Sputnik – The Satellite

Sputnik – The First Satellite in the Space

Name: Sputnik I
Launched On: October 4, 1957
Launched By: Soviet Union
Dimension: 58 cm. or 22.8 inches in diameter
Weight: 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds
Time Taken to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path: 98 minutes
Satellite Race Between US and Soviet Union:
In September 1955, the Naval Research Laboratory’s Vanguard proposal was chosen to represent the U.S. during the IGY.
The Sputnik launch changed everything. As a technical achievement, Sputnik caught the world’s attention and the American public off-guard. Its size was more impressive than Vanguard’s intended 3.5-pound payload. In addition, the public feared that the Soviets’ ability to launch ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons from Europe to the U.S. Then the Soviets struck again; on November 3, Sputnik II was launched, carrying a much heavier payload, including a dog named Laika.
On January 31, 1958, the tide changed, when the United States successfully launched Explorer I. This satellite carried a small scientific payload that eventually discovered the magnetic radiation belts around the Earth, named after principal investigator James Van Allen.
The Sputnik launch also led directly to the creation of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In July 1958, Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act (commonly called the “Space Act“), which created NASA as of October 1, 1958 from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and other government agencies.

Hockey

Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent’s goal using a hockey stick.
History: Games played with curved sticks and a ball can be found in the histories of many cultures. In Egypt, 4000-year-old carvings feature teams with sticks and a projectile, hurling dates to before 1272 BC in Ireland, and there is a depiction from 600 BC in Ancient Greece where the game may have been called kerētízein or kerhtízein because it was played with a horn or horn-like stick.
Subtypes: Field hockey, Ice hockey, Inline hockey, Roller hockey, Sledge hockey and Street hockey
Hockey World Cup: The Hockey World Cup is an international field hockey competition organized by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). The tournament was started in 1971. It is held every four years, bridging the four years between the Summer Olympics.
There is also a Women’s Hockey World Cup, which has been held since 1974 and was organized by the International Federation of Women’s Hockey Associations (IFWHA) until 1981, when the governing bodies merged into the current International Hockey Federation in 1982.
First Hockey World Cup:
The first Hockey World Cup was held in Barcelona, Spain from October 15-24, 1971 at Real Polo grounds.
Winner: Pakistan
Runner’s Up: Spain
Second Runner’s Up: India
Second Hockey World Cup:
The second Hockey World Cup was held in Amsterdam, Holland from August 24-September 2, 1973 at the Wagener Stadium, Amstelveen.
Winner: Netherlands
Runner’s Up: India
Second Runner’s Up: West Germany
Third Hockey World Cup:
The third Hockey World Cup was held at Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from March 1-19, 1975.
Winner: India
Runner’s Up: Pakistan
Second Runner’s Up: West Germany
Fourth Hockey World Cup:
The fourth Hockey World Cup was held at Campo del Polo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, from March 18-April 1, 1978.
Winner: Pakistan
Runner’s Up: Netherlands
Second Runner’s Up: Australia
Fifth Hockey World Cup:
World Cup came to India a year after they won the gold medal at the boycott-ridden 1980 Moscow Olympic Games and was held in Bombay from December 29, 1981 to January 12, 1982.
Winner: Pakistan
Runner’s Up: West Germany
Second Runner’s Up: Australia
Fifth Place: India
Sixth Hockey World Cup:
The sixth World Cup, was held at Willesden, London, England from October 4-19, 1986, was scheduled within a couple of days after the Asian Games in South Korea.
Winner: Australia
Runner’s Up: England
Second Runner’s Up: West Germany
Twelfth Place: India
Seventh Hockey World Cup:
The seventh Hockey World Cup was held in Lahore from February 12-23, 1990.
Winner: Netherlands
Runner’s Up: Pakistan
Second Runner’s Up: Australia
Tenth Place: India
Eighth Hockey World Cup:
The eighth Hockey World Cup was held at Homebush Stadium in Sydney, Australia from November 23 to December 4, 1994.
Winner: Pakistan
Runner’s Up: Netherlands
Second Runner’s Up: Australia
Fifth Place: India
Ninth Hockey World Cup:
The Hockey World Cup of 1998 was held at Galgenwaard Stadium in Utrecht, Netherlands from June 20-July 1, 1998.
Winner: Netherlands
Runner’s Up: Spain
Second Runner’s Up: Germany
Ninth Place: India
Tenth Hockey World Cup:
Tenth Hockey World Cup held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from February 24 to March 4, 2002.
Winner: Germany
Runner’s Up: Australia
Second Runner’s Up: Netherlands
Tenth Place: India
Eleventh Hockey World Cup:
The eleventh Hockey World Cup was held at Monchengladbach, Germany from September 6 to September 17, 2006.
Winner: Germany
Runner’s Up: Australia
Second Runner’s Up: Spain
Eleventh Place: India
Twelfth Hockey World Cup:
The last Hockey World Cup was held at New Delhi, India from February 28 to March 13, 2010.
Winner: Australia
Runner’s Up: Germany
Second Runner’s Up: Netherlands
Eighth Place: India

Thermometer

Thermometers measure temperature, by using materials that change in some way when they are heated or cooled. In a mercury or alcohol thermometer the liquid expands as it is heated and contracts when it is cooled, so the length of the liquid column is longer or shorter depending on the temperature. Modern thermometers are calibrated in standard temperature units such as Fahrenheit or Celsius and Kelvin.

Early History
In 1593, Galileo Galilei invented a rudimentary water thermoscope, which for the first time, allowed temperature variations to be measured. In 1612, the Italian inventor Santorio became the first inventor to put a numerical scale on his thermoscope. It was perhaps the first crude clinical thermometer, as it was designed to be place in a patient’s mouth for temperature taking. In 1654, the first enclosed liquid-in-a-glass thermometer was invented by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand II. The Duke used alcohol as his liquid.

Fahrenheit Scale – Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was the German physicist who invented a alcohol thermometer in 1709, and the mercury thermometer in 1714. In 1724, he introduced the standard temperature scale that bears his name – Fahrenheit Scale.

Centigrade Scale – Anders Celsius
The Celsius temperature scale is also referred to as the “centigrade” scale. Centigrade means “consisting of or divided into 100 degrees”. In 1742, the Celsius scale was invented by Swedish Astronomer Anders Celsius.

Kelvin Scale – Lord Kelvin
Lord Kelvin took the whole process one step further with his invention of the Kelvin Scale in 1848. The Kelvin Scale measures the ultimate extremes of hot and cold. Kelvin developed the idea of absolute temperature, what is called the “Second Law of Thermodynamics”, and developed the dynamical theory of heat.

Mouth Thermometers
In 1612, the Italian inventor Santorio invented a mouth thermometer and perhaps the first crude clinical thermometer. However, it was both bulky, inaccurate, and took too long to get a reading. The first doctors Hermann Boerhaave, Gerard L.B. Van Swieten founder of the Viennese School of Medicine, and Anton De Haen. These doctors found temperature correlated to  the progress of an illness, however, few of their contemporaries agreed, and the thermometer was not widely used.

First Practical Medical Thermometer
Sir Thomas Allbutt (1836–1925) invented the first practical medical thermometer used for taking the temperature of a person in 1867. It was portable, 6 inches in length and able to record a patient’s temperature in 5  min.

Ear Thermometer
During World War II, Theodore Hannes Benzinger invented the ear thermometer. David Phillips invented the infra-red ear thermometer in 1984. Dr. Jacob Fraden, CEO of Advanced Monitors Corporation, invented the world’s best-selling ear thermometer, the Thermoscan® Human Ear Thermometer.

WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health.
Organization type – Specialized agency of the United Nations
Head – Dr. Margaret Chan
Established – 7 April 1948
Headquarters – Geneva, Switzerland

Activities
Apart from coordinating international efforts to control outbreaks of infectious disease, such as SARS, malaria, tuberculosis, influenza, and HIV/AIDS, the WHO also sponsors programs to prevent and treat such diseases. The WHO supports the development and distribution of safe and effective vaccines, pharmaceutical diagnostics, and drugs, such as through the Expanded Program on Immunization.

The role of WHO in public health
Providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where joint action is needed;
Shaping the research agenda and stimulating the generation, translation and dissemination of valuable knowledge;
Setting norms and standards and promoting and monitoring their implementation;
Articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options;
Providing technical support, catalysing change, and building sustainable institutional capacity;
Monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.
The WHO agenda
Promoting development
Fostering health security
Strengthening health systems
Harnessing research, information and evidence
Enhancing partnerships
Improving performance

St George Fort

Name: Fort St George (or historically, White Town)
Founded in: 1639
Founded at: Coastal city of Madras, the modern city of Chennai
Reason: For Trading Activities
Specialty: First English fortress in India

The East India Company, which had entered India around 1600 for trading activities, had begun licensed trading at Surat, which was its initial bastion. However, to secure its trade lines and commercial interests in the  spice trade, it felt the necessity of a port closer to the Malaccan Straits, and succeeded in purchasing a piece of coastal land, originally called Chennirayarpattinam or Channapatnam, from a Vijayanagar chieftain named  Damerla Chennappa Nayaka based in Chandragiri, where the Company began the construction of a harbor and a fort.

The fort was completed on April 23, coinciding with St George’s Day, celebrated in honor of the patron saint of England. The fort, hence christened Fort St George, faced the sea and some fishing villages, and it soon  became the hub of merchant activity.

The Fort is a stronghold with six-meter high walls that withstood a number of assaults in the 18th century. It briefly passed into the possession of the French from 1746 to 1749, but was restored to Great Britain under  the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which ended the War of the Austrian Succession.

In recent years
Fort St George complex housed the administrative buildings of the Government of Tamil Nadu till March 2010. The Legislature of Tamil Nadu and the secretariat was situated in the fort. The fort itself was open to the public however only to a certain area. The main building or the secretariat was open only to government officials and the police. The cannons and the moat which  guarded this old building have been left untouched. In 2010 the legislature and the secretariat moved to a new location and the old assembly complex was converted into a library for the Central Institute of Classical  Tamil. Following the 2011 assembly elections and the return of Jayalalithaa as the Chief Minister of the State, the Tamil Nadu Assembly and the Secretariat have been restored to Fort St George.

Mars – The Planet

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System.

The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars.

It is often described as the “Red Planet“, as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance.

Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the volcanoes, valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth.

The rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth, as is the tilt that produces the seasons.

Until the first flyby of Mars occurred in 1965, by Mariner 4, many speculated about the presence of liquid water on the planet’s surface.

In 2005, radar data revealed the presence of large quantities of water ice at the poles, and at mid-latitudes.

The Mars rover Spirit sampled chemical compounds containing water molecules in March 2007.

The Phoenix lander directly sampled water ice in shallow Martian soil on July 31, 2008.

Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and irregularly shaped.

Mars is currently host to three functional orbiting spacecraft: Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Mars can easily be seen from Earth with the naked eye.

THE MOON

In this article, i am going to present some interesting trivia and facts about the Moon which was very useful for improving your General Knowledge.Its worth to read and it is enjoyable too

1) Natural Satellite is the body that orbits Planet or asteroid, in this way moon orbits the Earth.So the Moon 

   is the one and only Natural Satellite for the Earth

2) The Average distance of the moon to the Earth is 384403 Kilometers

3) The moon normally orbits the Earth of 27.3 days

4) Neil Armstrong was the First Man to step foot in the Moon

5) Due to the gravitational pull of the moon, Normally the Earth Tides occur.

6) The Gravity on the moon is less, it is just 17% of the Earth

7) The moon age is 4.6 Billion years 

8) Still researches are going, There is no air in the moon but there seems to be an little Possibility on the  

      Existence of Water

9) The Shape of the moon is not circular or spherical, it is Egg shaped

10) The Lunar Eclipse will occurs between the Moon and the Earth

Some PROS and CONS of the Nuclear Power

Day by Day human energy needs are growing rapidly, we are looking for the best and reliable energy source for our needs, Nuclear power plants will satisfy our needs, and it is pollution free too

Like every power Generation It has several advantages and some Disadvantages , let us discuss some Pros and Cons of the Nuclear Power

PROS

1) In the Power Generation lower Green house Gases and Carbondioxide are Released into the
     Atmosphere, it is Pollution free

2) The operating cost of the Nuclear Power Plant is Relatively Low

3) It can Generate Power for large industries and the City needs, so it is better than Solar power which is
     restricted to medium power generation

CONS

1) The construction time for making an Nuclear plant is long

2) Due to the complexity in the Systems of Nuclear plant , High investment costs are needed

3) The Waste of the nuclear plants will lasts upto 200-500 Years

4) There are unknown risks involved in the Nuclear plant

5) Nuclear power plants are one of the targets for the terrorism, so high risk involved in this plant

6) Uranium is to be digged in the areas where tribes who do not support the Digging of mine from the Earth

Some interesting facts about the Human Body

Human body is the Protective part of our Soul, let us see some of the Crazy and interesting facts about our Human Body which is unknown to you so far.

1) The Acids in stomach are very strong, it can Dissolve Zinc.The cells in the Stomach lining will renew so
    fast, so fortunately it had no time to dissolve it

2) The Tiny Blood Vessels of Lungs was over 300,000 million, if it is laid end to end they can stretch about
     2400 kilometers

3) The Testicles of Man can manufacture 10 million new sperm cells each day

4) About 1 Million individual Filters are there in the Kidneys, which around 1.3 Liters of Blood per minute
    and expel up to 1.4 liters of Urine a Day are filtered by the kidneys

5) About 90% of the information are Receiving by our Eyes,which makes us Visually Creatures a lot

6) The Female Ovaries contain a Half Million Egg cells but yet about 400 will get the opportunity to create a
    New life

7) From Growing Base to Tip, the Finger and toenail takes of Six Months

8) The Person in the West Eats about 50 tonnes of Food and drink 50,000 Liters of water in his lifetime

9) In the Time period of 30 Minutes the Body gains enough Heat to Boil an half gallon of Water.

10) It takes about 60 Seconds for an Single Human blood cell to make a Complete circuit of our Body

Strange Facts

Bone is five times stronger than steel.

Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, never telephoned His wife or mother because they were both deaf.

Bamboo can grow up to 3 ft in 24 hours.

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

“Bookkeeper” is the only word in English language with three consecutive Double letters.

Sharks can live up to 100 years.

When glass breaks, the cracks move at speeds of up to 3,000 miles per hour.

All the planets in our solar system rotate anticlockwise, except Venus. It is the only planet that rotates clockwise.

Cockroach is the fastest animal on 6 legs covering a meter a second.

Due to gravitational effects, your weigh slightly less when the moon is directly overhead.

Polar Bear can look clumsy & slow but during chase on ice, can reach 25 miles / hr of speed.

The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning it’s head are the rabbit and the parrot.

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

The Statue of Liberty’s index finger is eight feet and one inch long.

Giraffes can not swim.