Science & Mathematics Questions & Answers

Stars are hot bodies that give out light of their own, whereas planets shine only by reflecting light. Stars are composed of gas, but planets can be either gaseous or solid. The earth is a solid planet. Jupiter is a gaseous one. Nine planets orbit the Sun. In order of distance from the Sun, the are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, …

In 1893 the United States Supreme Court tried to clarify the differences between a fruit and a vegetable by saying that vegetables are eaten as part of the main course of a meal, but fruit is eaten as an appetizer or dessert, or for a snack. But as with so many words, there is one definition, which is correct according …

The primary device for the PC is a keyboard and mouse, while all console systems come with game pads used to control movement within the game. Technically, a computer game can be thought of as one composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe. A video game is a computer game where a video display is the primary feedback, which is displayed …

The Delta Triangle is an imaginary uninhabited sector of the Milky Way galaxy that finds a mention in the series/ film ‘Star Trek’, with a lot of similarities with the infamous Bermuda Triangle on Earth. Like the Bermuda Triangle, the Delta Triangle also has the unusual ability to cause star ship sensors fluctuate in a state of chaos while within …

To locate an object in a plane, we require four dimensions — length, breadth, height and time. We all travel frequently in the first three dimensions, but can’t do it in the fourth dimension `time’. Time machine is a device or vehicle that can potentially take us into the future or past and let us stay in that era, just …

A beam of light seems to have no colour. Actually, it is made up of coloured rays. Usually, these coloured rays combine to form the white light. But it is possible to see the different colours at certain times. For instance, when it rains and the sun’s rays pass through raindrops. Since the raindrop has many sides or surfaces, the …

Ivory tusks and teeth consist of an inner pulp cavity surrounded by dentine – a combination of connective tissues that have minerals and collagen properties. Found in tusks of elephants and teeth of mammals such as the hippopotamus, walrus, boar, sperm and killer whale, ivory forms layers. It gets strength and rigidity from inorganic components, namely mineralised tissues. The organic …

In mathematics, Buffon’s needle problem is a question first posed in the 18th century by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon: Suppose we have a floor made of parallel strips of wood, each the same width, and we drop a needle onto the floor. What is the probability that the needle will lie across a line between two strips? Buffon’s needle …

About 1.9 liters. The stomach is crescent moon shaped organ situated between the end of the gullet and the entrance to the small intestine. Its walls can be distended and its size varies according to the amount of food it contains.

Blue Gene is an ambitious project to expand the horizons of supercomputing, with the ultimate goal of creating a system that can perform 1 quadrillion calculations per second, or 1 petaflop. IBM expects a machine it calls Blue Gene/P to be the first to achieve this computational milestone. Today’s fastest machine, NEC’s Earth Simulator is comparatively slow — about onethirteenth …