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PUSHPANJALI TIMESPUSHPANJALI TIMESVol-4, JULY 2012

As - Ayushi SinghalGd - Garima DahiyaV - Vipra GoelV - Vaishali Gera

SUBJECT TEACHERSMrs. Sanjana Bakshi DuttaMrs. Shivani Gupta

TEACHER EDITORMrs. Ira Sharma

STUDENT EDITORSAs

GdV V

The Earth's Core :

Melting or Freezing

The behaviour of inner and outer core has stunned scientists for many years. One of the main reasons for this is, we can't go deep to find samples! but the scientists have to work with the help of surface measurement & computer model, thus their work, is initiated by simple guesses.About the coreOuter core : It consists of iron-nickel in its liquid form whereas the inner core consists of solid iron about the shape of our moon.It is believed that over million of years the Earth has cooled from inside out causing the molten iron core to partly freeze & solidify.Thus the core has been growing at the rate of 1 mm (as thought by scientists).But scientists now think that they have solved this case :1. The heat given by core flows from mantle to crust creating

seismic activities.2. Whereas it also depends on the type of overlying mantle.3. For eg. In some regions the variation between mantle and

core is large enough to keep the core warm thus it is in molten form in that particular region.

4. Whereas the mantle below the ocean transfers its heat from core to the tectonic plates. Ocean water absorbs heat in large amount thus cooling the core.

Nikhil (XI)

NanobotNanobots are the smallest robots around. Their dimensions are measured in millionths of millimetres. There are two types of nanobots autonomous and insect. Autonomous robots have computers on board but insect robots are controlled by a central computer. Nanobots are in the early stages of development but its usage in medicine is no longer a fantasy.Papero is a personal robot who likes to have fun. Designed to walk, talk, he will wander around the room looking for something to do if he hasn't been given a task, if no one has anything for him to do, he takes a nap.Dream RobotIn 2000, Sony launched a humanoid called the Sony Dream Robot. This robot can distinguish between colours, kick a ball into a net and, in a really advanced step for this type of robot, move the upper half of its body in a counter movement to the bottom half.ElektraIn 1940, Elektra the robot was launched by the Westinghouse Electrical Corporation. Elektra could dance, count to ten and smoke. What's more he had a pet dog, sparko, who could walk, stand on its hind legs and bark.Soccer Pro IIThe soccer Pro, a robot you can build, uses a wired controller to activate movement and ball control. It can run forwards, backwards, to

0the left and the right and on cue turns 360 .Spider III RobotThis fun robot has a light sensor beam to sense objects in its way. When an obstacle is detected, it changes direction and starts on a new path.KismotToday, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are developing a robot called Kismot. This robot will be able to develop social skills by learning from its environment. By picking up on facial expression, body posture, gesture, direction, and voice of humans it comes into contact with, Kismot will develop its own personality.

- Kanika Narang - XII-C

Charcoal is of 3 types :

1. Wood Charcoal : It is prepared by heating

wood sprinters in the absence of air.

Uses :

a. It is used in gas-masks to remove poisonous gases and fumes.

b. It is used as decolorising agent and for purification of water.

c. It is used as a fuel.

d. It is used as a reducing agent in some metallurgical processes.

2. Animal Charcoal : It is obtained by destructive distillation of

animal bones. It is an impure form of carbon and contains only 10-

12% carbon.

Uses :

a. Animal charcoal is used in the purification of carbon coloured

sugarcane juice in the manufacture of sugar.

b. It is also used as a black pigment for rubber and plastics.

3. Sugar Charcoal : It is the purest of amorphous carbons.

It is prepared by heating sugar in the absence of air which removes

the water content from sugar leaving behind the carbon content.

C H O + Heat 12C(s) + 11H O (g)12 22 11 2

Sugar Sugar Charcoal

It can also be prepared by treating sugar with concentrated

Sulphuric acid. Conc. H SO is a dehydrating agent and removes 2 4

water from sugar.

C H O + H SO 12C + 11H O12 22 11 2 4 2

Sugar Sugar Charcoal

Uses :

1. It is used as a reducing agent for obtaining metals from their

oxides.

2. It is used as a fuel.

Row your Boats 2 Robots !!

Wierd, But True...!• In middle ages, owners of tin cans noted that the tin turned grey and powdery when the weather became very cold.

They thought that it was caused by witchcraft, and many innocent women were burnt at the stake for the crime of causing tin plague (called in earlier times due to lack of knowledge).

• Mercury is so heavy that objects such as bricks, cannonballs and bumps of lead or iron will float on it. Though, it is a liquid, it is not wet. It does not soak into a material but runs off a duck's back.

• Do you know, Thomas Edison tested the phonograph (early music player) by singing a nursery rhyme into the mouthpiece, 'Mary had a little lamb...! To his excitement, the machine played his words back to him.

• Leonardo Di Vinci, the great artist and scientist, wrote his notes and observations in a secret manner which could be read only if held up in front of a mirror.

• Lithium is a silvery, soft metal which is the lightest metal in the world but has got its name from the Greek word 'lithos' that means 'stone'.

• Do you know you can see some satellites in space with naked eyes.• The Lockhead F117A Stealth Fighter is meant to be invisible to radar systems. Its flat surface and special paint makes it

very difficult to track, as it scatters enemy radar signals.• The MK17 is the heaviest nuclear bomb ever built with 19,050 kgs. weight and 7.49m in length. It has a maximum

yield of 20 megatons, equivalent to a thousand of the kind of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August, 1945.• There is only one material on Earth that exists naturally in three states - solid, liquid and gas. It is water.• Do you know 'The Magnificent Seven' are the seven metals that have been known to man from the earliest times. They

include copper, iron, gold, silver, mercury, tin and lead.• People think iron is a very hard metal. However, believe it or not, pure iron is actually quite soft! It is only when iron is

mixed with other elements like carbon that it becomes hard and strong. The more carbon there is in the mixture the harder and more brittle is the metal!

• If you take one gram of silver, you can draw it out into a wire that is nearly 2 kms long. Or, if you want, you can beat it –+into a transparent sheet that is only 3x10 metres thick. Amazing, isn't it?

• Water is a universal solvent. This is because it can dissolve nearly everything present on earth, even the toughest metals over a sufficient period of time.

• Eka is the fast supercomputer of India. It has been developed by the Tata Group's Computational Research Laboratories (CRL). It is capable of a peak speed of 170.9 tetraflops. Eka has been rated as the fourth fastest computer internationally.

• The Hawker Harries of 1968 was the only successful 'jump jet' with vertical take off.- Shubham Sharma - XI-C

Where Did The Word Robot Come From ?

- Aishwaria (XI-C)

This is a question we get asked a lot so we thought we'd put people out of their

misery. Firstly the word robot comes from the Czech word 'robotnik' which means forced labour or even slave. Watching

movies and reading various sci-fi novels of the past you'll quickly see

that robots have mostly always been portrayed as servants

of humanity.

The universe in full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper because discovery consists of seeing what everyone has seen and thinking what no one has thought. We carry within us all the wonders for the process of Scientific Discovery. In this edition of Chemistry Mania we have given the students a platform to exercise their brain because from the brain of science springs a machine or force full of potentialities.

From the Principal’s Desk CHARCOALAn amorphous form of Carbon

Astronomy without a Telescope -

A photon's point of viewUNIVERSISM

Mars with H O...!!2

NASA's solar powered June spacecraft blasted off on A u g . - 5 f r o m C a p e Conaveral to begin a 2.8 billion kilometer science trek to discover the genesis of Jupiter hidden deep inside the planet's interior.Upon arrival at Jupiter in July 2016, JUNO will fire its braking rockets and go into polar orbit and circle the planet 33 times over about one year. The goal is to find out more about the planets origins, interior structure and atmosphere, observe the aurora, map the intense magnetic field and investigate the existence of a solid planetary core.

- Kanika Narang - XII-C

Scientists have discovered flowing salt water on Mars which has sparked conversations about potential alien life within the planet's surface. The images sent from NASA's orbiter unveiled flowing waters descending down from rocky slopes.

Information from the orbiter has now fuelled the discussion on Mar's capability of supporting alien life form. Scientists have sent numerous space missions to obtain a variety of evidence that may reveal biological microbial life outside the Earth. The latest evidence of flowing water has strengthened the support and hope of discovering a live specimen.

Planet Mars contains many crevices, perhaps remains of dried up bodies of waters, valleys, and rivers. Scientists speculate that millions of years ago, Mars contained lakes and other large bodies of liquid, but over time the water has disappeared, perhaps flowing down beneath the planet's surface through the numerous cracks. The latest photos of flowing water presents theories that living organisms are able to survive in Mar's underground flowing waters, living in darkness under the planet's surface. There are examples of such organisms on Earth, and it may also hold true on Mars.

The water shows up as dark colored finger like streaks flowing down from various slopes and crevices. Based on seasonal photos, the water patterns appear to grow or recede depending on the season. Scientists hypothesize that the briny water could appear and disappear based on the winter or summer months on the Red Planet.

Evidence from Mar's flowing water could bring stronger speculations of life outside of planet Earth.

Ojasvi Uppal, XI-C

From a photon's point of view, it is emitted and then instantly reabsorbed. This is true for a photon emitted in the core of the sun, which might be reabsorbed after crossing a fraction of a millimeter's distance. And it is equally true for a photon that, from our point of view, has travelled for over 13 billion years after being emitted from the surface of one of the universe's first star.

So it seems that not only does a photon not experience the passage of time, but it also does not experience the passage of distance, either. But since you can't move a massless consciousness at the speed of light in a vacuum, the real point of this thorough experiment is to indicate that time and distance are just two apparently different aspects of the same thing.

- Kanika Narang, XII-C If you haven't already. It's time to start looking for Comet Garradd! This comet, with the nomenclature C/2009P1, is now coming into small telescopic binocular view so here's your chance to see the brightest comet in the current night sky. You can find it in the late evening sky in the constellation. Pegasus is viewing it now, Garradd is just coming out of the 'Juzzball" stage, and its tail is just coming into view. Some say it's much better looking than the other Comet, Elenin, that has been needlessly grabbing some headlines. Comet Garradd was discovered two years ago by Gordon Garradd from the siding spring observatory in Australia, and is currently visible through a small telescope at about magnitude nine.

Kanika Narang, XII-C

Now in D Night Sky...

Black Holes are objects so dense that not even light can escape their gravity, and since nothing can travel faster than light, nothing can escape from inside a black hole. On the other hand, a black hole exerts the same force on something far away from it as any other object of the same mass would. For example, if our sun was magically crushed into it when about 1 mile in size, it would become a black hole, but the Earth would remain in its same safe orbit.

Even back in Isaac Newton's time, scientists speculated that such objects could exist, even though we know they are more accurately described using Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. Using this theory, black holes are fascinating objects where space and time becomes so warped that time practically stops in the vicinity of a black hole.

One type of black hole has measured masses ranging from 4 to 15 solar masses, and is believed to be formed during supernova explosions. The after effects are observed in some X-ray binaries known as black hole candidates.

On the other hand galaxy-mass black holes are found in Active Galatic Nuclei (AGN). These are thought to have the mass of about 10 billion to 100 billion solar masses. The mass of one of these super massive black holes has recently been measured

using radio astronomy. X-ray observations of iron in the accretion disks may actually be showing the effects of such a massive black hole, as well.

Kanika Narang, XII-C

Peep in the BLACK HOLES

1. The universe is 13.7 billion years old.

2. All the matter in the universe is / used to be very close together. (very dense).

3. The universe used to be a very uniform cloud of energy / mass despite it being very clumpy today (galaxies being those clamps)

4. Space began to expand and pushed matter apart.5. The expansion of space is accelerating.6. In the beginning the universe was so hot that all the

universal forces were one force.7. The accelerating expansion of the universe will one

day spread galaxies so far apart that we will not be able to see them because the light leaving them will constantly have new space created in front of it.

- Kanika Narang, XII-C

No wonder dinosaurs were so bad-tempered. For scientists have discovered that the prehistoric giants were plagued by lice.

A new study of insect DNA has shown that lice evolved more than 65 million years ago, at a time when dinosaurs still ruled the Earth.

The research also suggests that mammals and birds began to diversify into the vast range of different species seen today far earlier in prehistory than was previously thought.

Dr. Kevin Johnson, of the University of Illinois, said: 'Our analysis suggests that both bird and mammal lice began to diversify before the mass extinction of dinosaurs.

'And given how widespread lice are on birds, in particular, and also to some extent on mammals, they probably existed on a wide variety of hosts in the past, possibly including dinosaurs.'

The researchers created an evolutionary family tree for lice using DNA from 69 different lineages.

Because changes in DNA accumulate over the millennia, the changes can also be used to create a time-line of the evolution of a related group of animals.

Dr Vicent Smith, a co-author of the study published in Biology Letters who works at the Natural History Museum, London, said: 'Lice are like living fossils.

'The record of our past is written in these parasites, and by reconstruct ing their evolutionary history we can use lice as markers to investigate the evolutionary history of their hosts.'

It was once thought that there were relatively few different species of birds and mammals while the dinosaurs ware alive.

June-Blasts off on Science.Trek to Discover Jupiter's Genesis

ARTEFACTS So that's why dinosaurs were bad-tempered...Scientists reveal that they were plagued by lice

It was only after the giant reptiles died out 65 million years ago that birds and mammals went through a period of rapid diversification - filling the niches in the seas, air and land left by the dinosaurs.

The new study suggests birds and mammals had begun to diversify long before the dinosaurs went extinct.

'Ducks do different things from owls, which do different things from parrots, for example,' said Dr. Johnson.

'It was thought that after the dinosaurs went extinct that's when the birds or mammals diversified into the different niches.

'But based on the evidence from lice, the radiation of birds and mammals was already under way before the dinosaurs went extinct.'

Many scientists believe that birds are the descendents of feathered dinosaurs.

Dr Johnson added: 'So, maybe birds just inherited their lice from dinosaurs.'

Neha Sharma, XI-C

7 Facts about the Big-Bang Theory

FacticidesSome Facts about Science!!!!

1. Phobatrivaphobia is a fear of trivia about phobias.

2. Saturn has such a low density that if placed in water it would float.

3. Coal ash is more radioactive than nuclear waste.

4. Ten minutes of one hurricane contains enough energy to match the nuclear stockpiles of the world.

5. Edible insects produce much smaller quantities of greenhouse gases per kilogram of meat than cattle and pigs.

- Ashwini Chandran - X-D

1. The biggest flower in the world is Rafflesia. It has a very foul smell like rotten meat. It flowers once every 10 years.

2. Sugarcane can also be used to make alcohol. In many countries, alcohol is used as a fuel. Many cars are run on alcohol, instead of petrol.

- Dipti Goyal - X-D

Reign of FullerenesA Crystalline Allotrope of Carbon

Fullerene is a crystalline form of carbon which was discovered by the scientists H.W. Kroto , R.F. Curl and R.E. Smalley in 1985.

Fullerene consists of hollow cades of carbon atoms. They are large , spheroidal molecules containing an even number of carbon atoms. They were originally prepared by evaporation of graphite by a laser. Two important Fullerene are C and C .60 70

C Fullerene has been named Buckminster 60

Fullerene in honour of an American architect ,Robert Buckminster Fuller who designed domes having pentagonal and hexagonal structures. The C Fullerene has the shape of a soccer 60

ball and is commonly called bucky ball.

Aishwarya XI-C

Scientists have found Opal-like crystals in the Tagish Lake meteorite, which fell on earth in Canada in 2000. This is the first extraterrestrial discovery of the unusual crystals, which may have formed in the primordial cloud of dust that produced the sun and planets of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago.

Colloidal crystals such as opals, which are formed as an orderly array of particles, are of great interest for their potential use in new electronics & optical devices. Surprisingly, the crystals in the meteorite are composed of magnetite, which scientists thought couldn't assemble into such a crystal because magnetic attraction might pack the atoms together too tightly.

The formation of colloidal crystals in the m e t e o r i t e i m p l i e s t h a t s e v e r a l conditions must have existed when they were formed. A certain amount of solution water must have been present in the meteorite to disperse the colloidal particles. The solution, water must have been confined in small voids, in which colloidal crystallization takes place. These conditions alongwith evidence from similar meteorites, suggests that crystals may have formed 4.6 billion years ago.

How do scientists do what they do?

Well, you know because you're a scientist, too!

Observation is an important part-- in fact it's the part at the very start.

For it's observation that causes you to wonder why earthworms do what they do and clouds form in the sky. Your hypothesis is a "best guess" based on what you know about how things work-now you're ready to go!

Experimentation let’s test the hypothesis you've made--to see if your best guess can make the grade. And because Variation is found in nature everywhere, repeated trials should be done, and done with care. And don't forget to decide what variables you'll test. You change the independent variables, but not the rest. Recording your date is very important, too;

So you can analyze the results and others can repeat what you do. When you've summarized your results and your experiment is done, you'll have more information about nature and you'll have had some fun.

So, now you know that scientific method is really cool, and that scientists don't just measure - they Rule.

- Riya Bisht - X-D

Stephen HawkingStephen Hawking is widely believed to be one of the world's greatest minds, a brilliant theoretical physicist whose work helped to reconfigure models of the universe and to redefine what's in it.

Hawking brings ideas from history about the universe, from Aristotle's determination that the earth is round to Hubble's discoveries, over 2000 years later, that the universe is expending. Using that as a launching pad, he has explored the reaches of modern physics, including theories on the origin of the universe, the nature of black holes, and the space-time. Finally, he poses the questions left unanswered by modern physics, especially how to combine all the partial theories into a "unified theory of everything". If we find the answer to that "he could be the ultimate triumph of human reason."

Kanika Narang - XIIC

Wednesday, 24th August 2011 came as a bit of a surprise for me and my fellow 12th class students because the chemistry department of the school had organised a trip to CFEES.

The CFEES (Centre for Fire Extinguishing and Explosive Safety) premises stood amongst the widespread wilderness that radiated the typical area of an army cantt.

We were led through a jigsaw of well kept pavements and a criss-cross of fire fighting equipment-research-buildings into a conference room. There, we got acquainted with the dangers and the techniques of fire fighting, theoretically. But the real adventure started when it came to an hands-on experience with the extinguishers.

All my friends stood awed at the sight of the giant hanger that sat in the CFEES grounds, basking peacefully in the mid day sun.

And when word spread that the giant beast was about to be set ablaze for a mock drill, prominent gasps could distinctly be heard from the juvenile crowd.

The mock drill was performed by the personnels and within minutes, the dummy "survivors" were brought out to safety.

After a nice sip on the raspberry-guava juice, we took positions near the site of action. The composition, importance, handling and selection of fire extinguishers was explained to us.

Then came the magic moment!! With the cylinders in the hands of a few volunteers, we took over the extinguishing of the fires that shot towards us with their red tongues wagging....

We did it and that too quite easily... The trip was quite an experience in itself. And after a short photosession, we headed towards the comfort zone of our school bus for a bit of a chit chat about this fantabulous trip.

Hope my article has left you yearning for a trip to CFEES...GOTCHA!!

Rishabh Bhardwaj, XII-A

CFEES (Centre for Fire Extinguishing and Explosive Safety)

Scientific Facts

First Opal like Structure The Scientific Method

Glimpses of

Celebration of

International

Year of

Chemistry

at D.A.V.