Dream Information

Mercury have the lowest melting point among metals.

2009-05-10T11:00:00.001+05:30

A metallic bond is characterized by free electrons and generally forms a specific geometric pattern of compact arrangement of atoms. All metals (except mercury) thus exist in a solid state at room temperature and have a specific crystal structure. Mercury belongs to the zinc group of elements in the periodic table, which comprises zinc, cadmium and mercury. They all have completely filled-up atomic orbitals. It becomes difficult to knock out these electron(s) from their orbitals and form metallic bonds. Therefore, they are soft (low melting point) and do not show multiple valence states unlike other transitional or rare earth metals. In mercury, the binding energy of outer electrons (towards nucleus) is highest and no electron is available to participate in metallic bond formation. Therefore, mercury does not have a specific crystal structure and is the only metal which is liquid at room temperature with a melting point of -38 degree Celsius.

Distilled water doesn't conduct electricity..

2009-05-10T10:58:00.000+05:30

Distilled water does — but very little compared to piped, well or salt water. The reason is that the way a liquid conducts electricity is by the positively or negatively charged ions that are actually moving from one of the electrodes to the other, carrying charge (electricity) with them. Salt water has salt in it, NaCl, which readily ionizes or dissociates to ions of Na+ and Clthat can float through the water carrying charge and thus conduct electricity. Distilled water is water that was boiled to steam and recondensed to water. So distilled water is relatively pure H2O. Water can ionize to H+ and OH- like salt does, but it ionizes to a far lesser degree and is very resistant to conducting electricity.

Orgin of +, - etc symbols...

2009-05-10T10:56:00.000+05:30

The earliest print appearance of the modern signs seem to come from a book on Mercantile Arithmetic by Johannes Widmann in 1489, used to indicate surpluses and deficits. The + is a simplification of the Latin “et” (comparable to the ampersand - &). Widmann referred to the symbols - and + as minus and mer. According to the ‘Earliest Uses of Various Mathematical Symbols’ website, a book published by Henricus Grammateus in 1518 used the symbols. Robert Recorde, the designer of the equals sign, introduced plus and minus to the UK in 1557 in The Whetstone of Witte.

Mineral water contain...

2009-05-10T10:55:00.001+05:30

Naturally available water, after having come in contact with various salts found in soil stratas and atmosphere, contains a large number of chemicals. Some of them are calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, iron, sulphates, nitrates, nitrites, phosphates and oxygen. Small quantities of these substances are responsible for the taste and odour of natural water and are useful for essential functioning of the human body. Very small quantities of copper, chromium, chlorine, fluorine, arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury and selenium are also found, depending upon the chemistry of the soil.

sungrazer..

2009-03-11T23:14:00.000+05:30

When comets break up, smaller comets and sungrazers are formed. As these approach the sun, they break into smaller fragments before colliding into it. Sungrazers are classified into families and the largest is the Kreutz family, with over 500 sungrazers. It was discovered by Heinrich Kreutz, a 19thcentury German astronomer who found that some sungrazers came from a larger comet that broke up 12,000 years ago.

"similia similibus curantur" ?

2009-03-11T21:44:00.003+05:30

‘Similia similibus curantur’ is a phrase coined by Dr Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homoeopathy. Nearly 180 years ago, he did an experiment with a drug decoction made from the bark of the chincona tree, known for its curative properties in the treatment of malaria. He drank the decoction, though he was healthy, and developed the symptoms of malaria. This made him believe that a drug which possesses the property of curing an ailment can create symptoms of the disease in a healthy person who takes the drug in large doses.

Jack of all trades means

2009-03-11T21:44:00.002+05:30

‘Jack of all trades, master of none’ is a figure of speech used with reference to a person who is competent with many skills but is not outstanding in any particular one. The phrase was in common use during the 1600s and was used as a term of praise. ‘Jack’ in those days was a generic term for ‘man'. Later, the ‘master of none’ was added and the expression ceased to be flattering.

Zodiac signs named after Animals

2009-03-11T20:27:00.001+05:30

The term ‘zodiac’ stands for animals. However, all zodiac signs do not represent animals, like Libra is represented by a balance. Astrologically and astronomically, zodiac signs are representative of various pattern formed by stars. Ancient astronomers had named each zodiac by the shape formed by a few important and bright stars resembling the shape of animals, located in that section of the sky.

February have 28 days, and July and August, 31 days...

2008-01-10T16:49:00.000+05:30

According to a popular legend, July was named after Julius Caesar and hence it had 31 days. Later, when Augustus Caesar took over the Roman Empire, he wanted August, the month named after him, to have 31 days as well. Hence, the two extra days were taken from February, which was then left with 28 days. However, some historians don’t agree with this reasoning. They believe February always had 28 days ever since the time of King Numa Pompilius. He decided that a year would have 355 days, the length of 12 lunar cycles. Back then, even numbers were considered unlucky. So, he created seven months with 29 days, and four with 31. Since he now needed one short even-numbered month, he chose February, as it was considered the least favourite month for it arrived during the middle of winter. And hence, it was given only 28 days.

Hindi India’s national language..

2008-01-05T19:03:00.000+05:30

Neither the Constitution nor the laws of India accord the status of national language to any language in India. Indian law states that no language will be made the national language unless and until all the constituent states of the Union of India accept it. Of the 28 states and seven Union Territories, only ten states and three Union Territories have Hindi as the principal official language. However, Article 343 of the Indian Constitution states that the official language of the Union (India) shall be Hindi in Devanagari script.

E-R diagram

2008-01-05T19:01:00.000+05:30

The E-R diagram (entity-relation) is a diagrammatical representation of a data model based on a perception of the real world that consists of a collection of basic objects called entities and of relationships among these objects. It is widely used in database design. The E/R diagram was introduced by P P Chen. An entity is a tangible object that exists in the real world, about which some relevant information may be stored. The qualities of an entity which can be stored as information are called the attributes. For example, if teacher is an entity then the teacher’s ID, name, etc. are all its attributes. An association among several entities is called a relationship.

Bird that lives the longest.....

2007-12-29T19:10:00.000+05:30

The British record is 68 years in the case of a female European eagle-owl which was still alive in 1899. Other records regarded as probably reliable include 73 years (1818-1891) for a Greater Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo, 72 years (1797-1869) for an African Grey Parrot, 70 years (1770-1840) for a Mute Swan and 69 years for a raven. In 1972, a southern Ostrich aged 62 years and 3 months was killed in the Ostrich Abattoir at Oudtshoorn, Cape Province, South Africa. Jimmy, a red and green Amazon Parrot owned by Bella Ludford of Liverpool, England was allegedly hatched in captivity on December 3, 1870 and lived for 104 years in his original brass cage, dying on January 5, 1975. On October 28, 1982 the death of London Zoo’s famous Greater Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo — Cocky — was reported, after spending 57 years in the parrot house. He was already a mature bird when he was acquired by R Stevens at the turn of the century, and was probably at least 40 years of age when he was presented to the zoo in 1925.

Denuclearisation...

2007-12-16T17:29:00.000+05:30

Denuclearisation means states disposing of nuclear weaponry or power in their possession. It includes removal, banning, or eliminating nuclear weapons or nuclear power sources from a place, industry, or organisation.

World’s first post office...

2007-12-15T20:45:00.000+05:30

Although the origins of the postal system date back to antiquity, the British Postal Museum claims the oldest functioning post office in the world is on High Street in Sanquhar, Scotland. According to the museum, this post office has functioned continuously since 1712 AD. Sanquhar is a quiet, insignificant town, but in its heyday, its residents included many influential aristocrats, who must have played a significant role in having the first post office located there. Those days, horses and stage coaches would carry mail.

Invention of the clock....

2007-12-13T19:42:00.000+05:30

The earliest way of telling the time was by looking at the progress of the shadow cast by a twig stuck upright in the ground. Round about 1300 BC, this was developed by the inhabitants of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia into the sundial. The sundial served for a thousand years until the invention of the clepsydra, or water clock. This was the first clock with moving parts. The mechanical clock was not invented until the 13th century and it was driven by weights. The spring-driven clock was invented sometime around 1450 AD.

Sponge iron...

2007-09-11T01:13:00.000+05:30

Sponge iron is a metallic product formed by the reduction of iron ore at a temperature just below the fusion point of iron. This product is called sponge iron due to its porous nature. It is also called as direct reduced iron (DRI).

Who built the Eiffel Tower in Paris?

2007-09-06T22:02:00.000+05:30

The Eiffel Tower, an immense structure of exposed latticework supports made of iron, was erected for the Paris Exposition of 1889. The Prince of Wales officiated at the ceremonial opening. Of the 700 proposals submitted in a design competition, one was unanimously chosen, a radical creation of the French structural engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel. He was assisted by engineers Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, and architect Stephen Sauvestre.

Computer keep record of the time even when it is shut down...

2007-09-06T21:49:00.000+05:30

Our computers are not run by a single operating system, but also the BIOS (basic input output system) which resides permanently in the chips of the motherboard to which virtually every computer hardware is connected. The BIOS is kept powered by a button cell (1.5 V approximately) or any variant. The cell remains present on the board and helps the BIOS remember not only the time but other hardware settings as well. The GUI (graphical user interface) syncs with the BIOS time every the computer is booted up and hence shows the computer shows the correct time.

About encoder and decoder.

2007-09-06T09:29:00.000+05:30

An encoder is a device which transforms the data into some bits known only to it and the decoder is a device which transforms those coded bits to generate the original data again. These two are mainly used in computer technology but the underlying concept can be used anywhere. For example, the name ‘Delhi’ can be coded as ‘ihleD’ or ‘45#1278’. Later, the decoder regenerates the original ‘Delhi’ from this code as it knows the coding scheme.

... devised the sign language used by the hearing impaired.

2007-09-06T09:12:00.000+05:30

Jerome Cardan devised the sign language. Deaf and mute people faced unreasonable brutality at one point of time. Jerome Cardan was an Italian doctor who believed that the mute and deaf people could be taught to communicate by using written characters. Finger characters were worked out for them in the seventeenth century which was very similar to the present-day finger alphabets. About seventy five years ago the deaf were taught to communicate ideas almost entirely by means of signs, facial expressions and finger alphabets.

Why is a tractor’s exhaust pipe bent upwards?

2007-09-03T22:17:00.001+05:30

As the exhaust gases of an automobile are hot and tend to rise upwards, an upward bending pipe is the most natural shape. In a tractor, the driver’s seat is directly behind the engine and usually open. So, a backward-bending exhaust pipe will throw the exhaust gases directly at the driver. The rear part of a tractor is broader than its engine. Even a sideways-bent exhaust pipe will have the same effect. As a tractor has various agricultural attachments and a trailer, the exhaust pipe cannot be extended behind its rear tyres from below its chassis. A tractor works mainly on rough terrain which could damage an exhaust pipe protruding downward from the chassis.

Why are the people of Netherlands called the Dutch?

2007-09-03T22:15:00.000+05:30

People from Holland are called Dutch by English-speaking people only. This word is the English counterpart of the Dutch words ‘diets’ and ‘duits’. ‘Duits’ means German since the Germans call themselves ‘Deutsche’. Around 1290 in the northern and eastern part of the Netherlands, the word was ‘duutsc’ and as the Frisian people (living in the North) spoke a language much more like English. The English adapted Dutch from Frisian Duutsc. Later, ‘duutsc’ became the Dutch word for their eastern neighbours Duits (German).

Why was Trafalgar Square built?

2007-09-01T20:53:00.000+05:30

Trafalgar Square situated in London was built to memorialize Lord Horatio Nelson’s victory against Napoleon’s navy at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The original name was to have been King William the Fourth’s Square, but George Ledwell Taylor suggested the name Trafalgar Square. A large monument to Lord Nelson, who won the battle of Trafalgar, stands in the center of the square. The four-sided base of Nelson’s column depicts Nelson’s naval victories. On the North — The Battle of the Nile; the East — The Bombardment of Copenhagen; the West — The Battle of St Vincent and the South — The Death of Nelson.

How is geothermal energy obtained?

2007-09-01T20:47:00.000+05:30

Geothermal energy is contained in the intense heat that continually flows outward from deep within the earth. From the earth’s surface down through the crust, the normal temperature gradient (the increase of temperature with increase of depth) is 100 to 300 Celsius per kilometre. In certain areas, water seeping down through cracks and fissures in the crust comes in contact with this hot rock and is heated to high temperatures. Some of this heated water circulates back to the surface and appears as hot springs and geysers. However, the rising hot water may remain underground in areas of permeable hot rock, forming geothermal reservoirs. These, which may reach temperatures of more than 3,500 Celsius,can provide a powerful source of energy. Geothermal reservoirs within about 5 kms of the Earth’s surface can be reached by drilling a well. The hot water or steam from wells can be used to turn turbine generators to produce electricity. A power plant that uses this natural source of hot water or steam is called a geothermal power plant. Thus, in some cases, it is viable to capture geothermal energy and this renewable source of energy becomes obtainable.

Do dogs have colour vision?

2007-08-26T22:55:00.000+05:30

Yes. However, their colour vision differs from human beings, since dogs are said to have dichromatic vision, which means they can see only part of the range of colours in the visual spectrum of light wavelengths. Humans have trichromatic vision, meaning they can see the whole spectrum. Dogs probably lack the ability to see the range of colours from green to red. This means that they primarily see in shades of yellow and blue.

Is there any scientific proof to confirm the concept of rebirth?

2007-08-26T00:34:00.000+05:30

Reincarnation holds the notion that some essential part of a living being (or sometimes, only humans) can survive death in some form, with its integrity partly or wholly retained, to be reborn in a new body. This is often referred to as the spirit or soul. In such beliefs, a new personality is developed during each life, based on past integrated experience and new acquired experiences, but some part of the being remains constantly present through successive lives. Many persons have claimed to record memories of past lives. Dr Ian Stevenson has researched the subject extensively but it hasn’t been proven scientifically.

First Santa Congress was held in......

2007-08-26T00:33:00.000+05:30

The first Santa Congress started 50 years ago in 1957, when one of the performers at Bakken had a Christmas party in the middle of summer. Santas from all over the world gather in Denmark every year to discuss important matters such as when to hold Christmas and how large the presents can be.

Why do most living beings sleep at night?

2007-08-25T00:49:00.001+05:30

Living beings’ brains contain pineal glands, which secrete the hormone melatonin. The level of these hormones rises at night and is responsible for sleep. In daylight, the level of this hormone decreases, resulting in animals waking up from sleep. This is a cycle which operates throughout life and is known as ‘circadian rhythm’.

World’s first woman President......?

2007-08-25T00:29:00.000+05:30

The world’s first woman President was Isabel Martinez Cartas de Peron of Argentina (born on February 4, 1931). She was the 38 th President of Argentina from 1974 to 1976. After her husband President Juan Peron died in office, Isabel served as President from July 1, 1974 to March 24, 1976.

The world’s first elected woman President was Vigdis Finnbogadsttir of Iceland, between 1980 and 1996.

Bio-senser Technology?

2007-08-23T22:20:00.000+05:30

Bio-sensor technology utilizes enzymes & antibodies to identify sugars and proteins in body fluids, contaminating agents in air and gases in air. Commercially, its most popular avatar in the blood glucose bio-sensor which uses an enzyme to breakdown blood glucose. Thai scientists have almost developed a technology which uses bio-sensors to detect tuberculosis.

Which is the world's smallest car?

2007-08-22T23:39:00.000+05:30

World's smallest car is the nanocar created by researchers of ice university. The car measures
4 nm x 3 nm. It is slightly wider than a strand of DNA. The human hair is about 80,000 nanometers thick. The car has a chassis, axles, and a pivoting suspension. The wheels are Buck-balls, spheres of pure carbon containing 60 atoms per piece.

Do You know about Transiting Planet.?

2007-08-21T23:25:00.000+05:30

The transiting planet is one that moves across its parent star as seen from earth. TrES-4 is the plant orbiting a star in the Hercules Galaxy. TrES is greater than Jupiter.

A computer-generated simulation of TrES-4, with its host star on the right. The planet's home star is bigger and hotter than the Sun, and is about ten times larger than the planet. Astronomers speculate that the large size and low density of TrES-4 may cause a small fraction of its outer atmosphere to escape from the planet's gravitational pull and form an envelope, or a comet-like tail around the planet.

Which place is called Granite City?

2007-08-21T22:48:00.000+05:30

Aberdeen is the third largest city of Scotland and is also known as Granite City. It is called so because nearly all its buildings are made up of pale granite that is quarried nearby.
Madison County, Illinois, USA, is also called Granite City.

We all know, Champagne is showered during celebration. Why?

2007-08-21T02:33:00.000+05:30

Champagne, wine producing region in Northern France, is well known for its very special white-sparkling wine, which, over the centuries came to be called by the same name. In the early century, It was produced by French monks and they considered the wine holy. Around 496 AD, one of the kings of France was converted to Christianity, and his baptism ceremony took place in champagne region. During the ceremony the priests applied champagne wine on his body...Since then champagne, because or its bubbly and sparkling quality, has become the synonymous of joy, and people find it enjoyable and refreshing to spray it on one another during all types of ceremonies. Winning team also celebrate their victory by pouring champagne on one another.

In which range of the Himalayas, Kashmir is Located?

2007-08-21T00:11:00.000+05:30

Kashmir is located in the "Pir Panjal Range".

Other Ranges: Dhaula Dhar range, Zanskar Range, Ladakh Range and East Korakoram range.

Atheletic Events are held in Counter-Clockwise Direction. Why?

2007-08-19T22:13:00.000+05:30

We all know that the earth rotates in Anti-clockwise Direction. So, it is much easy to go around the Circle in Anti-clockwise direction during Athletic events.

Welcome to Dream Information.

2007-08-19T21:31:00.000+05:30

I have started this blog on August 19, 2007...Sunday... and I want to thank Google and Blogger for proving me such kind of space..

In this blog, I will post Information.. that is related to General knowledge, and also interesting.