesday 5 June 2012
Plants USE OXYGEN ALL THE TIME!
Yes, all green or vascular plants use OXYGEN ALL THE TIME! Green plants release oxygen through photosynthesis but they still consume oxygen at the same time. The primary way plants USE OXYGEN is through THEIR ROOT CELLS. Plants continually grow root hairs in order to absorb water and nutrients from the soil. These root hairs DO NOT carry out photosynthesis (they are underground) and are made of living cells like you and me. These cells live and function by USING OXYGEN and give off CARBON DIOXIDE! Again, just like you and me. They burn carbohydrates to obtain the energy they need to function, just like you and me. This is why you can tragically "drown" a plant by giving it too much water. If there is too much water, the plant can't "breathe", it can't get enough oxygen. Again, the same could happen to you and me.
There are some plants that have evolved to get around this issue - it could rain and rain and rain - not our fault. Cypress trees and cattails have root hairs that grow out of the stems above the soil and/or water surface so that they can "breathe" - take in Oxygen.
There are some plants that have evolved to get around this issue - it could rain and rain and rain - not our fault. Cypress trees and cattails have root hairs that grow out of the stems above the soil and/or water surface so that they can "breathe" - take in Oxygen.
Difference between a molecule and a compound
All compounds are molecules but not all molecules are compounds!
An O2 molecule is NOT a compound.
CO2 is a molecule AND a compound.
A molecule MUST consist of at least 2 atoms.
A compound MUST consist of at least 2 atoms.
Here's the KEY DIFFERENCE:
A compound MUST contain at least 2 DIFFERENT ELEMENTS.
An O2 molecule is NOT a compound.
CO2 is a molecule AND a compound.
A molecule MUST consist of at least 2 atoms.
A compound MUST consist of at least 2 atoms.
Here's the KEY DIFFERENCE:
A compound MUST contain at least 2 DIFFERENT ELEMENTS.
What are Vitamins and how do they work?
A vitamin is a small molecule that your body needs to carry out a specific reaction. Your body has no way to create vitamin molecules itself, so it is DOWN TO YOU AND THE FOODS YOU EAT.
The human body needs 13 different vitamins:
Vitamin A: fat soluble - Retinol; comes from beta-carotene in plants (when you eat beta-carotene, an enzyme in the stomach turns it into Vitamin A.)
Vitamin B: - water soluble.
B1: Thiamine
B2: Riboflavin
B3: Niacin
B6: Pyridoxine
B12: Cyanocobalamin
Folic Acid
Vitamin C - water soluble - Ascorbic acid
Vitamin D - fat soluble - Calciferol
Vitamin E - fat soluble - Tocopherol
Vitamin K - fat soluble - Menaquinone
Pantothenic acid - water soluble
Biotin - water soluble
Inside the body, vitamins are used in many unique ways. For example, one of Vitamin A's main roles is in the production of RETINAL. Retinal is used within the rods and cones in our eyes to sense light. The easy way to remember this is RETINAL=RETINA. Your body needs VITAMIN A in order to see and READ THIS.
The human body needs 13 different vitamins:
Vitamin A: fat soluble - Retinol; comes from beta-carotene in plants (when you eat beta-carotene, an enzyme in the stomach turns it into Vitamin A.)
Vitamin B: - water soluble.
B1: Thiamine
B2: Riboflavin
B3: Niacin
B6: Pyridoxine
B12: Cyanocobalamin
Folic Acid
Vitamin C - water soluble - Ascorbic acid
Vitamin D - fat soluble - Calciferol
Vitamin E - fat soluble - Tocopherol
Vitamin K - fat soluble - Menaquinone
Pantothenic acid - water soluble
Biotin - water soluble
Inside the body, vitamins are used in many unique ways. For example, one of Vitamin A's main roles is in the production of RETINAL. Retinal is used within the rods and cones in our eyes to sense light. The easy way to remember this is RETINAL=RETINA. Your body needs VITAMIN A in order to see and READ THIS.
Sunday 3 June 2012
Scales and a bit of random science
If an atoms' nucleus were the size of a tennis ball then the electrons
orbiting the nucleus would be at least 1km away. If the Earth were 1cm
away from the Sun and this cm was deemed as 1 Astronomical unit (1AU),
then the Oort Cloud ( where the Suns' gravitational pull ends ), would
be 0.5km away. If the Sun were a standard-sized Basketball, the Earth
would be a single pimple on that Basketball. You could fir just over
1,000,000 Earths insidethe Sun and 1,000 Earths inside Jupiter. The Sun
accounts for 99% of the entire mass of the Solar System and is an
incredible 860,000 miles in diameter. Everything in the Solar System
could fit inside the Sun! If you wanted to turn Earth into a blackhole
then you would have to shrink it down to the size of a PEA. Jupiter is
essentially a failed star - it didnt accrete enough mass to begin fusion
(its not far off being classed as a brown-dwarf). Earths atmosphere
extends to over 60 miles, which seems vast but compared to our diamter
(approx 7,000 miles), its not, this explains why it iscalled "the thin
blue line".
First blog!
First blog!
THE EARTH IS APPROXIMATELY 93 MILLION MILES AWAY FROM EARTH AND IT NOURISHES OUR PLANET WITH LIFE VIA SPEED-OF-LIGHT TRAVELLING PHOTONS ( A MASSLESS PARTICLE ), CREATED IN THE CORE OF THE SUN UPTO AND BEYOND 100,000 YEARS AGO.
YOU, ME, THIS COMPUTER - ARE ALL MADE OF ATOMS.
THE EARTH IS APPROXIMATELY 93 MILLION MILES AWAY FROM EARTH AND IT NOURISHES OUR PLANET WITH LIFE VIA SPEED-OF-LIGHT TRAVELLING PHOTONS ( A MASSLESS PARTICLE ), CREATED IN THE CORE OF THE SUN UPTO AND BEYOND 100,000 YEARS AGO.
YOU, ME, THIS COMPUTER - ARE ALL MADE OF ATOMS.
Origins of our Solar System
Our Solar System was "born" out of the remnants of a SUPERNOVA!! Long ago a Red Supergiant star ended its "life" in a beautiful explosion which created all you can see today.
The last element made via NUCLEAR FUSION in the CORE of a red supergiant is IRON. A star cannot FUSE a heavier element in its core after IRON because it takes more energy than what is given out. Remember - A STAR SUSTAINS ITS THERMOSTATIC EQUILIBRIUM BY THERMAL PRESSURE RADIATING OUTWARDS FROM ITS CORE.
The IRON made in the core of the star is now in the cores of EARTH, MERCURY, VENUS, MARS, our MOON and many other Solar System occupants. Of course some Iron is on Earths surface and we use it for construction and many other uses. If we were to somehow tally up all the Iron that we know about, we could approximately establish the size of the core of the red supergiant star.
When the red supergiant went supernova, the outer layers were blown millions of miles outward. A star begins its life by fusing Hydrogen into Helium in its core. It would be a very long time before the Hydrogen would "clump" together to form our Sun. Of course there are other elements present in the composition of our Sun, such as Oxygen but 3/4 (75%) of our Sun would have been Hydrogen when it first begun nuclear fusion.
So now the picture is this. We have Hydrogen coming together to form the core of a new star born out of the supernova remnants.
Around this new star are all the other atoms that were scattered by the supernova explosion. All this "matter" would start to spin, like a large disc. This disc is not just one band though. Think of Saturns ring system, our Solar System is the same. All of these discs would be the future orbits of the planets and matter would accrete and accrete together.
As the Sun gathered mass it would therefore start to attract the heavier atoms and that is why the four inner planets are known as the rocky planets as they all have IRON cores and are made of heavier atoms. After the ASTEROID BELT, we find the outer GAS GIANTS which are made of much lighter elements.
Once NUCLEAR FUSION ignited in the Suns core all the dust was blown away from the orbiting "discs" and the planets could be seen. The orbits of our planets would settle with some affects from the Gravity of each other. Our Solar System is made. One could say that the Solar System is still evolving after 4.7 billion years.
Thanks, Adam King :-) X
The last element made via NUCLEAR FUSION in the CORE of a red supergiant is IRON. A star cannot FUSE a heavier element in its core after IRON because it takes more energy than what is given out. Remember - A STAR SUSTAINS ITS THERMOSTATIC EQUILIBRIUM BY THERMAL PRESSURE RADIATING OUTWARDS FROM ITS CORE.
The IRON made in the core of the star is now in the cores of EARTH, MERCURY, VENUS, MARS, our MOON and many other Solar System occupants. Of course some Iron is on Earths surface and we use it for construction and many other uses. If we were to somehow tally up all the Iron that we know about, we could approximately establish the size of the core of the red supergiant star.
When the red supergiant went supernova, the outer layers were blown millions of miles outward. A star begins its life by fusing Hydrogen into Helium in its core. It would be a very long time before the Hydrogen would "clump" together to form our Sun. Of course there are other elements present in the composition of our Sun, such as Oxygen but 3/4 (75%) of our Sun would have been Hydrogen when it first begun nuclear fusion.
So now the picture is this. We have Hydrogen coming together to form the core of a new star born out of the supernova remnants.
Around this new star are all the other atoms that were scattered by the supernova explosion. All this "matter" would start to spin, like a large disc. This disc is not just one band though. Think of Saturns ring system, our Solar System is the same. All of these discs would be the future orbits of the planets and matter would accrete and accrete together.
As the Sun gathered mass it would therefore start to attract the heavier atoms and that is why the four inner planets are known as the rocky planets as they all have IRON cores and are made of heavier atoms. After the ASTEROID BELT, we find the outer GAS GIANTS which are made of much lighter elements.
Once NUCLEAR FUSION ignited in the Suns core all the dust was blown away from the orbiting "discs" and the planets could be seen. The orbits of our planets would settle with some affects from the Gravity of each other. Our Solar System is made. One could say that the Solar System is still evolving after 4.7 billion years.
Thanks, Adam King :-) X
Saturday 2 June 2012
Water cycle
All the water on the planet is the SAME WATER that was here millions of years ago.
The terms evaporation and condensation will be familiar to everyone. In fact, the water cycle is all about this. There are no animals involved in the natural cycle.
Water is EVAPORATED from the sea due to the HEAT of the Sun. Cold air is denser and heavier than hot air. Hot air has more "kinetic energy" which in turn makes the atoms take up more space and therfore makes it less dense and lighter - IT RISES. Once this evaporated water reaches a specific height (I.E the top of the TROPOSPHERE - first layer of Earths atmosphere and layer of all weather) the water CONDENSES and clouds form. Once the cloud has become DENSE enough (big grey clouds - known as cumulonimbus clouds) it will be unable to "carry" it's own weight and then rain is released. It's important to note here that ice crystals form in the cloud, the ice crystals (also known as hail) TURN into rain as they are HEATED as they fall.
Water will then find its way back to the Ocean or will be evaporated before it gets there.
Thanks.
Adam King :-) X
Here's a pic to summarise all my text:
The terms evaporation and condensation will be familiar to everyone. In fact, the water cycle is all about this. There are no animals involved in the natural cycle.
Water is EVAPORATED from the sea due to the HEAT of the Sun. Cold air is denser and heavier than hot air. Hot air has more "kinetic energy" which in turn makes the atoms take up more space and therfore makes it less dense and lighter - IT RISES. Once this evaporated water reaches a specific height (I.E the top of the TROPOSPHERE - first layer of Earths atmosphere and layer of all weather) the water CONDENSES and clouds form. Once the cloud has become DENSE enough (big grey clouds - known as cumulonimbus clouds) it will be unable to "carry" it's own weight and then rain is released. It's important to note here that ice crystals form in the cloud, the ice crystals (also known as hail) TURN into rain as they are HEATED as they fall.
Water will then find its way back to the Ocean or will be evaporated before it gets there.
Thanks.
Adam King :-) X
Here's a pic to summarise all my text:
Carbon Cycle
Yes, Carbon undergoes a continuous cycle too!
Green plants and some bacteria use carbon dioxide as a raw material in photosynthesis to make organic, carbon containing compounds, such as carbohydrates, which are eaten by animals. Both animals and plants use carbohydrates during respiration and release waste carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. During the day, the amount of carbon dioxide consumed by plants for photosynthesis is greater than that released from respiration; at night, however, the reverse is true.
That's right! Plants switch to OXYGEN at night to survive. They use the Oxygen to CARRY the ELECTRONS so that they can carry out their processes.
Let us not forget that we humans BURN our fair share of FOSSIL FUELS which releases Carbon compounds into the atmosphere.
Just like with the Nitrogen cycle, once the Carbon is "in" plants it can be eaten by animals and either leaves via faeces or death. Then DECOMPOSERS feed on dead material and release carbon dioxide into the air.
Dead material can also be unearthed by us humans and be used as FOSSIL FUELS. Plants can of course die and then the DECOMPOSERS go to work on them. Again, the key aspect to remember is that you cannot destroy an atom. THE CARBON MUST GO SOMEWHERE!
Thanks,
Adam King :-) X
Here's a pic to summarise my text:
Green plants and some bacteria use carbon dioxide as a raw material in photosynthesis to make organic, carbon containing compounds, such as carbohydrates, which are eaten by animals. Both animals and plants use carbohydrates during respiration and release waste carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. During the day, the amount of carbon dioxide consumed by plants for photosynthesis is greater than that released from respiration; at night, however, the reverse is true.
That's right! Plants switch to OXYGEN at night to survive. They use the Oxygen to CARRY the ELECTRONS so that they can carry out their processes.
Let us not forget that we humans BURN our fair share of FOSSIL FUELS which releases Carbon compounds into the atmosphere.
Just like with the Nitrogen cycle, once the Carbon is "in" plants it can be eaten by animals and either leaves via faeces or death. Then DECOMPOSERS feed on dead material and release carbon dioxide into the air.
Dead material can also be unearthed by us humans and be used as FOSSIL FUELS. Plants can of course die and then the DECOMPOSERS go to work on them. Again, the key aspect to remember is that you cannot destroy an atom. THE CARBON MUST GO SOMEWHERE!
Thanks,
Adam King :-) X
Here's a pic to summarise my text:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)