Beat Frequency Oscillator gave license!

In 1980s, I used to listen to the conversations of Amateur Radio Operators (HAMs) as a Short Wave Listener (SWL), after tuning in 40 meters band of my transistor radio receiver. While I was able to hear most of the operators, I could not get the voices of some which were heard only as an unintelligible squabble! Later I was informed by an operator that it is a type of radio transmission called Single Side Band (SSB) and that many HAMs can be accommodated in the band by using it. He also gave me an idea to hear that SSB transmission also by using another pocket short wave band transistor radio near that main radio. It worked well and used it with wonder. Next, the operator gave me a circuit diagram for assembling a special device for that. The device’s name is Beat Frequency Oscillator (BFO). I assembled the BFO myself, though in a crude form! With this BFO wonder, I listened to HAMs, and it paved the way for me to take up the examination for getting the Amateur Radio Operator’s License and pass in it!

Comet, an Astronomical Wonder!

The arrival of comets on the sky is a wonder to astronomers. But it is also believed by others as a bad omen attached to the leader of a country where it is seen. I wonder about this belief like this: a comet is seen all over the world in the skies of all the countries; then is it a sign of death for all those leaders?

Comets are heavenly bodies that revolve (orbit) around our sun like all our planets. So, they are seen periodically near our earth. They do not move with speed as the Shooting stars, Artificial satellites or Space stations. They are seen on the evening or the morning sky when sun sets down or rises up. They slowly move each day farther and go far away to be seen like an airplane that disappears at a distance on the sky.

Comets show a tail when they are near the sun. They consist of ice, dust and particles of rock. As these they go far away from the earth they leave behind debris that are attracted by earth’s atmosphere. When all these fall down on the earth, they produce or present the show of Meteor shower.

Acacia concinna for Healthy Hair!

Here in Tamil Nadu, South India, it is a tradition and a weekly routine to take an oil bath – anointing the whole body with Til oil (Sesame oil), then smearing a paste of an herbal pod powder and getting a shower. This keeps the skin and the hairs both of the body and scalp healthy, and ushers in a good night’s sleep! This paste’s main ingredient is that of the pods of the Shikkai Tree (Acacia concinna, ‘Shiyakaai ’ in Tamil). The whole pod itself has a good oil removing power due to its Saponins content. That is why it is available here in mini-sachets also, as a Natural herbal shampoo! Moreover its paste is harmless and it is equal to corrosive acids like Acetic acid in keeping floor tiles free from both oil and (mineral) salty deposits.

It is a wonder tree providing us freshness of both the body and mind through its pods!

Pulse Reading to excite you!

You can feel your pulse yourself! Try placing the tips of central three fingers of right hand on the outer edge of the left wrist with the middle finger on the end of wrist crease. Now press down gently these fingers on the skin. In any one of these fingers you will feel the pushing up and going down (pulse) of your (radial) pulse the most!

This pulse has a normal and average rate of seventy two per minute. It varies with your mood and physical activity. If you are angry or doing exercises it increases; if you are calm and inactive it decreases itself to near normal rate.

Pulse’s nature is the indicator of health of our blood pumping system which resembles wonderfully with water pumping system!

Beauty measured by Golden Number!

It is everybody’s observation that symmetry in every aspect gives the object its attraction, pleasing its observer. All the beautiful objects in Nature that appeals to us are thought to have certain neat arrangement of their structures in common. They are said to be in a symmetrical proportion called as the Golden ratio. This ratio in all of them works out to a common number, (approximately), the Golden number!

It is: 1.61803398…..! This number is unique in that its product with its own number is equal to its addition to the number, one!

The Golden ratio numbers are given as a series of numbers as follows:

0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55, …………… and so on!

You see that there is one common nature in this series. The sum of any two successive numbers gives you the next number of them! This is called Fibonacci series of numbers.

Beauty in Art, Architecture, Anatomy and many others are explained by these Golden ratio numbers. In beautiful flowers the number of their petals is in Golden ratio numbers! In our body, for example, the hand’s lengths between finger tips to the elbow and that between the wrist and the elbow are also in Golden ratio numbers! You can try it yourself. Even our DNA molecule has these numbers: its width is about 21 angstrom and the height 34 angstrom!

This wonderful Golden ratio numbers have been discovered by Leonardo da vinci (Fibonacci)!

For those interested in finding out the nature of these numbers:

Golden Number!

1.61803398..

Its product with itself  1.61803398 x 1.61803398 = 2.61803398

Its addition to number, 1  1+1.61803398 = 2.61803398

See that both the resulting numbers are the same!

Golden ratio!

It is: 1:1.61803398…

Two numbers are said to be in Golden ratio when the ratio between their sum and their greater number is equal to the ratio between the greater one and the lesser one.

1+1.61803398 = 2.61803398  2.61803398 / 1.61803398 = 1.61803399

1.61803398 / 1 = 1.61803398

See that both the resulting numbers are the same! So, they are in Golden ratio.

It can also be explained with other successive Fibonacci series numbers. Try with them and verify yourself!

Source: Science Reporter

Diving Spider in the Air Bubble!

We have seen ‘Diving bell’ in school text books. It was used then to dive into water. Using its principle, a spider lives under water! It is the Diving Spider or the Water Spider (Argyroneta aquatica). This spider forms a bubble of air around itself when it is on the surface of water. Then it dives down into the water lying inside this bubble that is held by the hairs of its abdomen and legs. It gets its oxygen supply from the air inside this bubble. Occasionally it goes up to the surface of water to renew its air supply!

This spider is a wonder in Nature as it demonstrates to us a principle of diving in Physical science.

Prosopis Juliflora - Fuel Wood Wonder!

I was introduced to a tree in my early childhood by its thorn! The tree is Prosopis juliflora. Elders called its thorn as Crow’s thorn (‘Kakka mual’ in Tamil) and cautioned me not to get a prick on foot with it, as it will lead to a painful abscess. It was so named as crows collect these dried greyish black thorns from the grounds near the tree and use it to build their nests.

Prosopis juliflora (‘Veali Karuvealai’ in Tamil) is an evergreen tree thriving well in any soil and is drought resistant. It appears withered only when it rains, as it folds and closes all its leaves then! Its roots go deeper than other tree roots – up to 175 feet! After cutting down to its roots tip I found a tree pushing up its fresh shoot as if it is a new tree within a month – there had been lying a much bigger main root of that tree uncut! The tree is ubiquitous here in South India and other countries like Australia. But peculiarly it is not seen in North India! Its seeds germinate quickly after monsoon rains. So, to check its invasion in farm lands, it must be pulled out and dried in sunlight as soon as it appears above the ground.

Its main use now is as a fuel, either after drying or after turning into charcoal by burning partially in a mud covered heap of its twigs. It was used then as live fencing in farms in the past and hence its Tamil name. It is said that it was introduced into Tamil Nadu, South India with the efforts taken by Honorable K.Kamaraj then Chief Minister to boost the livelihood of poor people. Another use of it: its produce, the pods are eagerly eaten by goats, which are fed by their keepers to fatten them and get tasty flesh!
This tree that grows on wastelands and offers excellent fuel wood at no cost is a wonder tree in every aspect!

Co-trimoxazole, Medicine prolonging Life Span!

It is nice to see people move out of their houses for getting entertained, learning or earning. These are the people who feel themselves in a healthy state. Yet another group of people is there that feel not healthy. Doctors try to make this second group to shift out and move to the healthier group again. For that ‘repairing work’ the tools used here are the medicines! Out of these, one wonderful medicine helps people live longer, healthily, than their destined time: it is the Co-trimoxazole and these benefiting people are those living with HIV/AIDS infection (PLHA)!
This Co-trimoxazole tablet cures the disease, Pneumonia caused by the fungus, Pneumocystis carinii (or P. jiroveci), and also prevents the same disease in them! It also cures diseases caused by other bacterial infections in them, and thus protects them from death or disabilities. Prescribing this tablet is not restricted to them only; it is used in other people also for curing intestinal infections, ear and urinary infections.Co-trimoxazole in itself is a combination of two medicines in one – Trimethoprim and Sulphamethoxazole. It belongs to the good old group of Sulpha drugs (so, it must be also avoided in people allergic to the members of this group – showing itchy skin rashes, mouth ulcers etc. after swallowing them).This Co-trimoxazole tablet that has emerged as a panacea to the special people (PLHA) is a wonder medicine creating a history in medical treatment of diseases!

Antlion snares your attention!

Smaller, shallow, round fine sand pits with dug sand heaped around are seen at spring and summer, here in India. As kids we used to drive ants into these pits and watch them being dragged down into the sand from the pits’ bottom! Is there some ‘monster’ inside the sand? No, no. It is our cowardly lurking lion – the Ant lion larva or Doodle bug (Myrmeleonidae, ‘Kunnaan’ in Tamil)! But it is cunningly trapping the ants that happen to step into these pits. These ants slide down the slope of the pit in loose fine sand to its bottom where our antlion grabs them sucks their juice and throws off their carcasses out of the pit! We used to fish out this ‘lion’ by simply inserting down into the bottom of the pit a thin stick, and taking out the stick when it grips it! These antlions are the larvae of the flying insect, Antlion lacewings (or Antlion, simply). The female of it lays an egg into the sand that hatches into the larva. This larva turns into a puba that develops in a cocoon of sand, deep down inside the sand, to fly out as adult fly when fully matured.

We sang a song as children over a sand pit of the antlion thus: “Kunnaan, Kunnaan, Kurr Kurr” - in Tamil! It is a wonder lion lurking inside its own snare itself!

Wonder in wonder: As I just finished writing this post an Antlion lacewings flew down into the room in reality! You see here its picture!