Subscribe
Home Blog Page 433

Agni-II Launched Successfully

By
Syskool
-
0

The Strategic Forces Command of the Indian Army successfully test-fired the Agni-II ballistic missile on April 7, 2013.

Having lifted off from a mobile launcher on Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast, the missile travelled its entire course of 2,000 km before splashing into the designated area in the Bay Bengal with an accuracy of a few metres. It was hailed as a perfect mission, with the entire flight lasting over 10 minutes.

The Defence Research and Develop­ment Organisation (DRDO) said in a statement that everything went off well, during the test-flight. Electro-optical systems monitored the flight. Two ships stationed down range saw every stage of the mission, including the final event of the missile’s splash-down. Its fully indigenous, highly accurate navigation systems took the missile to a few metres off the targeted location.

Agni-II, which is capable of earning nuclear warheads, is 20 metres long and weighs 17 tonnes. The missile has been developed by the DRDO. Its two stages are Propelled by solid fuel. it can carry a payload weighing one tonne.

Treaty To Limit Use Of Mercury Adopted By 140 Countries

By
Syskool
-
0
Treaty To Limit Use Of Mercury Adopted By 
 
140 Countries
 
 
Delegations from 140 countries agreed on January 19, 2013 to adopt a ground­breaking treaty to limit the use and emission of health-hazardous mercury. The world’s first legally binding agreement on mercury was reached after a week of talks held in Geneva, Switzerland. The treaty aims to reduce global emission levels of the toxic heavy metal, also known as quicksilver, which poses risks to human health and the environment.
The treaty has been named the Minamata Convention on Mercury, in honour of the Japanese town where inhabitants have long suffered the consequences of serious mercury contamination. The text of the pact will be signed in Minamata in October 2013. It will take effect once it is ratified by 50 countries. The UN expects the process to take three to four years.

Mercury is found in products ranging from electrical switches, thermometers and light-bulbs, to amalgam dental fillings and even facial creams. Large amounts of the heavy metal are released from small-scale gold mining, coal-burning power plants, metal smelters and* cement production. Serious mercury poisoning affects the body’s immune system and development of the brain and nervous system, posing the greatest risk to infants and foetuses. The new treaty sets a phase­out date of 2020 for a long line of products, including mercury thermo­meters, blood pressure measuring devices, most batteries, switches, some kinds of fluorescent lamps and soaps and cosmetics. It, however, exempts some large medical measuring devices for which no mercury-free alternatives exist

Secrets deep in the Sun

By
Syskool
-
0
Secrets deep in the Sun

In an article published in the journal Science on April 5, 2013, recent simulations have ushered in a major understanding of aspects of the sun’s magnetic field. The interesting facts of the finding of the simulation are these: at the base of the sun’s turbulent convection layer, torus like bands of magnetic field of opposite polarities form at mid-latitude on either hemisphere.

Intriguingly, the torus-like bands of magnetic field undergo polarity reversals once every forty years. The highlight of the study is that the researchers were able to show that a regular cycle is produced and this type of internal magnetic field believed to be conducive to the formation of sunspots. The reversal of polarity of the torus-like bands every forty years is nearly four times as long as the observed solar cycle. It is further pointed out that other numerical simulations produced instead large-scale zonal structures within the turbulent convection layer and peaking at low latitudes. The simulations also reveal factors that could be of significance in affecting the observed cycles.

What are icebergs ?

By
Syskool
-
0

What are icebergs?

Icebergs are detached masses of glacier which subside into the sea and float as wind or current may take them. About one-ninth of an iceberg is above sea level. The North Atlantic is the chief home of icebergs, which reach the ocean from the ice-clad plateaux of Greenland. Some of these floating masses of ice are of enormous proportions and constitute in the spring and early summer seasons a great menace to the safety of ships, as was disastrously shown in the Titanic catastrophe of 1912.

Don’t Miss:
Rivers, Waterfalls, and Glaciers

Interest Rates On Small Savings, PPF Reduced

By
Syskool
-
0

The Central Government has announced that starting April 1, 2013, Public Provident Fund (PPF) accounts and small savings schemes will fetch reduced returns owing to a cut in interest rates by 10 basis points each. According to a Finance Ministry statement, the interest rate on PPF will stand reduced from 8.8 percent to 8.7 percent. Likewise, the five-year maturity Monthly Income Scheme (MIS) will earn an interest of 8.4 percent during the 2013-14 financial year.

The only exception has been made in the case of savings deposits schemes and fixed deposits of up to one year run by post offices with their interest rates kept unchanged at 4 percent and 8.2 percent, respectively All other savings schemes falling under the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) will see a reduction in interest rates by 10 basis points which would be applicable for the entire 2013-14 financial year. For instance, the National Savings Certificates (NSC) having five and 1,0-year maturity periods will now earn interest rates of 8.5 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively, as against 8.6 percent and 8.9 percent hitherto. The interest rate for Senior Citizens Savings Scheme (SCSS) also stands reduced to 9.2 percent from 9.3 percent.

1...432433434...441Page 433 of 441

Subscribe for exclusive content

We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.

Subscribe

Copyright Syskool.