MY SCIENCE WEBSITE knowledgedrops.co.in

i am maintaining a a website on science

cyrilknowledgedrops.blogspot.com

those who are interested may go through.I started in 2013.It got discontinued for a short period.So I lost the viewers completely.It was widely read and commented upon regularly.And was very popular.

This site is useful especially for student community.
thank you.


TODAY MAY 22 IS WORLD BIODIVERSITY DAY

A framework for International action in protecting biodiversity that was agreed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992.It calls on countries to identify endangered species and conserve the places where they live, and under it each nation agreed to prepare a National Action Plan  or Biodiversity Strategy.
Areas experiencing the most pressure are among the most biodiverse places on Earth.The hardest hit are areas with more than 1500 plant species and areas with atleast 14 vertebrate species that are classified as threatened.When we look at the most species rich parts of the planet, previously we thought about 15% was still natural.But actually only 3% of Biodiversity Hotspots are natural according to Venter.This is really important because this is the most biologically viable real estate on the planet.This where we have unusually high concentrations of species that you just do not see anywhere..

PLANET EARTH

Up to two thirds of the earth's rocky surface is covered by water.It is covered by a mixture of gases called atmosphere reaching 700 kilometers from earth's surface.

• Earth spins around it's poles
• The spinning earth acts like a magnet.
• The different parts of the earth are - the thin rocky crust- the solid middle mantle- a central core.Outer part of core is liquid.Inner core solid metal.
• The inner core is made mainly of iron and nickel.The temperature at the core is 6000 degree Celsius, hot enough to melt metals.The core is 2500 kilometers wide.
• Around the centre flows a hot liquid layer of iron and nickel.This is the outer core,2200 metre thick.
• As the earth spins the metal ball and liquid layer move at different speeds.Due to extreme pressure in the intensely hot inner core is solid.
• The largest part of eartth's layer is called mantle which is 2900 kms thick. It is made of slow moving  rock.
• Rocks in the upper mantle is comparable to the paste oozing out of the tooth paste tube when you squeeze it.
• Earth's surface is covered by crust.
• Land is made up of continental crust which is 20 kilometers to 70 kilometers thick.
• Most of the crust is made of granite.
• Ocean bed is made up of 8 kilometer thick oceanic crust.It is mainly made of a rock called basalt.
• The crust is divided into huge slabs of rock called plates.Most plates have land and seas on top of them.
• Pacific plate is mostly covered by water.
• Areas of land on the plates are called continents. 
• Africa,Asia,Europe,North America,South America,Oceania,and Antarctica are the 7 continents.
• Very,very slowly ,the continents are moving.
• As plates move so do the continents.In some places plates push into each other.
• The continents are moving very very slowly.As plates move so do the continents.
• In some places plates push into each other.At times they move apart.North America is moving 3 cms away from Europe every year.
• There are places on earth, where hot,liquid rocks shootup through it's  surface.There are volcanoes.The huge space beneath a volcano filled with molten rock is  called Magma chamber.
• As pressure builds up inside the chamber ash,steam,and molten rock(lava) erupts to the surface.
• Volcanoes erupt in different ways and have different shapes.Volcanoes like those in Hawai have running lava.Others have thick lava.
• There are volcanoes under the sea.The hot lava cooled quickly by the sea forms pillow shaped lumps called pillow lava.
• The hot rocks don't always reach the surface.Huge lumps become struck.These are called batholiths.
• Rocks cool slowly forming large crystals called granite.
• A geyser can be found on the top of some old volcanoes.If these volcanoes collapse the gaps between the broken rocks make a group of pipes and chambers.Rain water seeps in ,collecting in the chamber where it is heated untill it boils.
• Steam builds up, pushing the water through the pipes and out of a cone shaped opening called nozzle.Steam and water shoot through the nozzle, making a fountain up to 60 meters high.
• There are springs in the ocean.They are called black smokers.
• They form near rift volcanoes.Here water is heated by volcanoes' magma chambers.The hot water dissolves chemicals in the rocks, which turn black when they are cooled by surrounding clean water.They rise like clouds of smoke from chimneys.

GEYSERS

Geysers are common in the volcanic regions of New Zealand in Oceania.In some areas they are even used to help make electricity.
In a hot spring, the water bubbles gently into the surface.
Wallowing in a mud spot can make your skin soft and smooth.Mud pot is made when fumes break down rocks into tiny pieces.These mix with water to form mud making it bubble .Some mud pots are cool enough to wallow in.
rocks being broken down by ice 
Ice has the power to make rocks crumble.In cold weather rainwater gets into cracks in rocks and freezes.Water swells as it turns into ice.The ice pushes with such power that the rock opens up the rock.Over a long time a rock can be broken down to thousands of tiny pieces.

Living things can break down rocks.Seeds landed on rocks grows and it"s roots smash open the rock.Tiny living things called lichens dissolve the surface of rocks to reach minerals they need to live.Rabbits make burrows which break up some of the rock in the ground.
Warming up and cooling down can break rocks into flakes.

• when a rock warms up it swells a little.when it cools the rock shrink back to it"s original size.
• repeated swelling and shrinking cause some rocks to break up into flakes.Sometimes layers of flakes form on a rock and make it look like onion skin.
• Glaciers break up rocks and carry them away.They slide away down mountainside and melt.As glacier moves,some rocks are snapped off and carried along.
• Rocks in rivers and seas are always getting smaller.As the water flows it gradually wears the rock down.Water also dissolves minerals from the rock.Sand and grit slowly grind away the rock surfaces.

FOREST FACTS 

The speed at which forests are being cut down worldwide is slowing down from 8.3 million hectares  a year in 1990 - 2000 to 5.2 million in the past decade(2001- 2010).
Forests help us to breathe.They pump out oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide.One adult leafy tree can produce as much oxygen as 10 people inhale in a year.Plankton are more prolific ,providing half of earth's  oxygen .But forests are key source of breathable air.
Half of all known species live in forests.This includes 80% of biodiversity on land.Bugs and worms' works provide nutrients into the soil.Bees and birds spread pollen and seeds.Keystone species like wolves and big bats keep hungry herbivores in check.
Each minute 85 acres of forests are destroyed

TODAY(OCTOBER 16) IS WORLD FOOD DAY
The global message for World Food Day 2016 is “Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too.”

It resonates with the crucial time in which the day will be observed, just before the next UN Climate Change Conference, COP 22, from 7-18 November 2016 in Marrakech, Morocco.
One third of food produced world over is wasted.More than 2 billion are living without food.

• when the forest disappears, there is no regulation of the flow into rivers. As a result, flood and droughts alternate in the affected  areas.
• Mrine ecosystems support more than 660 million jobs jobs globally and are significant source of protein, particularly in developing countries. 

Many forests have been affected by acid deposition originating from industries.
Pesticide spraying to control insects leads to poisoning all the way up to the food chain and unintended loss of predatory hawks,owls,eagles.In the absence of predators pests flourish.
Oil exploration and military activities disrupt the ecosystem,contaminate areas, and lead to decline of species.
Over the past 30 years forest temperatures have risen 2 degree Celsius,and studies indicate that climate warming is the driving force behind the collapse of the forest's food-web.The impact of climate change on tropical ecosystems may be much greater than currently anticipated.

Earth Overshoot Day

In less than 8 Months, Humanity exhausts Earth's budget for the year

Earth Overshoot Day 2016 lands on August 8, marking the date when humanity has exhausted nature’s budget for the year. For the rest of the year, we will maintain our ecological deficit by drawing down local resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We will be operating in overshoot.

Just as a bank statement tracks income against expenditures, Global Footprint Network measures humanity’s demand for and supply of natural resources and ecological services. And the data is sobering. Global Footprint Network estimates that approximately every eight months, we demand more renewable resources and C02 sequestration than what the planet can provide for an entire year.

The strangest chemical in the Universe - water.
All life needs liquid water(H2O).Water is the scaffold,the chemistry of life.

Air Quality
As urban air quality declines, the risk of stroke,heart disease,lung cancer,and chronic and acute respiratory diseases,including asthma, increases for the people who live in them.
Air pollution kills 6.5 million people every year globally.

TODAY IS EARTHDAY 2016

Earth supports all life forms.Provides air,water and food for all living things.Without plants no life can exist.Plants are the oxygen producing centres.So this year's Earth Day theme is to plant 7.8 billion trees by 2020.Let us fulfill this great task.Make life possible. 

EASTER GREETINGS

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST  is celebrated all over the world today.
It reminds us of all virtues,love,compassion and universal brotherhood.Our present day world is losing all values.A love lost world.Brutal and cruel actions are increasing.Killing the innocent has become the order of the day.The message of Easter is very very relevant today.

WORLD WATER DAY TODAY

"One person in six lives without regular access to safe drinking water; over twice that number—2.4 billion—lack access to adequate sanitation," said Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations. The event is sponsored by the UN to highlight important environmental issues facing the planet.

WORLD FROG DAY

WORLD FROG DAY 20th March 

Amphibians are among the groups hardest hit by today's many strikes against wildlife. As many as half of all species are under threat. Hundreds are sliding toward extinction, and dozens are already lost.

MARVELLOUS PLAYS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

ROMEO and JULIET

What will happen when two lovers disobey their feuding families and follow their hearts?The most famous and tragic love story of all time.

LAND AS A NATURAL RESOURCE

The land area of the earth is estimated to be about 140 million square kilometers.It occupies less than a third of the surface .Yet,it is vital for our existence.

• The land area preserves terrestrial biodiversity and the genetic pool
• It is the land that makes water available all the time over the whole planet by the process of water cycle.The land regulates the process.
• The carbon cycle is also regulated by land.
• The rain water and other sources of water running over the surface of the soil is filtered and stored underground by the land.
• More than 4000 minerals are found  under the earth which we utilise in different ways in every day life.
• The fossil fuels like coal,gasoline(petrol),natural gas that we use incessantly in our everyday use is stored under the land.These are basic resources.
• Land all over the world is a dumping place for all sorts of solid as well as liquid wastes
• Land forms the basis for human settlements whether it is on river banks, valleys,plains,mountains,ice covered continents or deserts.
• Transport activities also depend on land for terrestrial(road/rail),marine and air ways. 
• The top soil,just a few centimeters in thickness,supports all plant growth and is hence the life support system for all organisms,including mankind..
• Soil is a living system and not an inert bowl f or dumping chemicals.
• It is the land that supports the plants,trees ,and the whole living system.The world's total forest area is estimated slightly over 4 billion hectares.
• Russian Federation,Brazil,Canada,US,,and China accounts for more than half of the total forest area(53%).
• Land is inevitable for agriculture and food production.
• Land is the base for thriving forests.Forests have the potential to market and non-market based determinants of poverty reduction
• We use markets.every day buying ans selling goods to create economic value.It is done through the voluntary exchange of goods and services regulated by competition.Land is an essential item here also.
• The land absorbs as well as releases carbon.
• Each year,6 million hectares of agricultural land are lost due to desertification and soil degradation.This process affects 250 million people all over the world.
• Earth's surface is covered by crust Land is made up of continental crust between 20 and 70 kilometers thick.Most of it is made of granite.

POLAR LANDS IN PERIL

• From about 300 years ago,the polar regions were exploited by anyone who could get there.Vast number of fish,squid,as well as other animals were killed By the 1950's these creatures had become very rare, and in 1980 mass whaling was banned.

TODAY IS 67TH REPUBLIC DAY OF INDIA

This is an occasion reminding us all that we are all Indians,whether we reside in or out of the country,whether we believe in different religions or we practise different customs our unity and integrity is our strength.We shall strive forward to make our country number one in every fields.

JAI HIND.

LAND MINING

Mining is a boon as well as a curse to humanity.
A mineral is any substance naturally present in the earth's crust and is not formed from animal or vegetable matter.The geological processes are responsible for the formation of minerals.It takes millions and sometimes billions of years.That is why we say they are non-renewable.

• Gold,iron,copper,and aluminium are among the prominent metals extracted.Stone,sand and salt are examples non-metals.Over 100 minerals are mined like this.
• Coal is the major mineral mined from the earth.

IMPACTS OF MINING

• Mining leads to loss of land,livelihood,and even cultures
• Increased health risks due to contamination of natural resources such as land and water.
• Over the past 20 years 90 % of forest cover has been depleted due to mining
• Small Medium sized Enterprises play a major role in manually pre-processing the waste for isolation of toxic compounds and precious metals.
• World Health Organisation calculates that exposure to polluted soil water, and  air in 2012 resulted in an estimated 8.9 million deaths worldwide; largely in developing countries.

MINING IN INDIA

• Eighty per cent of mining in India is for coal.
• It is estimated that India has over 3500 mines operating legally.
• About 10 million people have been displaced from mining areas
• Over one million are employed in the industry..
• Mining industry in India produces 86 different  metals and minerals.
• Forest cover has been depleted by 90% over the past two decades due to mining.
• Globally the land surface is continuously degrading,soil is becoming devoid of nutrients and unhealthy,and desertification is increasing.
• Mining has become more intense and widespread and causes environmental and social problems. 
• Jharia situated in the state  of  Jharkand is a town surrounded by coal fires.

Coalfires occur like forest fires.Lightning,forest fires, or frictional heat inside the earth's crust can trigger the spontaneous combustion of coal.Burning of coal raises atmospheric temperature, and cause land subsidence.Smoke from these fires contain gases such as oxides of carbon,nitrogen,and sulphur.

• The fires have consumed 40 million tons of coking coal and rendered 1800 million tons out of bounds.
• It is estimated that the cost to extinguish the fire may go up to 10 billion rupees.
• It has become necessitated  to evacuate 3 million people of Jharia ,abandoning 100,000 houses.People are now hell on earth living in constant fear of subsidence that could cause the entire town to collapse..
• The impact of land use/abuse causes concern in the Air Quality.Higher levels of particulate matter in cities is a major concern all over the world.
• Dust storms have become regular between winter and spring.The amount of particulate matter in the Seol air is normally 70 micrograms of dust per cubic meter.1000 micrograms would cause breathing problems.On April 12, 2002 amount of particulate matter in the atmosphere in Seol,South Korea was 2070 micrograms per cubic meter.
• Dust storms are typically formed in desert areas and from there they can spread to places thousands of kilometers away.
• Land use pattern plays a key role in the environment.Overgrazing rangelands,overploughing the  cropland,overpumping the aquifers and overcutting the forests make land barren.
• In 2009,the levels of suspended particulate matter were worse than national standards in 91 cities in India.
• .In Delhi alone one out of every ten school children suffers from asthma.
• Most soil pollutants are agricultural chemicals,primarily fertilizers and pesticides.
• Dumping of waste including garbage, untreated sewage,industrial effluents,nuclear waste, and mining waste pollute the soil by leaking the danderous substances.
• Industrial discharges and agricultural run-off containing pesticides, fertilizers, and various toxic chemicals endup in the ocean.It comes to about 70 trillion lters a year.
• The future looks grim with respect to water,soil,and marine pollution.This calls for urgent steps.
• Human activities have changed sediment flows into coasts and the ocean.Deltas need sediments.But they do not get enough.While coral reefs are smothered by them.
• Land degradation and climatic changes convert fertile lands into desert soils.Fertile top soil takes centuries to form.But it can be washed or blown away in a short period of time.
• Over cultivation,deforestation and poor irrigation practices combined with climate change are turning once fertile places into barren land.
• Desertification has affected more than 50 million square kilometer of land.That is equal to one third of total land area of earth.
• The impacts of desertification remain a threat to one fifth of the global population.
• Cultivable land per person  is shrinking throughout the world, threatening food security and triggering humanitarian and economic crises.
• The UN Convention to Combat Desertification was adopted in 1994 which came into force in 1996.More than 190 countries are parties to the Convention.
• With increasing world population ,there will be intense pressure on land,especially in Africa and Asia.More intensive land use will be needed to feed the increasing population.More grass lands and forests will be converted to agricultural lands.
• Underground mining has little direct effect on the environment,but it can cause long-term problems like subsidence and pollution of aquifers.

EARTH HOUR IS OBSERVED TONIGHT  FROM 08.30 TO 09.30.THIS IS TO MAKE PEOPLE AWARE OF THE SERIOUSNESS OF UNPRECEDENTED INCREASE OF CARBON IN THE ATMOSPHERE COUPLED WITH THE ENERGY POOR WHO ARE LIVING  IN THE DARK.WE HAVE TO SEEK RENEWABLE SOURCES FOR ENERGY .THIS YEARS THEME IS SOLAR WORLD.A WORLD DEPENDING OR MAKING USE OF SOLAR ENERGY THE MOST.

The world's land surface is continuously degrading.Soil is becoming unhealthy, and desertification is increasing.
Mining has become more intense and widespread and causes many environmental and social problems.

THE ARAVALLI HILLS

• Spread across Haryana,Rajasthan,and Gujarat the hills are the lifeline of the three states.The hills  control the climate and drainage system.
• The hills act as the watershed for the region.