8th February 2016

What is a Cusec?

Cusec is a method of measuring the flow rate of liquids. One cusec is 1 cubic foot per second. It means a volume of water 1 foot high, 1 foot wide and 1 foot long travelling a distance of 1 foot in 1 second. One cusec is equivalent to 0.028317 cubic metre per second. Mostly the cusec is applied in measuring the flow of liquid, such as flow of oil in pipelines, and especially the flow of water in the rivers and its quantum of release through barrages, dams, etc., during floods.

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8th February 2016

Plankton helps form chalk

Plankton is a tiny organism found in the sea. A group of plankton named ‘coccolithophores’ comprises the chalk forming organisms. These organisms are microscopic and have shells made of lime. About 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, these planktons settled down on the sea bed after death and formed lime mud. Subsequent layers of the skeletal remains of these organisms got added followed by the geological conditions of tremendous pressure and heat. This resulted in the formation of rocks which we now know as ‘chalk’.

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8th February 2016

Bar code’s invention and its first stamped product

The bar code was invented by Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver in 1948. It was designed as a ‘bulls eye’ symbol comprising concentric circles. The initial idea of the bar code was to use it as a method for classifying grocery products. In 1970 a standard was set for all products and the Universal Grocery Products Identification Code (UGPIC) was written. It evolved further when in 1973 the Universal Product Code (UPC), which is currently in use, was invented by George J. Laurer. A scanner was installed in 1974 in Ohio, and the first product to have a bar code was a 10 pack Wrigley’s chewing gum.

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8th February 2016

The origin of the highest waterfall in the world

The Angel Falls is located in the Venezuela. It is named after Jimmie Angel, a US aviator who was the first to fly over the falls in a plane. The waterfall has a height of 979 m, which is almost a kilometre. It is estimated that each drop of water takes 14 seconds to fall from the top to the bottom. Most interestingly, the origin of the waterfalls is not a river or any other water body like the other common waterfalls, but the rainfall from the clouds over the forests above the plateau from which the water falls.

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8th February 2016

We are left with only 10 per cent of the animal species

The animal life on earth has seen at least five major mass extinctions in the millions of years of its existence. A noteworthy period  of  mass  extinctions  is  the  Permian-Triassic  extinction event that occurred about 252 million years ago. The event saw the extinction of about 96 per cent of the marine life and 70 per cent of the terrestrial life over a considerable period of time. It is estimated that five mass extinction events in the past 500 millions of years wiped out 90 per cent of the animal species from the face of the earth.

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8th February 2016

Estimate an electric eel’s power to produce current

The electric eel  is  found  in the rivers of South America, mostly the Amazon. It is actually a fish that does not have either a spine or teeth. It grows to about 2.5 m in length and  its  vital  organs are located near its head. The rest  of  the  body  comprises muscles that generate electricity, and the nerve endings that discharge electricity. It uses small amounts of electricity to navigate through waters, to communicate and to stun small fish for feeding. However, it has the ability to discharge more than 600 volts of electricity, enough to create the sensation of shock on a human being.

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