Why in Martian sky, Sun appears shrunken compared to Earth ??

 Answer is simple !!!

Mars is farther from the Sun than Earth is ......

Its just perspective and distance   !!!

On Mars,

            Sun didn't shrink.....

            We just moved farther away from it   !!!!!

What does the Martian sky look like ??

                  

Sun      :    A smaller,  brighter disc.

                  Still very bright. But not as " big " as our Sun  !!!

Sky colour      :    Not blue !!!

                              Mars' atmosphere is super thin.

                              Only 1% as  dense as Eatth.

                              With less air to scatter blue light, sky looks butterscotch during the day !!!

                             Bluish near the sun set.

Light      :     Only 43% of sunlight reaches Mars vs Earth.

                       So it is noticeably dimmer, like a cloudy day on Earth   !!!

Wht can't we see ultraviolet light ???

 We can't see ultraviolet ( UV ) light because lens of human eye acts as a physical filter that absorbs it before the light reaches retina.

The cells in retina can detect the light of wavelength about 400  -  700 nm but UV light is just 10  - 400 nm.

So our eye cells just don't react to this light    !!!!

Lens of our eye absorbs UV light so that it can protect delicate retina from damage.

Some people who have got their eye lens removed in cataract surgery, can perceive UV light !!!

Bees, birds and some reptiles can detect UV light.

How do trees make it rain ??

 Trees help make rain in 3 simple steps  ----

1.  Trees drink and " sweat  "

               Tree roots suck up water from ground. Leaves release the water into air.

                This is transpiration.

2.  This water makes clouds

                 Water vapour raises up and gets cold. It turn's into tiny water droplets which is cloud.

3.  Forests recycle the rain

                 In big forests, trees put so much water in the air that the wind carries it and it again rains down !!!

No trees  =  Less water in air  =  Less rain

That's why cutting down big forests can cause droughts far away.  

Moon that leaks !!!!

  By moon, I mean natural satellite of a planet   !!!

1.  This moon is the moon of second largest planet in solar system.

2.  It continuously blasts water vapour and ice grains directly into space  !!!

3.  This moon has a hidden ocean buried beneath its frozen crust.

4.  It holds a warm reservoir of  liquid saltwater !!!

5. The leaks escape through 4 massive, parallel volcanic fissures near its South Pole.

This is           ENCELADUS     !!!!

It is a tiny, ice covered moon orbiting Saturn.

Saturn's immense gravitational pull stretches and compresses the moon.

This generates immense friction and heat that prevents the subsurface water from freezing cold.

This phenomena gives scientists an idea about how life formed on Earth.......

Why do some people have dimples ??

 Dimples are the side effect of how face muscles have formed  !!!

They are not there for anything useful.

About 20 - 30% of people worldwide have dimples.

Why do we get them  ??

When our face was forming in womb, one cheek muscle got bit shorter or split.

So when we smile, this shortened muscle pulls the skin IN a little. This makes the dimple.

So, in simple words

     SHORT MUSCLE  +    SMILE   =   DIMPLE  !!!

Dimples tend to run in families.  It is because of genes.

If parents have dimples, their children are more likely to have them.

Dimples don't have any specific useful work to do  !!!

They are harmless and people often find them  " CUTE  ".

Why do match sticks have red top ??? ??

 Red top of matchstick is not just for colour  !!!

It is the striking head ..... 

No.... No.....

It is not made of red phosphorus  !!!

The red colour is from   -----

1.  Potassium chlorate , This provides oxygen to burn

2.  Antimony Sulphide ,  Act  as fuel

3.  Iron Oxide ,  Acts as red dye  

What we use today as match sticks,

                 The red head DOESN'T CONTAIN phosphorus  !!!!

The phosphorus is on brown strip .....

The red head only ignites when  rubbed against this brown strip.

Why some foods make us to fart ??

  Our stomach can't digest all the foods we eat but bacteria in our large intestine can  !!!

GAS IS THE RESULT   ........

Foods high in certain carbs and fibres don't get break down completely in small intestine by enzymes.

This food reach large intestine undigested  !!!

We have 38 trilion bacteria in large intestine. When they eat this left over food, they produce 

Hydrogen 

Carbon Dioxide 

Methane 

Hydrogen Sulphide  (  remember, rotten egg smell  !!!  )

These gas builds up and come out as    FART     .....!!!!

Some foods get digested before reaching bacterial hub. They don't produce gas. They are  ----

Rice          Potato            Banana        Egg            Meat  

Why do we fear heights ??

Our brains are hardwired with an evolutionary survival mechanism designed to prevent dangerous falls.

"Healthy fear" keeps most people cautious, bur extreme and irrational version is called  " acrophobia " or fear of heights.

The feeling of dizziness or instability at heights often comes from sensory mismatch.

On the ground, our eyes use nearby objects to help maintain balance. But at a height, visual reference points are too far away.

This makes disorientation in brain.

What happens at heights is, our inner ear senses we are standing still but our eyes sees a vast, distant space.

This leads to HEIGHT VERTIGO, which the brain interprets as IMMINENT DANGER  !!!!

A bad fall or near miss incidents in the past programs the brain to associate heights with fear.

Why do fingers wrinkle faster in hot water than cold water ???

 Yesterday, I had written a blog article on Why our fingers get wrinkled ??

This is the continuation part......

 Our nerves and blood vessels react differently to temperatures .   !!!

Hot water opens up blood vessels and  makes nerves more active.

So our body gets shrinking signal faster as nerves are more active.

Also, outer skin swells faster in hot water.

Wrinkles show up in 3=5 minutes in warm water.

Cold water makes blood vessels squeeze and nerves to slow down.

As nerves have slowed down, even shrinking signal takes longer time to reach nerves  !!!

We get wrinkles in around  10 minutes  !!!

So, we do get wrinkles both in hot and cold water. But we get wrinkles faster in hot water  !!!

Why Titan is weird ??

 Titan is Saturn's biggest moon. 

Titan is weird because it is the only world besides Earth, with stable liquids on surface, an Earth like cycle and complex organic chemistry.

Everything is made up of ice and gasoline instead of water  !!!

Titan has rivers, lakes and seas.  But not of water !!!

They are made of liquid methane and ethane.

Rain falls, cloud forms and there are seasonal storms too. Titan is the only place besides Earth with full weather cycle !!!

Titan has dense atmosphere. Atmosphere mainly comprised of Nitrogen just like Earth  !!!

Titan is Earth like, but super cool. Cold enough that water ice is as hard as rock  !!!

Why do we snore ??

 Snoring happens  when air can't move smoothly through nose and throat when sleeping.

Airflow vibrates the soft tissues back there and that is the sound we hear when some one is snoring !!!

I will explain what happens   ----

1.  When we fall asleep, muscles in throat and tongue relax.

2.  But if this space gets too narrow, air has to squeeze through faster.

3. Faster air  =  more turbulence = more vibration 

4.  Several things make this space narrow 

         1.  Nasal congestion from cold and allergies 

        2.  Extra tissues from weight gain and large tonsils 

        3.  Tongue falling back because of sleeping on back.

Lying down on back makes the snoring to get louder !!!

Why is space dark ??

 Why is space dark if there are so many stars ??

It is known as Olbers' Paradox.

The Universe is expanding 

                 As space stretches, the light from distant stars gets stretched too  !!!  This is called redshift.

                By the time light reaches us, it has turned into infrared or radio waves that our eyes can't see   !!!!

Universe is about 13.8 billion years old.  Light from distanced stars simply hasn't had enough time to reach us yet  !!!

What happens when we sneeze ??

  We sneeze primarily to expel irritants from our nasal passages and protect the respiratory system.

It is an involuntary reflex reaction.

Now I am going to explain what happens when an irritant enters our nasal passage  !!!

1.  When irritant enter our nostrils, they interact with tiny hair and sensitive skin.

2.  This irritation stimulates the nerve, which sends an electrical signal to " sneeze center " of our brain stem.

3.  Brain coordinates a massive muscular response.

     Eyes shut.

     Tongue moves to roof of the mouth.

      Chest muscles brace.

4.  Diaphragm contracts 

    Air is forcefully expelled through nose.

    Speed of air can reach upto 100mph  !!!!

5.  Finally irritation is cleared.

Facts about Earth

  Here are some facts  ------

1.   Earth is the third planet from the Sun.

2.  Earth is the fifth largest planet in solar system.

3.  Earth is the only place , which is inhabited by living things.

4.  Earth is the only planet in solar system with liquid water on surface.

5.  Earth is biggest of four planets closest to Sun.

6.  Earth is made of metal and rock.

7.  Earth is the only planet in solar system whose name does not come from Greek or Roman mythology.

8.  The name was taken from English and Germanic.,  simply means " ground  ".

9.  Length of day on Earth is 23.9 hours.

10.  Length of year on Earth is 365.25 days.

11.  Distance from Sun is 150, 196,428 kms.

12.  One way light time to Sun is 8.35 minutes.

What would happen if milky way Galaxy collide with nearby Andromeda galaxy ??

 This is not a part of Sci-fi movie  !!!

The galaxies Milky way and Andromeda are on a collision course .....

Right now, they are moving toward each other at about 110 km per second  !!!

We can heave a sigh of relief !!!

Because both the galaxies start making contact with each other in 4 - 5 billion years .....

Here is what actually happens ......

1.   CRASHING WON'T LOOK LIKE CAR CRASHING   !!!!

                      Both galaxies are 99.9% empty space .   Stars are tiny compared to the distance between them.

                       So when they collide, stars almost never hit each other !!!

                      Its more like two swarms of bees passing through each other.

2.  The real action is gravitational. As the galaxies merge, their gravitational fields tug on stars, gas and dust.

       Orbits get stretched and thrown out of whack. Stars become " rogue stars  " !!!

3.  Gas clouds do collide. This compresses the gas causing massive bursts of star formation.. This phase is called  "  Star burst  "  !!!

4.   Right now both the galaxies are spiral. But after the merger, new galaxy would be elliptical in shape.

5.  Both the galaxies have supermassive black holes at the center. They will eventually merge sending out gravitational waves.

6.  Probably nothing dramatic happens to Earth.  Sun is not going to get ejected or swallowed.  It will just end up orbiting in a new path of galaxy !!!

Why do Venus and Jupiter meet on sky so often ??

Venus and Jupiter " meet " in the sky a lot because of their orbit work relative to Earth.

Venus orbits the Sun in 225 days. It's an inner planet and zips around faster than Earth.

Jupiter takes 11.86 Earth years to orbit around the Sun.  Its an outer planet and " crawls " compared to Earth  !!!

Earth is also orbiting the Sun.  As Jupiter makes its slow annual trek around Sun across our point of view, fast moving Venus inevitably overtakes and passes by Jupiter  !!!

Venus and Jupiter line up with each other roughly around 13 - 14 months.

All planets orbit in elliptical plane.  So they naturally pass each other in the sky from time to time.

Venus and Jupiter cross paths more often than any other planets because of math of their periods.

As both Venus and Jupiter are brightest, they really stand out. Fainter planets can be in conjunction, but we don't notice  !!!

Both Venus and Jupiter line up perfectly along our line of sight, they are actually never close in space.

Both of them remain seperated by millions of kms in space .  The meeting of two planets is the perfect optical illusion    !!!!

Why do humans get dizzy ??

 Dizziness happens when brain gets confused signals about where the body is  !!!

It also happens when body is not getting enough oxygen or blood.

1.   When balance system gets mixed signals 

                    We have fluid filled canals inside ear which tells the brain whether the head is rotating or not.

                    Eyes track where the horizon is and what is moving around.

                    Nerves in muscles and joints tell whether body is sitting, leaning or standing.

When these 3 disagree with each other, we get dizziness  !!!

 Example  :  Reading in moving car .

Let's see what happens.   

        

Eyes say, We are stationary.

Inner ear  :  We are turning and accelerating   !!!

Body muscles   :  We feel the motion 

Brain  :  ERROR   !!!!

Other reasons are   ----

1.  Blood flow drops to brain 

2.  Direct hit to inner ear /  brain 

3.  Anxiety and fatigue 

Most dizziness is brief and harmless......

It is worth checking if  dizziness is frequent, comes with hearing loss, severe headache or fainting.

Why lizards are afraid of peacock feathers ??

  It is often advised to place peacock feathers to get rid of lizards in the house.

But why lizards flee by seeing peacock feathers  ??

The crucial element behind the aversion shown by the lizards is the existence of eye spots o peacock feathers   !!!

The spots take the form of a larger animal and provide the visual illusion that the nearby predator is peering at the lizard.

Since the lizards belong to reptilian category and take the visual cues from the spots on peacock feathers for granted as a threat.

That's why they flee upon spotting the feathers  !!!

This fleeing behaviour is a form of survival strategy......

What makes the pop sound when we clap ???

While most of the people think that sound of a clap comes from hands hitting each other,

It is more than that. !!! 

The noise comes from a cavity of air that is compressed and pushed out of a small space.

Compressed air behaves like a resonator.

This is the same principle behind blowing across a battle's Mouth.

Palms create a cavity and the gap near the thumb acts like a neck. 

The air escapes through the opening between thumb and index finger.  This air jet vibrates and creates sound waves.

Faster air compresses the air more thus creating stronger air jets and louder pops.  

Why tablets have line in middle ??

 All of us have noticed a small line in between tablet's surface..

Many people assume it as part of manufacturing design  !!!

In pharmaceutical world, it is called "  score line  ".

It is carefully added during manufacturing.

A score line is a mark placed on a tablet to make it easier to split into smaller doses.

Drug manufacturers design these lines when a medicine is meant to be taken in divided amounts.

Scored tablets are tested to ensure  that each half contains equal amount of active ingredient.

However, taking too much or too little medicine can affect treatment results.

All pills are not safe to split.

Doctors advice a patient to split a tablet only if it has score line and prescription specifically allows it.