B u B b L e L i B R A R Y

Where is the highest mountain in the world?

2024-06-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

Highest mountain - is Mount Everest, on the Nepal Tibet frontier in the eastern Himalayas. Mount Everest was named after Sir George Everest who discovered it in 1856, when he was surveyor general of India. At that time its height was estimated by trigonometry as 29,002 feet, but more recently it has been established as 29,028 feet. Everest is not only the highest mountain in the world, but also the most magnificent and inaccessible. It is swept by icy winds and gripped in a coldness that often drops far below zero. There are great glaciers and crevasses, ice falls and sheer rock faces, and the rarified atmosphere at its greatest heights has defied generations of climbers. It was not until 1920 that the Dalai Lama of Tibet was persuaded to permit a British climbing party into his territory. Until then both Nepal and Tibet had forbidden any such intrusion. Several unsuccessful British expeditions were made to conquer the mountain and 16 men were lost in the attempts. In 1951 Eric Shipton made an approach from the south through Nepal. Before then all the expeditions had made their approach from the north. Shipton had no intention of attempting an assault on the summit. His object was to gather information for future expeditions. With the help of this information a British expedition, using light weight oxygen breathing apparatus and other weight saving equipment, reached the summit in 1953. It was led by Colonel H.C.J. Hunt, later Lord Hunt. Nine camps were made during the climb, and on the morning of May 29 a New Zealander, Edmund Hillary, and Sherpa Tensing Norkey made the final assault. At 11.30 a.m., after a hard climb, they reached the summit.

Where is the largest reef in the world?

2024-06-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

Reef - the largest reef in the world is the Great Barrier Reef off the northeast corner of Australia. From Anchor Cay or island above the northern tip of Queensland, the reef runs parallel to the mainland at a a distance of about 60 miles, to Lady Elliot Island, 1,250 miles away to the south. This reef which is 80,000 square miles in area, was discovered in 1770 by Captain Cook. He called one of the many navigable passages Providential Channel after he had edged his ship through it to the coast. he named Endeavour Reef where he ran a ground after the ship itself. The fantastic coral forms give shelter to a collection of other living creatures such as fish, crustaceans, worms, molluscs and starfish, or greater variety than can be found anywhere else. Ninety per cent of the reef is under water and the remainder is composed of some 200 islands dotted along its length. A few of these islands remain permanently dry and swarm with bird life. They are used also by turtles who come ashore to lay their eggs. The Great Barrier Reef is a delicately balanced system suffering, from time to time an upset in its regular routine. Such an upset began in the 1960 with the invasion of the large poison spined starfish which is still going on. Appropriately called "crown of thorns", this starfish has infested some parts of the reef and by feeding on the polyps has ravaged vast areas of living coral. Even so the reef remains one of the most colourful regions of the world.

How to communicate the community service from TUBBATAHA grand eagle club?

2024-06-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

February 17, 2024. In a collaborative effort with the City Health Office and valued partners like the Psychologists Society of PSU with their Faculties, the TFOE-PE Tubbataha Grand Eagles Club recently spearheaded a Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) activity for those affected by the recent fire. Our dedicated Mental Health Team, alongside doctors Psychologists and nurses, provided vital support, with a focus on children, senior citizens, and adults. Activities ranged from Psychological First Aid to Mental Health Consultation and Counseling sessions, aimed at fostering healing and resilience in the altermath of the crisis.

Where were the most famous hanging gardens in history?

2024-06-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hanging gardens - they were created by Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 B.C.) in Babylon and were regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Babylon, situated about 50 miles to the south of Baghdad in what is now Iraq, has long been the capital in the time of the Chaldeans. Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled for 40 years and was the greatest of the Chaldean Emperors, enlarged the city and gave it enormous protective walls. The hanging gardens, rising in terraces to a height of some 350 feet, were built, so the legend goes, for Nebuchadnezzar's wife, Amyhia, either to please her and thereby gain the support of her father's armies against her husband's foes, or simply because she did not like the flatness of the land after the hills of her homeland. Each terrace had sufficient earth for trees such as oak, willow, pomegranate and palm to grow, as well as shrubs and flowers. Stairways led from terrace to terrace. Water cisterns were placed at the top to irrigate the lower terraces. Today, only a few ruins remain.

What is a magnet?

2015-02-12T01:47:00.000-08:00

Magnet - is a piece of iron which will attract or repel pins, tacks, nails or anything else made of that metal. The word comes from a district in Thessaly, Greece, called Magnesia. It was here that men first noticed that certain black stones attracted iron. These stones were composed of an iron ore called magnetite and were natural magnets. Later it was discovered that if a piece of magnetite or lodestone leading stone was hung by a thread or floated on a piece of wood it would always turn to point north and south. This proved very useful to the early sailors. Next it was found that a magnet could be made by winding an insulated wire round a piece of iron and passing an electric current through the wire. This is called an electromagnetic and is used in an electric motor. Magnets can be made by stroking a piece of iron with lodestone or with another magnet thereby passing on the power of magnetism. In the middle of the 13th Ceentury a Frenchman, Petrus Perigrinus de Maricourt, carried out experiments in magnetism especially about its connection with the use of the compass as an instrument of navigation. In 1600 William Gilbert of Norwich who was Court Physician to Elizabeth I, published a book on magnetism called De Magneti.

What does the word planet mean?

2015-02-12T01:24:00.002-08:00

Planet - is the word planet comes from the Greek planetes meaning "the wanderer". Originally the term was applied to the seven heavenly bodies which changed their places by revolving so men believed round the earth. The seven were Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the moon and the sun. While we now realize that the planets including the earth revolve round the sun the distinction between planet and star is still valid. Planets are too cool to give off any light of their own. We can see the other planets only because they reflect the light of the sun which is now known to be not a planet but a star. The planets are only a few million miles away but distances to the stars are so vast that they have to be calculated according to the time taken for their light to reach the earth. Three more planets joined the list in comparatively recent times. In 1781 William Herschel discovered Uranus. Neptune was added in 1846 and Pluto in 1930.

What are industrial diamonds used for?

2015-02-09T05:34:00.001-08:00

Diamonds - is a industrial diamonds are used for such a wide variety of purposes that a sudden shortage would cause havoc in many branches of manufacture and mining. This is because diamonds as well as being the most brilliant and precious of stones are also one of the hardest materials known to man. Their earliest use in industry was as an abrasive powder for sawing and polishing operations and for grinding metal cutting tools. Many kinds of drills use diamonds as cutters. The introduction of the carbonado or black diamonds of Brazil less brittle than other forms greatly improved rock drilling for geological and mine prospecting. But they have become so scarce that other suitable varieties have had to be substituted. Diamonds are also employed for cutting glass and porcelain for fine engraving for dental surgery and for bearings in watches.

Why do objects appear reversed in a mirror?

2015-02-06T07:38:00.002-08:00

Mirror - is a objects will appear reversed in a mirror because what you are seeing is a reflection and not a reproduction of the image. If you stand in front of a mirror with your right eye closed the image in the mirror will appear to show your left eye closed because the image is facing the opposite direction. In all reflection images and directions are reversed. By using a combination of two mirrors at right angles to each other the reversal will be eliminated. This is because the reversed image will be reversed yet again in the second mirror thus giving a true likeness of the original object.

Why do some acids burn?

2015-02-06T07:27:00.000-08:00

Acids - is some acids burn because they have a strong tendency to absorb water giving out a great deal of heat in the process. Since most living cells contain water the strong acids such as sulphuric acid hydrochloric acid and nitric acid react with them and kill the cells causing very serious burns. These three acids as well as others such as perchloric acid and benzine sulphuric acid are called mineral acids because they are manufactured from minerals. They are all strong and dangerous acids. They have tremendous industrial value but great care must be used in handling them. Most organic acids that is to say those made from living things are weak acids. Vinegar or lemon juice are examples. All acids taste sour and most attack metals turning them into salts and releasing hydrogen. Special clothing is worn by men handling acids to protect them from serious burns. Acid must always be poured slowly into water never water into acid. If you are burned by acid you should wash your skin with large quantities of water and then with a weak ammonia solution. If yours eyes are affected flush them immediately with lots of water and then with bicarbonate of soda solution which neutralizes any acid left.

Where do shadows go?

2015-02-03T00:18:00.000-08:00

Shadows - is need light before they can appear. If the light goes out the shadow goes out too. A shadow is that part of an illuminated surface which is shielded from oncoming light rays by an object through which the light cannot pass. If the source of light is small the outline of the shadow will be sharp and pronounced and its shape will be that of the object producing it. If the source of light is large the shadow is very dark in the middle the umbra and much lighter on the outside with indistinct outlines the penumbra. Shadows cast by the sun always have a penumbra and the shape of the shadows cast varies with the position of the sun in the sky and the angle of its rays. An upright pole will cast a long shadow in the morning when the sun is rising but grows shorter as noon approaches. As the sun declines in the sky the shadow grows longer again. Human shadows have often had a mystical or magical significance.

Where was the world before it was made?

2015-02-02T23:54:00.001-08:00

The world - is the beginning our universe was a mass of white hot vapours and molten materials whirling about in space. Our world was formed from this. Astronomers believe it took millions of years for the cloud to cool contract and begin to turn into molten rock. Modern astronomers think that many millions of years ago there was a huge explosion in space. They do not known exactly what happened. But it is possible that our sun exploded or that a much bigger companion star of the sun became a supernova that is it broke up violently. The debris and blazing gases from this explosion were it is thought flung far into space. For more millions of years our universe boiled and bubbled. But slowly, very slowly, the fiery redness began to cool and condense into the nine planets and many more smaller bodies. All these planets now revolve around the sun. After further vast periods of time the lava of the earth began to solidify developing over many millions of years into the world as we known it today.

What is Milky way?

2015-01-28T20:57:00.000-08:00

Milky way - or Galaxy, is the whole concourse of stars and other bodies which can be seen stretched across the heavens. It includes our own sun and its planets as well as all stars visible to the naked eye. But the name is commonly restricted to the luminous band oe belt where most classes of stars are concentrated.
The spiral arms of the Milky Way are rich in hot, bright stars, interstellar clouds of gas mainly hydrogen and dust. The first evidence of spiral arms was obtained in 1951 by the American astronomer W. W. Morgan who identified three.
Our own system of sun and planets appears to be situated towards the inner edge of one of the arms which is about 1,300 light years away. The Andromeda nebula a vast mixture of gaseous and solid matter is visible as a small luminous patch in our sky. But it is comparable in size to the Milky Way and seems remarkably similar to our own galaxy.
The Palomar telescope 200 inchers in diameter situated on Mount Palomar in California has perhaps 1,000 million galaxies within the scope of its vision.

Why does an automobile have a carburettor?

2015-01-27T04:55:00.003-08:00

Carburettor - is an automobile driven by an internal combustion engine which will work properly only if the right amounts of petrol and air are mixed together. The carburetto is the part of the engine where the mixing takes place.

The burning of fuel in the engine is a chemical reaction in which petrol combines with the oxygen of the air to produce water heat energy and oxides of carbon.

A chemically correct mixture should have 15 parts of air to one part of petrol both by weight. The amount of air then present is just sufficient to burn the petrol completely. If the engine uses a mixture with an excess of petrol a rich mixture a small amount of unburnt petrol will be present in the exhaust fumes.

A carburettor has to produce the required mixture in varying strengths to suit different engine conditions such as starting, idling, acceleration, cruising and application of full power. It must be able to pass the correct mixture at all engine speeds and under varying loads and has to atomize the petrol into tiny droplets and vaporize the resulting spray into a combustible mixture.

Inside the carburettor is a throttle valve which can increase or decrease the amount of mixture passing into the cylinders which in turn controls the power of the engine. This valve is mounted on a spindle which is operated by the accelerator pedal.

A special device called a "strangler" is also incorporated to help in starting the engine in cold weather by allowing an extra rich mixture. This is commonly referred to as the choke.

Why does an automobile have a carburettor?

2015-01-27T04:55:00.001-08:00

The burning of fuel in the engine is a chemical reaction in which petrol combines with the oxygen of the air to produce water heat energy and oxides of carbon.

A special device called a "strangler" is also incorporated to help in starting the engine in cold weather by allowing an extra rich mixture. This is commonly referred to as the choke.

When can electric shocks help to cure people?

2015-01-14T09:07:00.000-08:00

Electric shocks - is a treatment or electroconvulsive therapy is sometimes used with people suffering from mental illnesses in which severe depression is the main symptom.

It was first used in 1938 by U. Cerletti and L. Bini in Rome and was recommended for the treatment of manic depression and schizophrenia (literally, "splitting of the mind").

The technique of electroconvulsive therapy is to place two electrodes on the temples of the patient and pass alternating currents through his head. This causes him to lose consciousness immediately and is followed by a convulsion of the body. It is claimed that the patient is much calmer and better balanced when he regains consciousness. In general, treatment is given three times a week for periods from two to six weeks. Some acutely disturbed patients, however, have been given as many as two or three treatments in a day.

This treatment has become less common since the discovery of tranquillizing drugs which reduce feelings of anxiety and agitation without too many side effects.

Weak electrical shocks are also used in physiotherapy to stimulate muscles wasted by disease.

When was the first human heart transplant?

2015-01-10T23:39:00.000-08:00

Heart transplant - is the first human heart transplant took place on December 3, 1967 at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa. A team of 20 surgeons headed by Dr. Christian Barnard, operated on Louis Washkansky, aged 55, using the heart of a 24 years old donor. Denise Ann Darvall, who had been killed in a road accident.

Both the donor and the recipient were of the same blood group and the heart was kept in cooled oxygenated blood for more than three hours before transplantation. The operation took five hours and the new heart was only half the size of Washkansky's. The operation itseft was a success and within a few days Washkansky was sitting up eating and talking happily. The doctors were anxious about transplant rejection by the body and also post operative infection which did kill Eashkansky within a month of the transplant.

In January 1968 a second transplant was carried out on Philip Blaiberg a 58 year old dentist who subsequently overcame a severe liver infection and lung condition thought to be the result of his body trying to reject the new heart. By the end of 1968 more than 100 transplants had been carried out in the United States, Britain, France, India, South America, Canada, Czechoslovakia and Israel. More than 40 patients survived. Blaiberg remained alive until August 17, 1969 and other patients survived for up to two and a half years but the number of operations declined. From December 1970 to May 1971 only six operations were performed. Caution took the place of optimism.

When was penicillin discovered?

2015-01-10T23:12:00.000-08:00

Penicillin - was discovered in 1929 by Sir Alexander Fleming, then a professor and lecturer at the Royal College of Surgeons in London. He wanted to find a subtance which would kill bacteria but would not also poison the tissues of the patient' body.

Fleming discovered peni

cillin by accident while he was reseaching into influenza. He was examining a staphylococcus a kind of germ, when he noticed that it had created a bacteria free circle of mould around itself. When he experimented further, he discovered that this liquid mould which he named penicillin prevented further growth of the staphylococcus germ even when diluted and made 80 times weaker. Also, penicillin had no poisonous effect on the human cells.

Sir Alexander Fleming published his results in the Journal of Experimental Pathology in 1929.

For some time it was thought that there was only one penicillin but later it was discovered that the mould could produce four penicillins. They were distinguished by the letters F, G, X and K. The best known is penicillin G, which came into widespread use after the Second World War.

What gives you flat feet?

2015-01-10T22:53:00.002-08:00

Flat feet - when you make wet footprints on the bathroom floor you will see that there are blank patches in the middle between the toe marks and the heel marks. This is because the middle parts of the feet are raised off the ground by two sets of muscles called the tibial and the peronal muscles which make the arches of the feet. If these muscles weaken the feet spread out and the arches sink to the ground. The footprints are flat with no gaps in the middle. This is called having flat feet, or fallen arches.

Sometimes people get flat feet because their jobs keep them standing around too much. Policemen, waitresses and nurses often suffer from flat feet.

The cure is exercise which tightens up the muscles again. Supports to be put inside shoes are worse than useless. They make the muscles slacken weaker instead of stronger.

What is the pituitary gland?

2015-01-10T22:35:00.001-08:00

Pituitary gland - is a small structure about the size of a pea which is attached to the base of the brain. It consists of four parts and is the most important gland in the body for it controls the hormone output of all the ther ductless glands including the thyroid and organ glands.

The pituitary hangs by a little stalk just behind the nasal passage and was named after the Latin word for "nasal secretion" by the Belgian Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), known as the "father of anatomy", who mistakenly believed that it discharged mucus into the nose.

It the pituitary is not functioning properly gigantism or dwarfism may result. Premature old age extreme thinness, extreme fatness and disturbances in sexual development are other disorders which may occur.

What makes us sneeze?

2015-01-08T21:40:00.000-08:00

Sneeze - occurs when the white tissue or lining in our nose called a membrane gets inflamed or irritated. Our body reacts by letting out air as quickly as possible through the nose and mouth in an attempt to get rid of whatever is causing the irritation.

People used to make themselves sneeze by putting snuff a kind of finely ground tobacco into their nostrils. This would tickle the membrane in the nose. Sneezing was thought to be healthy because it helped to get rid of germs.

What is hair for?

2014-12-05T10:11:00.001-08:00

Hair - has several functions. First it keeps us warm. This is no longer as important as it was in the days of our Stone Age ancestors who were worse off for clothes and heating but a good deal hairier. There are in fact few areas of the body the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet which are not covered with fine hair.
A second function of hair is to protect delicate parts. Eyelashes for instance prevent dust entering the sensitive eye.
In the case of animals hair can act as camouflage. By matching the background an animal's coat helps it to avoid enemies. The northern hare even grows a white coat in winter as camouflage in the snow.
The hair of both animals and human beings also serves to attract mates. People wear wigs and go to hairdressers to make themselves attractive to others.
But unlike many animals we have no special sensory hairs helping us to feel our way around. A cat's whiskers are as sensitive as radio aerials. Being wider than the widest part of its body they also help it tell wheather it can get through a narrow space even when it is dark.

Why do we vaccinate against smallpox?

2014-10-07T05:43:00.004-07:00

Vaccination - we vaccinate against smallpox to allow the body to develop antibodies which will make it more or less immune to attack from the disease. In fact, by vaccination or inoculation we mean that a person is injected with the organism that causes the disease or its toxin (poison). This organism is modified physically or chemically so that without doing any damage it triggers the body's immunizing defenses. We call these modified cultures vaccines.

Vaccination against smallpox was first carried out into the East. Poisonous material taken from the blisters of a mild case of smallpox was inserted into the arm of the person to be protected. This produced a mild case of smallpox and enabled the body to manufacture the antibodies.

Vaccination was introduced into England in 1721 by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, wife of the British ambassador to Turkey, who had her own children inoculated at Constantinople. However, this method could result in a severe or fatal attack of the disease.

Dr. Edward Jenner took the next step in 1796 when he inoculated a body named James Phipps with poisonous matter from the arm of Sarah Nelmes, a dairymaid suffering from cowpox (a mild disease closely allied to smallpox). Some weeks later he inoculated James Phipps with smallpox, but the boy did not contract the disease.

In 1798 Jenner published a book on his experiments and the practice of vaccination spread throughout the world. The principle has been applied to many diseases. Babies and young children are particularly susceptible to complications from whooping are immunized soon after birth. Poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis), cholera, yellow fever, and typhoid are all dangerous diseases which inoculation has been able to control.

Why are there different types of saw?

2014-07-22T03:41:00.003-07:00

Different saws - are of many shapes and sizes, according to the special purposes for which they are to be used and the materials they are meant to cut. Most are designed to cut through wood but others have the particular qualities needed for cutting metals and stones.

There are two types of large hand saw. Both have steel blades with wooden handles but the teeth are shaped differently to fit the job they have to do. One is a cross cut saw for cutting across the grain of the wood. The leading edges of the teeth slope backward and are also bevelled or angled transversely. In other words they are cut away at the edges to give an oblique angle like the edge of a chisel thus producing a sharp pointed profile or shape designed to avoid splintering the wood.

The second type is the rip or tenon saw which is used for cutting along the grain of the wood. This has a smaller blade, strengthened by a steel strip along the top edge and smaller teeth. It is used as the name suggests in cutting tenon or slotted joints.

Smaller hand saws like the fretsaw, are used for cutting intricate shapes. These have a narrow blade stretched across an open frame. The hacksaw which is used for cutting metal by hand also has an open frame, but its blade is deeper and more closely toothed.
Machine saws are of three types:

1. A larger and stronger hacksaw operated by an electric motor through a crank and connecting rod.

2. A circular saw which has a rotating disc-shaped blade with teeth on the circumference.

3. A bandsaw which has a blade formed like an endless flexible band and tightly stretched over pulleys.

The bandsaw which has fine teeth along one edge operates at a higher speed than the circular saw. It can cut round curves of quite small radius because the blade is so narrow.

For stone-cutting in quarrying there are swinging gang saws with teeth like chisels and flat bladed circular saws which are either fed with a mixture of hard sand and water or fitted with rims of a hard abrasive substance called carborundum.

The hand held power saw driven by an electric or petrol driven engine is used for felling trees and cutting logs. This is also known as a chain saw because it is much like a bicycle chain equipped with saw teeth.

Why does an astronaut need a space suit?

2014-04-12T18:14:00.003-07:00

Astronaut - is a space suit enables an astronaut to survive by providing him artificially with conditions like those he is used to on earth. These conditions can be reproduces in a large space craft or space station in orbit but an astronaut still needs a space suit for operations outside the craft or for an emergency. In space men lack the air needed for breathing the pressure required to stop their blood from boiling and the natural protection of the atmosphere against radiation. All these must be supplied by the space suit which also must withstand the cold of space. When an astronaut ventures into space he leaves behind the safety of the atmospheric blanket which we on earth take for granted. His space suit becomes his own personal little world.

Why do some acids burn?

2014-03-31T21:11:00.003-07:00

Acids - some acids burn because they have a strong tendency to absorb water giving out a great deal of heat in the process. Since most living cells contain water the strong acids such as sulphuric acid, react with them and kill the cells causing very serious burns.

These three acids as well as others such as perchloric acid and benzine sulphuric acid are called mineral acids because they are manufactured from minerals. They are all strong and dangerous acids. They have tremendous industrial value but great care must be used in handling them.

Most organic acids that is to say those made from living things are weak acids. Vinegar or lemon juice are examples. All acids taste sour and most attack metals turning them into salts and releasing hydrogen.

Special clothing is worn by men handling acids to protect them from serious burns. Acid must always be poured slowly into water, never water into acid. If you are burned by acid you should wash your skin with large quantities of water and then with a weak ammonia solution. If your eyes are affected, flush them immediately with lots of water and then with bicarbonate of soda solution, which neutralizes any acid left.