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Must know Facts about India’s Nirbhay Missile

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Nirbhay missile
Nirbhay missile, India’s first home-grown subsonic cruise missile was successfully test-launched from the Interim Test Range in Chandipur, near Balasore in Orissa.

This is Nirbhay’s second launch, the first being terminated mid-way on 12 March 2013 owing to a technical snag. Nirbhay, with an expected strike range of 800-1000 km, is the first missile being made completely in Bangalore. Must-know points about India’s Nirbhay or ‘fearless missile’:

  • It is a sub-sonic cruise missile. It blasts off like a rocket, but then unlike a missile, it turns into an aircraft. Unlike other ballistic missiles like the Agni, Nirbhay has wings and pronounced tail fins.
  • In early flight after launch, the rocket motor falls off and the small wings get deployed.
  • At this point, a gas turbine engine kicks in and it becomes like a full aircraft.
  • The Nirbhay missile is very maneuverable and can fly at ttree-top level making it difficult to detect on radar.
  • Once near the target, it can even hover, strikings at will from any direction.
  • It can strike targets more than 700 km away carrying nuclear warheads, giving India the capability to strike deep into enemy territory.
  • It gives India the capacity to launch different kinds of payloads at different ranges from various platforms at a very low cost. It can be launched from a mobile launcher.
  • The Nirbhay missile has a fire-and-forget system that cannot be jammed.
  • It is India’s answer to America’s Tomahawk and Pakistan’s Babur missile. The US had deployed cruise missiles very effectively during the Gulf War.
  • The Nirbhay missile is similar to the US Tomahawks, which can fly like an aircraft and capable of travelling up to 1,000 km.
  • India has made ballistic missile and tactical missiles of different capacity but is yet to master the making of a cruise missile.
  • The missile was nurtured at the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s premier laboratory Aeronautical Development Establishment in Bangalore’s C V Raman Nagar.
  • The cost of one missile is Rs 10 crore.
  • It has good loitering capability, good control and guidance, a high degree of accuracy in terms of impact and very good stealth features.
  • It can fly at tree-top level making it difficult to detect on radar and as it approaches the target, the missile can determine the point of impact while hovering over the target.
  • It gives India the capacity to launch different kinds of payloads at different ranges from various platforms at a very low cost. It can be launched from a mobile launcher.

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Facts about the Statue of Liberty

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Syskool
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statue of liberty

The Statue of Liberty is located on Liberty Island, in the New York harbor, USA. The Statue of Liberty commemorates the American Declaration of Independence and was a gift from the people of France.

  • The statue was assembled on its pedestal after being constructed in France and sent to the US in crates.
  • It was dedicated on October 28, 1886.
  • The Statue of Liberty was designed by French sculptor Frederic Bartholdi.
  • The female form represented by the sculpture is based on Libertas, the Roman goddess of liberty. She holds a torch and a tabula ansata (tablet) that has the date of the American Declaration of Independence inscribed in it (July 4, 1776).
  • A broken chain also lies at the feet of the statue which is hard to see from the ground.
  • The official name of the Statue of Liberty is ‘Liberty Enlightening the World’.
  • The statue has been closed for renovation a number of times, including between 1984 and 1986 when the torch and much of the internal structure was replaced.
  • The Statue of Liberty stands 151 feet (46 metres) in height, and 305 feet (93 metres) from the ground to the torch.
  • The head of the statue was displayed at the World’s Fair in Paris, 1878.
  • There was difficulty in the United States finding money to fund the project, especially after a financial crisis in 1873. A fundraising drive led by newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer was embraced by New Yorkers and helped push work forward. 80% of the donations were of less than $1.
  • Liberty Island was previously called Bledloe’s Island.
  • There are replicas of the Statue of Liberty found in Paris, Las Vegas and many other cities around the world.
  • The Statue of Liberty celebrates her birthday on October 28th in honor of the day she was officially accepted by the president of the United States in 1886.
  • Visitors must climb 354 stairs to reach the Statue of Liberty’s crown (or take an elevator to a lower lookout point).
  • There are 25 windows in Lady Liberty’s crown.
  • The seven spikes on the Statue of Liberty’s crown represent either the seven oceans or the seven continents.
  • The statue is made of copper and is now green in color because of oxidation (a chemical reaction between metal and water) from evaporation of the seawater surrounding it.
  • Edouard de Laboulaye provided the idea for the statue, while Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi designed it.
  • The Statue of Liberty became the symbol of immigration during the second half of the 19th century, as over 9m immigrants came to the United States, with the statue often being the first thing they saw when arriving by boat.
  • The island in which it stands was previously called Bedloe Island, but its name was changed in 1956 to Liberty Island.

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General Knowledge Facts File – Important

John Dalton

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Syskool
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John Dalton

John Dalton was born on September 6, 1766, in Eaglesfield, England. His father was a weaver, who owned a house and a small amount of land. Both of his parents were Quakers. Although Quakers were Christians, they were seen as dissenters by the established Church of England.

John Dalton was an intelligent child, who took an interest in the world around him and tried to learn as much as he could about everything. He attended his village school until he was 11, and then began helping as a teacher.

At age 15, he started helping his older brother John to run a Quaker boarding-school in the town of Kendal, 40 miles from his home. All the while, he continued teaching himself science, mathematics, Latin, Greek and French. By the time he was 19, he had become the school’s principal, continuing in this role until he was 26 years old.

Read Also: Famous Chemists

Becoming a Scientist

In the first half of 1793, aged 26, John Dalton took the position of teacher of mathematics and natural philosophy at Manchester’s New College, a dissenting college.

In 1794, he wrote his first scientific paper which he called: Extraordinary Facts Relating to the Vision of Colours. This was the first ever paper to discuss color blindness. Dalton had realized the condition was hereditary, because he and other members of his family had it.

Ultimately, Dalton’s theory for color blindness was wrong, but as he was the first person ever to research it, the condition became known as Daltonism.

Further research papers followed, in the physical sciences: heat conduction, gas expansion by heat, the properties of light, the aurora borealis, and meteorology.

Must Read: Chemistry Glossary and Terms

Atomic Theory

The Behavior of Gases

In 1801, John Dalton gave a series of lectures in Manchester whose contents were published in 1802. In these lectures he presented research he had been carrying out into gases and liquids. This research was groundbreaking, offering great new insights into the nature of gases.

Firstly, John Dalton stated correctly that he had no doubt that all gases could be liquified provided their temperature was sufficiently low and pressure sufficiently high. He then stated that when its volume is held constant in a container, the pressure of a gas varies in direct proportion to its temperature.

This was the first public statement of what eventually became known as Gay-Lussac’s Law, named after Joseph Gay-Lussac who published it in 1809.

In 1803, John Dalton published his Law of Partial Pressures, still used by every university chemistry student, which states that in a mixture of non-reacting gases, the total gas pressure is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of the individual gases.

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Dalton and Atoms

His study of gases led Dalton to wonder about what these invisible substances were actually made of. The idea of atoms had first been proposed more than 2000 years earlier by Democritus in Ancient Greece. Democritus believed that everything was made of tiny particles called atoms and that these atoms could not be split into smaller particles. John Dalton was now going to solve this 2000 year-old mystery.

He carried out countless chemical reactions, and in 1808 published what we now call Dalton’s Law in his book A New System of Chemical Philosophy:

If two elements form more than one compound between them, then the ratios of the masses of the second element which combine with a fixed mass of the first element will be ratios of small whole numbers.

Must Read: Modern Science Timeline

John Dalton Atomic Theory states that:

  • The elements are made of atoms, which are tiny particles, too small to see.
  • All atoms of a particular element are identical.
  • Atoms of different elements have different properties: their masses are different, and their chemical reactions are different.
  • Atoms cannot be created, destroyed or split.
  • In a chemical reaction, atoms link to one another, or separate from one another.
  • Atoms combine in simple whole-number ratios to form compounds.

Although we have learned that atoms of the same element can have different masses (isotopes), and can be split in nuclear reactions, most of Dalton’s Atomic Theory holds good today, over 200 years after John Dalton described it. It is the foundation on which modern chemistry has been built.

Honors

John Dalton did not marry. He remained a faithful Quaker all of his life, living modestly.

In 1810 he declined an invitation to become a member of the Royal Society. In 1822, he was elected without his knowledge. In 1826, he was awarded the Society’s Royal Medal for his Atomic Theory.

In 1833, the French Academy of Sciences elected him as one of its eight foreign members. In 1834, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences elected him as a foreign member.

Don’t Miss: Facts about Periodic Tables

The End

When he was 71 years old, Dalton had a small stroke – or paralysis as it was known then. A year later, a more significant stroke left him unable to speak as clearly as he once could. In 1844, when he was 77, another stroke hit him. He died aged 77 on July 27, 1844.

His scientific reputation was so great that when his body was placed in Manchester Town Hall, it was visited by more than 40,000 people paying their respects. John Dalton was buried in Manchester in Ardwick cemetery.

Also, Read: Inventions and Discoveries

All You Need to Know About Queen Victoria

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Syskool
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Queen Victoria

Here are some facts about Queen Victoria, the 19th-century British monarch. Queen Victoria was the longest reigning British monarch in history. She was Queen from June 1837 until her death in January 1901. She was born on May 24, 1819, and married her first cousin, Prince Albert in 1840. The couple had 9 children, all of whom married into European royal families, and Victoria was often known as the grandmother of Europe.

  • Although she had 9 children, Victoria was never happy at having to go through the experience of giving birth. One time she took chloroform, which helped many women realize they could give birth without pain.
  • She was the first monarch to live at Buckingham Palace in London. Queen Victoria’s coronation took place on June 28, 1838.
  • Queen Victoria was a prolific writer, writing about 2,500 words every day during her adult life. Although some of her diaries were accidentally destroyed, many of these 122 volumes survive to this day.
  • Victoria did not like smoking and had ‘no smoking’ signs placed in almost all the rooms in the palace. She also did not like using the newly invented telephone.
  • She enjoyed looking at art and was quite a talented artist herself. On several birthdays and anniversaries, she gave her husband a painting.
  • Although the common image of Queen Victoria is of a serious looking woman, she had her fun side. She enjoyed a good joke, going to the opera, dancing and playing the piano.
  • Queen Victoria was devastated when her husband died in December 1861. From that day on, she wore only black and was in a permanent state of mourning.
  • During her reign, there were at least seven attempts to kill her. Several of the would-be assassins were sent to a mental asylum and were declared insane.
  • Queen Victoria could speak several languages, including Urdu and Hindustani. Although she never visited Canada, she declared Ottawa to be the capital of the province.
  • Named after the Queen, the Victoria Cross was introduced in 1856 for acts of bravery during the Crimean War. Today, it is still the highest award for bravery, not only in Britain but in Canada and Australia.
  • Although she treated her staff well, she did not care for Prime Minister Gladstone. Often, she would remain standing so that he had to stand too, despite the fact that he was in his 80s.
  • The Penny Black, the first adhesive postage stamp, was released in Britain on 1st May 1840. It was designed by William Mulready and shows Queen Victoria in profile.
  • In the UK, hundreds of streets and squares are named after Queen Victoria, and there are many statues to her. London’s Victoria station is named after her, as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum.
  • Victoria Falls in Africa is named after Queen Victoria.
  • Many other places around the world are also named after her, including Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa, the capital of the Seychelles Islands, several Canadian cities and two states in Australia.
  • Queen Victoria’s reign is also known as the Victorian Era or the Victorian Period.

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Chloroplasts – Unique Structures Found in Plant Cells

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Syskool
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chloroplasts

Chloroplasts are unique structures found in plant cells that specialize in converting sunlight into energy that plants can use. This process is called photosynthesis.

Organelle

Chloroplasts are considered organelles in plant cells. Organelles are special structures in cells that perform specific functions. The main function of the chloroplast is photosynthesis.

Read Also: Useful facts about Cells

Chloroplast Structure

Most chloroplast are oval-shaped blobs, but they can come in all sorts of shapes such as stars, cups, and ribbons. Some chloroplasts are relatively small compared to the cell, while others may take up the majority of the space inside the cell.

  • Outer membrane – The outside of the chloroplast is protected by a smooth outer membrane.
  • Inner membrane – Just inside the outer membrane is the inner membrane which controls which molecules can pass in and out of the chloroplast. The outer membrane, the inner membrane, and the fluid between them make up the chloroplast envelope.
  • Stroma – The stroma is the liquid inside the chloroplast where other structures such as the thylakoids float.
  • Thylakoids – Floating in the stroma is a collection of sacks containing chlorophyll called the thylakoids. The thylakoids are often arranged into stacks called granum as shown in the picture below. The granum is connected by disc-like structures called lamella.
  • Pigments – Pigments give the chloroplast and the plant its color. The most common pigment is chlorophyll which gives plants their green color. Chlorophyll helps to absorb energy from sunlight.
  • Other – Chloroplasts have their own DNA and ribosomes for making proteins from RNA.

Photosynthesis

Chloroplasts use photosynthesis to turn sunlight into food. The chlorophyll captures energy from light and stores it in a special molecule called ATP (which stands for adenosine triphosphate). Later, the ATP is combined with carbon dioxide and water to make sugars such as glucose that the plant can use as food.

Must Read: Cell Division and Cycle

Other Functions

Other functions of chloroplast include fighting off diseases as part of the cell’s immune system, storing energy for the cell, and making amino acids for the cell.

Interesting Facts about Chloroplasts

  • Simple cells, like those found in algae, may only have one or two chloroplasts. More complex plant cells, however, may contain hundreds.
  • Chloroplasts will sometimes move around within the cell in order to position themselves to where they can best absorb sunlight.
  • The “chloro” in chloroplast comes from the Greek word chloros (meaning green).
  • The most abundant protein in chloroplasts is the protein Rubisco. Rubisco is likely the most abundant protein in the world.
  • Human and animal cells do not need chloroplasts because we get our energy from eating and digesting food rather than through photosynthesis.
  • Scientists estimate that there are around 500,000 chloroplasts in a single square millimeter of a leaf.
  • There are actually different colors of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll A is the most common type and is green. Chlorophyll C is a golden or brownish color.

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