Science for All June Edition

8/14/2019 Science for All June Edition

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CONTENT1. Editorial 03

2. The Giants of Science Isaac Newton 04

3. Know your SolarSystem Sun07

4. Maths Corner Vedic Mathematics09

5. How does it work? Photocopier11

6. The Human Body DNA13

147. Science in News Highlights of This Month


3/15

EDITORIALScience is not merely a subject of study, it is possibility, it is potential, and it is the soul

of the universe. There is nothing as ubiquitous as the processes of science. In our bodies,

n air, in earth, in space, inside a mountain and inside a tiny pebble, there is science in

peration.

i

o

ScienceforAll is our endeavor to bring to you some of the aspects of science thateverybody should know. You may find it too simplistic in its dealing with a few topics

nd slightly complex in others. This is being done to make it readable and intriguing fora

one and all.

We are introducing a few series in the magazine like Solar System, Biography of a

cientist, Human Body and Mathematics. Such a structure will ensure that you get full

t you start here.

S

knowledge of the subject tha

I wish you a happy reading.

Komal Malik

Chief Editor

Science for All

3


4/15

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5

and put forth to the world his Innovative

thoughts.

Newton entered Trinity College, Cambridge,

as subsizar, as that was the only way hecould afford to be in the college. During his

undergraduate years Newton was deeply

engrossed in private study and he privately

mastered the works of Rene Descartes,

Pierre Gassendi, Thomas Hobbes, and

other major figures of the scientific

revolution. He passed his graduation

without any distinction or honors.

In 1665 whole of England was witnessing

the effects of bubonic plague. All students

were sent back to their homes and so was

Newton. This was the time when he worked

on his thoughts for the first time and made a

series of original contributions to science.

Newton used to shape his concepts by

thinking about them for years or even

decades without sharing them with anyone.

Probably, many of his ideas might have died

with him because of this queer behavior.

Once Hooke, Edmund Halley, and

Christopher Wren where struggling with the

problem of planetary motion but were

unable to answer this riddle so they went to

Newton and asked What type of curve

does a planet describe in its orbit around

the sun, When Halley posed the question,

Newton's answer was 'an ellipse.' When

asked how he knew it was an ellipse

Newton replied that he had already

calculated it but had forgotten where he

kept that calculation. In those days it was

like someone said that he has invented the

permanent cure for cancer but forgot it.

In April 1667, after graduation with a

bachelors degree, the only way he could

remain at Cambridge and continue his

studies was to be elected a fellow of Trinity

College. Braving all odds, he got selected

as a minor fellow and the very next year he

became a Major fellow upon taking hisMaster of Arts degree. In 1668, at age

twenty seven and still insignificant in the

college, university, and scientific hierarchy,

he was appointed Lucasian Professor of

Mathematics

The duties of this appointment offered

Newton the opportunity to organize the

results of his earlier optical researches, and

in 1672, shortly after his election to the

Royal Society, he communicated his first

public paper, a brilliant but no less

controversial study, on the nature of

color.Newton had a complex character and

wired behavior, but a great mind, so he

never had friends but many foes and critics.

The most prominent and influential of these

were Robert Hooke in England, and

Christian Huygens and Gottfried Leibniz.

Huygens a famous Physicist of 17th century

rejected Newtons theory of universal


6/15

6

gravitation, calling it absurd, because it

was no more than mathematics and

proposed no mechanisms. He had a long

drawn bitter feud with Leibniz on the

invention of calculus. Leibniz had worked

separately on calculus and published his

work. Newton claimed to have invented

calculus more than a decade before Leibniz.

But, owing to his propensity to keep his

inventions only to himself, he never

published the work.

During the period when Newton was inLondon he enjoyed power and worldly

success. After the death of Hooke in 1703,

Newton was elected president of the Royal

Society and was annually reelected until his

death. In 1704 he published his second

major work, the Opticks, based largely on

work completed decades before.

He died in London on March 20, 1727

(March 31, New Style).

Scientific Achievements

Mathematics: Newton in his childhood liked

mathematics and his interest increased

during his early days in Cambridge. Newton

studied both the mathematics and thephysics of the French philosopher and

scientist Rene Descartes and then made his

contributions to analytic geometry, algebra,

and calculus, fluxional calculus specifically;

he discovered the binomial theorem, new

method for expansion of infinite series.

Optics: In 1664 when Newton was in

college studying about work on optics andlight by the English physicists Robert Boyle

and Robert Hooke, he investigated the

refraction of light by a glass prism and did a

series of refined, and exact experiments,

Newton discovered measurable,

mathematical patterns in the phenomenon

of color. Newton's main discovery was that

visible (white) light is Heterogeneous thatis white light is composed of colors that can

be considered primary colors, each color

definable by the angle through which it is

refracted on entering or leaving a given

transparent medium. He correlated this

notion with his study of the interference of

colors in thin films (for example, of oil on

water, or soap bubbles), using a simpletechnique of extreme acuity to measure the

thickness of such films. His ideas brought a

lot of criticism, mainly because in those

days colors were thought to be modified

forms of homogeneous white light. There

were lots of controversies among theories

proposed by Newton and Huygens and

Hook. Newton rejected the basic wave

models of Hooke and Huygens.

Newtons improved Telescope was more

impressive then that proposed by Galileo.

This was an exceptional technical

achievement.


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The Opticksof 1704, which first appeared in

English, is Newton's most comprehensive

and readily accessible work on light and

color proposed with full reasons and

Experiments. Following the first edition, his

second and third English editions came in

1717 and 1721. Perhaps, the most exciting

part of the Opticks is the section known as

the 'Queries,' which Newton placed at the

end of the book. Here, he placed questions

and staked opinions on the nature of light,

matter, and the forces of nature.

Mechanics and Gravitation: According to

the well-known story, it was on seeing an

apple fall that Newtons curious and ever

exploring mind got the thought of

Gravitation. In his book called Principia he

stated Gravitation as fundamental force

controlling the motion of celestial bodies. In

second edition of book, he enlightened the

theory of fluids. Newtons work in

Mechanics has been ranked among

humanity's greatest achievements in

abstract thought.

Newton had passion in Alchemy and that

lasted for 30 years. He left a mass of

manuscripts on the subjects of alchemy and

chemistry. Most of these were extracts from

books, bibliographies, dictionaries, and so

on, but a few are original especially on

Nature of acids.

Besides mathematics, Mechanics and

Alchemy, Newton also wrote on subjects

like Theology and history.


8/15

Our Solar System

SunThe morning Star

The Sun is one of hundreds of billions of

star. It is positioned in the center of Solar

System and contains approximately 98% of

the total solar system mass. Planets,

Meteoroids, Asteroids and comet orbit the

sun.

8

The Sun is, at present, about 92.1%

hydrogen and 7.8% helium by mass

everything else other gases and metals

amounts to less than .1%. This changes

slowly over time as the Sun converts

hydrogen to helium in its core.

Sun is not a solid body but still we can

distinguish Sun broadly in 4 layers

1) Core

2) Photosphere

3) Chromospheres

4) Corona

Core: Solar energy is created deep within

the core of the Sun. It is here that the

temperature (15,000,000 C; 27,000,000 F)

and pressure (340 billion times Earth's air

pressure at sea level) is so intense that

nuclear reactions take place. This reaction

causes four protons or hydrogen nuclei to

fuse together to form one alpha particle or

helium nucleus. The alpha particle is about

0.7 percent less massive than the four

protons. The difference in mass is expelled

as energy and is carried to the surface of

the Sun, through a process known

as convection, where it is released as light

and heat. Energy generated in the Sun's

core takes a million years to reach its

surface. Every second 700 million tons of

hydrogen are converted into helium ashes.

In the process 5 million tons of matter is

converted into pure energy; therefore, as

time goes on the Sun is becoming lighter.

Some Trivia about Sun:

Mass: 1.989e+30

Diameter: 1,390,000 km

Mean surface Temperature: 6000c

Distance of Sun from Earth: 149600000 km.

Age: 4.5 Billion Years

Photosphere: The second visible layer is

called the photosphere and has a

temperature of 6,000C (11,000F). This
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/terms.htm#convectionhttp://www.solarviews.com/eng/terms.htm#convection


9/15

9

layer has a mottled appearance due to the

turbulent eruptions of energy at the surface.

Chromospheres: It is above the

photosphere. Solar energy passes through

this region on its way out from the center of

the Sun. Faculae and flares arise in the

chromosphere. Faculae are bright luminous

hydrogen clouds which form above regions

where sunspots are about to form. Flares

are bright filaments of hot gas emerging

from sunspot regions. Sunspots are dark

depressions on the photosphere with a

typical temperature of 4,000C (7,000F).

Corona: The corona is the outer part of the

Sun's atmosphere. It is in this region that a

prominence appears. Prominences are

immense clouds of glowing gas that erupt

from the upper chromospheres. The outer

region of the corona stretches far into space

and consists of particles traveling slowly

away from the Sun. The corona can only be

seen during total solar eclipses. The Sun

appears to have been active for 4.6 billion

years and has enough fuel to go on for

another five billion years or so. At the end of

its life, the Sun will start to fuse helium into

heavier elements and begin to swell up,ultimately growing so large that it will

swallow the Earth. After a billion years as

a red giant, it will suddenly collapse into

a white dwarf the final end product of a

star like ours. It may take a trillion years to

cool off completely.

As the Sun is not a solid body, its different

parts rotate at different rate, depending on

their distance from the solar equator. The

rotation period changes from 31 days near

to the poles to 27 days in vicinity of the

equator.

If somehow we could fly an airplane to the

Sun, it would take us 26 years to reach to

the Sun. It is a very big ball of hot gases.

These hot gases of the Sun move and flow

also show darker and lighter spots. The

dark spots on the Sun are large storms

called sunspots. There are also huge

explosions called solar flares in which the

hot gases are spit away from the Sun - like

spaghetti sauce that bubbles and spatters.

These great storms blast material out of the

Sun and into space. Tiny particles of matter

are always leaving the Sun. In fact, this

stream of tiny particles is called solar wind.

It takes one to five days for this wind to

reach Earth. Sometimes the solar wind

causes beautiful lights in the night sky,

called auroras. These lights look like moving

sheets of colors high in the sky. The solar

wind has large effects on the tails of cometsand even has measurable effects on the

trajectories of spacecraft.
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/terms.htm#redgianthttp://www.solarviews.com/eng/terms.htm#whitedwarfhttp://www.solarviews.com/eng/terms.htm#whitedwarfhttp://www.solarviews.com/eng/terms.htm#redgiant


10/15

10

MATHS CORNER

Vedic Mathematics

Dont worry about your difficulties in

Mathematics; I assure mine is still greater.

- Albert Einstein

Mathematics scares many and enamors a

few. Most treat it as a sworn enemy and

some as a beloved friend. Whatever be the

emotion that this branch of science stirs in

you, the truth remains that this is the root of

all sciences.

Mathematics differs from other sciences in

its pure objective nature. Mathematics

provides a framework that decides the rules

in Physics, in Chemistry, in Astronomy and

even in seemingly as unrelated a branch as

Anthropology. A case in point was the

downfall of classical physics because of

mathematical indications that pointed

towards quantum physics.

Its no longer a secret that Mathematics has

its origins in ancient Indian literatures. Sri

Bharati Krishna Tirthaji studied Atharva-

veda over a period of seven years (1911-

1918) and extracted Vedic Mathematics

from hints scattered here and there in this

Veda. The beauty of Vedic Mathematics lies

in the sheer coherence in the techniques

suggested. Anybody can master these

techniques given the simplicity which is

inherent in them. The best feature of Vedic

mathematics is its approach as these

formulae describe the way the mind

naturally works and are therefore a great

help in directing to the appropriate method

for solution.

Vedic mathematics is a mathematical

elaboration of 'Sixteen Simple Mathematical

Sutras (Aphorism) and 13 Upa-Sutras from

the Vedas' as brought out by Sri Bharati

Krishna Tirthaji

In this series of articles in Science for All,

we will discuss these sutras one-by-one.

Lets start with the first sutra that is called

Ekadhikena Purvena.

Ekadhikena Purvena

The Sutra Ekadhaikena Purvena means By

one more than the previous one.

This is used in following Calculations

1) Squares of number ending with 5

The square of a number which ends with

digit 5 can be calculated in seconds by

using Ekadhaikena Purvena sutras. Lets

take an example to understand it and

distinguish it from the procedure which

modern mathematics follows.


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Lets take the example of 25

Anyone of you will try to calculate 25 * 25 by

normal method that you would have learned

in school. This method will certainly take at

least 30 seconds and as the number of

digits increases, time taken by you will also

increase.

If we apply the sutra Ekadhikena

Purvena here, the matter will become

much simpler.

Step1

Pick the previous one, the number you get

after removing 5 from the units place. In 25

if we remove 5 we are left 2.

Step2-

Add one to this number. In this example

2+1 = 3

Step3-

Multiply the results from step1 and step2. In

this example 2x3=6

Step4-

Put the result of step3 before 25. In this

example 625

This is the square of 25

In the same way

452 = 4*5/ 25 = 2025

752 = 7*8/ 25 =5625

1552 = 15*16/ = 24025

Now apply Ekadhikena purvena to calculate

squares of the numbers 85, 105, 195,225,

2025 and soon youll master this technique.

Next month we will discuss the second

Sutra Nikhilam navatascaramam

Dasatah


12/15

HOW DOES THIS THING WORK?

PHOTOCOPIER

As a child, I always looked at Photocopier

with amazement. The way the machine

would make several copies of a document

used to astonish me a lot. I am sure that

you would also have felt the same queer

feeling while seeing this machine works.

A Photocopier is an Electronic duplicator

that makes paper copies of data and

images. It has a unique process that

depends on chemical, electrical, mechanical

processes to achieve this.

Working of this Magic Machine -

Photocopier works on two basic principles

1) Materials of opposite electrical chargesattract, and

2) Some materials become betterconductors of electricity when exposed tolight.

The process of Photocopying takes place in

5 steps

Insertion: The document to be photocopied

is put in photocopier surface with its face

upside down.

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Exposure: The surface of a cylindrical drum

is electrostatically charged by either a high

voltage wire called a corona wire or a

charge roller. An extremely bright light is

exposed that scans across the document by

rotating, As light reflects off of blank areas

of the paper, mirrors direct it through onto

the drum surface, The areas of the drum

that are exposed to light (those areas that

correspond to white areas of the original

document) become conductive . The areas

of the drum not exposed to light (those

areas that correspond to black portions of

the original document) remain negativelycharged. The result is a latent electrical

image on the surface of the drum.

Developing: A sheet of paper from a

hopper on the other side of the copier feed

to the drum, a positively charged toner is

applied to the drum to develop the image, it

is attracted and sticks to the areas that are

negatively charged (black inked area)


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Image Transfer: The resulting toner image

on the surface of the drum is transferred

from the drum onto a piece of paper with a

higher negative charge than the drum.

Fusing: The toner melts and bonds to the

paper by heat and pressure rollers. By this,

exact image is duplicated on the paper.

Cleaning: The drum is wiped clean with a

rubber blade and completely discharged by

light.


14/15

The Human Body

DNA

DNA is the fundamental building block for

an individual's entire genetic makeup. It

stands for Deoxyribonucleic acid. A

person's DNA is the same in every cell of

blood, semen, skin cells, tissue, organs,

bone, muscle, brain cells, teeth, hair, nails,

mucus, urine, salvia etc so its like an

identifying tool for a living being.

DNA is a long linear polymer found in the

nucleus of a cell and shaped likes a double

helix, the structure of the double helix is

somewhat like a ladder, with the base pairs

forming the ladders rungs and the sugar

and phosphate molecules forming the

vertical sidepieces of the ladder. DNA is

made up of units called nucleotides; each

nucleotide is made up of a sugar, a

phosphate and a base. The four different

bases in DNA molecule are Cytosine,

Guanine, Thymine, and Adenine, these

bases pair up with each other, Adenine with

Thymine and Cytosine with Guanine, to

form units called base pairs. The sequence

of the four bases along the sugar and

phosphate encodes the information. This

information is read by the process called

transcription, using the genetic code, which

specifies the sequence of the amo acids

within proteins. Long strings of nucleotides

form genes, and groups of genes are

packaged tightly into structures called

chromosomes. These chromosomes are

duplicated before cells divide by the process

called replication as each strand of DNA in

the double helix can serve as a pattern for

duplicating the sequence of bases. This is

critical when cells divide because each new

cell needs to have an exact copy of the

DNA present in the old cell.

Although DNA from a single human cell is 2

m long but it gets compacted in a small ball,

like a ball of small string of diameter of 3

10-6 m, if the entire DNA in the body were

connected together after stretching it to their

original shape, it would stretch

approximately 67 billion miles. That's nearly

150,000 round trips to the Moon.

14
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_codehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amino_acidhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amino_acidhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_code


15/15

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Science News Some Highlights This Month

New Planet located orbiting one of the

smallest stars known

Using a technique called Astrometry,

astronomers from NASAs Jet Propulsion

Laboratory have discovered a Jupiter sized

planet orbiting one of the smallest stars

known.

The Planet is 6 times the size of Jupiter and

the start it orbits is one-twelfth the size of

our sun.

"This is an exciting discovery because it

shows that planets can be found around

extremely light-weight stars," said Wesley

Traub, the chief scientist for NASA's

Exoplanet Exploration Program at JPL.

"This is a hint that nature likes to form

planets, even around stars very different

from the sun."

Crows use tools

Rooks a type of crow have remarkable

aptitude for using tools, studies on captive

birds has revealed at UK.

For example, the birds were presented with

a vertical tube, running down to a trap-door

with an out-of-reach worm perched upon it,

as well as a number of different-sized

stones placed nearby.

The scientists discovered that the rooks

would select the largest stone, which was

heavy enough to push open the trap-door

when dropped and release the snack.

And when given a selection of different-

shaped stones, some of which could fit into

the tube some of which could not, the rooks

opted for a tool that would give them access

to the treat.

Mars could have been cold and wet quite

recently

The presence of water on Mars is a hot

topic for scientists. They have presented

strong evidence of huge deposits of frozen

water at the Martian poles and point to

geological features that indicate large

bodies of water have flowed on the planet's

surface in the distant past.

However, new theory based on computer

model shows that Mars could have retained

water in liquid form quite recently owing to

the dissolved minerals that push the

freezing point of water well below 273 K.

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