Earth Archives - Whats What

13th December 2016

Discovering minerals

Minerals are naturally occurring inorganic substances that have specific chemical compositions and physical properties of their own. They are solid in nature and have definite crystalline structures, and are an outcome of geological processes. They can be formed by cooling of hot melting material, evaporation, or by precipitation. Their composition ranges from pure elements to complex silicates. Since oxygen and silicon are the most abundantly available elements, silicates are the most widespread minerals on earth.

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8th December 2016

Total solar eclipse – a total cosmic spectacle

A solar eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when the moon obscures the sun for some time. There are different kinds of solar eclipse – total, annular, hybrid and partial. During a total solar eclipse, the moon completely blocks out the sun. In an annular eclipse, the moon obscures only the centre of the sun. A hybrid eclipse occurs either as total solar eclipse or annular eclipse. In a partial solar eclipse, the moon blocks only a part of the sun.

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30th November 2016

Sunlight: World’s most ancient traveller

Sun, the pivotal element of the solar system, is a middle-aged star that is around 4.6 billion years old. This near-perfect sphere is made up of 70 per cent hydrogen and 28 per cent helium. With the amount of hydrogen left on it, it can survive for another 5 billion years. In the last stages of its life, it will begin burning helium. In this phase, the sun will grow in size and eventually consume Mercury, Venus, and Earth, till its collapse. Although the mass of the sun will remain the same after the collapse, its volume will reduce to about the earth’s current volume.

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19th October 2016

The giant and majestic Pacific Ocean

Covering an area of approximately 16,62,43,550 square kilometers, the Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean in the world. It occupies about one-third of the earth’s surface, and can fit all the continents of the world taken together. The basin of the ocean is also the oldest of all ocean basins; some of the earliest rocks present here are as old as 200 million years.

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17th September 2016

Our planet: The Blue Marble

On 7^th December, 1972, the crew members of Apollo 17 spacecraft took a photograph of the Earth. This photograph, known as The Blue Marble, gives a clear idea as to why we know Earth as the Blue Planet. The earth’s surface contains more than 70 per cent water distributed in the oceans.

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16th September 2016

Peregrine falcon: the fastest on Earth

The peregrine falcon, earlier known as the ‘duck hawk’, is the fastest flying bird on the planet. With an average diving speed of 320 km/h during its hunting stoop, the bird becomes the fastest living creature in the world. The peregrine falcon holds the record for the maximum airspeed of 389 km/h. Barring extreme polar regions, high mountains, and tropical rainforests, one can find peregrine falcons almost everywhere on earth. Geographically, this bird is not only the most widely found bird of prey, but one of the most widespread bird species on the planet as well.

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