My Science School

The first Nobel Prize Award Ceremony was held in 1901. The names of the Nobel Laureates had been kept secret and were revealed only on the same day. Experience the very first ceremony through this eyewitness report.

After long protracted negotiations, partly with the French government (which sought to impose a very hefty tax on the Nobel estate) and partly with the Nobel family, the first awarding of five Nobel Prizes could finally take place on 10 December 1901 – four of them given out in Stockholm and one, the Peace Prize, in Christiania, as Oslo was then called. Five years had passed since Alfred Nobel had died in San Remo, on 10 December 1896.

In the days leading up to the awarding of prizes, there was certain tension in the air. The Nobel Laureates’ names had been kept secret – they were not, as now, revealed months in advance. When three distinguished German – speaking gentlemen arrived by train from the south and were taken to the Grand Hotel, it was clear that they must be the Nobel Laureates. International traffic was not as commonplace then as now.

Credit : Nobel Prize

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Inge Lehmann was a Danish seismologist who discovered that the Earth has a solid inner core inside a molten outer core.

Inge Lehmann was born in Copenhagen, to Ida Sophie Torsleff and Alfred Georg Ludvik Lehmann, a psychologist. In 1907, she started her studies in mathematics, chemistry and physics at the University of Copenhagen, but discontinued it due to poor health. She took a break between 1911 and 1918, worked in an actuary office and resumed studies in 1918. She completed her degree in physical science and mathematics in 1920.

In 1925, Inge Lehmann became an assistant to the head of the Royal Danish Geodetic Institute. Her work involved setting up seismological observatories in Denmark and Greenland. She became interested in seismology and went on to study geodesy (the science of making measurements: related to earth) formally at the University of Copenhagen and received her post graduation in the subject in 1928. Inge Lehmann was appointed the state geodesist and was made the head of the Seismological Department of the Royal Danish Geodetic Institute She was responsible for running seismographic observatories in Copenhagen and Russia. By then scientists had discovered that by using seismographic data from earthquakes, Earth's interior could be studied. By analysing seismic waves from several earthquakes scientists had concluded that earth has a large, liquid, metallic core.

It was only after the 1929 earthquake in New Zealand and subsequent work by Lehmann, that we got a better understanding of the Earth's core.

In 1929, while examining seismograph data from New Zealand quake. Lehmann noticed oddities in the wave patterns. The seismographs in Russia collected seismic waves with amplitudes that were higher than expected and some seismic waves travelling away from the earthquakes focus appeared to have been “bent”. She concluded Earth's interior must consist of a solid inner core and a liquid outer core and the waves were being refracted and reflected at the boundary between these two layers. In 1936, Lehmann published her findings in a paper.

It was not until 1970 that seismologists tested Lehmann's proposal. The boundary between the inner and outer core which occurs at a depth of roughly 5,100 km is known as the Lehmann discontinuity. Lehmann retired from her position at the Geodetic Institute in 1953, but continued her scientific research. In 1987, age 99, she wrote her last scientific article!

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What you need:

A bubble blowing wand, Liquid dish soap, Water, Woollen gloves, A glass, A small cup

What to do:

1. Use the cup to measure out the liquid soap. Whatever the quantity of soap is, you will need three times more water. So, if you are using one cup of soap, you need three cups of water, if you are using half a cup of soap, use one-and-a-half cup of water.

2. Pour the mixture into the glass and stir well. Leave the mixture undisturbed for about 24 hours.

3. Now, use the bubble wand to blow a bubble using the soap mix. Try to catch the bubble in the palm of your free hand. What happens?

4. Put on the woollen glove. Now, try to catch a bubble in your gloved hand.

What happens:

The bubble pops as soon as it comes in contact with your bare hand. But when you wear a glove, you can actually hold the bubble without it popping. If you wear gloves in both hands, you can even bounce and juggle the bubble!

Why?

A bubble is nothing but a frail layer of soap surrounding some air.

When this layer comes in contact with oil or dirt, it bursts. Our skin has a lot of oil and dirt that is not visible to the naked eye. The glove kind of protects the bubble by insulating it from the impurities on our skin and it stays bouncy-fresh for longer!

Picture Credit : Google

What you need:

A glass jar with a tight-fitting lid, a marble, liquid heavy cream, a friend for help

What to do:

1. Fill the jar halfway with the cream.

2. Clean the marble well. Pat it dry and drop it into the cream-filled jar.

3. Seal the jar tightly and begin to shake.

4. Keep rolling and shaking the jar for about 30 minutes. You and your friend can take turns doing this. You can even open the jar intermittently and check what's happening inside.

What happens:

The liquid cream gradually thickens and solidifies into butter that settles at the bottom of the jar, leaving a milky liquid floating on top. Separate the liquid (and the marble) and store the butter in the refrigerator.

Why?

Heavy cream liquid has a lot of fat in it. These fat molecules are usually inside globules i.e. stretchy membrane-like balls (somewhat similar to a teeny-tiny balloon filled with water). When shaken about, the globules smash against one another and burst. This causes the fat molecules inside them to flow out and start sticking together. So, these molecules separate from the liquid and clump together to make butter.

Picture Credit : Google

What you need:

A plastic comb

A woollen scarf

A light bulb (incandescent or CFL)

A darkened room

What to do:

1. Go into the darkened room. Place the bulb on a table.

2. Start rubbing the comb on the woollen scarf. Continue to do this for five to ten minutes.

3. Now, quickly touch the comb to the metal end of the bulb.

What happens:

The bulb lights up. The light is weak, it can even fluctuate, but it's there!

Why?

The answer is 'static electricity! Static means stationary. When you rub two objects against each other (like the comb and the scarf), they develop stationary electrical charges. To understand why this happens, we have to go to the microscopic level. Everything in our world is made up of tiny particles called 'atoms. These atoms are, in turn, made up of even smaller particles known as electrons, protons and neutrons. The protons and neutrons remain inside the atom, but the electrons like to use any excuse to jump in and out of the atom. When you rub two objects together, the electrons from one object jump to the other. This exchange of electrons is what is termed as electrical charge.

The comb is made of plastic which does not conduct charge. So the charges stay on the comb. When you bring the comb in contact with the metal, which is a good conductor, the charges flow into the metal and light up the bulb.

Picture Credit : Google

What you need:

A balloon

A friend to help you

What to do:

1. Blow up the balloon fully. Tie up its end.

2. Now, place the balloon next to your ear.

3. Ask your friend to tap the balloon lightly on the opposite side (that's not against your head).

What happens:

Even though your friend is tapping lightly on the balloon, to your ear, it sounds pretty loud.

Why?

The balloon acts as a sound amplifier which means it makes the sound passing through it louder. When you blow up a balloon, you force air molecules to fit into a small space inside the balloon. Thus, the space between the molecules is also less in comparison to the air molecules floating around you, because they are pushed together. These closely-spaced molecules become better conductors of sound waves than normal air. And you get louder taps!

Picture Credit : Google

Fossil fuels are compound mixtures made of fossilized plant and animal remnants from millions of years ago. The creation of fossil fuels—either oil, natural gas, or coal—from these fossils is determined by the type of fossil, the amount of heat, and the amount of pressure.

Fuels are sources of energy and fossil fuels are no different. The energy in fossil fuels comes from the sun, which drives photosynthesis to change carbon dioxide and water into the molecular building blocks of ancient plants and animals. Both plants and animals build their bodies using predominantly carbon and hydrogen atoms and it is the stored energy in the fossilized hydrocarbon-type compounds that serve as fuel when burned.

As the fossil material begins to get buried deeper and deeper underground it is subjected to increased heat and pressure. As the heat rises, the fossil molecules begin to break apart. The initial breakdown creates partially changed materials, like peat from plants and kerogen from plankton. These transitional materials can be used as fuel sources too, however, they have less stored energy than fully formed coal, natural gas, or oil.

After millions of years underground, the compounds that make up plankton and plants turn into fossil fuels. Plankton decomposes into natural gas and oil, while plants become coal. Today, humans extract these resources through coal mining and the drilling of oil and gas wells on land and offshore. They are sought after because they contain stored energy, and when burned, fossil fuels power machinery and provide transportation, as well as the electricity essential to modern-day life. They also contain essential ingredients used within the chemical industry.

Crude oil is a mixture of thousands of different molecules made up of compounds containing mostly hydrogen and carbon. Every crude oil deposit has a unique composition and proportion of these hydrocarbons. Based upon this chemical composition, crude oil can have a range of densities from thick and viscous to light and fluid. It is designated as either sweet or sour depending upon residual amounts of sulfur and can range from a transparent golden yellow to a deep black.

In order to be used within industry and for transportation the crude oil must be separated into its individual hydrocarbon-based fuels and lubricants. With so many molecule types, there isn’t an industry that doesn’t use oil products in some form or another. Oil is used as lubricants, fuel, in plastics, cosmetics, and even medicine. In general, oil’s composition is classified into four different types of molecules.

After all this transformation, oil is naturally found in the environment. It typically is deep below the surface of the earth, but can also be found bubbling up or even in the form of tar balls on the beach.

Credit : Smithsonian 

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Ion, any atom or group of atoms that bears one or more positive or negative electrical charges. Positively charged ions are called cations; negatively charged ions, anions. Ions are formed by the addition of electrons to, or the removal of electrons from, neutral atoms or molecules or other ions; by combination of ions with other particles; or by rupture of a covalent bond between two atoms in such a way that both of the electrons of the bond are left in association with one of the formerly bonded atoms. Examples of these processes include the reaction of a sodium atom with a chlorine atom to form a sodium cation and a chloride anion; the addition of a hydrogen cation to an ammonia molecule to form an ammonium cation; and the dissociation of a water molecule to form a hydrogen cation and a hydroxide anion.

Many crystalline substances are composed of ions held in regular geometric patterns by the attraction of the oppositely charged particles for each other. Ions migrate under the influence of an electrical field and are the conductors of electric current in electrolytic cells.

Credit : Britannica 

Picture Credit : Google

To begin, insects don't have a vertebral column (backbone) like people have and therefore are considered to be a type of invertebrate animal. Instead of a backbone, insects have a hard exterior body covering, called an exoskeleton. Insects are arthropods: invertebrate animals that have an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the taxonomic phylum Arthropoda, which includes insects, arachnids, and crustaceans. Insects represent about 90 percent of all life forms on earth. More than one million insect species have been identified throughout the world, and some entomologists (scientists that study insects) estimate there may be as many as 10 million species. These species are divided into 32 groups called orders, and beetles make up the largest group. No one knows exactly how many insects are found within Everglades National Park. Entomologists have prepared lists of some insect groups, such as bees, ants, and butterflies, but no park-wide inventory has been carried out yet. 

Insects have six legs and two antennae, and their body is made up of three main regions: head, thorax, and abdomen. They have an exoskeleton that contains sense organs for sensing light, sound, temperature, wind pressure, and smell. Insects typically have four separate life stages: egg, larvae or nymph, pupa, and adult. Insects are cold blooded and do not have lungs, but many insects can fly and most have compound eyes. Insects are incredibly adaptable creatures and have evolved to live successfully in most environments on earth, including deserts and even the Antarctic. The only place where insects are not commonly found is in the oceans. Insects pollinate flowers and crops and produce honey, wax, silk, and other products. However, some species that bite, sting, destroy crops, and carry disease may be considered pests to people and animals.

Credit : National Park Service 

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Chemical changes are also known as chemical reactions. The “ingredients” of a reaction are called the reactants, and the end results are called the products. The change from reactants to products is signified by an arrow:

Reactants ? Products

The formation of gas bubbles is often the result of a chemical change (except in the case of boiling, which is a physical change). A chemical change might also result in the formation of a precipitate, such as the appearance of a cloudy material when dissolved substances are mixed.

Rotting, burning, cooking, and rusting are all further types of chemical changes because they produce substances that are entirely new chemical compounds. For example, burned wood becomes ash, carbon dioxide, and water. When exposed to water, iron becomes a mixture of several hydrated iron oxides and hydroxides. Yeast carries out fermentation to produce alcohol from sugar.

An unexpected color change or release of odor also often indicates a chemical change. For example, the color of the element chromium is determined by its oxidation state; a single chromium compound will only change color if it undergoes an oxidation or reduction reaction. The heat from cooking an egg changes the interactions and shapes of the proteins in the egg white, thereby changing its molecular structure and converting the egg white from translucent to opaque.

The best way to be completely certain whether a change is physical or chemical is to perform chemical analyses, such as mass spectroscopy, on the substance to determine its composition before and after a reaction.

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Wavelength, distance between corresponding points of two consecutive waves. “Corresponding points” refers to two points or particles in the same phase—i.e., points that have completed identical fractions of their periodic motion. Usually, in transverse waves (waves with points oscillating at right angles to the direction of their advance), wavelength is measured from crest to crest or from trough to trough; in longitudinal waves (waves with points vibrating in the same direction as their advance), it is measured from compression to compression or from rarefaction to rarefaction. 

Wavelength of light varies with colours, i.e., it is different for every colour. Red colour has the longest wavelength while violet has the least. The wavelength of UV radiation is shorter than violet light. Similarly, the wavelength of infra red radiation is longer than the wavelength of red light.

Wavelength is inversely proportional to frequency. This means the longer the wavelength, lower the frequency. In the same manner, shorter the wavelength, higher will be the frequency.

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Earth’s temperature begins with the Sun. Roughly 30 percent of incoming sunlight is reflected back into space by bright surfaces like clouds and ice. Of the remaining 70 percent, most is absorbed by the land and ocean, and the rest is absorbed by the atmosphere. The absorbed solar energy heats our planet.

As the rocks, the air, and the seas warm, they radiate “heat” energy (thermal infrared radiation). From the surface, this energy travels into the atmosphere where much of it is absorbed by water vapor and long-lived greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.

When they absorb the energy radiating from Earth’s surface, microscopic water or greenhouse gas molecules turn into tiny heaters— like the bricks in a fireplace, they radiate heat even after the fire goes out. They radiate in all directions. The energy that radiates back toward Earth heats both the lower atmosphere and the surface, enhancing the heating they get from direct sunlight.

This absorption and radiation of heat by the atmosphere—the natural greenhouse effect—is beneficial for life on Earth. If there were no greenhouse effect, the Earth’s average surface temperature would be a very chilly -18°C (0°F) instead of the comfortable 15°C (59°F) that it is today.

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