Absolute Zero:

Sham S. Misri

The lowest temperature of all is called absolute zero. 0⁰ Kelvin, (-273⁰ C) or (-460⁰ F). Molecules stop moving. Scientists have cooled substances almost to absolute zero, but the exact temperature can never be reached.

Near absolute zero, the physical properties of some materials change substantially; For example, some metals lose their electrical resistance and become superconductive.

At absolute zero temperature molecules become motionless. Oxygen, which is a gas, becomes liquid at (-218⁰ C).

Celsius temperatures are marked with a ‘C’, (also called Centigrade) scale of temperature. In this scale, water   freezes at 0⁰ C and boils at 100⁰ C.

Temperature at the centre of the sun is about 15 million Celsius.

Temperature at the centre of the Earth is about 4500⁰ Celsius.

Normal body temperature is 37⁰ C or 98.6⁰ F

Puzzle K-4

Sham S. Misri

Shivam Nautiyal

Question: this question is used to see the mental and logical thinking of humans.

A bat and a ball together cost one $1.10.  If the bat cost $1 more than the ball, what is the price of each? [First work out in ten seconds; then take your time to work out the answer and see which one is correct.]

Solution

Bat and ball together cost = $1.10

The bat, as you already know, costs $1 more than the ball.

Now using the information above you can find their costs using algebraic equations. 

Let’s denote the ball as x and bat as y and carry out the equations.

x + y = $1.10

Or x + ($1 + x) = $1.10

Or 2x + $1 = $1.10

Or 2x = $1.10 - $1

Or 2x = $0.10

Or x = $0.05

Therefore, the ball costs $0.05 and the bat costs $1.05.

Do some Snakes wear Glasses?

Sham S. Misri

Snakes are scaly, cold blooded reptiles without limbs. Most of the biggest snakes are pythons-powerful, non venomous reptiles that kill their prey by coiling around it and squeezing until it cannot breathe.

Three fifths of all snake species belong to the colubrid family. Most are harmless, but some have venomous fangs at the backs of their mouths. Snakes shed their outer skin at least once a year, emerging with glossy scales and brighter colours.

The statement- Do some snakes wear glasses?

Of course they do not, but the Indian cobra has sometimes been described as wearing glasses. This is because when it rears up, its head is covered with a sort of hood on which there is a pattern that looks like a pair of glasses.

Cobras are among the deadliest of venomous snakes. They are armed with a nerve poison that paralyzes their victims so they cannot breathe and they die from suffocation. Thus a single cobra bite can be fatal. The black necked variety is common in Africa. This particular variety can shoot its venom as far as two meters into the eyes of an opponent. The venom or poison is powerful enough to blind an enemy temporarily or permanently.

Coral snakes, which live in South America, are also members of the cobra family. They are extremely poisonous. These snakes have a very distinctive appearance. Their shiny skin is coloured by alternating bands of black, yellow and red. Like many animals, coral snakes will not attack unless they are disturbed in some way.

The Amazing Sheep

Sham S. Misri

"Do not be afraid," said the Wonderful Sheep; "Have patience, and listen to the story of my misfortunes. I was once a king, and my kingdom was the most splendid in the world. My subjects loved me; my neighbours envied and feared me. I was respected by everyone, and it was said that no king ever deserved it more.

"I was very fond of hunting, and one day, while chasing a stag, I left my attendants far behind; suddenly I saw the animal leap into a pool of water, and I rashly urged my horse to follow it, but before we had gone many steps I felt an extraordinary heat, instead of the coolness of the water; the pond dried up. A great gulf opened before me, out of which flames of fire shot up, and I fell helplessly to the bottom of a precipice.

"I gave myself up for lost, but presently a voice said: `Ungrateful Prince, even this fire is hardly enough to warm your cold heart!'

"`Who complains of my coldness in this sad and gloomy place?' I cried.

"`An unhappy being who loves you hopelessly,' replied the voice, and at the same moment the flames began to flicker and cease to burn, and I saw a fairy, whom I had known as long as I could remember, and whose ugliness had always horrified me. She was leaning upon the arm of a most beautiful young girl, who wore chains of gold on her wrists and was evidently her slave.

"`Why, Zingari,' I said, for that was the fairy's name, `what is the meaning of all this? Is it by your orders that I am here?'

"`And whose fault is it,' she answered, `that you have never understood me until now? Must a powerful fairy like me humiliate to explain her doings to you who are no better than an ant by comparison, though you think yourself a great king?'

"`Call me what you like,' I said impatiently; `but what is it that you want--my crown, or my cities, or my treasures?'

"`Treasures!' said the fairy. `If I chose I could make any one of my servants richer and more powerful than you. I do not want your treasures, but,' she added softly, `if you will give me your heart--if you will marry me--I will add twenty kingdoms to the one you have already; you shall have a hundred castles full of gold and five hundred full of silver, and, in short, anything you like to ask me for.'

"`Madam Zingari,' said I, `when one is at the bottom of a pit where one has fully expected to be roasted alive, it is impossible to think of asking such a charming person as you are to marry one! I beg that you will set me at liberty, and then I shall hope to answer you fittingly.'

"`Ah!' said she, `if you really loved me you would not care where you were--a cave, a wood, a fox-hole, a desert, would please you equally well. Do not think that you can deceive me; you fancy you are going to escape, but I assure you that you are going to stay here and the first thing I shall give you to do will be to keep my sheep--they are very good company and speak quite as well as you do.

"As she spoke she advanced, and led me to this plain where we now stand, and showed me her flock, but I paid little attention to it or to her.

"To tell the truth, I was so lost in admiration of her beautiful slave that I forgot everything else, and the cruel Zingari, perceiving this, turned upon her so furious and terrible a look that she fell lifeless to the ground.

"At this dreadful sight I drew my sword and rushed at Zingari, and should certainly have cut off her head had she not by her magic arts chained me to the spot on which I stood; all my efforts to move were useless, and at last, when I threw myself down on the ground in despair, she said to me, with a scornful smile:

"`I intend to make you feel my power. It seems that you are a lion at present, I mean you to be a sheep.'

"So saying, she touched me with her wand, and I became what you see. I did not lose the power of speech, or of feeling the misery of my present state.

"`For five years,' she said, `you shall be a sheep, and lord of this pleasant land, while I, no longer able to see your face, which I loved so much, shall be better able to hate you as you deserve to be hated.'

"She disappeared as she finished speaking, and if I had not been too unhappy to care about anything I should have been glad that she was gone.

"The talking sheep received me as their king, and told me that they, too, were unfortunate princes who had, in different ways, offended the revengeful fairy, and had been added to her flock for a certain number of years; some more, some less. From time to time, indeed, one regains his own proper form and goes back again to his place in the upper world; but the other beings that you saw are the rivals or the enemies of Zingari, whom she has imprisoned for a hundred years or so; though even they will go back at last. The young slave of whom I told you about is one of these; I have seen her often, and it has been a great pleasure to me. She never speaks to me, and if I were nearer to her I know I should find her only a shadow, which would be very annoying. However, I noticed that one of my companions in misfortune was also very attentive to this little sprite, and I found out that he had been her lover, whom the cruel Zingari had taken away from her long before; since then I have cared for, and thought of, nothing but how I might regain my freedom. I have often been in the forest; that is where I have seen you, lovely Princess, sometimes driving your chariot, which you did with all the grace and skill in the world; sometimes riding to the chase on so spirited a horse that it seemed as if no one but yourself could have managed it, and sometimes running races on the plain with the Princesses of your Court--running so lightly that it was you always who won the prize. Oh! Princess, I have loved you so long, and yet how dare I tell you of my love! What hope can there be for an unhappy sheep like myself?"

GANESA

 Sham S. Misri

Ganesa is usually regarded as the elder son of Siva and Parvati. Ganesa is the Indian god of Wisdom. All sacrifices and religious ceremonies, all serious compositions in writing, and all worldly affairs of importance are begun by pious Hindus with an invocation to Ganesa. He is the governor or leader, and gana, a company (of deities). Instances of opening business auspiciously by an exclamation to him might be multiplied with ease. Few books are begun without the words, 'Salutation to Ganesa;' and he is first invoked by Brahmans who conduct the trial or perform the ceremony of the homa or sacrifice to fire.

Hindus represent him as highly revered on the coast of Coromandel, where, "the Indians would not on any account build a house without having placed on the ground an image of this deity, which they sprinkle with oil and adorn every day with flowers. They set up his image in all their temples, in the streets, in the high roads, and in the open plains at the foot of some tree, so that persons of all ranks may invoke him before they undertake any business, and travellers worship him before they proceed on a journey." What is true of the Coromandel Coast is true of most parts of India so far as the worship of this deity is concerned.

"Ganesa is the Hindu god of Prudence and Policy. He is the reputed eldest son of Siva and Parvati (the 'Padma Purāna' alone declares that he was the actual child of these deities), and is represented with an elephant's head—an emblem of sagacity—and is frequently attended by, or is riding upon, a rat. He has generally four hands, but sometimes six, or eight, or only two."

He is always described as being very fat; and pictures or images of him are seen over the doors of most shopkeepers. It is not easy to see why Ganesa.

In India, Shiva is recognized as the god who controls the forces of destruction. Parvati, his wife, is a powerful goddess, and Nandi, is Shiva's loyal servant.

One day, Parvati was preparing to take a bath so she ordered Nandi to stand guard outside her house. She instructed him not to let anyone enter without her permission.

Later Nandi saw Shiva approaching the house. "How can I stop my master from entering his home?” he wondered.

Nandi allowed Shiva to enter. Parvati came from her bath and was upset by her husband. Shiva laughed when he saw how his presence had scared her, but Parvati was not amused.

"All my servants are Shiva's servants first," she thought. "I need someone who will obey me above all others."

Next day, Parvati was alone in the house. Parvati created someone who would be devoted only to her. Pulling ointments and creams from the surface of her body she built a statue of a young boy. Then, with her divine powers, she gave the statue life and created a son.

"Guard this door and let no one enter without my permission," said Parvati.

"As you wish," the boy responded.

Shiva returned home but was blocked by the strange boy. "How dare you keep me from my own home? said Shiva. But the boy only repeated that no one was to enter without his mother's permission.

Shiva could not believe that this boy would stop a god from entering his own house. He sent Nandi to teach the boy a lesson.

Nandi took a small group of Ganas, Shiva's army, and went to the house. When Nandi tried to remove the boy from his post the boy threw him to the ground. Nandi became angry and attacked with his men, but the boy fought them all with such strength that Nandi had no choice but to retreat.

"I have never witnessed such a thing," he told Shiva, "We could not defeat the boy. He was too strong and too fast."

All the Gods in the Heavens had heard of Shiva's conflict with the boy. The gods and their armies assembled to assist Shiva.

Brahma, the god of creation, spoke of peaceful solution. "He is just a boy," he said. "Let me talk to him." But when Brahma tried to talk, the boy chased him off.

When Shiva saw how the boy treated Brahma he became extremely upset.

He stood up and addressed the troops. "Man your weapons! The boy has given us no choice but to fight!"

And so the battle continued with the boy successfully defending his mother's house.

Parvati was furious.

 "Why, Shiva?" She cried, "Why would you go to such lengths rather than simply ask permission to enter? Why would you bring so many great warriors to get rid of one small boy?"

Parvati focused all her anger to create two powerful warrior goddesses and ordered them to go help her son.

The goddesses created from Parvati's anger were very powerful. Using their magic they swallowed up the weapons of the soldiers. Most of the men ran away so that only the strongest warriors and gods remained to continue fighting.

Shiva became even more determined to defeat the boy. He turned to Lord Vishnu, the protect of the world, and said, "We must work together to defeat his child. I have a plan."

So carried by his loyal servant Garuda, Vishnu flew down from the sky and engaged the boy in fierce combat.

Seeing his chance, Shiva crept up behind the boy with his golden trident raised...

Shiva threw his weapon and removed the boy's head.

The Heavens rejoiced at Shiva's victory, but Parvati was enraged. The waters of the oceans boiled. The mountains quaked and there were fires and disasters throughout the heavens and Earth.

The gods pleaded with Parvati to stop the destruction and asked how they could make up for her son's death.

"Shiva must bring my son back to life and honor him as a god," she replied.

Shiva agreed to Parvati's conditions.

Since the boy's head could not be found, Shiva sent Nandi and his men to bring back the head of the first animal they saw. Nandi obeyed and a short journey returned with the head of a magnificent white elephant.

Shiva was pleased. He placed the head on the boy's body, gave it his blessings and brought the boy back to life.

In honor of the boy's bravery and courage, Shiva named him Ganesha, leader of the Ganas. Shiva announced to the Heavens and Earth that Ganesha was to be known as the Lord of Beginnings, the Protector of all that is new.