My Science School

What you need:

An egg, A plate, An empty plastic water bottle that's flexible

What to do:

1. Crack the egg onto the plate.

2. Lightly squeeze the bottle and hold it upside down over the egg.

3. Touch the mouth of the bottle to the yolk and gradually un-squeeze the bottle.

What happens?

The egg yolk gets pushed into the bottle leaving only the egg white!

Why?

The answer is air pressure! When you squeeze the bottle, you push some of the air out. Once the mouth of the bottle is placed on the yolk, the remaining air is sealed in. When you release the bottle, it expands to its original size, but there is no air to completely fill it up. So, the pressure of air inside the bottle is lower than the air pressure around it. Air tries to rush in from the outside to equalize this pressure imbalance, but the yolk gets in the way and gets sucked in!

The reason why the whites don't get sucked in is the difference in thickness. The yolk is thicker and more solid, allowing it to pass into the bottle easily. The white, on the other hand, is runny and thin. So, it falls back and stays on the plate. Egg white omelettes, anyone?

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GRAPES-3 is designed to study cosmic rays with an array of air shower detectors and a large area muon detector. It aims to probe acceleration of cosmic rays in the following four astrophysical settings. 

The GRAPES-3 is located at N11.4o, E76.7o, 2200m above mean sea level. The observations began with 217 plastic scintillators and a 560 m2 area muon detector in 2000. The scintillators detect charged particles contained in extensive air showers produced by interaction of high energy cosmic rays in the atmosphere. At present the array is operating with ~400 scintillators that are spread over an area of 25,000 m2. The energy threshold of muon detectors is 1 GeV.

In continuation of the work on cosmic ray research at CRL, GRAPES-1 experiment was upgraded in various stages to GRAPES-2. However, due to the technical and administrative problem in its further expansion, a new experiment was set up at the RAC site 8 km from the old site which is called GRAPES-3. The GRAPES-3 experiment at present is operating with ~400 (each 1 m2) plastic scintillator detectors with a separation of 8 meters, to record the density and arrival time of particles in cosmic ray showers, and in continuous operation. At present, GRAPES-3 array is the highest density conventional EAS array in the world, and also, this experiment associated with a huge 560 m2 area tracking muon detector, is also the largest area tracking detector anywhere.

Picture Credit : Google

A Single Thundercloud Carries 1 Billion Volts of Electricity.

Once the researchers knew the cloud's electric potential, they wanted to go a step further and measure precisely how much power the thundercloud carried as it roared over Ooty.

Using the data from their widely dispersed electric field monitors, the team filled in some important details about the cloud — that is was traveling at roughly 40 mph (60 km/h) at an altitude of 7 miles (11.4 kilometers) above sea level, had an estimated area of 146 square miles (380 square km, an area about six times the size of Manhattan), and reached its maximum electrical potential just 6 minutes after appearing.

According to Gupta, if thunderstorms can indeed create an electric potential greater than one gigavolt, they could also accelerate electrons quickly enough to break apart other atoms in the atmosphere, producing gamma-ray flashes.

This explanation requires more research to verify its accuracy, Gupta said. In the meantime, be sure to marvel at the next thundercloud you see, for it is an unfathomably mighty force of nature — and, please, think twice before flying a kite.

Credit : Live Science

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Astrobiology is the study of the origins, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. This interdisciplinary field requires a comprehensive, integrated understanding of biological, planetary, and cosmic phenomena.

Astrobiology makes use of molecular biology, biophysics, biochemistry, chemistry, astronomy, physical cosmology, exoplanetology and geology to investigate the possibility of life on other worlds and help recognize biospheres that might be different from that on Earth. The origin and early evolution of life is an inseparable part of the discipline of astrobiology. Astrobiology concerns itself with interpretation of existing scientific data, and although speculation is entertained to give context, astrobiology concerns itself primarily with hypotheses that fit firmly into existing scientific theories.

According to research published in August 2015, very large galaxies may be more favorable to the creation and development of habitable planets than such smaller galaxies as the Milky Way. Nonetheless, Earth is the only place in the universe humans know to harbor life. Estimates of habitable zones around other stars, sometimes referred to as "Goldilocks zones," along with the discovery of hundreds of extrasolar planets and new insights into extreme habitats here on Earth, suggest that there may be many more habitable places in the universe than considered possible until very recently.

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In terrestrial vertebrates, including humans, the receptors are located on olfactory receptor cells, which are present in very large numbers (millions) and are clustered within a small area in the back of the nasal cavity, forming an olfactory epithelium. 

There are about 1,000 genes in the olfactory gene family, the largest known family of genes. (Although humans possess all 1,000 olfactory receptor genes, making up roughly 3 percent of the entire human genome, only about 350 of these genes encode working olfactory receptors.) Since each gene produces a different odour receptor protein, this contributes to the ability of animals to smell many different compounds. Animals not only can smell many compounds but can also distinguish between them. This requires that different compounds stimulate different receptor cells. Consistent with this, evidence indicates that only one olfactory gene is active in any one olfactory receptor cell. As a consequence, each receptor cell possesses only one type of receptor protein, though it has many thousands of the particular type on the membrane of the exposed cilia of the cell. Since each cell expresses only one type of receptor protein, there must be large numbers of cells expressing each type of receptor protein to increase the likelihood that a particular odour molecule will reach a cell with the appropriate receptor protein. Once the molecule reaches the matching receptor, the cell can respond.

Credit : Britannica

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Linda B. Buck, American scientist and corecipient, with Richard Axel, of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2004 for discoveries concerning the olfactory system.

In 1991 Buck and Axel jointly published a landmark scientific paper, based on research they had conducted with laboratory rats, that detailed their discovery of the family of 1,000 genes that encode, or produce, an equivalent number of olfactory receptors. These receptors are proteins responsible for detecting the odorant molecules in the air and are located on olfactory receptor cells, which are clustered within a small area in the back of the nasal cavity. The two scientists then clarified how the olfactory system functions by showing that each receptor cell has only one type of odour receptor, which is specialized to recognize a few odours. After odorant molecules bind to receptors, the receptor cells send electrical signals to the olfactory bulb in the brain. The brain combines information from several types of receptors in specific patterns, which are experienced as distinct odours.

Axel and Buck later determined that most of the details they uncovered about the sense of smell are virtually identical in rats, humans, and other animals, although they discovered that humans have only about 350 types of working olfactory receptors, about one-third the number in rats.

Credit : Britannica

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Linda Buck is an American biologist best known for her work on the olfactory system. She shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Richard Axel in 2004.

Linda Buck was born in 1947 in Seattle, Washington. Her mother was a homemaker, who loved solving word puzzles and her father, an electrical engineer, spent much of his time inventing and building things. This probably inspired Linda to pursue science and develop problem-solving skills. She received her B.Sc in psychology and microbiology in 1975 and moved to the University of Texas, Dallas, gaining a PhD in immunology in 1980.

As a postdoctoral student, Buck worked under Professor Richard Axel in the early 1980s at Columbia University in New York City. Sol Snyder's 1985 publication about odour detection inspired Buck to find odour receptors. She began her study in 1988, along with Axel. By analysing DNA of laboratory rats, they estimated that there are approximately 1000 different genes for olfactory receptors in rats. Buck and Axel published their findings in 1991. These receptors are proteins responsible for detecting the odourant molecules in the air. The receptors are located in the back of the nasal cavity.

Axel and Buck later determined that the sense of smell are almost identical in rats, humans, and other animals, although humans have only about 350 types of working olfactory receptors. Buck held various positions with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and at Harvard Medical School from 1984 until 2002. She joined the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle in 2002.

She was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 2003. Buck continues her work on smell, but is also working to identify genes that control ageing and lifespan.

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Pluto has 5 moons. The largest, Charon, is so big that Pluto and Charon orbit each other like a double planet.

Pluto's highly elliptical orbit can take it more than 49 times as far out from the sun as Earth. Since the dwarf planet's orbit is so eccentric, or far from circular, Pluto's distance from the sun can vary considerably. The dwarf planet actually gets closer to the sun than Neptune is for 20 years out of Pluto's 248-Earth-years-long orbit, providing astronomers a rare chance to study this small, cold, distant world.

As a result of that orbit, after 20 years as the eighth planet (in order going out from the sun), in 1999, Pluto crossed Neptune's orbit to become the farthest planet from the sun (until it was demoted to the status of dwarf planet).

When Pluto is closer to the sun, its surface ices thaw and temporarily form a thin atmosphere, consisting mostly of nitrogen, with some methane. Pluto's low gravity, which is a little more than one-twentieth that of Earth's, causes this atmosphere to extend much higher in altitude than Earth's. When traveling farther away from the sun, most of Pluto's atmosphere is thought to freeze and all but disappear. Still, in the time that it does have an atmosphere, Pluto can apparently experience strong winds. The atmosphere also has brightness variations that could be explained by gravity waves, or air flowing over mountains.

Credit : Space.com

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Neptune was the first planet to be discovered by using mathematics. After the discovery of Uranus in 1781, astronomers noticed that the planet was being pulled slightly out of its normal orbit. 

In retrospect, after it was discovered, it turned out it had been observed many times before but not recognized, and there were others who made various calculations about its location which did not lead to its observation. By 1847, the planet Uranus had completed nearly one full orbit since its discovery by William Herschel in 1781, and astronomers had detected a series of irregularities in its path that could not be entirely explained by Newton's law of universal gravitation. These irregularities could, however, be resolved if the gravity of a farther, unknown planet were disturbing its path around the Sun. In 1845, astronomers Urbain Le Verrier in Paris and John Couch Adams in Cambridge separately began calculations to determine the nature and position of such a planet. Le Verrier's success also led to a tense international dispute over priority, because shortly after the discovery George Airy, at the time British Astronomer Royal, announced that Adams had also predicted the discovery of the planet. Nevertheless, the Royal Society awarded Le Verrier the Copley medal in 1846 for his achievement, without mention of Adams. The Royal Society, however, also awarded Adams the Copley medal in 1848.

The discovery of Neptune led to the discovery of its moon, Triton, by William Lassell just seventeen days later.

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The moon Io is the most volcanically active world in the solar system. Io even has lakes of molten silicate lava on its surface.

However, Io is a very tiny moon that is enormously influenced by the gravity of the giant planet Jupiter. The gravitational attraction of Jupiter and its other moons exert such strong "pulls" on Io that it deforms continuously from strong internal tides. These tides produce a tremendous amount of internal friction. This friction heats the moon and enables the intense volcanic activity.

Io has hundreds of visible volcanic vents, some of which blast jets of frozen vapor and "volcanic snow" hundreds of miles high into its atmosphere. These gases could be the sole product of these eruptions, or there could be some associated silicate rock or molten sulfur present. The areas around these vents show evidence that they have been "resurfaced" with a flat layer of new material. These resurfaced areas are the dominant surface feature of Io. The very small number of impact craters on these surfaces, compared to other bodies in the solar system, is evidence of Io's continuous volcanic activity and resurfacing.

Credit : Geology.com

Picture Credit : Google

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. Jupiter is so big that all the other planets in the solar system could fit inside it. More than 1,300 Earths would fit inside Jupiter.

Naturally, Jupiter has the strongest magnetic field of all the planets, with a field that is 20,000 times that of Earth’s magnetic field. The gravity is much different too. Having more gravitational pull, someone standing on Jupiter would measure 2.4 times their Earth weight on Jupiter. That means if you weigh 120 pounds on Earth, then you would weigh 288 pounds on Jupiter.

Earth is much smaller than Jupiter. Earth is about 3,959 miles, while Jupiter measures in at 43,441 miles. Earth is 5.972 × 10^24 kg, while Jupiter is 1.898 × 10^27 kg. While Earth only has one moon, Jupiter has 16 confirmed moons. Jupiter also has four rings.

With such a size different, it only makes sense that 1,300 Earths could fit inside of Jupiter. It would take 3.5 Earths alone just to fit across Jupiter’s red spot. Jupiter is massive compared to our tiny planet, so it would naturally take this many Earths to fill Jupiter.

Credit : The Nine Planets

Picture Credit : Google

A year on Mercury takes 87.97 Earth days; it takes 87.97 Earth days for Mercury to orbit the sun once.

Mercury's highly eccentric, egg-shaped orbit takes the planet as close as 29 million miles (47 million kilometers) and as far as 43 million miles (70 million kilometers) from the Sun. It speeds around the Sun every 88 days, traveling through space at nearly 29 miles (47 kilometers) per second, faster than any other planet.

Mercury spins slowly on its axis and completes one rotation every 59 Earth days. But when Mercury is moving fastest in its elliptical orbit around the Sun (and it is closest to the Sun), each rotation is not accompanied by sunrise and sunset like it is on most other planets. The morning Sun appears to rise briefly, set, and rise again from some parts of the planet's surface. The same thing happens in reverse at sunset for other parts of the surface. One Mercury solar day (one full day-night cycle) equals 176 Earth days – just over two years on Mercury.

Mercury's axis of rotation is tilted just 2 degrees with respect to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. That means it spins nearly perfectly upright and so does not experience seasons as many other planets do.

Credit : NASA Science

Picture Credit : Google

What you need:

Ice cubes, String. Salt, A plate, Scissors, Water

What to do:

1. Cut a piece of string about 20 centimetres long.

2. Put a couple of ice cubes on the plate.

3. Now moisten the string with water.

4. Lay the string over the ice cubes.

5. Try to lift the string up. Does the ice come with it?

6. Now, sprinkle some salt over the length of the string that's in contact with the ice. Leave for a minute.

7. Now, try lifting the string up.

What happens?

Without the salt, the string cannot lift up the ice. But once salt comes into the picture, the ice gets pulled up!

Why?

Water usually freezes at 0 degrees Celsius but it also melts at the same temperature. So the freezing point and melting point of water is the same!

This means, that at zero degrees Celsius, some part of your ice cube is turning into water and some part of that water is turning into ice. But there is a sort of equilibrium so ice and water are in equal amounts. If the temperature falls below zero, more water turns into ice. If the temperature rises, more ice melts into water. Enter salt. Salt dissolves in water. So the water that's melting takes the salt in and makes it dissolve.

Once the salt molecules are in the water, they start interfering with the other water molecules that are trying to freeze together into ice. So now, the water that's in contact with the ice cannot freeze at zero degrees Celsius.

You'll need colder temperatures (minus five or ten or less depending upon the strength of salt) for the water to refreeze. So, salt lowers the freezing (and melting) point of water. However, in this experiment, only a little salt has been sprinkled around the string.

So, the freezing point of only the ice in contact with the string is lowered, and it melts. Thus, the string 'sinks into the ice. But the melting water soon comes into contact with the rest of the ice and refreezes, this time, around the string. That's how you can lift up the cube!

Picture Credit : Google

What you need:

Paper, sketch pen, ruler

What to do:

1. Draw a small x' on the right side of your paper.

2. Measure five inches on the left side of that X and in the same line, draw a big dot.

3. Hold the paper in front of you at arm's length, using your left hand. Close your right eye with the other hand. With your open left eye, look only at the X.

4. While looking constantly at the X. start to gradually move the paper towards you.

5. Repeat these steps with your right eye open and the left one shut.

What happens?

Even though you're concentrating on the x with your open eye, you can still see the dot. As you move the paper closer to you, there comes a point where the dot completely disappears. But past that point, it reappears! The point at which the dot vanishes is your blind spot! Why?

At the back of your eye, there is a thin, sensitive layer called the retina. This retina is full of cells that receive light colour and other details that your eye sees. Now, the information gathered by these cells has to be sent to the brain so that it may process what the eyes have spotted. This is done via a bundle of nerves that pass through the retina. At the point of passage of these nerves, there are no cells that detect light or colour. This is your blind spot.

When you move the card, there comes a point where the light reflected from the dot hits this spot on your retina and you can't see it!

The reason we don't often realize that we have a blind spot is because the brain tends to fill in details with what it thinks should be there. That is why, when the dot disappears, the brain fills in that space with the background colour of your paper, which is what surrounds the dot and the cross.

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What you need:

A glass, raisins, drinking soda, background music

What to do:

1. Fill the glass with soda.

2. Switch on the music.

3. Drop a few raisins into and watch the show!

What happens?

Initially, the raisins sink into the soda. But then, suddenly, they begin to bob up and down. Depending on the strength of the soda, this could go on for a couple of minutes!

Why?

It's all a matter of destiny...er... density. As a rule of thumb, if an objects density (i.e. how close its molecules are packed together) is higher than the density of the liquid it is tossed in, the object sinks. If its density is lesser than that of the liquid, it floats.

When the raisins are thrown in, their density is more than the soda's. So the raisins sink to the bottom of the glass. But the soda water contains carbon dioxide (that's why cold drinks are also called 'carbonated' drinks). The bubbles of carbon dioxide find that the surface of the raisins is rough and uneven. So they attach themselves happily to the raisins. Pretty soon, the raisins are peppered with these bubbles.

Now, these bubbles contain air which is less dense than the soda water. A lot of these bubbles means that there is a lot of air surrounding the raisins. This decreases their density, making them rise up. Once the raisins reach the top of the glass, the bubbles on them begin to pop because the carbon dioxide gas leaves the soda. Without the bubbles, the raisins sink down again. There, they find new bubbles. And it starts all over again until the soda becomes flat or loses most of its carbon-dioxide.

Picture Credit : Google