How to Build a Rocket
Rockets – They are one of the most enjoyable pyrotechnic devices. Small lightweight rockets can be made using Black powder, which is used popularly as rocket propellant and is easy to mix. We have explained the basic steps that can follow to make a simple rocket.
First make the black powder mix. Use Potassium Nitrate, Air Float Charcoal,80 Mesh Charcoal, Sulfur in the ratio of 16:6:3:4. This is a optimum mix ratio, grind all the mix into a container and make a fine free flowing powder. Pass it though a mesh preferably 20 Mesh steel mesh.
Take a 4 Oz Engine tube for making the Body of the rocket. Now ram the fine grained black powder mix into the tube up to 80% and a little air room. You can use a ‘ram through funnel’, which will make our task easy, the rammed materials inside the body of the rocket should be hard.
Now fill in clay after making it a little moist and fill it in the space where the room for air has been left. Now punch a thin hole in the clay using a thin object, say needle. This is for the fuse. A ready made fuse can be obtained from a firecracker or by coating a cotton string with the same black powder material.
Attach the fuse to the under part of the rocket body through the clay, also make a conical head of paper materials.
Now tape a long stick to the rocket for stability. The rocket is ready now, bury the stick in the sand upright and light the fuse, watch it skyrocket upwards.
Categories: Education, Learning, Science Tags: Air Float Charcoal, Black, build rocket, How to Build a Rocket, Mesh Charcoal, Oz Engine, Rockets They, tape, Use Potassium Nitrate
How Your Brain Works
Your Brain – General Features
The Human Cortex
The most striking feature of the human brain is seen in the cortex. This is the folded, hemispherical structure which constitutes the bulk of the visible brain.
It is not present in reptiles.
The cortex is relatively recent. It is perhaps one hundred thousand years old and is the part of the brain most closely associated with our ability to form complex representations of the external world, to reason logically and to use language.
It is much more dominant in humans than in any other species.
Regions of the cortex control vision, our auditory senses, and voluntary movement and touch sensations. It is also crucial for long term memory.
Neurons and Networks
The central nervous system is composed of something like one hundred billion nerve cells or neurons.
Each nerve cell or neuron possesses a single axon along which it can pass electrical signals to other neurons. Incoming signals are carried by a neuron’s dendrites which form a tree-like structure around the neuron.
Neurons are about one micron (1 millionth meter) in diameter. The dendrites are perhaps ten times this in length while the axon varies from a millimetre up to one metre in length.
The signal from one neuron reaches another at the junction of axon and dendrite — the synaptic gap.
The typical voltages associated to these signals are small (tens of millivolts) and travel at about two hundred miles an hour (100 metres per second)
Typically neurons can only fire once every millisecond (one thousandth of a second)
Different patterns of electrical firing activity are associated with different brain functions.
Learning and Connections
The brain is both robust (able to function in the event of severed connections and/or dead neurons) and plastic – able to adapt to new memories and functions.
This is due to ability of the brain to form new connections between neurons. These connections take place at synapses and are
mediated by the release of neurotransmitter chemicals.
These neurotransmitters alter the effective strength of the signal which can pass between
neurons.
During our early years and during any kind of learning process these connections form and change their strengths.
The power of the brain as a computational device derives from the complex network of neural pathways and the simultaneous processing capability of all the neurons.
One such immensely powerful device belongs to you.
You can personally programme this device (your brain) to deliver everything you have ever truly desired.
This Genie within you is simply waiting to be told what it is you want.
So set your Genie some exciting tasks to perform and pilot yourself to a future of positive expectation.
Categories: Education, Learning, Science Tags: about, activity, brain, chemicals, genie, How Your Brain Works, Human, human cortex, language, Learning, neurons, power, power of the brain, The Human Cortex, This Genie, Works, Your Brain General Features
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is not a new advancement in the area of science. It actually has been utilized for years, but was not significantly described as biotechnology. In its simple form, biotechnology means utilizing living organisms or their products to revise or change human health or the environment, or to run a process. Biotechnology itself is the combination of biology and other sciences to create new, innovative products in the agricultural sector, industrial sector and environmental industries. The products include medicines, vaccines, growth hormones for plants and food additives.
There are nine major areas of this technology and its applications in the field of biotechnology. These nine major areas are bioprocessing technology, monoclonal antibodies, cell culture, recombinant DNA technology, cloning, protein engineering, biosensors, nanobiotechnology and microarrays.
Bioprocessing technology refers to use of living cells to produce preferred products. This method has been utilized for thousands of years without knowing the actual scientific implications of it, such as in beer brewing, winemaking and even for making bread and pickles! Microorganisms were first discovered in the mid-1800s, and people came to realize that their biochemical machinery was the substance for these useful products. In-depth research and further experiments have led us today to the production of amino acids, birth control pills, pesticides, antibiotics and also vitamins, just to name a few.
Monoclonal antibody technology uses the cells from the immune system to make antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies are extremely useful to locate any pollutants found in the environment, detect microorganisms that may be harmful in food, differentiate between normal cells and cancer cells, and also diagnose in a more precise manner any infectious diseases that may be present in humans, animals or plants.
Cell culture simply means growing cells outside of a living organism. There are 3 areas in this study, which include plant cell culture, insect cell culture and mammalian cell culture. Recombinant DNA technology, in the plain sense of the word, means recombining 2 pieces of DNA from 2 different species. This is used to produce new medicines and vaccines, slow down the process of food spoilage, control viral diseases and hamper inflammation, just to name a few.
Cloning became well-known after the cloning of Dolly the sheep years back. Cloning technology actually allows for the generation of genetically identical molecules, plants, cells or animals. Protein engineering is a DNA recombinant technique that is meant to improve existing proteins to create new proteins that do not exist in nature. These proteins may then be used in food processing, drug development and industrial manufacturing.
Biosensors are a combination of biology and the advances in microelectronics. Biosensors are detecting devices that rely on the specificity of cells and molecules to identify and measure substances at extremely low concentrations, which is why they are highly used to measure the nutritional value, safety and freshness of food, detect explosives, toxins and bio-warfare agents, locate and measure pollutants, and also to provide emergency room physicians with bedside measurements of vital blood components.
Nano-biotechnology refers to the study, manipulation and manufacture of ultra-small structures and machines that can consist of only a single molecule. This field of study enables us to improve the specificity and timing of drug delivery, increase the speed and power of diagnosing diseases, and also encourage the development of green manufacturing practices.
Microarray is the study of gene structure and functions which enable us to analyze tens of thousands of samples simultaneously. This field allows us to monitor gene activity, identify genes that are important to crop productivity, and also to detect mutations in disease-related genes
Categories: Education, Science Tags: activity, antibiotics, Biotechnology, Biotechnology Careers, Biotechnology Market, Biotechnology Schools, DNA, engineering, food, health, innovative, machinery, plant, power, research, sector
