Designed in the 1960s to spy on the Soviet Union, the American SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance plane could fly over three times the speed of sound, at altitudes of over 25,000 metres. Even today it would still fly faster and higher than most 21st century airplanes. So why was it retired in the 1990s? After the …
Just like the science and engineering that make it work, ownership of the International Space Station (ISS) is complicated. Ownership is shared between the different partner organisations, namely the US, Russia, Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency. However, rather than owning a percentage of the whole ISS, different partners each own different parts of …
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Ships are normally larger, more complicated and more powerful than boats, making them better suited to sailing the oceans. However, submarines are referred to as boats no matter what their size.
Battery life is affected by various factors. Batteries in warm places lose charge faster than ones kept cool, and the varying quality of materials means cheaper ones often fail before more expensive types. Although AA batteries look alike, the chemicals inside them can be different, with great effects on lifespan. Batteries produce electricity by chemical …
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Depending on the agency launching the rocket, you can usually get quite close to a launch. For example, you can view a NASA rocket launch at Kennedy Space Center from the Apollo/Saturn V Center viewing area, which sits about five kilometres (three miles) from its world-famous launch pad. The ESA launches its rockets from its …
What’s The Safe Distance To Keep From Rocket Launches? Read More »
As the world’s largest land animal, weighing several tons, elephants are simply too heavy to jump. Their bone structure prevents them from bending their legs enough to push themselves off the ground. Elephants do not have natural predators so they did not need to be able to jump to improve their chances of survival. Elephants …
Heat (measured in joules) is the amount of thermal energy (molecular movement) something has and it can vary depending on the mass of the object; if the object has a large mass, its thermal energy will also, be large as it has a lot of molecules, while a smaller object will have less thermal energy …
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Planetary names in our Solar System are derived from mythology – except for Earth, which comes from Middle English. Since five of the planets can be seen by the naked eye, they have been called many things depending on the culture over the centuries before their current names became standard. Uranus (previously thought to have …
The molecules of most elements are more compact in their solid form than they are in their liquid state, but water is different. As you may know, each water molecule is made up of one oxygen atom with two hydrogen atoms attached. The hydrogen atoms in water have a positive charge and cause the water …
There is an oil found in the catnip plant (nepeta cataria) called nepetalactone. Researchers believe that when this oil enters a cat’s nasal tissue, it binds to protein receptors that stimulate sensory neurons. This leads to a response in neurons in a certain part of the brain known as the olfactory bulb which projects to …
The rippled surface of this first Martian sand dune ever studied up close fills this Nov. 27, 2015, view of “High Dune” from the Mast Camera on NASA’s Curiosity rover. The dunes close to Curiosity’s current location are part of “Bagnold Dunes” a band along the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater.
Cockpit flight recorders are enclosed in a steel or titanium box (which is painted orange to make it easier to find). Inside that there are some racks of very rugged electronics, but most of these don’t actually need to withstand a plane crash, as long as the tapes or memory chips containing the actual data …
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We have four sets of tonsils. There is a palatine tonsil either side of the back of the mouth. The lingual tonsil behind the tongue, and the tubal tonsils and adenoids on the roof of the mouth are part of the lymphatic system, a network of vessels used by the immune system to patrol and …
It’s because it’s less efficient. An alphabetical keyboard would put A and E on the left and middle of the top row, and T on the left no reason to suppose it has an of the bottom row. These are the most advantage for keyboards. There are uncomfortable places for touch typists patterns that are …
Unfortunately, flooding is simply a part of nature. One in six properties are at risk of flooding in England and Wales. Changes in our climate, such as more severe storms and wetter winters, will increase the risk of flooding in the future. There are a variety of ways to tackle flooding and these are just …