CHEMISTRY !
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
(～ o ～)~zZ
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes through the sun ande the earth. And on July 22, there was a longest solar eclipse of this century.It was the total eclipse , where the moon completetly blocked the sun as opposed to just part of it.
The eclipse lasted six minutes and 39 seconds, and residents on islands near Kyushu and Iwo Jima, southeast of Japan , got to view it in totality- with total darkness enveloping these areas.
However, Southeast Asian cities like Singapore , which because of it location in relation to the Moon's path, only experienced partial darkness.
i also find what is Lunar eclipse .As Earth orbits the Sun, it sometimes comes between the Sun and the Moon. When this happens the Earth blocks out some of the sunlight that would normally reach the Moon and creates a shadow which travels across the Moon's surface. This is called a lunar eclipse.
3sincerity jiAn mEnG....20 O(∩_∩)O ¶ 8:13 PM 0 Comments
The eclipse lasted six minutes and 39 seconds, and residents on islands near Kyushu and Iwo Jima, southeast of Japan , got to view it in totality- with total darkness enveloping these areas.
However, Southeast Asian cities like Singapore , which because of it location in relation to the Moon's path, only experienced partial darkness.
i also find what is Lunar eclipse .As Earth orbits the Sun, it sometimes comes between the Sun and the Moon. When this happens the Earth blocks out some of the sunlight that would normally reach the Moon and creates a shadow which travels across the Moon's surface. This is called a lunar eclipse.
3sincerity jiAn mEnG....20 O(∩_∩)O ¶ 8:13 PM 0 Comments
Saturday, August 1, 2009
OUR FART
The word "fart" comes an old English word "feortan". The fart gas in our intestines comes from air we swallow, gas seeping into our intestines from our blood, gas produced by chemical reactions in our guts, and gas produced by bacteria living in our guts.
Most of the air we swallow, especially the oxygen component, is absorbed by the body before the gas gets into the intestines. By the time the air reaches the large intestine, most of what is left is nitrogen. Chemical reactions between stomach acid and intestinal fluids may produce carbon dioxide, which is also a component of air and a product of bacterial action. Bacteria also produce hydrogen and methane. But the relative proportions of these gases that emerge from our anal opening depend on several factors: what we ate, how much air we swallowed, what kinds of bacteria we have in our intestines, and how long we hold in the fart. The longer a fart is held in, the larger the proportion of boring, inert nitrogen it contains, because the other gases tend to be absorbed into the bloodstream through the walls of the intestine.
The odor of farts comes from small amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas and skatole in the mixture. These compounds contain sulfur, which makes your fart stink. Foods such as cauliflower, eggs and meat are notorious for producing smelly farts, whereas beans, chich contain sugars that human cannot digest, produce large amounts of not particularly stinky farts. The sounds are produced by vibrations of the anal opening, depending on the velocity of expulsion of the gas and the tightness of the sphincter muscles of the anus. On average, a person produces about half a liter of fart gas per day, distributed over an average of about fourteen daily farts.
One may wonder why fart gas travels downward toward the anus when gas has a lower density than liquids and solids, and should therefore travel upwards. The intestine squeezes its contents toward the anus by peristalsis. The process is stimulated by eating, which is why we often need to poop and fart right after a meal. Peristalsis creates a zone of high pressure, forcing all intestinal contents, gas included, to move towards a region of lower pressure, which is toward the anus. Gas is more mobile than other components, and small bubbles coalesce to from larger bubbles en route to the exit. When peristalsis is not active, gas bubbles may begin to percolate upwards again, but they won't get very far due to the complicated and convoluted shape of the intestine. Furthermore, the anus is neither up nor down when a person is lying down.
Some believe that men fart more than women, which is not true. Women fart just as much as men, just that most men take more pride in it than most women. If men fart more often than women, then women must be saving it up and expelling more gas per fart than men do. A gentleman is mostly likely to fart first thing in the morning, while in the bathroom. This is known as "morning thunder," and if the gentleman gets good resonance, it can be heard throughout the household.
When a fart is held in, it doesn't get lost. It simply migrates back upward into the intestine and comes out later. A captive fart can escape as soon as the person relaxes. This means that a lot of people who assiduously refrain from farting during the day do so at great length as soon as they fall asleep, so you can refrain from farting as long as you can stay awake!
A carnivore's protein-rich diet produces relatively small amounts of intensely stinky gas because proteins contain lots of sulfur. A dog's or cat's farts are rarely audible, but the odor is overwhelming.On the other hand, large herbivorous animals such as cows, horses and elephants, produce vast quantities of relatively non-stinky fart gas which are noisy and can go on for astoundingly long periods of time. Some animals like sponges and cnidaria don't fart because they lack intestines and organs.
Believe it or not, the animal that has the highest worldwide output of flatulence is the humble termite. Because of their diet and digestive processes, they produce as much methane as human industry. Termite farts are believed to be a major contributor towards global warming.
The burning sensation that sometimes accompanies a fart is generally caused by a recent meal of hot peppers or related spices. The oils associated with these foods remain intact and active all the way through one's gastrointestinal system.
If you fart in the bathtub, as long as what comes out is only fart and no poop, your bath water should not be significantly polluted. Most of the gas just bubbles up and contaminates the air rather than the water.
Many people laugh when they hear a fart, simply because it sounds funny and it comes out from the anus. However this is just a reminder that it's human's (and non-human's) nature to fart, so ladies, fart when you need to! Otherwise you'd just be holding it in and collecting more fart gas for later expulsion, which might be louder. Thank god our farts are colorless. And now that you know global warming is partly caused by a termite's active farting, do your job to keep the termites away. Also, since fart gas comes from the air we swallow, practice some table manners and close your mouth when eating! Don't talk with your mouth full.
-http://www.fart-sounds.net/facts_on_farts.htm
Jiayun (22)
3hum ¶ 5:35 PM 0 Comments
Most of the air we swallow, especially the oxygen component, is absorbed by the body before the gas gets into the intestines. By the time the air reaches the large intestine, most of what is left is nitrogen. Chemical reactions between stomach acid and intestinal fluids may produce carbon dioxide, which is also a component of air and a product of bacterial action. Bacteria also produce hydrogen and methane. But the relative proportions of these gases that emerge from our anal opening depend on several factors: what we ate, how much air we swallowed, what kinds of bacteria we have in our intestines, and how long we hold in the fart. The longer a fart is held in, the larger the proportion of boring, inert nitrogen it contains, because the other gases tend to be absorbed into the bloodstream through the walls of the intestine.
The odor of farts comes from small amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas and skatole in the mixture. These compounds contain sulfur, which makes your fart stink. Foods such as cauliflower, eggs and meat are notorious for producing smelly farts, whereas beans, chich contain sugars that human cannot digest, produce large amounts of not particularly stinky farts. The sounds are produced by vibrations of the anal opening, depending on the velocity of expulsion of the gas and the tightness of the sphincter muscles of the anus. On average, a person produces about half a liter of fart gas per day, distributed over an average of about fourteen daily farts.
One may wonder why fart gas travels downward toward the anus when gas has a lower density than liquids and solids, and should therefore travel upwards. The intestine squeezes its contents toward the anus by peristalsis. The process is stimulated by eating, which is why we often need to poop and fart right after a meal. Peristalsis creates a zone of high pressure, forcing all intestinal contents, gas included, to move towards a region of lower pressure, which is toward the anus. Gas is more mobile than other components, and small bubbles coalesce to from larger bubbles en route to the exit. When peristalsis is not active, gas bubbles may begin to percolate upwards again, but they won't get very far due to the complicated and convoluted shape of the intestine. Furthermore, the anus is neither up nor down when a person is lying down.
Some believe that men fart more than women, which is not true. Women fart just as much as men, just that most men take more pride in it than most women. If men fart more often than women, then women must be saving it up and expelling more gas per fart than men do. A gentleman is mostly likely to fart first thing in the morning, while in the bathroom. This is known as "morning thunder," and if the gentleman gets good resonance, it can be heard throughout the household.
When a fart is held in, it doesn't get lost. It simply migrates back upward into the intestine and comes out later. A captive fart can escape as soon as the person relaxes. This means that a lot of people who assiduously refrain from farting during the day do so at great length as soon as they fall asleep, so you can refrain from farting as long as you can stay awake!
A carnivore's protein-rich diet produces relatively small amounts of intensely stinky gas because proteins contain lots of sulfur. A dog's or cat's farts are rarely audible, but the odor is overwhelming.On the other hand, large herbivorous animals such as cows, horses and elephants, produce vast quantities of relatively non-stinky fart gas which are noisy and can go on for astoundingly long periods of time. Some animals like sponges and cnidaria don't fart because they lack intestines and organs.
Believe it or not, the animal that has the highest worldwide output of flatulence is the humble termite. Because of their diet and digestive processes, they produce as much methane as human industry. Termite farts are believed to be a major contributor towards global warming.
The burning sensation that sometimes accompanies a fart is generally caused by a recent meal of hot peppers or related spices. The oils associated with these foods remain intact and active all the way through one's gastrointestinal system.
If you fart in the bathtub, as long as what comes out is only fart and no poop, your bath water should not be significantly polluted. Most of the gas just bubbles up and contaminates the air rather than the water.
Many people laugh when they hear a fart, simply because it sounds funny and it comes out from the anus. However this is just a reminder that it's human's (and non-human's) nature to fart, so ladies, fart when you need to! Otherwise you'd just be holding it in and collecting more fart gas for later expulsion, which might be louder. Thank god our farts are colorless. And now that you know global warming is partly caused by a termite's active farting, do your job to keep the termites away. Also, since fart gas comes from the air we swallow, practice some table manners and close your mouth when eating! Don't talk with your mouth full.
-http://www.fart-sounds.net/facts_on_farts.htm
Jiayun (22)
3hum ¶ 5:35 PM 0 Comments
Shervin's.
Have you experienced the cleansed feeling after a good laugh?
Humour has several important stress relieving benefits.
In this article, it shows that laughter increases the number of antibody-producing cells and enhances the effectiveness of T cells. All this means a stronger immune system, as well as fewer physical effects of stress. A good belly laugh exercises the diaphragm, contracts the abs and even works out the shoulders, leaving muscles more relaxed afterward. It even provides a good workout for the heart.
After reading this article, i feel that actually laughing helps people to heal more quickly, among other things. As laugher bring the focus away from anger, stress and negative emotions in a beneficial way. Humor can give us a more lighthearted perspective and let us view obstacles as challenges, making it less threatening and more positive. Laughter is one of my all-time favorite stress management strategies because it's free, convenient, and beneficial in so many ways.
Laughter connects us with others. Bringing more laughter into our life, elevates the mood of the people around us, and lessen their stress level and of course, ours! So, say CHEESE! :D
http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/laughter.htm
¶ 4:29 PM 0 Comments
In this article, it shows that laughter increases the number of antibody-producing cells and enhances the effectiveness of T cells. All this means a stronger immune system, as well as fewer physical effects of stress. A good belly laugh exercises the diaphragm, contracts the abs and even works out the shoulders, leaving muscles more relaxed afterward. It even provides a good workout for the heart.
After reading this article, i feel that actually laughing helps people to heal more quickly, among other things. As laugher bring the focus away from anger, stress and negative emotions in a beneficial way. Humor can give us a more lighthearted perspective and let us view obstacles as challenges, making it less threatening and more positive. Laughter is one of my all-time favorite stress management strategies because it's free, convenient, and beneficial in so many ways.
Laughter connects us with others. Bringing more laughter into our life, elevates the mood of the people around us, and lessen their stress level and of course, ours! So, say CHEESE! :D
http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/laughter.htm
Can a person be scared to death?
Article:
A Charlotte, N.C., man was charged with first-degree murder of a 79-year-old woman whom police said he scared to death. In an attempt to elude cops after a botched bank robbery, the Associated Press reports that 20-year-old Larry Whitfield broke into and hid out in the home of Mary Parnell. Police say he didn't touch Parnell but that she died after suffering a heart attack that was triggered by terror. Can the fugitive be held responsible for the woman's death? Prosecutors said that he can under the state's so-called felony murder rule, which allows someone to be charged with murder if he or she causes another person's death while committing or fleeing from a felony crime such as robbery—even if it's unintentional.
But, medically speaking, can someone actually be frightened to death? We asked Martin A. Samuels, chairman of the neurology department at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
Is it possible to literally be scared to death?
Absolutely, no question about it.
Really? How does that happen?
The body has a natural protective mechanism called the fight-or-flight response, which was originally described by Walter Cannon [chairman of Harvard University's physiology department from 1906 to 1942]. If, in the wild, an animal is faced with a life-threatening situation, the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system responds by increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, dilating the pupils, and slowing digestion, among other things. All of this increases the chances of succeeding in a fight or running away from, say, an aggressive jaguar. This process certainly would be of help to primitive humans, but the problem, of course, is that in the modern world there is very limited advantage of the fight-or-flight response. There is a downside to revving up your nervous system like this.
How can the fight-or-flight response lead to death?
The autonomic nervous system uses the hormone adrenaline, a neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger, to send signals to various parts of the body to activate the fight-or-flight response. This chemical is toxic in large amounts; it damages the visceral (internal) organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. It is believed that almost all sudden deaths are caused by damage to the heart. There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death. Kidney failure, liver failure, those things don't kill you suddenly.
What exactly happens in the heart when it's flooded with too much adrenaline?
Adrenaline from the nervous system lands on receptors of cardiac myocytes (heart-muscle cells), and this causes calcium channels in the membranes of those cells to open. Calcium ions rush into the heart cells and this causes the heart muscle to contract. If it's a massive overwhelming storm of adrenaline, calcium keeps pouring into the cells and the muscle just can't relax.
There is this specially adapted system of muscle and nerve tissue in the heart—the sinoatrial (SA) node, the atrioventricular node, and the Purkinje fibers—which sets the rhythm of the heart. If this system is overwhelmed with adrenaline, the heart can go into abnormal rhythms that are not compatible with life. If one of those is triggered, you will drop dead.
What is an example of one of these deadly heart rhythms?
In most cases, it's probably ventricular fibrillation that causes these sudden deaths from fear. Ventricular fibrillation basically causes the ventricles (lower chambers of the heart) to vibrate in a way that hampers their ability to deliver blood to the body.
What other emotional states besides fear could lead to these fatal heart rhythms?
Any strong positive or negative emotions such as happiness or sadness. There are people who have died in intercourse or in religious passion. There was a case of a golfer who hit a hole in one, turned to his partner and said, "I can die now"—and then he dropped dead. A study in Germany found an increase of sudden cardiac deaths on the days that the German soccer team was playing in the World Cup. For about seven days after the 9/11 terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon there was an increase of sudden cardiac death among New Yorkers.
Who is most likely to suffer from sudden death?
A predisposition to heart disease would probably increase your risk of sudden death, but it happens at all ages and can happen to otherwise healthy people.
Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=scared-to-death-heart-attack
Summary:
Yes, a person can definitely be scared to death. And in fact, an old women was scared to death by a fugitive who was on the run. The process of the body reacting to the surroundings when it is faced with a life-threatening situation is called the fight or flight response. Its happens when the nervous system responds to the surroundings with an increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, dilating the pupils and slowing digestion. All these responses by the body increase the chance of succeeding in fight or running away from dangers. Nervous system will use hormone adrenaline to send signals to the body to activate the fight or flight response. Worst come to worst, when the heart is flooded with too much adrenaline, it will cause calcium channels in the membrane to open, calcium will pour into the cells and muscles could not relax. Thus the heart will beat abnormally and you will die if any of the nerve tissues in the heart which are used to set rhythms of the heart are being triggered. A sudden death could hapen to any person no matter old or young.
Reflection:
After reading the article, all I could say is that human’s life is indeed vulnerable. Each and every organ of ours is delicately made by God. A little destruction to any of them could probably cause you your life. I was indeed shocked at how a person could die just because of a little scare. The human body is like a machine which works non-stop. It could produce many cells in just a single second or even a nanosecond. And our brain acts like the control centre of the human body. It commands and sends signals to all parts of the body for us to react to stimuli and more. After reading, I had a deeper understanding of the human body and how delicate they can be. At the same time, how easily they could be harmed. Sometimes I really thought about how ignorant I am about the body I had been living in for about a decade. How can I be ignorant to all of this information? So I guess I have to learn more about my body so that we could educate the next generation about how wonderful and amazing our body is! :)
Dione Cheok (11)
3 Humility ¶ 1:02 PM 0 Comments
A Charlotte, N.C., man was charged with first-degree murder of a 79-year-old woman whom police said he scared to death. In an attempt to elude cops after a botched bank robbery, the Associated Press reports that 20-year-old Larry Whitfield broke into and hid out in the home of Mary Parnell. Police say he didn't touch Parnell but that she died after suffering a heart attack that was triggered by terror. Can the fugitive be held responsible for the woman's death? Prosecutors said that he can under the state's so-called felony murder rule, which allows someone to be charged with murder if he or she causes another person's death while committing or fleeing from a felony crime such as robbery—even if it's unintentional.
But, medically speaking, can someone actually be frightened to death? We asked Martin A. Samuels, chairman of the neurology department at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
Is it possible to literally be scared to death?
Absolutely, no question about it.
Really? How does that happen?
The body has a natural protective mechanism called the fight-or-flight response, which was originally described by Walter Cannon [chairman of Harvard University's physiology department from 1906 to 1942]. If, in the wild, an animal is faced with a life-threatening situation, the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system responds by increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, dilating the pupils, and slowing digestion, among other things. All of this increases the chances of succeeding in a fight or running away from, say, an aggressive jaguar. This process certainly would be of help to primitive humans, but the problem, of course, is that in the modern world there is very limited advantage of the fight-or-flight response. There is a downside to revving up your nervous system like this.
How can the fight-or-flight response lead to death?
The autonomic nervous system uses the hormone adrenaline, a neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger, to send signals to various parts of the body to activate the fight-or-flight response. This chemical is toxic in large amounts; it damages the visceral (internal) organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. It is believed that almost all sudden deaths are caused by damage to the heart. There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death. Kidney failure, liver failure, those things don't kill you suddenly.
What exactly happens in the heart when it's flooded with too much adrenaline?
Adrenaline from the nervous system lands on receptors of cardiac myocytes (heart-muscle cells), and this causes calcium channels in the membranes of those cells to open. Calcium ions rush into the heart cells and this causes the heart muscle to contract. If it's a massive overwhelming storm of adrenaline, calcium keeps pouring into the cells and the muscle just can't relax.
There is this specially adapted system of muscle and nerve tissue in the heart—the sinoatrial (SA) node, the atrioventricular node, and the Purkinje fibers—which sets the rhythm of the heart. If this system is overwhelmed with adrenaline, the heart can go into abnormal rhythms that are not compatible with life. If one of those is triggered, you will drop dead.
What is an example of one of these deadly heart rhythms?
In most cases, it's probably ventricular fibrillation that causes these sudden deaths from fear. Ventricular fibrillation basically causes the ventricles (lower chambers of the heart) to vibrate in a way that hampers their ability to deliver blood to the body.
What other emotional states besides fear could lead to these fatal heart rhythms?
Any strong positive or negative emotions such as happiness or sadness. There are people who have died in intercourse or in religious passion. There was a case of a golfer who hit a hole in one, turned to his partner and said, "I can die now"—and then he dropped dead. A study in Germany found an increase of sudden cardiac deaths on the days that the German soccer team was playing in the World Cup. For about seven days after the 9/11 terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon there was an increase of sudden cardiac death among New Yorkers.
Who is most likely to suffer from sudden death?
A predisposition to heart disease would probably increase your risk of sudden death, but it happens at all ages and can happen to otherwise healthy people.
Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=scared-to-death-heart-attack
Summary:
Yes, a person can definitely be scared to death. And in fact, an old women was scared to death by a fugitive who was on the run. The process of the body reacting to the surroundings when it is faced with a life-threatening situation is called the fight or flight response. Its happens when the nervous system responds to the surroundings with an increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, dilating the pupils and slowing digestion. All these responses by the body increase the chance of succeeding in fight or running away from dangers. Nervous system will use hormone adrenaline to send signals to the body to activate the fight or flight response. Worst come to worst, when the heart is flooded with too much adrenaline, it will cause calcium channels in the membrane to open, calcium will pour into the cells and muscles could not relax. Thus the heart will beat abnormally and you will die if any of the nerve tissues in the heart which are used to set rhythms of the heart are being triggered. A sudden death could hapen to any person no matter old or young.
Reflection:
After reading the article, all I could say is that human’s life is indeed vulnerable. Each and every organ of ours is delicately made by God. A little destruction to any of them could probably cause you your life. I was indeed shocked at how a person could die just because of a little scare. The human body is like a machine which works non-stop. It could produce many cells in just a single second or even a nanosecond. And our brain acts like the control centre of the human body. It commands and sends signals to all parts of the body for us to react to stimuli and more. After reading, I had a deeper understanding of the human body and how delicate they can be. At the same time, how easily they could be harmed. Sometimes I really thought about how ignorant I am about the body I had been living in for about a decade. How can I be ignorant to all of this information? So I guess I have to learn more about my body so that we could educate the next generation about how wonderful and amazing our body is! :)
Dione Cheok (11)
3 Humility ¶ 1:02 PM 0 Comments
Why Does money have value?
¶ 11:06 AM 0 Comments
Money itself does not have any inherit value, its just simply a piece of paper or numbers in a ledger. Things have value as they are useful. In the past, people could exchange gold or silver with coins depending on the exchange rate set by the goverment. Money is valuable as it is a good with a limited supply and there is a demand for it because people want it. People will not sign into profitable deals which involve future payments because they’ll be unsure what the value of money will be when they get paid.
when money becomes less valuable relative to those other goods, things like,
The supply of money goes up.
The supply of other goods goes down.
Demand for money goes down.
Demand for other goods goes up.
If a natural disaster destroyed stores but left banks intact, we’d expect to see an immediate rise in prices, as goods are now scarce relative to money.
So, money is actually just a piece of paper with value in it, people with money can buy everything, while on the other hand, people with no money cannot buy any. What if there is one day money just becomes a piece of useless paper, what will become of the world?
Source: http://economics.about.com/cs/neoclassical/a/value_of_money_3.htm
when money becomes less valuable relative to those other goods, things like,
The supply of money goes up.
The supply of other goods goes down.
Demand for money goes down.
Demand for other goods goes up.
If a natural disaster destroyed stores but left banks intact, we’d expect to see an immediate rise in prices, as goods are now scarce relative to money.
So, money is actually just a piece of paper with value in it, people with money can buy everything, while on the other hand, people with no money cannot buy any. What if there is one day money just becomes a piece of useless paper, what will become of the world?
Source: http://economics.about.com/cs/neoclassical/a/value_of_money_3.htm
