Worst natural disasters

natural disasters

Drought

The drought in Australia during 1982 cost $3.5 billion, and one is spain in 1995 cost $3 billion.

Floods

Floods caused by Huang Ho in China, in spring 1887 killed at least 1.5 million people, making it the worst flood of all time.

Tsunami

Tsunami

On 26 December 2004 the tsunami in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, the Maldives, Malaysia, India and parts of Africa. More than 283100 people died.

Hurricane

Hurricane Jeanne in 2004 killed over 3000 in Haiti, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005,, left 1417 dead in USA.

Ocean fish and chips

Hailstone

On 20 April 1888 in Moradabad, India, 246 people (along with more than 1600 sheep and goals) were killed by hailstones.

Earthquake

Earthquakes are movements of the Earth’s surface, often as a results of a fault or fracture deep within the crust. When they happen in heavily populated areas, they cause great damage to building and loss of life An earthquake affecting the Middle East and North Africa on 20 May 1202 may have been the worst in human history. As many as 1000000 people were killed 110000 in Cairo, Egypt alone. A quake in Shenshi, China, on 2 February 1556 is said to have killed 820000 people and one in Calcutta, India, on 11 October 1737 left 300000 dead. Most Earthquakes last only a minute or two, but the Alaska quake of 27 March 1964 continued for at least five minutes and registered 8.6 on the Richter scale. It killed 131 people and caused $450 million worth of damage.

Hot and sizzling earth

Hot and sizzling earth

A volcano is a gap within the planet’s surface or crust, which allows hot molten rock, ash, and gasses called magma to flee from below the surface. Volcanic activity tends to from mountains over a period of time. Volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are pulled apart or close. When magma bursts out through a crack in earth’s crust the volcano erupts. Once it has erupted it throws lava, hot vapors and pieces of rocks into the air. Volcano can erupt on the land as well as sea. A sleeping volcano is called dormant but it can become active at any time, but an extinct volcano is never likely to erupt again.

Silent Rocks

silent rocks

Planet Earth is essentially one big interesting rock, sometimes called the third rock from the sun. rocks remember. They store memories in forms of fossils for millions of years. Geology is the science that studies what is recorded in the rocks. Rocks are made of minerals, but all minerals are not necessarily rocks.

8085 Instruction and Timing/Instruction and Timing

Rocks are basically of three types. Igneous rocks are crystallized form of lava so they are very solid and having precise shape. Rivers brings the sediments, rocks and mud to the sea and underwater calcium carbonate, silcondioxcide and other chemicals dissolved in sea water act as cement and bind these sediments, and thus the rocks are formed. Metamorphic rocks are the result of high temperature and pressure on the igneous and sedimentary rocks. They change their looks like limestone changed into marble.

Earth is getting warmer:

The Earth is wrapped during a blanket of air called the ‘atmosphere’. The radiation of sun travel through the atmosphere and reach the Earth. And warm her. The heat from the Earth then travels back into the atmosphere. The gases in the atmosphere stop some of the heat from escaping into space AZZZZ. These gases are called greenhouse gases. They are water vapor, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide. This natural action between the sun, the atmosphere and therefore the Earth is named the ‘Greenhouse Effect’.

Human activities like burning gasoline in vehicles, burning of oil, coal and wood, cutting forests also increases greenhouse gases which makes the Earth warmer which is known as global warming. A Warmer Earth may cause changes in rainfall patterns, an increase in water level, and wide selection range of impacts on plants, wildlife, and humans.

Volcanic eruption -1

Santorini

The eruption of the Greek island of Santorini in 1450 BC is believed to possess been one among the foremost powerful ever.

Vesuvius, Italy

On 24 August AD 79 Vesuvius erupted with little warning, engulfing the Roman city of Herculaneum in mud flow. Nearby Pompeii was buried under vast layer of lava. This preserved the city, including the bodies of many of its inhabitants, were excavated by archaeologist in 19^th and 20^th centuries.

Unsen, Japan

On 1 April 1793 the volcanic island of Unsen completely disappeared, killing all 53000 inhabitants.

Volcanic eruption -2

Volcanic eruption

Tambora, Indonesia

On the island of Sumbawa the eruption of Tambora between 5 and 12 April 1815 killed about 10000 islanders immediately. A further 82000 died later from disease and famine.

Krakatoa, Sumatra/Java

The uninhabited island of Krakatoa exploded on 27 August 1883 with what may are the most important bang ever heard by humans. People heard it up to 4800 Km away!

Information on oceans

Laki, Iceland

Iceland is one of the most volcanic active places on the earth, but the population is small so eruptions seldom cause many deaths. On 11 June 1783 the largest lava flow ever recorded engulfed many villages in a river of lava up to 80 Km long and 30 m deep. About 20000 people were killed.

How life began – the egg came first or the chicken ?

No one knows how or why life began. What we do know is that life on Earth started approximately 3.5 billion years age some scientists believe life began in the ocean. Others think it may have arrived from space with comets and asteroids!

The origin of life seems to involve a mixture of certain chemicals called the primordial soup. But what changes these chemicals into life-forms may be a mystery. Simpler forms like the single-celled microbes were among the first living forms to have come into existence. Scientist suggest that lightning striking the atmosphere of the earth long ago caused certain simple chemicals like ammonia to form into more complicated chemicals. These chemicals could then hook together in chains to form molecules that direct life, such as RNA, DNA and amino acids. Did you know that scientists think that the most likely place to find life other than our earth is Mars?

SIR FRANCIS GALTON

Born : 16 February, 1822

He was first to describe cyclonic and anti-cyclonic weather patterns.

Sir Francis Galton

An English scientist, explorer and anthropologist, Galton was a cousin of Darwin and was one among the primary to acknowledge how Darwin’s theory of evolution was getting to clash with theology. He coined the word eugenics to denote scientific endeavors to extend the proportion of persons with better than average genes.

He wrote nine books and over 200 papers. They deal with many diverse subjects, including the use of fingerprints for personal identification, twins, blood transfusions, the art of travel in undeveloped countries, criminology and meteorology.

Apart from his significant contributions to science in general, and psychology in particular, one may give credit to Galton for the fact that we have access to weather reports. It was Galton who was first to describe cyclonic and anti-cyclonic weather patterns.

Galton was also a pioneer in the development of regression analysis a statistical technique forming the basis of prediction in wide ranging fields, such as economics and human resource management. He was knighted in 1909 and died near London on January 17, 1911.

RACHEL CARSON

Born : 27 May, 1907

She laid foundation for environmental reform.

Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson grew abreast of alittle Pennsylvania farm, where  she spent hours exploring the outside. When she was young, she thought she would be a writer. Her first publication was at age 10, during a children’s magazine.

She went to the Pennsylvania College for Women. A required course in biology made her change assumptions about her career: she majored in zoology then visited Johns Hopkins for a masters degree in genetics. In 1941, she published under the Sea-Wind, her first book. She was fascinated with the workings of nature from a scientific and aesthetic point of view:

Carson went on to write down the ocean Around Us and therefore the fringe of the ocean, and evenually Silent Spring in 1962. In the wake of Silent Spring. Which described the risks of pesticides like DDT and other chlorinated hydrocarbons, she was attacked personally and as a scientist by many like chemical company representatives who had reason to fear her critiques.

Carson died two years after Silent Spring was published, at age 56.

She alsp laid the foundation for environmental reforms.

Guru gyan :

American chemist named Stanley miller filled a glass apparatus with a warm water and a atmosphere composed of methan, ammonia and hydrogen gases. He sent strong sparkes through the gases to imitate lighting. After only a day miller cold detect amino acids in his miniature ocean.

Yellowish white coloured lava is 1150-1350 C degrees hot.

An avalanche caused by eruption of the Mount St Helens volcano, America on 18 may 1980, was reckoned to have traveled at 400 Km/h

One tree can absorb the amount of CO2 released by an average car that’s been driven for 6437 Km. save trees and they will save Earth.

Rocks can grow. Rocks called iron-manganese crusts grow on mountains under the ocean. The crusts precipitate material slowly from seawater, growing about 1 millimeter every million years.

Do you know that volcanoes erupt on Venus, Mars, Jupiter and other planets too. Volcano word originates from the name of Roman God of Fire called VULCAN.

The earthquake of 12 June 1897 in Assam, India is reckoned to have reached 8.7, killing about 1500.

The deadliest drought in recorded history was in China between 1876 and 1879. There was no food production in 9 provinces.