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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Is microwaving food safe?


Is microwaving food safe?

There are two aspects to this.  One of them – is food in a microwave dangerous to eat?  The other is, if you go near a microwave, is it dangerous?
First of all, microwaves are a form of light, a form of electromagnetic radiation.  In the spectrum, you go from visible green, yellow, red, into the infrareds, the deep infrareds, through some millimetre waves and then there are microwaves and just beyond that, radio waves.  And the further down in that direction you go, the less energy each photon of the light has got.  So, the light which is actually dangerous itself is up in the ultraviolet which can give you cancer.
So, microwaves are probably not dangerous – they're certainly not dangerous with regards damaging cells chemically and giving you cancer.  You can obviously get too hot from them and overheat because, the piece of chicken in a microwave obviously is getting damaged because that's way it gets more tasty.  So, if you had a microwave with a hole in the back and you stood near it, then it would certainly be dangerous.  But as long as the microwave is properly designed and you're not standing right up next to it and kind of leaning over it and hugging it, there shouldn’t be a problem.
    And it won't do anything to the chemical composition of the food that you're heating up?
    It’s heating the food up in broadly the same way as any other means of cooking, just making it hotter.  The one difference is that it might not heat it quite as evenly.  So you might get parts of the food which have essentially been overheated and if you overheat food then you can reduce the amount of vitamins in it slightly.  So it’s not going to make it dangerous, but it might make it slightly less good for you.

How do kinetic watches work?


How do kinetic watches work?

If you have ever taken a cup of coffee or something with some foam on the top and spun the cup, the coffee stays still, but the cup turns around.  This is based on the same principles. 
There are some weights inside the watch which are free to move and as you move your wrist around, the weights tend to stay still when your wrist is moving, and so they move around and spin around as you move around, and go through your daily life.  This relative movement between the weight and the watch is connected to a little generator via some gears and cogs, and that charges the battery.  And so, as long as you keep using it and moving around, it will charge the battery up and it should keep going.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Is test tube cloning accepted by our society?



Is test tube cloning accepted by our society?


Clinton abolished any scientific research regarding cloning and Bush followed suit. However, parts of Europe are still doing some tests in this area.
Members of the UN are gearing up to debate highly the banning of human cloning.
The guise is really to hide behind medical research (more organs available such as hearts, kidneys for those who need them) but this is a highly dangerous area to get into. 125 scientific and patient organizations from around the world have signed and presented a letter to the UN.
One country of the UN, Costa Rica is backed by nearly 60 countries, including the U.S., for comprehensive banning on cloning. This includes both reproductive cloning to make babies, and the creaton of human embryos for use in medical research. Don't sit back and relax because cloning does go on under secrecy, so who knows what governments are involved.
The other group of countries, led by Belgium, and backed by over 20 countries, wants a ban on reproductive cloning only. They argue for the right of stem cells grown from cloned embryos might lead to cures for countless diseases. Span has switched away from supporting a blanket ban because of its change from a conservative to a socialist gov't., after elections in March 2004. Britain funds and supports therapeutic cloning.
It may come to a point that each country could quite possibly decide if their country should agree or disagree to cloning.
ARGUMENTS USED AGAINST AND IN DEFENSE OF HUMAN CLONING:
AGAINST:
Cloning might lead to the creation of genetically engineered groups of people for specific purposes, such as warfare or slavery.
Cloning might lead to an attempt to improve the human race according to an arbitrary standard.
Cloning could result in the introduction of additional defects in the human gene pool.
Cloning is unsafe. There are too many unknown factors that could adversely affect the offspring.
A close might have a dimished sense of individuality.
A clone might have fewer rights than other people.
Doctors might use clones as sources of organs for organ transplants
Cloning is at odds with the traditional concept of family.
Cloning is against God's will.
Some aspects of human life should ge off limits to science.
IN DEFENSE OF:
Cloning would enable infertile couples to have children of their own.
Cloning would give couples who are at risk of producing a child with a genetic defect the chance to produce a healthy child.
Cloning could shed light on how genes work and lead to the discovery of new treatments for genetic diseases.
A ban on cloning may be unconstitutional. It would deprive people of the right to reporduce and restrict the freedom of scientists.
A clone would not really bea duplicate, because environmental factors would mold him or her into a unique individual.
A clone would have as much of a sense of individuality as do twins.
A clone would have the same rights as do all other people.
Cloning is comparable in safety to a number of other medical procedures.
Objections to cloning are similar to objections raised against previous scientific achievements, for example, heart transplants and test-tube babies, that later came to be widely accepted.
As you can see Naruto, this is a complex issue. While many lives could be saved through more heart, liver, kidney transplants by cloning, in the wrong hands, armies could be created, and think of this: What if Hitler or Hussein could be cloned! Humans should be careful what they wish for.



Is fireworks called chemical reaction?



Is fireworks called chemical reaction?

Yes, gunpowder reacts with oxygen.


The oxygen comes from oxidizers perchlorates, chlorates, nitrates, permanganates, chromates or oxides.

In propelling the rocket, potassium nitrate is used with black powder. Chlorates or perchlorates are used for the explosion as it reacts with carbon and sulfur rapidly. For the different colours of firework, various metal salts are used.


Science has done more harm than good?



Science has done more harm than good?

Science has caused some atrocities, however it is also solely responsible for the survival of the sheer majority of the population.

For example. A single ammonia producing process (for fertiliser) discovered by science is now responsible for feeding 40% of the worlds population. That is about 3 billion people sustained by a single scientific process. However modern weapons would not exist without science. Science has been mostly applied for good, however there are a large amount of evils as a result too.

Science is neutral, what matters is how humans have applied it.


Name any 5 precautionary measures inside the laboratory?



Name any 5 precautionary measures inside the laboratory?

1. Familiarize your self with the laboratory.
2. Use a safety gear when necessary - particularly eye protection.
3. Follow your teacher's directions.
4. Practice correct or proper procedure in handling liquids.
5. Use your common sense.

6. Never smell a liquid reagent directly .
7. Never pour back a reagent in main bottle .
8. Don't eat or drink in lab.

9. Use fuming hood while working with volatile liquids .


When was nylon invented and do the letters NY and LON stand for New York and London?



When was nylon invented and do the letters NY and LON stand for New York and London?


 Nylon was invented by Wallace Carothers in 1935. There was a great demand for it as it was used for parachutes and tires. It is still used today in toothbrushes, stockings, fishing products, etc. A "nylon commuter" is someone who commutes between New York and London.
A number of "Brand Names " were developed by the inventing company, DUPONT Chemicals, such as NYLON, BANLON, ORLON and RAYON. All were types of woven textiles. Jim Bunting. Toronto. Actually, Jim, rayon was invented around 1885 and it is not a synthetic fiber as were the ones invented by DuPont. Instead, the original rayon was a regenerated cellulose (made from cotton linters and wood pulp).
Yes it does stand for New York and London as it was created by scientists from the locations. No it doesn't--see notes above.
In the UK we have a programme on the telly, hosted by Stephen Fry, called QI (Quite Interesting) & it assured me when I saw it recently that Nylon is nothing to do with New York & London ! Correct! See notes above.
Final answer, Nylon was not named after New York and London.



Why Clouds are White


 Why Clouds are White



 Not all clouds are pure white, however, for those that are white, it is due to their altitude and the reflection of sunlight.
For example, a cirrus cloud has an altitude of approximately 8km above sea level. At such extreme altitudes all high-level clouds are made up only of ice crystals, as the water vapor from which they are initially formed has frozen.
The ice crystals reflect sunlight. When flying above clouds during the day, they are always bright white. When we get dark clouds, they are so thick that they soak up most of the sunlight or reflect it upwards, and so things aren't as bright below. Storm clouds are the thickest clouds, and look the darkest from down below, though they still look bright white if we see them from above.

Gray color of the clouds is caused by higher clouds casting their shadow on lower-based clouds, or that the clouds are so dense that their top parts absorb most of the sunlight, casting their own shadow along their base, making them dark on the bottom. 





Monday, June 27, 2011

How does snow form?



How does snow form?

High up in the atmosphere, the air temperature is very cold. The water vapour may fall as rain if the water does not freeze. However, if the air temperature is so cold that the water droplets freeze, tiny ice crystals form in the clouds. These ice crystals collide with each other in the clouds or grow delicate shapes. The ice crystals combine to form snowflakes. There may be hundreds of tiny ice crystals in a single snow flake. These snow flakes fall from the clouds to form snow on the ground.

If the air temperature is not too cold and the air is very moist, the snow flakes may grow into very large flake up to 1 or 2 centimetres across.

Every snow flake is different. However, each snow flake has 6 sides.

What is sleet?



What is sleet?

When the air temperature is very cold, water vapour in clouds may fall as sleet, hail, or snow. Water droplets in the clouds get cold, but may not freeze completely. Sleet forms when partially frozen water droplets, or rainwater, in the clouds falls and freezes completely when it hits the surface of the Earth.

Like freezing rain, sleet may be dangerous because it coats roads and sidewalks with ice. Cars may not be able to stop on the slippery roads and many collisions between cars may occur. Slippery sidewalks are very difficult to walk along.