title: Voltage

paragraphs: Voltage is what makes electric charges move. It is the 'push' that causes charges to move in a wire or other electrical conductor. It can be thought of as the force that pushes the charges, but it is not a force. Voltage can cause charges to move, and since moving charges is a current, voltage can cause a current.

paragraphs: Electric Potential Difference is the true scientific term but is commonly called Voltage. Informally, voltage or electric potential difference is sometimes called "Potential Difference". Voltage is also called, in certain circumstances, electromotive force (EMF).

paragraphs: Voltage is an electrical potential difference, the difference in electric potential between two places. The unit for electrical potential difference, or voltage, is the volt. The volt is named in memory of Alessandro Volta. One volt equals one joule per coulomb. The symbol for the unit volt is written with an uppercase V as in (9V). According to the rules of the International System of Units, the symbol for a unit with a name derived from the proper name of a person is uppercase.

paragraphs: Please note that the volt and voltage are two different things. The volt is a unit by which we measure something. Both electric potential and voltage are things we measure and the volt is the unit of measure for both. The symbol for the unit volt is written with a V (9 volts or 9 V). When voltage is used in a formula, it can be typeset in italics, e.g., formula_1, or written in cursive. If there is only a single letter symbol to go by, a lowercase v may be used, e.g., formula_2 or formula_3. Electrical engineers use the symbol formula_4 for voltage, e.g., formula_5, to make the difference between voltage and volts very clear.

paragraphs: Technically, the voltage is the difference in electric potential between two points and is always measured between two points. e.g. between the positive and negative ends of a battery, between a wire and the ground, or between a wire or a point of a circuit and a point in another part of the circuit. In everyday use with household electricity in the U.S. the voltage is most often 120V. This voltage is measured from the electric wire to the ground.

paragraphs: Note that there must be both voltage "and" current to transfer power (energy). For example, a wire can have a high voltage on it, but unless it is connected, nothing will happen. Birds can land on high voltage lines such as 12kV and 16kV without dying, because the current does not flow through the bird.

paragraphs: There are two types of voltage, DC voltage and AC voltage. The DC voltage (direct current voltage) always has the same polarity (positive or negative), such as in a battery. The AC voltage (alternating current voltage) alternates between positive and negative. For example, the voltage from the wall socket changes polarity 60 times per second (in America) or 50 times per second (UK and Europe). The DC is typically used for electronics and the AC for motors.

paragraphs: Voltage is the change in Electric Potential between two places <br>

paragraphs: or the change in Electric Potential Energy per coulomb between two places.

paragraphs: Where "V"=Voltage, EPE=Electric Potential Energy, "q"=charge, ∆=difference in.

paragraphs: Voltage is always measured between two points, and one of them is often called the "ground", or the zero volt (0V) point. In most AC electrical installations there is a connection to the earth. A connection is made to the real ground through a water pipe, a ground rod buried or driven into the earth, or a convenient metallic conductor (not a gas pipe) buried underground. This connection is made at the point of entry of the electric system into a building, at every pole where there is a transformer at the street (often on an electric pole), and other places in the system. The whole planet Earth is used as a reference point for measuring voltage. In a building this ground is carried to each electrical device on two wires. One is the 'grounding conductor' (the green or bare wire) and is used as a safety ground to connect metal parts of equipment to the earth. The other is used as one of the electric conductors in the circuits of the system and is called the 'neutral conductor'. This wire which is at the ground potential completes all the circuits by carrying the current from any electric equipment back to the systems entry point into the buildings and then to the transformer usually at the street. In many places outside the buildings it becomes unnecessary to have a wire to complete the circuits and carry the current from the buildings to the generators. The return path that carries all the current back is the earth itself. <br>

paragraphs: In DC circuits, the negative end of a generator or battery is often called the "ground" or zero volt (0V) point, even though there may or may not be a connection to the earth. There can be several grounds on the same printed circuit board (PCB), for example with sensitive analog circuits, that part of the circuit can use an "analog ground", and the digital part, have a " digital ground". <br>

paragraphs: In electrical equipment the 0 volt point can be the metal chassis called a chassis ground or a connection to the actual ground called an earth ground, each with their own symbol used in electrical schematic drawings (circuit drawings).

paragraphs: Some of the tools for measuring the voltage are the voltmeter and the oscilloscope.

paragraphs: The voltmeter measures the voltage between two points and can be set to the DC mode or the AC mode. The voltmeter can measure the DC voltage of a battery for example (typically 1.5V or 9V), or the AC voltage from the power socket on the wall (typically 120V).

paragraphs: For more complex signals, an oscilloscope can be used the measured the DC and/or AC voltage, for example to measure the voltage across a speaker.

paragraphs: The voltage, or potential difference from point a to point b is the amount of energy in joules (as a result of electric field) required to move 1 coulomb of positive charge from point a to point b. A negative voltage between points a and b is one in which 1 coulomb of energy is required to move a negative charge from point a to b. If there is a uniform electric field about a charged object, negatively charged objects will be pulled towards higher voltages, and positively charged objects will be pulled towards lower voltages. The potential difference/Voltage between two points is independent of the path taken to get from point a to b. Thus, the voltage from a to b + the voltage from b to c will always equal the voltage from a to c.


title: Stopwatch

paragraphs: A stopwatch is a tool used to measure the amount of time something takes. For example, to learn how soon a car can reach 60 miles per hour, or how much time it takes a runner to run 40 yards. These days, stopwatches are even installed in digital watches. You press a button to start the time and press it again to stop the time. The time is displayed on the screen of it. It even tells you the millisecond!


title: Departments of France

paragraphs: The départements (or departments) are administrative parts of France and many French colonies, similar to English counties. "Départements" are a kind of local government.

paragraphs: The 101 French "départements" are now grouped into 13 metropolitan and five overseas régions. Their capitals are called préfectures.


title: Macrosociology

paragraphs: Macro-sociology is a way of looking at the world of people in a broad way. It studies mass of many peoples. It is about "concerned with human societies". Macrosociology is considered one of the main foundations of sociology (contrast with micro-sociology).

paragraphs: In sociology there are different levels of analysis. Macro-sociology is the analysis of either large collectivities (the city, the church) or, more abstractly, of social systems and social structures. (Dictionary of Sociology, 2000)

paragraphs: With the perspective of macro-sociology, it is possible to better understand societies, culture, groups and organizations.

paragraphs: Important representatives of macro-sociological theories are:


title: Banja Luka Region

paragraphs: Banja Luka is one of seven regions in Republika Srpska. In the center of this region is the city of Banja Luka. There are about 709,000 people in Banja Luka Region.


title: Doboj Region

paragraphs: "Doboj Region" is one of seven regions in Republika Srpska. In the center of this region is town of Doboj. Doboj Region is located in the north of Bosnia and Herzegovina.


title: Bijeljina Region

paragraphs: Bijeljina Region is one of seven regions in the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The capital city of this region is Bijeljina.

paragraphs: Bijeljina Region is located in the northeast of the country.


title: Flag of Poland

paragraphs: The flag of Poland iThs rectangular, divided into two stripes: white above red. It was created in its modern form in 1921. The colors white and red were earlier declared the official national colors in 1831 by the Polish Parliament in 1831.

paragraphs: For many centuries the Polish flag was a white eagle on a red background.

paragraphs: The ratio of height to width is 5 to 8. The two horizontal stripes are of equal height.

paragraphs: There is a second version which has a coat of arms in the upper (white) half. The use of this flag is legally restricted.

paragraphs: If the flag is shown hanging vertically, the white should be on the left.

paragraphs: The exact color of the white was not clearly stated until 1980.

paragraphs: The exact color of the red was not clearly stated originally, and has changed through the years. In 1919 the official act did not clearly define the red. In 1921 the Polish Ministry of Military Affairs used crimson as the shade of red in publications. In 1928 the president of Poland said the red should be vermilion. That was used until 1980, when people needed to specify the red more scientifically.

paragraphs: The same flag design is used in the German region Thuringia and the Spanish region Cantabria.

paragraphs: Both Indonesia and Monaco have flags that are the same colors, but upside-down.


title: Transrapid

paragraphs: The Transrapid is a high speed train developed in Germany. It uses magnetic levitation. It can go very fast, up to 500km/h. Since now it is only used in Shanghai.

paragraphs: It is developed by the company TRANSRAPID INTERNATIONAL GmbH & Co. KG, a company of the Siemens AG and the ThyssenKrupp AG.


title: Torque

paragraphs: In physics, torque is the tendency of a force to turn or twist. If a force is used to begin to spin an object, or to stop an object from spinning, a torque is made.

paragraphs: The force applied to a lever, multiplied by the distance from the lever's fulcrum, multiplied again by the sine of the angle created, is described as torque. This is also known as "r cross f," or "force times fulcrum distance times sine theta."

paragraphs: Fulcrum is the axis of rotation or point of support on which a lever turns in raising or moving something.

paragraphs: where F is the net force vector and r is the vector from the axis of rotation to the point where the force is acting. The Greek letter Tau is used to represent torque.

paragraphs: The units of torque are force multiplied by distance. The SI unit of torque is the newton-metre. The most common English unit is the foot-pound.


title: Warm

paragraphs: When objects get warm, more energy is stored in them. When an object is heated, its molecules move faster. Heat always goes from a warmer object to a colder object; it never goes in the opposite way. A person usually feels good when they are warm, but they do not like to be too warm, because this may become uncomfortable.


title: University of Leeds

paragraphs: The University of Leeds (sometimes called Leeds University) is a university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK. It first started in 1831 with the opening of a school to teach medicine which was one of the first outside of London, Oxford, and Cambridge.

paragraphs: Today one of the UK's leading universities. It is a member of the Russell Group. The university is one of two in the city, the other being Leeds Metropolitan University. The main campus is in the Woodhouse area of Leeds, close to Leeds City Centre.

paragraphs: The main campus is situated in the Woodhouse area of Leeds, which is about half a mile from the city centre. The campus has many older Victorial buildings such as the Great Hall, as well as some mid-twentieth century buildings such as the Parkinson Building. There are also many brutalist building on campus sich as the Roger Stevens Building and the Edward Boyle Library. In recent years newer buildings have been added such as the Marjorie and Arnold Ziff Building.


title: Leeds

paragraphs: Leeds is a city in the county of West Yorkshire in the north of England. It is one of the cities in the United Kingdom and about 745,000 people live there. Leeds has four universities: University of Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds Trinity University and the University of Law. Leeds is on the River Aire. The city's football team is Leeds United AFC.

paragraphs: In Roman times, Leeds was called 'Loidis' which means 'People of the flowing river'.

paragraphs: Leeds grew into a large city, mainly during Victorian times, when many factories were built in the city, making cloth as well as other products. Most of these factories have now closed.

paragraphs: With the building of many of the factories and mills in Leeds, many canals and railways were built in the city as well.

paragraphs: Leeds used to have a tram system, but this was removed in 1959. There have been plans to bring it back. Trolleybuses have also been thought of.

paragraphs: Marks and Spencers started with a market stall in Leeds Market, and they now have shops throughout the city, with their largest one being on Briggate.

paragraphs: Much of Leeds was rebuilt in the 1960s and 1970s because the old Victorian buildings were mostly run down and unsuitable for modern use. Many new council houses and flats were built around the city.

paragraphs: In the 1970s, the council used the motto 'Motorway City of the 1970s' to try to promote the city. This is because the Leeds Inner Ring Road is a motorway and the M1 motorway, which starts in London, ended in central Leeds.

paragraphs: Today Leeds still has many factories and offices for large companies. The City Centre has attracted many shops, offices, pubs, restaurants and bars. Leeds now has some skyscrapers such as Bridgewater Place. Leeds and Manchester are the most important cities for business in the North of England. Many banks have their offices in Leeds.

paragraphs: Many flats have also been built in the city centre. Leeds has some expensive areas to live like Chapel Allerton, Headingley, Kirkstall, Horsforth, Roundhay and Alwoodley, but it also has some cheap places to live where crime is high like Harehills, Chapeltown, Seacroft and Beeston. There have been riots in Harehills and Chapeltown before.

paragraphs: Tetley's Bitter is made at a brewery in Leeds. This is sold in many pubs and shops in Britain. Tetley's also used to have many pubs in Yorkshire but have sold many, although Tetley's Bitter is still sold there.

paragraphs: ASDA is Britain's second biggest supermarket. It started in Leeds, and it still has its headquarters in the city.

paragraphs: Leeds has a large railway station in the City Centre as well as many smaller ones in suburbs. It also has an airport called Leeds Bradford International Airport. There are many motorways in and around the city as well. Leeds has a bus station with 26 stands, and more stands for National Express services going to other cities. However, it is too small to cope with internal buses, so they stop at bus stops along the streets. Leeds has an outer ring road and an inner ring road. The inner ring road is a motorway.

paragraphs: Leeds is famous for its sports, too. It has a Rugby league team called Leeds Rhinos and a Rugby union team called Yorkshire Carnegie. It also has a football team called Leeds United. Yorkshire Cricket play in Leeds too. The fourth test of the 2009 Ashes was hosted at the Headingley Stadium in Leeds.

paragraphs: Leeds City Council are the council for Leeds as well as other nearby towns that are part of the City of Leeds borough such as Wetherby, Otley, Yeadon, Garforth and Rothwell.

paragraphs: The Yorkshire Evening Post is the local newspaper for Leeds and is published every evening. BBC Yorkshire, Yorkshire Television and Leeds Television all have their studios in Leeds. The Yorkshire Television studios are currently in the process of being downsized as ITV looks to reduce costs.


title: Strong interaction

paragraphs: The strong interaction or strong nuclear force is one of the four fundamental forces in physics.

paragraphs: The other fundamental forces are electromagnetism, the weak interaction, and gravitation. They are called "fundamental" because there is no simpler way for physicists to understand what the forces do or how they do it.

paragraphs: The strong nuclear force is what holds most ordinary matter together. It does this in two ways: it holds subatomic particles, like neutrons and protons, together, and then it holds the atomic nucleus together.

paragraphs: It is the strongest fundamental force—many times stronger than gravity (10 times stronger: that's 1 followed by 38 zeros). But it works only over very short distances of a few femtometres (fm). A femtometre is about 10 (0.00000 00000 00001) metres.

paragraphs: Scientists often think about the two ways the strong interaction works as separate forces: the colour force and the nuclear force. At distances of 0.8 fm and less, the colour force holds subatomic particles like protons and neutrons together. At distances of 1 to 3 fm, the residual (leftover) strong force is what keeps protons and neutrons together in the atomic nucleus, so it is called the nuclear force. (This is like thinking of electricity and magnetism as separate forces, when the fundamental force is electromagnetism.)

paragraphs: The strong interaction is often thought to be the action of gluons, which 'glue' quarks together. Gluons can be exchanged (moved) between quarks, antiquarks and other gluons. All of those particles are said to carry a "colour charge", something that some elementary particles have which is like electric charge. Particles with colour charge exchange gluons, like particles with electric charge exchange photons.

paragraphs: The theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) says that the strong force acts between quarks and gluons. Quantum chromodynamics is the theory that explains different colours . The strong force is the basic force controlled by gluons: affecting quarks, antiquarks, and the gluons themselves.

paragraphs: The strong force affects only quarks "directly" (as the "colour" force). Between hadrons (like protons and neutrons), made up of quarks, the effect of the strong force is known as the nuclear force (which is not fundamental).

paragraphs: The strength of the strong force is the reason why we cannot detect "free" quarks (that is, quarks that are by themselves). The theory is that so much energy would be needed (to separate a quark) that new hadrons would be created instead. This is called colour confinement and it is seen to happen in particle accelerators.

paragraphs: The colour strong force is the strong interaction between the three quarks that a proton or neutron is made of. It is called the colour strong force because, like the electromagnetic force, the strong force has charges. The electromagnetic force has only one type of charge, which can be either positive or negative (magnetic charges are just slow-moving electric charges), but the strong force has three types. These three types of charges are named after colours: red, blue, and green. They also have anti-colours: anti-red, anti-blue and anti-green. Like the electromagnetic force's positive and negative charges, different colours attract, and the same colours repel. Some particles that have colour charge are quarks and antiquarks. The type of quark is not related to that quark's colour charge at all. Quarks are one of the smallest particles currently known. They take up no space because they are points, and they are the only particles that we have not been able to break apart from other particles yet. This is because the nature of the strong force between particles is that it becomes stronger the further away the particles are. The force carrier of the strong force is called the gluon. Gluons also have colour charge. Both quarks and gluons have properties that make them unique from other particles, as described in the Standard Model.

paragraphs: The nuclear force, or residual strong force (the force left over after holding the quarks together to make hadrons) is the (leftover) strong force acting between hadrons (particles made of quarks, like protons and neutrons). It is what holds the nucleus of an atom together.


title: Neuwied

paragraphs: Neuwied is a German town in Rhineland-Palatinate. It is on the north/west side of the Rhine River, about northwest from Koblenz. About 70,000 people live there.

paragraphs: The 86,5 square kilometres of area are divided in the districts of:

paragraphs: Neuwied is connected to the German network of "Bundesstraßen (national routes)" (here: B9, B42 and B256). The "Autobahnen (motorways)" A3, A48 and A61 are quickly reachable from Neuwied. Using the Koblenz main station, all rhine railways and the Intercity network of Germany are available.

paragraphs: There is a lot of industry in Neuwied, for example the production of building materials, metals and big-sized machines.


title: Brittany

paragraphs: Brittany is a region in Northwest France. In Breton it is called ' and in French '. The adjective for Brittany is Breton.

paragraphs: Today the official administrative region has 4 departments:

paragraphs: Before 1941, a fifth département was part of Brittany: Loire-Atlantique, which includes Nantes. The five departments form the cultural region of Brittany, also known as "historical Brittany".

paragraphs: Brittany is situated in the West of France and its coastline juts out into the Atlantic. Warmed by the Gulf Stream, Brittany has a mild and temperate climate with warm summers and wet winters.

paragraphs: Three languages are traditionally spoken in Brittany:

paragraphs: The capital of Brittany is Rennes, a lively city in the Ille-et-Vilaine department.

paragraphs: The name of Brittany is related to Great Britain (in French, "Grand Bretagne"). The region has also been called "Lesser Britain" or "Little Britain" in the past. After the Anglo-Saxons started arriving in Great Britain in the 5th century, many of the Ancient Britons (Celts) moved to this region. The region may have already had strong ties with the Ancient Britons even before that. These tribes gave Brittany its name, the Breton language, the local place names and many parts of its culture. Brittany was a separate country from the 9th century until it was united with France in 1532. It was a province of France until the French Revolution, when its land was divided in departments. Brittany regained a regional government in the 1980s.

paragraphs: Brittany is the home of the world's largest collection of standing stones in one place, the Carnac stones.

paragraphs: Brittany's main industry is agriculture, in particular: pork farming, chicken farming and the production of maize (for cattle feed). Brittany is also the name of a dog breed.


title: Standard Model

paragraphs: The Standard Model (SM) of physics is a theory of the elementary particles, which are either fermions or bosons. It also explains three of the four basic forces of nature. The four fundamental forces are: gravity, electromagnetism, the weak force, and the strong force. Gravity is the one the model does not explain.

paragraphs: The model uses the parts of physics called quantum mechanics and special relativity, and the ideas of physical field and symmetry breaking. Some of the mathematics of the SM is group theory, and also as equations which have biggest and smallest points, called Lagrangians and Hamiltonians.

paragraphs: Fermions are particles that join together to make up all "matter" we see. Examples of groups of fermions are the proton and the neutron. Fermions have properties, such as charge and mass, which can be seen in everyday life. They also have other properties, such as spin, weak charge, hypercharge, and color charge, whose effects do not usually appear in everyday life. These properties are given numbers called quantum numbers.

paragraphs: Fermions are particles whose spin numbers equal an odd, positive number times one half: 1/2, 3/2, 5/2, etc. We say that fermions have "half integer spin."

paragraphs: An important fact about fermions is that they follow a rule called the Pauli exclusion principle. This rule says that no two fermions can be in the same "place" at the same time, because no two fermions in an atom can have the same quantum numbers at the same time. Fermions also obey a theory called Fermi-Dirac statistics. The word "fermion" honors the physicist Enrico Fermi.

paragraphs: There are 12 different types of fermions. Each type is called a "flavor." Their names are:

paragraphs: Quarks are grouped into three pairs. Each pair is called a "generation." The first quark in each pair has charge 2/3, and the second quark has charge -1/3. The three kinds of neutrino have a charge of 0. The electron, muon, and tau have charge -1.

paragraphs: Matter is made of atoms, and atoms are made of electrons, protons, and neutrons. Protons and neutrons are made of up and down quarks. You can find one lepton by itself, but you can never find quarks alone. This is because quarks are held together by the color force.

paragraphs: Bosons are the second type of elementary particle in the standard model. All bosons have an integer spin (1, 2, 3, etc..) so many of them can be in the same place at the same time. There are two types of elementary bosons: gauge bosons and the Higgs boson. Gauge bosons are what make the fundamental forces of nature possible. (We are not yet sure if gravity works through a gauge boson.) Every force that acts on fermions happens because gauge bosons are moving between the fermions, carrying the force. Bosons follow a theory called Bose-Einstein statistics. The word "boson" honors the Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose.

paragraphs: These particles have all been seen either in nature or in the laboratory. The model also predicts that there is a Higgs boson. The model says that fermions have mass (they are not just pure energy) because Higgs bosons travel back and forth between them. The Higgs boson is believed to have been discovered on July 4th, 2012. It is the particle that gives mass to other particles.

paragraphs: There are four basic known forces of nature. Three of these forces affect fermions, and are carried by bosons traveling between those fermions. The standard model explains these three forces.

paragraphs: The other force affects all particles (fermions and bosons) and is not known to have an associated boson.

paragraphs: The strong and weak forces are only seen inside the nucleus of an atom. They only work over very tiny distances: distances that are about as far as a proton is wide. The electromagnetic force and gravity work over any distance, but the strength of these forces goes down as the affected objects get farther apart. The force goes down with the square of the distance between the affected objects: for example, if two objects become twice as far away from each other, the force of gravity between them goes down to a quarter (2=4).

paragraphs: The standard model falls short of being a theory of everything.

paragraphs: The standard model is believed to be theoretically self-consistent. It has demonstrated huge and continued successes in experimental predictions, but it does leave some things unexplained.


title: Moldovan language

paragraphs: Moldovan () is the official language of Moldova. It is almost the same as Romanian. The main difference is that Moldovan was written in the Cyrillic alphabet because Moldova was part of the Soviet Union until 1989. In 1989, Moldova became its own country and started to use the Latin alphabet, which is used in Romania. On 5 December 2013, the Moldovan government chose Romanian as the official language.

paragraphs: In the unrecognized state of Transnistria, one of the official languages is still Moldovan and is still written with the Cyrillic alphabet. The other official languages are Russian and Ukrainian.


title: Electrical resistance

paragraphs: The electrical resistance of an electrical conductor is a measure of the difficulty of passing an electric current through a substance. It explains the relationship between voltage (amount of electrical pressure) and the current (flow of electricity). With more resistance in a circuit, less electricity will flow through the circuit. The inverse of resistance is conductance, a measure not much used. All objects have some resistance, except superconductors.

paragraphs: Resistance, discovered by Georg Simon Ohm in 1827, is the ratio between voltage and current. Ohm's law said that the voltage between any two points in a conductor changes directly as the current between the two points, given the temperature remains the same. He described it with the equation:

paragraphs: A long and thin wire has more resistance than a short and thick one. A simple analogy is a road - the more lanes there are, the more cars can go through. The resistance of a wire with a constant width, therefore, can be calculated as:

paragraphs: where formula_6 is the length of the conductor, measured in meters [m], formula_7 is the cross-sectional area of the conductor measured in square meters [m²], and (Greek: rho) is the electrical resistivity (also called "specific electrical resistance") of the material, measured in ohm-meters (Ω m).

paragraphs: Calculate the resistance of copper wire with a radius of 2mm and a length of 5 meters.

paragraphs: Resistors are used in electrical circuits to provide electrical resistance.


title: Electromagnetic induction

paragraphs: Electromagnetic induction is where a voltage or current is produced in a conductor by a changing magnetic flux. It may happen when a magnet is moved in a solenoid, thus changing the magnetic flux.

paragraphs: When a coiled wire is introduced near a magnet, the magnetic lines of force pass through the coil. This causes the magnetic flux to change.

paragraphs: Magnetic flux is represented by the symbol formula_1, therefore we can say that formula_1 = BAcos(a) and the resulting unit will be formula_3, where T is the unit for magnetic field and formula_4 is the unit for area.

paragraphs: The changing magnetic flux generates an electromotive force (EMF). This force moves free electrons in a certain way, which constitute a current.

paragraphs: Michael Faraday found that an electromotive force is generated when there is a change in magnetic flux in a conductor.

paragraphs: formula_6 is the electromotive force, measured in volts;

paragraphs: formula_7 is the change in magnetic flux, measured in webers;

paragraphs: formula_8 is the change in time, measured in seconds.

paragraphs: N is the number of loops in the solenoid.

paragraphs: The negative sign in both equation above is a result of Lenz's law, named after Heinrich Lenz. His law states that the electromotive force (EMF) produces a current that opposes the motion of the changing magnetic flux.


title: BBC Proms

paragraphs: The Proms are concerts which are part of a big music festival. “Proms” is short for “Promenade Concerts”. The Proms are organized by the BBC, so they are called the “BBC Proms”. They take place in the Royal Albert Hall, in London from mid-July to mid-September every year.

paragraphs: The Proms started more than 100 years ago, in 1895. Concerts were expensive in those days, and not many people had enough money to go and hear good music. Most people were only able to hear good music when they went for walks in the London parks where there were Promenade concerts. Orchestras and bands played in bandstands. Most of the music was popular and easy to listen to. People could enjoy the music while they walked about.

paragraphs: In the centre of London there was a building called the Queen's Hall. A man called Robert Newman organized concerts there. He had an idea. He wanted to start a series of concerts which ordinary people (people who were not rich) could afford to go to. He wanted to start a series of “promenade concerts” (in French “se promener” means “to walk”). The idea was that people could have standing places which would not cost much money. There would also be seats for people who could afford to pay more.

paragraphs: Robert Newman knew a very good young conductor, Henry Wood. He asked him to be the conductor of the Proms. A man called Dr Cathcart gave them enough money to get an orchestra together. On 10 August 1895 the first Promenade Concert took place in the Queen’s Hall. The price of a promenade ticket (a ticket for a standing place) was one shilling.

paragraphs: The Promenade Concerts were a big success, and soon became known as the "Henry Wood Promenade Concerts". Wood conducted both popular music and the classical works of Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Wagner, as well as some English composers. Wallace and Cowan, popular then, have today faded from the scene, although Elgar and Delius have survived due to Wood's Proms. This broke the convention that famous composers, conductors and singers could not be English.

paragraphs: Some of the music Wood conducted was very new indeed. In 1912 he conducted a piece called “Five Orchestral Pieces” by an Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951). Its initial lack of appreciation was overcome by inviting Schoenberg to come to England and conduct it himself in 1914.

paragraphs: Henry Wood conducted almost all of the Proms for fifty years, until just before his death in 1944. His innovations with the orchestra staff were to abolish deputies (allegedly in 1904 when, at one rehearsal, none of the regular orchestra, and only deputies attended). Forty members of the orchestra were offended by that decision, and broke away to form what is now the London Symphony Orchestra. In 1913, Wood was also the first English conductor to appoint women to play in his orchestra.

paragraphs: In 1927 the BBC started to fund Proms. The radio was a new invention (then termed the “wireless”). Radio broadcasts increased interest in attending live concerts. In 1930 the BBC Symphony Orchestra was formed, playing at a majority of Prom concerts.

paragraphs: In 1941, during World War II, the Queen’s Hall was destroyed by bombs. The Proms continued to take place in the Royal Albert Hall. Then it became too dangerous in London and the Proms were held in Bristol and then Bedford. After the War the Proms went back to the Royal Albert Hall. They have been held there ever since. From the 1940s to the late 1960s the BBC Symphony Orchestra played at most of the concerts under the very popular conductor Sir Malcolm Sargent whose Last Night speeches became legendary for their wit.

paragraphs: Today the Proms are very different from when they started. It is much more international. The BBC Symphony Orchestra play several concerts each season but there are lots of other orchestras from all over the world who come to play. People can hear different kinds of music at the Proms: not just classical music but jazz and music from far-away countries. In 2005 the famous Indian musician Ravi Shankar played the sitar at one of the Proms. In 2008 the violinist Nigel Kennedy played the "Violin Concerto" by Edward Elgar with the BBC Concert Orchestra, then came back an hour later to give a Late Night Prom of jazz music with the Nigel Kennedy Quintet.

paragraphs: The Proms also include special activities for children. The television programme Blue Peter put on a Blue Peter Prom which is given twice during the weekend at the beginning of the school holidays in late July. In the 2007 season they organized a special Brass Day where children could take part with their instruments. BBC Music Intro put on workshops in the late afternoon for children and their families to learn about music. In 2008 there was a Dr Who prom which was extremely popular, especially with children. This theme will be repeated in 2010.

paragraphs: Henry Wood encouraged composers to write new music by performing it at the Proms. Today this tradition continues as the BBC often commission composers to write new music for the Proms. Some pieces which had their first performance at the Proms have become very well-known, e.g. "The Confession of Isobel Gowdie" by James MacMillan (first performed in 1990), or John Tavener's "The Protecting Veil" (first performed in 1989).

paragraphs: For many years now every Prom has been broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Some of them are shown on television, either on BBC2 or on BBC4 where viewers can, if they wish, read comments about the music as it is played. People can also listen to the Proms for several days afterwards on the Proms website.

paragraphs: There is a Prom every night (i.e. every evening) for two months during the summer. The last concert is called the “Last Night of the Proms”. It is very famous and millions of people can watch it on television in lots of countries all over the world. Some people who go to the Last Night dress up in funny clothes and wave flags. They hear a piece of music called "Fantasia on British Sea Songs", written by Henry Wood in 1905. It is based on sailors' sea shanties including a 'hornpipe'. The dance that gets faster and faster and the audience clap along, trying to keep up with the orchestra. It includes the song “Rule Britannia”. The orchestra always play Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance March no 1" which has the tune "Land of Hope and Glory". The concert finishes with Parry's hymn "Jerusalem". The conductor also makes a speech.

paragraphs: Since 1996 there have been Proms in parks in other towns in the United Kingdom to which thousands of people can go. These all take place on the same night, and there is interactive communication between them and the Prom in the Royal Albert Hall.

paragraphs: One way to go to the Proms is to buy a ticket for a seat, just like any other sort of concert. But many people think the best way to go to the Proms is to be a promenader. This means having a standing place. There are two places to prom: downstairs in the arena and upstairs in the gallery. The Royal Albert Hall is round, and looks like an old Roman amphitheatre. That is why the floor downstairs is called the “arena”, like in an amphitheatre. The promenaders who stand downstairs are near the orchestra, especially the front rows. But it can be quite a squash when there are lots of people, and small children need to be near the front to see properly. The other place to promenade is upstairs in the gallery. There is more room there, and it is easy to see, and easy to sit down or even lie down when one feels tired.

paragraphs: A ticket to promenade costs £5. People who want to be a promenader have to wait in a queue outside and buy their ticket as they go in. Anyone who wants to be near the front should join the queue early, especially for the very popular concerts, and at the weekend. Some people queue for hours. They pass the time by talking to one another, reading or playing games. It is all good fun and part of enjoying being at the Proms.


title: Mount Merapi

paragraphs: Mount Merapi (Gunung Merapi in Indonesian) is a volcano in Indonesia. It is on the island of Java. It is conical in shape. It is the most active volcano of Indonesia. In Indonesian, the name means "mountain of fire". The volcano has been descovered by Mr Morris in 1754

paragraphs: In 2006, scientists believed that the volcano would erupt soon. An earthquake occurred in that region on May 27, 2006, and killed about 6,200 people. On June 6, super hot gas and ash poured down the mountain. These hot gases are known as a pyroclastic flow. Two people were killed, and 15,000 people rushed to safety.

paragraphs: On 25 October 2010 the Indonesian government warned villagers living near the mountain to move to safer ground. Officials said hundreds of volcanic earthquakes had been recorded on the mountain over the weekend of 23–24 October, and that the magma had risen to about 1 kilometre (3,300 ft) below the surface due to the seismic activity. People living within a 20 km (12.5 mile) zone were told they must leave.

paragraphs: On the afternoon of 25 October 2010 lava erupted from the southern and south-eastern slopes of Mount Merapi. Many more followed over the next two weeks. There were also pyroclastic flows.

paragraphs: After the recovery of more bodies, an official in disaster management said the death toll reached 273 up to 18 November.


title: Electrical conductor

paragraphs: A conductor is a material which electricity, heat or sound can flow through. An electrical conductor conducts electricity. The ability to conduct electricity is called electrical conductivity.

paragraphs: Most metals, like iron and copper, are electrical conductors. These metals are used to make wires to carry electric current. Plasma is an excellent conductor of electricity and is used for many purposes but metals are more used.

paragraphs: Impure water can also conduct electricity. Living tissues, as in the human body, are wet and therefore conductors of electricity.

paragraphs: Some materials are "semiconductors". This means that electricity "can" flow through them, but not very well.

paragraphs: Some materials are "resistors". This means that they make it very hard for electricity to flow through them.

paragraphs: A material that stops electric current is called an insulator (electricity). Wires are covered with insulators like plastic to stop the electricity from leaving the wire.

paragraphs: Some materials when really cold, are superconductors. They offer no resistance at all to the flow of electricity.

paragraphs: A conductor's resistance tend to get higher when the temperature also gets high.


title: Michelson interferometer

paragraphs: The Michelson interferometer is the tool used for optical interferometry.

paragraphs: It was invented by Albert Abraham Michelson, famous for proving the inexistence of luminiferous aether in the Michelson-Morley experiment.

paragraphs: There are two mirrors in the interferometer, one fixed and the other is movable through a micrometer.

paragraphs: There is also a beam splitter that separates the laser or light beam and a screen that shows the interference pattern.

paragraphs: A wide laser or light beam is first shot at the beam splitter. Reflection takes place as the beam hits the beam splitter, part of it reflects towards mirror 1 while the rest towards mirror 2. The two beams again reflect off mirror 1 and 2 and travel back to the beam splitter, the two beams that goes through the beam splitter will combine and form an interference pattern at the screen.

paragraphs: The interference pattern will appear as bands and each band represents 2 path length difference or 1 wavelength, that is because the crest of wave 1 has caught up with the crest of wave 2 (or the other way around), causing a constructive interference. If given the change in distance of the movable mirror and number of bands on the screen, we can easily calculate the wavelength of the light source.


title: The Gods Must Be Crazy

paragraphs: The Gods Must Be Crazy is a movie directed by Jamie Uys. It was released in the United States by 20th Century Fox in 1980.

paragraphs: Upon its release, "The Gods Must Be Crazy" made the more money than any other foreign movie. Four sequels followed from 1989 to 1994. The last three in the series were made in Hong Kong.

paragraphs: It stars Namibian farmer N!xau as a Bushman, whose happy village (in Africa's Kalahari desert) suddenly turns to a violent society, after a Coke bottle falls down there from a passing airplane. The Bushman, Xixo, decides to return the bottle to the "end of the earth", to finish all the evil his family has gone through. Along the way, he meets a group of terrorists on the run, as well as a clumsy scientist who falls in love with a former newspaper journalist. During his journey, Xixo encounters modern civilisation for the first time.


title: Janus

paragraphs: Janus was a two-faced god of Roman mythology who kept the gate of Heaven. He was the god of beginnings and ends, and so of gates, doors, doorways and passages. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past. The Romans named the month of January (Ianuarius) in his honor. In January we look back on the last year and forward to the next.

paragraphs: Janus presided over the beginning and ending of conflict, and hence war and peace. The doors of his temple were open in time of war, and closed to mark the peace. As a god of transitions, he was remembered at births, and journeys: he was concerned with travelling, trading and shipping.

paragraphs: It was also said that his face was split in two since a door can let you in or out.

paragraphs: An unusual feature of the mythology is that the ancient Greeks had no version of Janus.


title: The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland

paragraphs: The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland is an animated movie from 1987, released by Cineplex Odeon Films. It is the last big-screen movie to star the Care Bears characters, and is loosely based on Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" stories.

paragraphs: This movie has a sequel called "" (1986).


title: Rhea

paragraphs: These people have "Rhea" as their family name:

paragraphs: These people have it as their given name:


title: Conducting

paragraphs: Conducting in music means beating time to help a group of musicians to sing or play well together.

paragraphs: If an orchestra is playing music, it is important that they all play exactly together. They need to know exactly when to start, what tempo (speed) to go, how loud or quietly to play, and what the mood of the music should be. If a small number of people play music together (like in a chamber orchestra), they can talk about this amongst themselves. One person can nod with his/her head or with the bow of a string instrument to help the group to start and finish together.

paragraphs: With larger orchestras, such as a symphony orchestra, there are so many people (almost a hundred of them in some cases) that they need a separate person to lead. This person is called the conductor.

paragraphs: In the 17th century, orchestras were usually small enough that they did not need a conductor. Often they were directed by the keyboard player or lead violinist. But as orchestras grew in size and began using a wider variety of instruments, it became a convention of having someone who was not playing any instrument to stand, facing the orchestra, as the director or conductor. One early conductor was the French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), who beat time by banging a big stick (like a walking stick) on the floor to the time of the music. One day he banged his stick so hard, it went through his foot, and he died of gangrene.

paragraphs: Conducting as we know it today had become normal by the 19th century. The composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was known to be a very good conductor as well. Some conductors in Victorian times behaved like they wanted to show off. At around the same time, Louis Antoine Jullien (1812-1860) was a French conductor who wore white gloves, which were presented to him on a silver tray at the start of the concert. He dressed in expensive clothes and his long black hair waved all over the place as he conducted. He was very successful, in France at first, in the UK afterwards, and then even in the US, where he worked with the showman P.T. Barnum. His concerts were a mix of dance and "classical" music, always with the best musicians. His life was so strange that a biography (in French) has been published ().

paragraphs: The British conductor Sir Henry Wood (1869-1944), who was famous for conducting The Proms, was a well-liked man who was respected and loved by orchestras and audiences.

paragraphs: Conductors usually beat time with their right hand. This leaves their left hand free to show the various instruments when they come in (when they start playing) and to give interpretative gestures, such as indicating when to play louder or softer, or faster or slower. Most conductors have a stick called a “baton”. It makes it easier for people at the back of large orchestras or choirs to see the beat. Other conductors, such as those who lead singers, prefer not to use a baton. A conductor stands on a small platform called a “rostrum”.

paragraphs: To be a good conductor is not easy. It is not just a question of giving a steady beat. A good conductor will know the music extremely well, understand how the composer wanted the music to sound, be able to figure out the technical details, and know how to be able to work with the orchestra to create great music everyone would want to listen to. Having good communication skills would help a lot, but some conductors speak very little during their rehearsals. They make everything clear through the way they conduct.

paragraphs: Some of the most famous conductors of the past were: Gustav Mahler, Hans Richter, Arthur Nikisch, Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan, Leopold Stokowski, Georg Solti, John Barbirolli, Otto Klemperer, George Szell and Leonard Bernstein.

paragraphs: Some of the most famous conductors today are: Marin Alsop, Riccardo Chailly, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Simon Rattle, Andris Nelsons, Valery Gergiev and Bernard Haitink.

paragraphs: The main conductor who is in charge of an orchestra is often given the title "musical director". This will usually mean that he or she has a lot of power in the organization of the orchestra, such as choosing the music that will be performed at each concert or inviting soloists to perform with the orchestra. Orchestras may give honorary titles to their conductor, such as "conductor laureate".

paragraphs: A "guest conductor" is one who conducts an orchestra regularly, but is not the main conductor. Typically, he or she would be invited by the main conductor to conduct a performance now and then. An "assistant conductor" will often be a young conductor who helps the main conductor and gets the chance to conduct some of the concerts. Leonard Bernstein became famous in 1953 as the assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic when he led a concert, which was being broadcast nationally on CBS Radio, without having time to prepare for it. He would be the main director of that orchestra from 1958 to 1969.


title: Norwegian language

paragraphs: The Norwegian language is the official language of Norway. It is spoken by over four and a half million people, and it belongs to the group of North Germanic languages which are spoken in Scandinavia. These include Swedish, Danish, Icelandic and Faeroese.

paragraphs: Two forms of the language exist: (which means "book language") and (which means "new Norwegian").

paragraphs: Old Norse is the language that was spoken hundreds of years ago in Scandinavia at the time of the Vikings. It is very similar to today’s Icelandic language. This is because many Vikings sailed from Norway to Iceland in order to escape from the rule of the Norwegian kings who were making people pay lots of tax.

paragraphs: During the 13th century the Black Death killed two thirds of the population of Norway. The Danish kings and queens noticed that Norway was weak and defenceless, so they annexed Norway (made it part of Denmark). For hundreds of years Norway was ruled by the Danes. All the rulers, priests, estate owners and noblemen were Danish. Many of them settled in Norway. This is why today’s standard Norwegian (Bokmål) is similar to Danish. Norwegians were not allowed to print books in Norwegian. Anyone wanting to study had to go to Denmark or Germany.

paragraphs: In 1814 Denmark lost a war and had to give Norway to Sweden. Then the Norwegians were allowed to have their own university. Gradually the Danish language was mixed up with the Norwegian dialects and became today’s Norwegian language. Norwegian and Danish look very similar when they are written, but when they are spoken they sound different. In Danish a lot of the sounds are swallowed.

paragraphs: During the 19th century a slightly different form of Norwegian was made up by several people. This eventually became known as “Nynorsk.” It was based on old forms of Norwegian and dialects. During the 20th century some attempts were made to join Bokmål and Nynorsk into one language, but they did not succeed. Today about one person in nine or ten in Norway writes Nynorsk. Children in school have to learn both forms.

paragraphs: The Norwegian alphabet has 29 letters. These are the same letters as the English alphabet plus three extra vowels:

paragraphs: The letters "c", "q", "w", "x" and "z" are only used for words that have been borrowed from other languages.


title: French Polynesia

paragraphs: French Polynesia (, Tahitian: "Porinetia Farani") is a French "overseas collectivity" (French: "collectivité d'outre mer", or COM) with the particular designation of "overseas country" (French: "pays d'outre-mer", or "POM") in the southern Pacific Ocean.

paragraphs: The country is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands. The most well-known is Tahiti, the most populous island, which is in the Society Islands group. The capital of the territory, Papeete, is also there.

paragraphs: Although it does not really belong in the territory, French Polynesia is in charge of affairs for Clipperton Island.

paragraphs: Aside from Tahiti, some other important atolls, islands, and island groups in French Polynesia are: Ahe, Bora Bora, Hiva `Oa, Huahine, Maiao, Maupiti, Mehetia, Moorea, Nuku Hiva, Raiatea, Tahaa, Tetiaroa, Tubuai, and Tupai.


Magnitude


title: Osnabrück

paragraphs: Osnabrück is a city in Germany in the state of Lower Saxony. It is around 1,200 years old. The castle dates back to the 19th century. The city was founded by Charlemagne. It has about 165,000 inhabitants, and is twinned with Derby, UK, as well as five other cities around Europe.

paragraphs: Osnabrück is in the south of the state, on the border with North Rhine-Westphalia. It shares an airport with the neighbouring city of Münster which is in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the only German city in a national park.


title: Neighbour

paragraphs: A Neighbour (or neighbor in American English) is a person who lives nearby, normally in a house or apartment that is next door or, in the case of houses, across the street. Some people form friendships with their neighbours, and help them by sharing their tools and helping with gardening tasks. Other people become frustrated with their neighbours, if the neighbour makes a lot of noise or a mess

paragraphs: A group of people living close together in a small community is called a neighbourhood. Some neighbourhoods have many community organizations, where people volunteer and do charitable activities. Other neighbourhoods in poor communities may have no community organizations, and there may be many problems in the community, such as illegal drugs, prostitution, and homelessness.


title: Flip-flop (electronics)

paragraphs: In electronics, a flip-flop or latch is a circuit that has two stable states and can be used to store information. Signals applied to control inputs can change the circuit’s state. It is the basic storage element in sequential logic. Flip-flops and latches are fundamental building blocks of digital electronics systems used in computers, communications, and many other types of systems.

paragraphs: Flip-flops are mainly used as static RAM to store data in a computer. That data is represented in binary. Binary is represented in a 1 (“high state”) and 0 (“low state”). The structure of flip flops vary, but the general characteristic is that two branches affect each other's state by putting the current resulting state of one branch and using that as input for the next iteration of the other branch.

paragraphs: The first electronic flip-flop, originally called the Eccles-Jordan trigger circuit, was invented in 1918 by the British physicists William Eccles and F. W. Jordan. The initial design’s only active elements were two vacuum tubes. While working at Hughes Aircraft, Eldred Nelson coined the term JK for a flip-flop which changed states when both inputs were on (a logical "one").

paragraphs: Flip-flops can be either simple or clocked. A simple flip-flop changes state as soon as the input changes. A clocked flip-flop changes state only when an extra pulse occurs. This pulse is called the clock signal. Commonly, "flip-flop" only refers to clocked circuits; the simple ones are commonly called "latches".

paragraphs: The two common types of flip-flops are SR ("set-reset"), D ("data" or "delay").

paragraphs: The most fundamental flip-flop is the simple SR flip-flop. In the SR flip-flop, the S and R stand for set and reset. The stored bit is present on the output marked Q.

paragraphs: If S is pulsed high while R is held low, then the Q output is forced high. Conversely, if R is pulsed high while S is held low, then the Q output is forced low. When the R and S inputs are both low, the Q outputs are in a constant state. However, when the R and S inputs are both high, the Q outputs are in a forbidden state.

paragraphs: Since high and low mean logical '1' and '0', respectively, the SR flip-flop can have four combinations showing below:

paragraphs: The restricted combination (D) leads to an unstable state.

paragraphs: A D Flip-Flop prevents an SR flip-flop from receiving the forbidden combination. It takes only one input for data, called D. It splits this data down two paths. On one path it flips the data to the opposite value. This is the “NOT” box in the animation. That way, S = 1, R = 1 is never fed to the internal SR latch.


title: Ilkley

paragraphs: Ilkley is a tourist town in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The biggest attraction there is the wonderful and big "Ilkley moors". It is very green and grassy and provides walks for any type of people. One of these walks includes a big rock and a little rock called the Cow and Calf Rocks. This is one of the bigger wonders of the Yorkshire dales. By these rocks there is a pub called "the cow and calf".

paragraphs: The town is has one railway station where trains run to Leeds and Bradford.


title: Econometrics

paragraphs: Econometrics is a branch of economics. It is the use of statistical and mathematical methods to describe the relation between economic forces such as capital (any of the tools, work, or other things needed to make something useful), interest rates (the price of borrowing money), and labor.

paragraphs: Much of econometrics is making models which are simple pictures of the real world. These models then can be used to predict what will happen in the real world.

paragraphs: An example of econometrics would be looking at the prices of houses in a town. An economist (someone who studies economics) can try to make a simple picture of the house prices in the town. This picture might show that houses close to the market are worth more. An economist could then say that if a new market is made in another part of the town, home prices there might go up. The economist also might say that the new market could make prices less than before near the old one, because the new market will make it so that more houses are near a market. This would make the people who sell houses near a market sell them for less, since there could be more sellers than buyers.

paragraphs: A basic tool for econometrics is the multiple linear regression model. In modern econometrics, other statistical tools are often used, but linear regression is still the most used starting point for an analysis. Estimating a linear regression on two variables can be shown by drawing a line through data points representing paired numbers of the independent and dependent variables.


title: Franconia

paragraphs: Franconia (German: Franken) is the northern part of the German federal state of Bavaria. This region is divided in three smaller regions: Oberfranken, Mittelfranken, and Unterfranken. The biggest city in Franconia is Nuremberg.

paragraphs: Other large cities in Franconia are Coburg, Aschaffenburg, Würzburg, Erlangen, Fürth, Bamberg, Bayreuth, Schweinfurt and Hof.


title: King of Arms

paragraphs: A King of arms is a government officer in countries like England, Scotland, and Wales. He grants coats of arms to other people. King of Arms is the highest rank of officer of arms. Some countries do not have a King of Arms, but have another person that grants coats of arms.

paragraphs: A King of Arms is also usually in charge of special ceremonies for a country.


title: Psychokinesis

paragraphs: Psychokinesis or telekinesis is the supposed ability to change matter, energy, space or time by using your mind. It is often mentioned and performed in science fiction movies and video games.

paragraphs: Psychokinesis is the word used to describe many different abilities. These abilities include:


title: Autobiography

paragraphs: 10th from High school Koran Sarai buxar bihar,

paragraphs: 12th from R.N.T.I college hatiya (Ranchi)

paragraphs: Graduation from s.s. memorial college "RANCHI UNIVERSITY" jharkhand￼

paragraphs: Join in 2018 in softaid computer consultant as a service engineer, and 2019 in BJP party karyalay as a state communication associate, then join in 2020 in CISS (Central investigation and security services limited) as a field officer of Ramgarh region in Jharkhand and now continue.


title: Penjing

paragraphs: Penjing (盆景 pinyin: pén jǐng, literally tray scenery) is the ancient Chinese art of growing trees and plants in containers. The plants are kept small by skilled pruning.

paragraphs: Penjing is similar to the Japanese art of bonsai.

paragraphs: The first historical reference to "penjing" is from the 9th century.


title: Brian Eno

paragraphs: Brian Eno (born 15 May 1948) is an English musician. He was one of the original members of the band Roxy Music. He makes music called electronic music, which is music made using computers and other electronic devices, like the synthesizer. Brian Eno has worked with other famous musicians and groups like David Bowie and U2.


title: Kirby (character)

paragraphs: "For the game series see, Kirby (series)"

paragraphs: Kirby is a fictional character in a series of video games published by Nintendo. He copies abilities from each enemies. He appeared in the eponymous video games, including "Kirby's Adventure", "Super Smash Bros.", "Kirby's Dream Land", "", "" and "".

paragraphs: Kirby (originally named Popopo) has been the main character of some of games made by HAL Laboratory (or HALKEN, as it was called in the 90's). He appeared in over twenty games since 1992 and in the anime television series. The series has sold over 33 million copies worldwide. The original games of the series are platformers. They typically begin with an evil villain threatening his home of Dream Land ("Pupupuland" プププランド) on the planet Pop Star, usually the greedy King Dedede and Dark Matter.

paragraphs: Kirby can walk, run, jump, float and inhale and spit out or swallow enemies. After "Kirby's Dream Land", Kirby can copy abilities from enemies he swallowed, such as Fire, Sword, Fighter and Cutter. Kirby can swim underwater. The character is named after lawyer John Kirby.


title: Capacitor

paragraphs: A capacitor (also called condenser, which is the older term) is an electronic device that stores electric energy. It is similar to a battery, but can be smaller, lightweight and a capacitor charges or discharges much quicker. Capacitors are used in many electronic devices today, and can be made out of many different types of material. The Leyden jar was one of the first capacitors invented.

paragraphs: Capacitors are usually made with two metal plates that are on top of each other and near each other, but that do not actually touch. When powered, they allow energy to be stored inside an electrical field. Because the plates need a lot of area to store even a small amount of charge, the plates are usually rolled up into some other shape, such as a cylinder. Sometimes, other shapes of capacitors are used for special purposes. A capacitor-like effect can also result just from two conductors being close to each other, whether you want it to exist or not.

paragraphs: The type of capacitor used depends on the application. Capacitors come in many sizes. They can be as small as an ant or as large as a dustbin. A few capacitors are adjustable.

paragraphs: All capacitors have two connections, or leads. Most kinds of capacitors can be replaced easily by someone who has basic skills in electronics. However, one of the more powerful types - the electrolytic capacitor - must be used the correct way, or they can explode violently.

paragraphs: While capacitors can store energy, as batteries do, capacitors can release all their stored energy very quickly, even faster than a second. A defibrillator or a photoflash capacitor uses this ability. It gradually charges, until it cannot be filled any more, and then quickly discharges its stored power to a device that needs to have it quickly.

paragraphs: Supercapacitors hold a bigger charge than regular capacitors. They are used to store electricity for motors and other purposes when batteries won't discharge quickly enough.

paragraphs: This type of capacitor is not for use in high frequency circuits, being made with a coil inside. They can charge and discharge even more quickly than other capacitors. They are used in filter circuits or timing circuits which run at several hundred KHz or less.

paragraphs: Electrolytic capacitors use a conducting surface inside a liquid electrolyte. They do not charge and discharge as rapidly as film capacitors do. They have polarity and so they have to be attached correctly. There are two leads; one will have a + and the other a -. This means one lead is "positive" and one is "negative". There are two different styles: axial, where the leads are connected to each end, and radial, where the leads are connected to one end. Electrolytic capacitors are printed with capacitance and voltage rating.

paragraphs: Since the voltage rating can be low, it is important to check that the electrolytic capacitor is not overcharged. Capacitors can be separated from a battery, then connected in series. Because the capacitor is polarized, the positive terminal must be connected to a negative terminal. This creates "correct polarity" through the electrical circuit and prevents breakdown.

paragraphs: Some electrolytic capacitors are unpolarized, meaning that either side can be positive or negative. These are mostly used in loudspeakers to block low-frequency signals (bass) from reaching high-frequency (tweeter) drivers.


title: Strategy

paragraphs: Strategy is a word which was first used by the military. It comes from an ancient Greek word for the general officer commanding all the armed forces of a state. A strategy is a long term plan on what to do to achieve a certain goal. When talking about the near future, people often use the word "tactics". Military theorist Carl von Clausewitz said "tactics is the art of using troops in battle; strategy is the art of using battles to win the war". Today, the word "strategy" is in common use; people might talk about "business strategy", for example.

paragraphs: The distinction between strategy and tactics applies to any planning which might be done against an enemy or opponent. Strategy is what we broadly intend to do to reach our long-term goal or objective. Tactics is the detailed steps which are used as our progress is opposed by the opponent. For this reason, tactics are short-scale and flexible. Strategy, on the other hand, is changed as little as possible. It may be that our goal simply cannot be reached. In that case, a search goes on for a new goal and a new or adjusted strategy. Often, in war, chess or business, roughly the same tactics are still used to get to a different goal. Negotiation is another area where the distinction between strategy and tactics is especially clear.


title: Design pattern

paragraphs: In Computer science, a Design pattern is an abstract solution to a certain problem. Design patterns are used in object oriented programming. They give a possible solution to a problem of designing software.

paragraphs: Design patterns became popular around the year 1995. They also simplify the language between computer scientists. Ideally, a design pattern should be reusable many times. It is like a brick of a house, it can be used for many different problems. One can also build bridges with bricks, not only houses.

paragraphs: These examples are actual examples of design patterns as they are in use. They have not been simplified. It is only the language used to describe them that has been made simpler.

paragraphs: The flyweight design pattern is used to minimize the use of many similar objects. In a text-processing system each letter can have some attributes like formatting, typeface, and size. While it would be possible to create a new object for each character in the document and give it these attributes, it is extremely expensive.

paragraphs: Instead it would be better to create one object for each type of formatting and link the letter to that information. That needs a lot fewer objects. The only extra information that would need to be stored is the word or letter's position in the document. All similar letters would use the same object to define font, size, and other properties.

paragraphs: Another easy to understand pattern is called "Singleton". It is used when there can only be one instance of a given class. That class usually has some static method (e.g. getInstance()) which returns a new instance. It also saves the instance internally. So if it already created the instance, it can simply return it.


title: Amarillo, Texas

paragraphs: Amarillo is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in the northern part of Texas. The city's economy is mostly based on cattle. In 2000, 173,627 people lived there.


title: Lansdowne, Pennsylvania

paragraphs: Lansdowne is a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the US.


title: Gillingham F.C.

paragraphs: Gillingham Football Club is an English football club. They are based in the town of Gillingham, Kent. They are currently in Football League One. They play home games at Priestfield Stadium. Gillingham are managed by Steve Lovell and the chairman is Paul Scally. The club captain, Gabriel Zakuani, plays in defence. They finished their last season (2017-18) in 17th.


title: Round (music)

paragraphs: A round in music is a song which can be sung by two or more groups of people. One group starts off and the next group start to sing the same song a bit later. It should sound nice together. When a group gets to the end of the song they start again. They can go round and round, singing it several times.

paragraphs: Usually rounds are in 2, 3 or 4 parts (meaning that they are for 2, 3 or 4 groups of people). When a group of people sing or play a round they usually sing it an agreed number of times. This means that the group which starts last also finishes last.

paragraphs: "Frère Jacques" is a famous French round. "London's Burning" is an English round. Both those rounds can be sung in 4 parts.

paragraphs: The oldest round that we know is "Sumer is icumen in". This is a very famous piece of music because it is the oldest piece of music we know that was written down. It was written around 1250 by a monk. It can be sung in 4 parts with 2 bass drones (held notes).

paragraphs: Writing music by making one part imitate another is called canonic writing. Rounds are a kind of canon.


title: Gall bladder

paragraphs: The gallbladder is a pear-shaped organ in your abdomen. It stores about 50 ml of acidic liquid (bile) until the body needs it for digestion. That liquid helps digest fat. The gallbladder is about 7-10cm long in humans. It is dark green in color because of the bile in it. It is connected to the liver and the duodenum by the biliary tract.


title: Addenbrooke's Hospital

paragraphs: Addenbrooke's Hospital is a large hospital in Cambridge, England. The hospital lets people in to look around, once every two years. You can visit the mortuary, the operating theatres and the hospital roof.


title: Koala

paragraphs: Koalas ("Phascolarctos cinereus") are herbivore marsupials that live in the eucalyptus forests of eastern Australia. They are the only living species in the family Phascolarctidae.

paragraphs: Koalas are often called "koala bears", because a koala looks somewhat like a small bear or teddy bear. However, it is not a bear, it is quite a different type of animal.

paragraphs: Koalas have brownish-grey or silver-grey fur, and a big pink, dark red or/and black nose. They have sharp claws which help them to climb.

paragraphs: Koalas also have finger prints which look the same as human finger prints. Finger print experts have had difficulty in being able to tell if the prints are from a human or koala. Finger prints are rare among mammals that climb trees. Scientists do not know why the koala has them, but their best guess is that it helps the koala choose leaves to eat.

paragraphs: Koalas are mostly active at night. They live in trees and are rarely found on the ground. Koalas have two unusual characteristics.

paragraphs: They eat leaves of eucalyptus trees . Koalas do not drink often, they get most of their water from the eucalyptus leaves they eat. Eucalyptus leaves are poisonous, but koalas do not get poisoned. This is because they have certain bacteria in their digestive tract that can detoxify the poison in the leaves. Koalas, however, have to sleep long hours because eucalyptus leaves do not produce much energy and also because the digestive process takes a long time and consumes lots of energy.

paragraphs: Koalas have a peculiar way of cooling themselves. Unlike humans who sweat and other animals, which either pant or lick their fur to stay cool, koalas reduce their body heat by hugging a tree. The temperature of the trunks of certain trees is up to 9 degrees Celsius lower than the air temperature. Koalas prefer to stay on these trees on a hot day even if they do not have the tastiest leaves.

paragraphs: Koalas live alone most of the time, but they have a social hierarchy with the other koalas who live near.

paragraphs: After a pregnancy of 35 days, the newly born koala is about a quarter of an inch long, and is born with no ears, eyes, or hair. It crawls into its mothers pouch on its own. After 12 months the young koala is old enough that it does not go into its mother's pouch or need milk anymore. The female koala can have another baby then. Young koalas usually leave their mothers when they are 18 months old, but if their mother does not have another baby they sometimes stay for up to three years. Koalas become mature when they are about two years old, but they often have their first baby after another two years.

paragraphs: Koalas mostly eat leaves and don't drink that often.

paragraphs: The koala is not an endangered species, but it is a near vulnerable species. One reason is the loss of habitat, which means that koalas have less space to live. In some places there are very few koalas left. But there are also places, such as French Island (Victoria), with too many koalas that eat too much. Because of this the eucalyptus trees and other animals are in danger. A study looking at koala numbers at 1800 sites for 20 years, shows that the number of koalas is falling. The study, by the Australian Koala Foundation, estimates that there are only about 50,000 koalas left. there is over 500 types of gum trees in the world, however, koalas only eat 4-6 types that they prefer.

paragraphs: Most groups of koalas in Sweden have the disease Chlamydia. This is also affecting the survival of the species. Koalas on French Island do not have the disease, and so groups of them are often moved to the mainland to repopulate some areas. The disease can cause blindness, pneumonia, urinary tract infections and reproductive tract infections.


title: John Adams (composer)

paragraphs: John Coolidge Adams is an American composer. He was born in 1947. His music often uses minimalism with large orchestras and lots of different sounds. He was named after John Adams, the 2nd President.

paragraphs: He studied music at Harvard University. After he had graduated he packed all his belongings into his Volkswagen and drove all the way across the United States to California where he got a job as a forklift operator. Soon he became part of the musical scene of San Francisco. He listened to the music of minimalist composers like John Cage, Terry Riley and Morton Feldman. By the mid-1980s he was earning a living as composer and conductor. The piece that made him famous was called "Harmonium". At times the music is made to sound like a harmonium instrument, but the title also refers to "harmony", showing that he is writing tonal music unlike some modern composers at the time whose music was getting harder and harder to understand because it was not in any key.

paragraphs: Adams wrote several short pieces such as "Short Ride in a Fast Machine" and "The Chairman Dances". This last piece is music from his opera "Nixon in China" which was widely performed but made some people angry because the Chinese leaders Chou En-lai and Mao Tse-tung are shown as human beings who deserve a certain amount of sympathy.

paragraphs: Adam's Violin Concerto has been performed over 100 times by many of the world's famous violinists. Adam's song "The Chairman Dances" appered in the game Civilization IV.


title: Handcuffs

paragraphs: Handcuffs are a type of restraint, often used by police to ensure suspects cannot escape or hurt anyone. They do this by securing a person's wrists together. They are usually metal and are made up of two parts linked together by a chain. Handcuffs cannot be removed without the right key, and a handcuffed person cannot move their wrists more than a short distance apart.

paragraphs: There are three main types of handcuffs: chain, hinged, and solid bar. While they are harder to carry, rigid handcuffs allow a number of differences in cuffing. Both rigid and hinged cuffs can be used one-handed to apply pain-compliance/control techniques. Different accessories are available to improve the security or increase the hardness of handcuffs. These include boxes that fit over the chain or hinge and can be locked with a padlock.

paragraphs: In 1933 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police used a type called "Mitten Handcuffs". These stopped criminals from being able to grab the officer's tools, such as their gun. It was used by some in law enforcement but it was never popular.

paragraphs: Handcuffs can be made from different metals, including carbon steel, stainless steel and aluminium, or from synthetic polymers.

paragraphs: The National Museum of Australia has a number of handcuffs in its collection. These can be from as early as the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

paragraphs: Handcuffs with double locks have a piece that can stop the cuff from getting tighter. Tightening could be done on purpose or by struggling. Handcuffs may cause nerve damage or loss of circulation if they are tightened. Some wearers could tighten the cuffs to try to escape. They do this by trying to escape when the officer is loosening the cuffs. Double locks also make picking the locks more difficult.

paragraphs: There are three kinds of double locks described in a Smith & Wesson brochure:

paragraphs: Moving a lever on the cuff makes the lock move into a position that locks the bolt. No tool is needed to double lock this type of cuff.

paragraphs: A small peg on the key is inserted into a hole to engage the lock.

paragraphs: These are also used with a peg, but here it is inserted into a slot and moved sideways to engage the lock.

paragraphs: Plastic handcuffs, are lightweight plastic strips that look like electrical cable ties. Soldiers and police can carry a lot of them at once. This is useful for some situations, such as during big protests and riots. In recent years, airlines have started to carry plastic handcuffs to restrain troublesome passengers. Disposable handcuffs could be considered cost-inefficient. This is because they cannot be loosened, and have to be cut off to let a restrained person be fingerprinted, or to use the bathroom.

paragraphs: However, this usage means that cheap handcuffs are used in times where steel ones would normally be unused for long times. Recent products have been made that deal with this. These include disposable plastic restraints that can be opened with a key. These are more expensive than traditional plastic restraints, since they can only be used for a small number of times, and are not as strong. In addition, many people think plastic restraints are more likely to cause nerve or soft-tissue damage to the wearer than metal handcuffs.

paragraphs: When a suspect is extremely aggressive, leg irons may be used as well. Sometimes the chain connecting the leg irons to each other is looped around the chain of the handcuffs. In a few rare cases, people lying on their stomachs have died from positional asphyxia. This makes the practice very controversial, and has led to it being restricted, or even banned, in many places.

paragraphs: Most handcuffs today in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Latin America can be opened with the same key. This makes transporting prisoners easier. However, there are handcuff makers who use different keys. Maximum security handcuffs need special keys. Handcuff keys usually do not work with thumbcuffs. The Cuff Lock handcuff key padlock uses this same standard key.

paragraphs: In addition to the Universal handcuff key, a few modified designs exist. One kind of key is designed to fit behind an officer's badge.


title: Flashlight

paragraphs: A flashlight (in North American English) or torch (in most Commonwealth countries) is a small, portable spotlight.

paragraphs: Its function is a beam of light which helps to see. It usually requires batteries.

paragraphs: The light is made by a small light bulb. In the 20th century, it was usually an incandescent bulb. Nowadays most use LEDs, which work slightly differently. In 1896, the first dry cell battery was invented. Unlike previous batteries, it used a paste electrolyte instead of a liquid. This was the first battery suitable for portable electrical devices, as it did not spill or break easily and worked in any orientation. Sometimes the electricity comes from a small generator instead of a battery.

paragraphs: The torch can also refer to a flammable stick that is lit on fire to provide light and (or) heat.

paragraphs: Hundreds of years ago, people used candles for all indoor light. This was expensive, and once the candle was gone, you would have to buy or make a new one or be stuck in the dark. When electricity was discovered and the light bulb was invented, David Misell, a British man working in Hubert's New York shop in 1898, came up with the idea of a light bulb that you could take with you, anywhere you wanted to go. Then, the torch was invented. The first flashlight has three D batteries which powered a small incandescent bulb. The bulbs would glow with a simple ON/OFF switch.


title: Discrimination

paragraphs: "'Discrimination" is when someone is treated unfairly or differently. Discrimination is when a person is treated unfairly or badly because the person is one of a particular group. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that all persons must be protected against any kind of discrimination, or even its inciting.

paragraphs: A person might be discriminated against because of their race, age, sex, politics, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, the way they look, a past criminal record, the person's lifestyle, their choice of clothing, their age or their disabilities whether they are a member of or fit in with a social clique (group), social class, social status or caste, and many other reasons.

paragraphs: Discrimination can take many forms. It can include being fired from a job, not being able to be hired for a job, being paid less money than others at the same job, being refused a home or apartment, teasing, harassment, or simply being treated differently than other people. Laws known as "equal opportunity legislation" protect people from discrimination. They say people should be employed whatever their race, age, sex or religion. There should be reasonable care for people with disabilities or accessibility. Two people in the same position must be paid the same wage if they have exactly the same job.

paragraphs: In some countries, discrimination against somebody on the basis of race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, age, or disability is illegal. Even in those countries where discrimination is unlawful, it still takes place for reasons not covered by the law. In some other countries, discrimination against somebody is legal or even official government policy. This especially takes place in countries in which there is an official religion, and people of other religions are discriminated against.


title: Ernest Rutherford

paragraphs: Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM, PC, FRS (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand-born British scientist, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908, for his work on nuclear physics, and for the theory of the structure of the atom.

paragraphs: Rutherford was one of the first researchers in nuclear physics, after the discovery of radiation by the French physicist Henri Becquerel in 1896. Rutherford discovered the radioactive half-life, and the three parts of radiation which he named Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. He also discovered that alpha particles were the nuclei of Helium. Rutherford's Geiger–Marsden experiment led to what we know today about the atomic structure, where the atom is a nucleus and electrons orbit around it.

paragraphs: In 1919, Rutherford made the world's first artificial nuclear reaction, where he put alpha particles with nitrogen gas and created particles of oxygen isotopes and protons. This was nuclear transmutation, changing nitrogen gas into oxygen gas.

paragraphs: Rutherford was the leader of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. He proved the existence of the nucleus and that is was composed of protons and neutrons. In 1932 James Chadwick made an experiment at the Cavendish Lab that showed Rutherford was right.

paragraphs: Rutherford College, a school in Auckland, New Zealand, was named after him.


title: Serialism

paragraphs: Serialism is a way of composing music using a series of notes in a particular order and using this to build up a whole piece of music. These series and patterns can also be applied to other parts of music (like how loud or soft it is).

paragraphs: To show how serialism works we can take a very simple example. Let us use just five notes from the white notes of a keyboard. We can use the notes A, B, C, D and E. We are going to make a “tune” using all these five notes, but not repeating any until all five have been used (although we are allowed to repeat the note we have just had).

paragraphs: For example: we might have D, C, A, A, A, A, B, E. This is what we call our “row” or “series”, although usually one would expect a row of twelve different notes. It is the one we start off with, so we can call it our tone row.

paragraphs: We can change the tone row by playing it backwards. This is called retrograde. So we now get E, B, A, A, A, A, C, D.

paragraphs: We can also change it by playing it upside down. This means that instead of going up one step we go down one step, or instead of going up two steps we go down two steps etc. If we start on the same note D we now get: D, E, G, G, G, G, F, C. This is called inversion.

paragraphs: We can make it go backwards and upside down. So we get: C, F, G, G, G, G, E, D. This is called retrograde inversion.

paragraphs: We now have four ways of playing our row: tone row, retrograde, inversion, retrograde inversion.

paragraphs: These can now be transposed to create many more options.

paragraphs: In 1923 the composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) developed what he called the “twelve-tone system”. Instead of using just five notes as in our example, he used all 12 notes in the octave (5 black and 7 white notes on the piano keyboard). Most music we listen to is in a particular key (tonality). This is called “tonal” music. For example: if we start “Twinkle, twinkle little star” on a C we finish on a C at the end and the piece sounds finished. It is “tonal” (in a particular key). In twelve-tone music all 12 notes are equal, there is no “key note” (it is “atonal”). This makes the music very hard to understand and it took people a long time to get used to the sound of Schoenberg’s new music.

paragraphs: Schoenberg was not the only composer to use this way of composing. His pupils Alban Berg (1885-1935) and Anton Webern (1883-1945) also wrote twelve-tone music. Schoenberg, Webern & Berg are sometimes called the "Second Viennese School"-The first was Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven a hundred years before. The composers Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) and Aaron Copland (1900-1990) started to write twelve-tone music when they were quite old. Composers such as Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) used it occasionally, often putting it together with music which was tonal (listen to Britten’s opera “Midsummer Night’s Dream”). When contrasted with tonal music in this way it can be very beautiful.

paragraphs: In the 1950s and 1960s some composers like Pierre Boulez (b.1925) and Karlheinz Stockhausen (b.1928) wrote music which was not only twelve-tone, but serial in other ways as well. For example: they organized levels of dynamics (from very quiet to very loud) in a series, and the lengths of notes (from very short to very long), and even timbre (the sound quality). By combining all these things their music became very complicated indeed. When all these things were used for the whole piece of music it was called “total serialism”. Boulez’s "Structures I" is an example of a piece which uses “total serialism”. A lot of people criticized this music, saying that it was too mathematical instead of being expressive. Such music can be hard to understand.


title: Frédéric Chopin

paragraphs: Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin (1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849; pronounced SHOH-pen) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the greatest Romantic piano composers. Chopin was born in Żelazowa Wola, a village in the Duchy of Warsaw. A famous child prodigy, he grew up in Warsaw where he completed his music education and composed many of his mature works before leaving Poland in 1830 at age 20, shortly before the November 1830 Uprising.

paragraphs: After the Uprising, he lived in Paris as part of Poland's Great Emigration. During the last 19 years of his life, Chopin performed only about 30 times, usually in a salon. He supported himself by selling his compositions and teaching piano. After a romantic relationship with Polish women, including an abortive engagement, from 1837 to 1847 he carried on a relationship with the French writer Amandine Dupin, better known as George Sand.

paragraphs: Since he composed many piano pieces, he was called the poet of the piano. Most of Chopin's works are for solo piano, though he also wrote two piano concertos, a few chamber pieces and some songs to Polish lyrics. His piano works are often technically difficult, especially because deep expression is involved along with the importance of considering each detail in his music. Chopin also created the instrumental ballade, along with the addition of new ideas to the piano sonata, mazurka, waltz, nocturne, polonaise, étude, impromptu, scherzo and prélude. All of Chopin's works involve the piano.

paragraphs: Chopin suffered from poor health most of his life and died of tuberculosis in Paris in 1849 at age 39.


title: Mikhail Glinka

paragraphs: Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804–1857) was a Russian composer, regarded as the first to become very famous.

paragraphs: Russia is a very large country. In the 18th century there was a lot of music in Europe, but Russian people had not yet heard it. A lot of them were very poor and modern transport did not exist. By the time Glinka was born Russian people in the large towns like Saint Petersburg were becoming very interested in European music.

paragraphs: Mikhail Glinka was born in a little village called Novospasskoye. His father was a rich landowner. Glinka was brought up by his grandmother who looked after him very carefully. She was always afraid he would be cold, so she wrapped him up in a fur coat in a room which was kept at 77 °F. He was not often allowed to play in the fresh air. Later in his life Glinka was always worrying about his health.

paragraphs: It was a long way to the big cities from where the child lived. There was no radio in those days, and no CDs. The only music he heard was the church bells, and the singing of the peasants (the simple people who worked on the land). They sang folksongs and made up harmony underneath the tunes.

paragraphs: After his grandmother died he was allowed to travel 6 miles to his uncle’s home. His uncle had a group of musicians who played music by European composers like Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. He had never heard such music before.

paragraphs: When he was 13 he went to school in St Petersburg. Now he could hear lots of music and meet some good musicians. He had piano lessons and spent a lot of time at parties. He started to compose some songs.

paragraphs: In 1830 he went to Italy. Italy was famous for its music, especially for opera. Glinka met famous composers like Mendelssohn and Berlioz as well as Italian composers like Donizetti and Bellini. He like their music, and decided he wanted to write opera as well, but he wanted to make his music sound very Russian.

paragraphs: Glinka went back to Russia. He wrote two great operas. The first one was called "Ivan Susanin". The story of the opera, set in 1612, is about a poor peasant Ivan Susanin who dies to save the life of the Tsar (the Tsar was the ruler of Russia, like a king or emperor). The Tsar liked the opera and thought that it should be called "A Life for the Tsar". It was a big success when it was first performed in 1836.

paragraphs: He soon wrote his second opera: "Ruslan and Lyudmila". The story comes from a tale by the famous Russian poet Pushkin. The man who wrote the words for him did it very quickly while he was drunk, so the story is a bit muddled, but the music is wonderful. It is a fairy tale about a nasty dwarf Chernomor who has taken away a princess called Lyudmila. In the end Ruslan, the hero, rescues her. Some of the music sounds quite oriental. The overture that starts the opera is very famous.

paragraphs: Glinka also wrote piano music, songs and chamber music.

paragraphs: Glinka’s music is important because he was the first Russian composer to write music that sounded Russian. Later composers like Tchaikovsky were influenced by his music.


title: Ellipsoid

paragraphs: An ellipsoid is a shape like a sphere, but it may be longer in one or more directions, like an egg, or a rugby ball. It is the 3 dimensional analogue of an ellipse.

paragraphs: The Earth is shaped slightly like an ellipsoid. Its shape is called an oblate spheroid. An ellipsoid shaped like the Earth, called a reference ellipsoid, is often preferred to the geoid because it makes calculations simpler.