SOME INTERESTING FACTS

• MARCONI discovered radio waves.
• Birds can perch on the overhead power lines without receiving an electric shock because they do not touch the ground and so do not complete an electric circuit.
• Deuterium(sometimes called Heavy Hydrogen) is an isotope of hydrogen whose nucleus contains one neutron and one proton.
• The dolphin can remain under water for 20 minutes and can swim at a speed of 70 km per hour.
• A bat can listen to ultrasonic sounds.
• The potato originated in Peru.
• We produce about 200 billion red corpuscles every day.
• The dog is the oldest domesticated animal.
• HUBERT BOOTH invented the vacuum cleaner in 1902.
• The first practical type-writer was invented by Christopher Scholes and Charles Glidden in 1867. Scholes designed the QWERTY typewriter keyboard layout which is still in use.
• The highest death toll ever reported in an earthquake occurred in the eastern Mediterranean in 1201 AD, with an estimated 1100000 casualties.
  

SOME BIOLOGICAL NAMES

• Indian bee - Apis indica
  
• Cow - Bos indicus
  
• Ass - Equus assinus
  
• Kiwi - Apteryx australis
  
• Dog - Canis familiaris
  
• Goat - Capra hircus
  
• Horse - Equus caballus
  
• Cat - Felis domestica
  
• Housefly - Musca nebulo
  
• Pigeon - Columba livia
  
• House Crow - Corvus splendens
  
• Indian elephant - Elephas indicus
  
• Indian Cobra - Naja naja
  
• Rabbit - Oryctolagus cuniculus
  
• Lion - Panthera leo
  
• Tiger - Panthera tigris
  
• Indian Rhinoceros - Rhinoceros unicornis
  
• Indian frog - Rana tigrina
  
• Onion - Allium cepa
  
• Garlic - Allium sativum
  
• Tomato - Lycopersicum esculentum
  
• Banana - Musa paradisiaca
  
• Rice - Oryza sativa
  
• Green gram - Phaseolus aureus
  
• Apple - Pyrus malus
  
• Pomegranate - Pumica granatum
  
• Pea - Pisum sativum
  
• Radish - Raphanus sativus
  
• Brinjal - Solanum melongena
  
• Potato - Solanum tuberosum
  
• Sweet potato - Batatas edulis
  
• Tamarimd - Tamarindus indica
  
• Tulsi - Ocimum sanctum
  
• Grape - Vitis vitifera
  
• Maize - Zea mays
  
• Mulberry - Morus indica
  
• Betel - Piper betle
  
• Betel-nut - Areca catechu
  
• Sugarcane - Saccharum officinarum
  
• Cashew-nut - Anacardium occidentale
  
• Ground-nut - Arachis hyposea
  
• Coconut - Cocos nucifera
  
• Neem - Azadirachta indica
  
• Peepal - Ficus religiosa
  
• Cotton -Gossypium herbaceous
  
• Chilli - Capsicum frutescens
  
• Bamboo - Babusa tulda
  
• Mustard - Brassica campestris
  
• Lady's finger - Hibiscus esculentus
  
• Banyan - Ficus bengalensis
  

WONDERS OF LIVING WORLD

• Blue or Sulphur-bottom whale is the largest living animal.
  
• A sea-wasp is not a wasp but is a kind of jelly-fish.
  
• Humming birds can fly backwards.
  
• Snails, earthworms, sea cucumbers and sea hares are among the species which have both male and female sex organs in the same organism.
  
• Giraffe have the largest neck and longest tail.
  
• "Abaca"(mainly grown in Philippines) is the toughest of all natural fibers.
  
• Some fish migrate from sea to fresh water for breeding. This phenomenon is called "Anadromy".
  

NAMED UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

• Abbe : Named after Ernst Abbe(1840-1901) who had great contributions in the field of optical instruments. The unit is used to measure Linear Spatial Frequency. Its dimensins are Hz m^-1.
  
• Amagat : Named after E. H. Amagat(1841-1915) who studied gases under high pressures. Amagat volume and Amagat density are used as measures in the study of behaviour of gases under pressure. For both units UNIT PRESSURE is taken as one standard atmosphere pressure. For an ideal gas, the Amagat volume is 22.4 litres. It is the volume occupied by one gram-mole of the gas at unit pressure and 273.15 K.
  
• Ampere : Named after A. M. Ampere(1775-1836) who had major contributions in the field of electricity. It is the unit of electric current.
  
• Angstrom : Named after A. J. Angstrom(1814-1874)who had used 10^-10 m to describe wavelengths. It is a unit of length used generally at atomic levels. It is equal to 10^-10 m.
  
• Balmer : Named after J. J. Balmer(1825-1898) who was a spectroscopist. It is a unit of wave-number and represents the number of waves in one centimeter. It has the dimensions of cm^-1.
  
• Baud : Named after J. M. E. Boudot(1845-1903) who was a French telegraph engineer and had made the first teleprinter. It is a unit of telegraph signalling speed. One baud is equal to one pulse per second.
  
• Becquerel : Named after A. H. Becquerel(1852-1908),a French physicist who discovered radioactivity. It is a unit of radioactivity and 1 becquerel means one nuclear disintegration or nuclear transformation per second.
  
• Clausius : Named after R. J. L. Clausius(1822-1888). It is a unit of entropy.
  
• Coulomb : Named after C. A. Coulomb(1736-1806) who had contributed to the field of electricity as one of the pioneers. It is the unit of electric charge.
  
• Curie : Named after Pierre Curie(1859-1906) who was one of the discoverers of radium. It is a unit of radioactivity.
  
• Darcy : Named after French scientist H. Darcy(1803-1858). He investigated the flow of fluids in porous media. It is the CGS unit of permeability of porous materials.
  
• Einstein : Named after Albert Einstein(1879-1955). Einstein worked in the field of photoelectric effect and gave us the great 'Theory of relativity' for which world better remembers him. It is a unit of photoenergy.
  
• Erlang : Named after the Danish mathematician, A. K. Erlang(1879-1924). It is a telephone traffic unit used to express traffic density.
  
• Farad : Named after Michael Faraday(1791-1867). It is a unit of capacitance.
  
• Fermi : Named after E. Fermi(1901-1954) who built first atomic pile. It is a unit of distance equal to 10^-15 m.
  
• Fresnel : Named after A.J.Fresnel(1788-1827) who was an advocate of wave theory of light. It is a unit of optical frequency (1 fresnel = 10¹² Hz).
  

SOME ACRONYMS

• ASEAN : Association of South East Asian Nations
  
• BASIC : Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
  
• EMU : European Monetary Union
  
• FLOPS : FLoating-point Operations Per Second
  
• LED : Light Emitting Diode
  
• LIFFE : London International Financial Futures Exchange
  
• MIPS : Millions of Instructions Per Second
  
• OOPS : Object-Oriented Programming System
  
• PERT : Programme Evaluation and Review Technique
  
• SAD : Seasonal Affectiveness Disorder
  
• SALT : Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
  
• SAT : Standard Assessment Test
  
• SERPS : State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme
  
• SIDS : Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
  
• SOGAT : Society of Graphical and Allied Trades
  
• TINA : There Is No Alternative
  
• UEFA : Union of European Football Associations
  
• WIMP : Windows, Icons, Mouse and Printer
  

JUST INTERESTING !!!

CAESAREAN BIRTH

It is said that Julius Caesar had been delivered that way.In those days in Rome if a woman was dead or dying with an unborn child in her womb,then it would be rescued by the method now known as Caesarean Section. In Latin Caedere means to cut-hence Caeser got his name after being delivered by this method and the method began to be known as Caesarean Section.

SIAMESE TWINS

Siamese Twins are twins born with their bodies joined together and in some cases having an organ common to both.Siam is the old name for Thailand.The term SIAMESE TWINS came in to use after the birth of twins Chang and Eng on May 11,1811 in Siam.In the local language their names mean "left" and "right" respectively.

COCKTAIL

• ALBION is the poetic name for Britain or England.
• Male mosquitos never bite us because they do not possess the mechanism to bite...!!!
• In Downing Street there are three important houses. In house no. 10 the Prime minister of UK leaves.House no. 11 is for the chancellor and house no. 12 operates as an
  office as well as the house for the Chief Whip of the government.What about no. 1 to 9 ? Actually the street has only three houses and houses with no. 1 to 9 do not exist.!!!
• Bombay duck is not a duck; it is a small, thin,almost transparent lizardfish.
• The name-CHOP SUEY is Chinese; The dish is pure American.
  

AMERICA'S FIRST LADY OF SPACE

Two female monkeys, Able (a rhesus monkey) and Baker (a squirrel monkey) were sent to space on 28 May, 1959. They were the first animals to survive a 480 km high suborbital flight. A few days later, after returning to earth, Able (better known as Miss Able) died but Baker (of course, Miss Baker) survived and became known as AMERICA'S FIRST LADY OF SPACE. She died on 28 Nov 1984 due to kidney failure.

CALENDER SURPRISE !!!

The first day of a century never falls on...

A SUNDAY

A WEDNESDAY

A FRIDAY

MATHEMATICAL WONDER !!!

India's Ramanujan was a genius personality in mathematics though he did not get proper education in an organised manner. He had discovered a surprising and funny fact about 'cubes of numbers'.

There is only one possible case
in which one can equate the sum of cubes
of two different positive integers
with the sum of cubes of two
altogether different positive integers.
There is no other such case known till now.

The sum of cube of 1 and cube of 12
is equal to the sum of cube of 9 and cube of 10.
The sum is 1729 for both.
Try to find out if there be any
possibility by which you can relate
four different positive integers
in the similar fashion.