STORY , INFORMATION , DAILY DIARY

  What is the Sun's corona?              The Sun's atmosphere is called its corona. Sun's atmosphere is not like our own atmosphere. It has a temperature of 10,00,000°C and is a million times thinner than air. The brilliance of the Sun hides it from view, except during a total eclipse, when it can be seen from the Earth.              The corona contains atoms of hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, iron and other common elements. They are so hot, and scattered so far apart that they lose some of their electrons, which fly about.              During the total eclipse of Sun, the corona seems to extend for one or two Sun diameters into space (about two million kilometres). In fact, it extends out beyond the region of the Earth as a rapid outflow of atomic particles called the solar wind. The shape of the corona c...

What is solar wind?               The solar wind is the constant flow of charged particles from the Sun. These particles include protons, electrons and some nuclei of heavy elements. The speed of these particles is accelerated by high temperatures of the solar corona or outer region of the Sun, to velocities high enough to allow them to escape from the Sun's gravitational field.               Recent research using satellites have show that solar winds are made up of plasma, which contains ionised gases mostly to hydrogen and helium, and have equal number of protons and electrons.                The solar wind streams from the Sun though outer space at a speed of about 480 kilometres (300 miles) per second. It takes the particles about 3 1/2 days to reach the Earth.    ...

                 Independence Day is celebrated annually on 15 August as a national holiday in India commemorating the nation's independence from the United Kingdom on 15 August 1947, the day when the provisions of the Indian Independence Act 1947, which transferred legislative sovereignty to the Indian Constituent Assembly, came into effect.                  India retained King George VI as head of state until its transition to a full republic, when the nation adopted the Constitution of India on January 26th, 1950 (celebrated as Indian Republic Day) and replaced the dominion prefix, Dominion of India, with the enactment of the sovereign law Constitution of India. India attained independence following the Independence Movement noted for largely non-violent resistance and civil disobedience. Independence coincided with the partition of India, in which British India was divided along religious lines...

  What is solar eclipse?             W e know that the Earth is a planet of the solar system and revolves around the Sun. Similarly, the moon is a satellite of the Earth and revolves around it. The Earth and the moon both cast long shadows due to the Sun's light falls on them. Sometimes, when the Sun, the Earth and the moon come in one straight line, and the moon obstructs the light coming from the Sun, the moon obscures the Sun from our view. This is solar eclipse. For people living in that shadow of the moon falling on the Earth, it becomes dark during daytime. The situation in which the Sun, the moon and the Earth come in a straight line oCcurs only on new moon days. The solar eclipse, therefore, takes place only on new moon days.             However, the solar eclipse does not take place on every new moon day. The reason for this is that the plane of Earth's orbit makes an angle of 5° with the orbit plane of the m...

  Coronavirus Outbreak: Administration in Bhiwandi on alert after fatalities increase           A lthough the number of coronavirus cases in Bhiwandi remains low, the local administration is worried over the increasing fatalities in the area. On August 8, the media reports have claimed that 40 people died due to COVID-19 related death.            In the first week of August, more than 60 people have died due to coronavirus in Bhiwandi. However, the current doubling rate in Bhiwandi for the coronavirus cases is 130 days, the highest in Maharashtra.            The recovery rate in Bhiwandi has reached 86.6 per cent. Meanwhile, the death rate has gone up to 6.9 per cent. However, as per the official data, Bhiwandi has not reported any fatalities for two consecutive days on Sunday.             As of August 9, Bhiwandi has recorded 4,004 coronavirus cases till now afte...

  What are the sunspots?             T he most spectacular feature of the Sun's surface is the 'sunspots'. Galileo was the first man to observe these spots in 1610 A.D. with the help of his telescope. Through the telescope, the sunspots appeared like dark holes on the shining surface of the Sun.             These spots often appear in groups. They increase in number and then diminish in regular cycles. These cycles repeat every 7th, 11th or 14th year. The portion of the Sun having these spots emits light having lower intensity. According to modern scientific theories, these spots are formed by reactions between the electrically charged gases of the Sun and solar magnetic fields. When at any point on the Sun's surface, strong magnetic field develops, the temperature of that place is lowered. Consequently, these portions appear as black spots amidst hotter and brighter portions. The temperature of these spots is es...

  What is the Sun?             S un is one of the billions of stars that we see in the sky. It forms the nucleus of the solar system. All planets revolve around the Sun in elliptical orbits. It looks bright and big because of its proximity to the Earth than the other stars. It is at a distance of 150 million kilometres from the Earth. Its diameter is 13,92,000 kilometres, compared to the Earth's diameter of 12,756 kilometres. Its volume is approximately 1.3 million times more than that of the Earth. Even though it is gaseous, it weighs more than 300,000 times as much as the earth. It takes 8 minutes 20 seconds for its rays to reach the Earth.             Like other heavenly bodies, the Sun is also not static. It, along with its family of nine planets, revolves around the Milky Way and takes about 225 million years to complete one revolution. It also rotates at its own axis. The temperature at its centre is approximately 15...

  Lessons from 1918 Spanish flu: When mask laws triggered protests in US Then, as today, an intense debate had ensued over the utility and convenience of wearing masks. Citizens neglected the ordinance, showed defiance, and some also organised protests. In 1918, when Americans were busy aiding the Allied powers in the First World War that was raging across Europe, they were beset at home by a deadly influenza epidemic. The Spanish influenza is recorded to have killed ten times more Americans than were killed by German bombs and bullets in the war. The Spanish flu arrived in America at a time when mass transportation, mass consumption and warfare had opened up public spaces, where infectious diseases could spread. One of the most widespread and devastating epidemics of the 20th century, the flu had also arrived at a time when medicine had advanced by leaps and bounds. Historian Nancy Tomes, in her article, ‘“Destroyer and Teacher”: Managing the Masses During the 1918–1919 Influenza ...

  What is the solar system?              W e all know that our solar system consists of the Sun, the nine planets and their moons, asteroids, comets, meteoroids and other solar debris. The Sun holds all these objects in fixed orbits by its strong gravitational pull. The Sun makes up 99% of the mass of solar system. The solar system is a just a vast empty space.              The study of the nine planets revolving around the Sun is necessary to understand the solar system. It is very easy to remember the names of the nine planets. The names of the nine planets are contained in the sentence, "My very elegant mother just showed us nine planets." My – M for Mercury, Very – V for Venus, Elegant - E for Earth, Mother M for Mars, Just – J for Jupiter, Showed S for Saturn, Us - U for Uranus, Nine - N for Neptune, and Planets P - For Pluto. However, on September 7, 2006, Pluto was redesignated as a dwarf planet.  ...

  How fast do the objects fall?            W hen we throw a ball up in the air, we observe that it gradually slows down, and then almost comes to a stand still, before it starts falling back to the ground. While falling down, it should be noted that the initial speed is low but gradually becomes high.            The Earth attracts all objects towards its centre with a force known as the force of gravity. The ball falls to the ground due to this force of gravity. The force of gravity makes all falling objects acquire an acceleration, which is called the acceleration due to gravity. It is denoted by 'g'.            The acceleration due to gravity accelerates the ball roughly at 9.8 metres per second per second (32 feet per second per second). This means that each second the object would move 9.8 metres faster than the previous second. The speed of the ball at different intervals of time varies a...