My Science School

            Golf is a cross-country game played by striking a small ball with variously-shaped clubs from a series of teeing grounds into a like series of holes on a golf course. The player who holes his ball in the fewest strokes is the winner.

            The game originally developed in Scotland in the 15th century and then spread all over the world from there. It is the most popular outdoor sport in the U.S. The Royal Burgess Golfing Society of Edinburgh claims to have been established in 1735.

            In modern golf, a solid rubber ball is used. Its weight is 16.2 ounces. Balls used in USA have a diameter of 1.68 inches while that of Britain have a diameter of 1.62 inches. A club is used to hit the ball. There is a set of 14 different clubs for playing golf. Some of them are made of wood while others are made of iron or some other metal.

            The game consists of striking the ball from a teeing ground into a hole by successive strokes in accordance with rules. The round consists of 18 holes. Standard course measures 6500 to 7000 yds (5900 to 6400m). Individual holes are separated from 100 to 600 yds (90 to 550 m). Some courses have only 9 holes. A hole measures 4-1/4 inches in diameter and at least 4 inches in depth. Some of the terms associated with the games are Bogey, Tee, Whole links, Put, Stymic, and Caddle etc.

            The game is played in two ways. One is called match play and the other stroke play. In match play, one player and his opponent play at the same time while in stroke play one player has to play with all players of the opponent team. The winner in stroke play is the player who holes his ball in the fewest strokes whereas in match play the winner is the player who wins the most individual holes.

            Golf is played by both men and women. In the passage of time, particularly after 1960, a set of new rules have been introduced in the method of playing this game. Some of the most major world golf titles are: The Open (1860), The US Open (1895), The US Masters (1934), The World Cup (formerly Canada Cup) (1953) etc.

            In games, athletics comprises a wide range of events and demand a variety of skills. We know that some competitions are made up of a number of events mainly related to athletics.

            Decathlon is one such men’s competition lasting for two consecutive days in which contestants take part in 10 track and field events. It was first introduced as a three day event at Olympic Games of 1912.

            The Decathlon events are divided in two consecutive days – the first day events include 100 metre running, long jump, short put, high jump and 400 metre running. The second day events consist of 100 metre hurdles; discuss throw, pole vault, javelin throw and 1500 metre run. Competitors are scored for their performance in each event according to a table prescribed by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF). The table has been changed several times to keep pace with the improvements of world records. For instance, first change was effective from 1912 to 1936 while decathlon was still a three day event, the second one from 1936 to 1950 (with minor revision in 1952). The third change was from 1952 to 1964. In the latest change, the table was introduced in such a fashion that favoured an athlete who could score evenly in all 10 events. The events are held in the listed set order. A competitor is considered to have withdrawn from the competition of he fails to take part in any of the listed events.

            The order of competing is drawn before each event. The IAAF rules are generally applied for each event although exceptions are there like participants are allowed only three trails in each field event and that three false starts in a track event result in elimination without points from that particular event. Points are awarded for achieving set times, heights and distances. In case of a tie, the competitor with most points in the majority of events wins.

            If the tie still exists, the person with most points in any one event wins. Similarly the seven combined events for women’s are called Heptathlon.

 

 

Name the space probe that was used to study the Sun.

The space probe Ulysses was launched in 1990 by a U.S. Shuttle under the joint project by NASA and European space Agency and arrived near the Sun in 1994 in a three and half years journey via Jupiter covering a distance of 150 million kilometers. It went into a polar orbit around the Sun and transmitted a large amount of useful data back to Earth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name the powerful optical telescope placed in Earth orbit.

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into Earth orbit by the space shuttle “Discovery” in 1990, and is designed to transmit useful data about the universe better than Earth based telescopes.

In January 1994, a historic repair of its main mirror was carried out after 30 hours of space walks by five astronauts sent on a space shuttle at a cost of $ 360 million. NASA announced that it had repaired the fault. It now performs 10 times better than any ground based instruments.

 

 

 

Name the first Indian satellite launching vehicle (SLV).

SLV-3 was the first satellite launching vehicle developed in India. It was fabricated at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapurum, and Kerala. It was later replaced by the augmented version ASLV.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which was the satellite first launched by SLV-3?

Rohini-I launched in 10 August 1979 from Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) went into orbit but could not accomplish its mission due to some snags. A “stretched” version was launched successfully on 20 May, 1992.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name the Indian satellite used exclusively for remote sensing?

Indian Remote-sensing Satellite (IRS). The first satellite IRS-1A went into a Sun-synchronous polar orbit on 19 March 1988 enabling it to concentrate on specific areas and register optical as well as radiation images.

 

 

Name India’s first operational multipurpose domestic satellite.

Insat-IA was launched on 10 April 1982 from USA with a mission to enhance communicational, meteorology, TV relay and radio broadcasting facilities.

Which was the first Indian satellite launched by space shuttle?

Insat-IB was launched on 30 August 1983 by space shuttle from Nevada Base, USA.

How are the Indian satellites controlled from Earth?

At the time of the launching of Insat-1, a network of ground-based communication facilities was developed all over India.

 

 

 

Name India’s first satellite.

India’s first satellite was Aryabhatta launched on 19 March, 1975 from the Baikanur cosmodrome in Kazakstan, U.S.S.R.

What was the mission of Aryabhatta?

The primary mission of Aryabhatta was the development of Indian expertise in satellite technology and control of a satellite in orbit. However, some experiments in communication, remote sensing and weather monitoring were also included.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What was India’s second satellite?

India’s second satellite was Bhaskara-I launched on 7 June 1979 from the USSR. The satellite was designed and built at the Satellite Centre, Bangalore and its primary mission was to collect information on India’s land, water, forest and ocean recourses. 

 

 

How did Albert Einstein revolutionize the theories of astronomy and physics?

Einstein posed simple questions that could have been asked centuries earlier. For example: “What do we mean when we say two events are simultaneous?” or “What happens when two objects approach each other at the speed of light?”

Paradoxes seemed to emerge everywhere if you could travel at the speed of light. By providing explanations for such paradoxes, Einstein unraveled the riddles of the Universe. He is noted chiefly for his General and Special Theories of ‘Relatively’ that hold that motion, time, distance, acceleration and gravitation are not absolute, but relative, to moving frames of reference. 

 

 

 

 

Who was Bhaskara, after whom India’s second satellite was named?

Bhaskara (1114-1185 A.D.) was a famous Indian mathematician.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which Indian scientist predicted the hydrogen line in the solar spectrum, X-ray emission from the Sun and molecules existing in interstellar space?

Maghnad Saha (1893-1956).

 

 

What were the other contributions of Fredrick Herschel to astronomy, besides his discovery of the planet Uranus?

Frederick Herschel, the German-British astronomer, was born in Hanover. At first, he was a musician, then took up astronomy and made a reflecting telescope in 1774. He discovered the planet Uranus, which he called ‘Georgium Sidus’ and in 1782, he was appointed astronomer to King George III. He also discovered 2 satellites of Saturn, the rotation of Saturn’s rings and the motions of binary stars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who was Aryabhatta, after whom India’s First satellite was named?

Aryabhatta (476-550 A.D.) was an astronomer and mathematician at the court of King Chandragupta Vikramaditya.

What was the contribution of the Indian astronomer and mathematician Aryabhatta?

Aryabhatta worked out a highly precise value for the Earth’s circumference. He also discovered the causes of solar and lunar eclipses and pointed on that the Sun is stationary and the Earth rotates.

 

 

 

 

What discoveries is Jean Foucault, French Physicist and astronomer, noted for?

Jean Foucault is noted mainly for his proof that light travels more slowly in water than in air, and his measurement of the speed of light. In 1851, he proved that the Earth rotates by using a freely suspended pendulum and studying the way it swings from side to side. He also invented the gyroscope and some optical instruments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name the Danish astronomer who detected serious mistakes in the astronomical tables of his time and revised them.

Tycho Brahe, originally studied law, but was more interested in astronomy. In 1563, he discovered serious mistakes in the astronomical tables then in use. He did much important work on the movement of the stars and the Moon.

 

 

 

Which astronomer conclusively proved that the Sun was the centre of the Solar System?

Nicolas Copernicus, the Polish astronomer, studied optics, mathematics, perspective and canon law. Appointed canon in 1497, he studied medicine and worked as a medical attendant until 1512. He completed his book De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium; he proved that the Sun was at the centre of the Solar System, in 1530. His heliocentric theory was bitterly opposed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What was the name of the astronomer who discovered the laws governing the movement of the heavenly bodies?

Johann Kepler, German astronomer and professor of mathematics, who later studied astronomy and worked with Tycho Brahe. He first published his views on the universe in 1596. His analysis of Tycho’s observations of the planets led him to discover “Keplers’ Laws”.

With these fundamental laws, Kepler gained immortal fame. But he could not adequately explain why the planets behaved in this way.

 

 

What was the contribution of Pierre Laplace, the French Astronomer and Mathematician, to the science of astronomy?

Pierre Laplace is famous for his application of applied mathematics to practical astronomy. He published his work Mecanique Celeste in the years 1799-1825. It was an attempt to explain the mechanical problems presented by the Solar System.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name the astronomer who is acclaimed as the father of modern practical astronomy.

John Flamsteed, first Astronomer-Royal of England. In 1676, when Greenwich Observatory was built, he began observations which really began modern practical astronomy. The first reliable catalogue of fixed stars was compiled by him, and he wrote the great book Historia Coelestis Britannica, published in 1725. His work supplied the background for some of Newton’s theories.

 

 

 

 

 

What are lunar faults and ridges?

Lunar faults and ridges are similar to those on earth. One fault called strangely the Straight Wall is some 200 km long and about 300 m high. Lunar ridges run for hundreds of kilometers and may even form complex branch ridges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are the lunar walled plains?

Walled plains are lunar craters which are so vast that they resemble plains surrounded by circular walls of mountains. One of the walled plains, Clavius, is large enough to contain the whole of Switzerland within it.

 

 

What is known as the “Monarch of the Moon”?

The crater Copernicus has been nicknamed “Monarch of the Moon” due to its impressive features. The crater is about 90 km in diameter and is surrounded by mountain walls about 6,000 m high. The inner mountain walls around Copernicus are also not uniformly sloping but terraced, as if the original lava lake in its centre had receded in discrete stages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are lunar domes?

Lunar domes are small convex swellings on the Moon.

How did lunar domes originate?

Lunar domes are possibly large solidified bubbles of lava.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are crater chains?

Sometimes crater-lets occur in linear series which gives the impression that it is a cleft. The Huygens cleft, for example, is not a genuine cleft but actually a crater chain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are lunar rays?

Lunar rays appear as lines, more or less straight, drawn on the surface of the Moon. They are also called bright rays since they usually appear as brilliant white streaks. The rays however become invisible when close to the terminator.

Also, the rays are not continuous and when observed closely are seen to possess a definite structure. How they came to be formed has however still not been satisfactorily explained.

 

 

 

 

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