Category Science

What are the largest plants?

Can you climb a maize plant or a tulip? Can you swing from a daisy? Of course not! But a tree is a different matter entirely.

Trees are tall, sturdy plants with woody stems called trunks. Branches grow from the trunk, usually quite far off the ground. It’s the trunk that makes a tree so strong. The trunk supports the tree.

The trunk also has several layers, each with an important job to do. Tree trunks are covered with a tough outer skin. Most trees have a hard, dry skin called bark. The bark protects the soft inside part of the tree. The next layer carries food made by the leaves to other parts of the tree. Next to this layer is the part of the trunk that makes the bark and new wood. Further inside is the wood. Some wood carries water around the tree. The inner wood helps support the tree.

In regions where trees make a new layer of wood once a year, the layers form a series of rings. After the tree has been cut down, each year’s layer of wood can be seen as a ring. A tree with 50 rings has lived for 50 years. The rings also reveal the tree’s life story. Narrow rings show that there was not much water or sunlight that year. Wider rings mean more water and sunlight were available, and more growth occurred.

Picture Credit : Google

How do plants without seed make new plants?

Not all plants have to make seeds to grow new plants. Some plants can make copies of themselves without the help of another plant.

The good-luck plant grows new plants around the edges of its leaves.

If you plant a potato, a new plant will sprout from it! A potato is a tuber. New stems sprout from a tuber’s bud, called an eye.

The leaves and stems of some new plants grow out of underground buds called bulbs. Flowers such as lilies, tulips, and crocuses grow from bulbs. Onion and garlic plants have bulbs you can eat!

Some plants grow copies of themselves by sending off shoots. Mint and some kinds of grasses have underground stems from which new plants will grow. Strawberry plants produce stems called runners that grow sideways. New plants grow on the runners and root themselves wherever they touch the ground.

Picture Credit : Google

What are the types of engineers?

Our world is full of mechanics that help us use things, go places, and communicate. Engineers help make all this possible. Here are just a few types of engineers and what they do.

Architectural engineers

Architectural engineers develop better ways of building homes and other buildings. They also find ways to make buildings taller. They apply the latest scientific knowledge and technologies to the design of buildings. Architectural engineering as a relatively new licensed profession emerged in the 20th century as a result of the rapid technological developments. 

Chemical engineers

Chemical engineers design ways to end pollution. They create drugs to fight cancer and other illnesses, too. Chemical engineers work mostly in offices or laboratories. They may spend time at industrial plants, refineries, and other locations, where they monitor or direct operations or solve onsite problems. Nearly all chemical engineers work full time.

Civil engineering

Civil engineering is the oldest kind of engineering. Civil engineers design bridges, subways, roads, dams, and canals. Civil engineering is traditionally broken into a number of sub-disciplines. It is considered the second-oldest engineering discipline after military engineering, and it is defined to distinguish non-military engineering from military engineering.

Electrical engineers

Electrical engineers design equipment that produces electric power and sends it to our homes. They also design computer circuits and robots. Electrical engineers work in a very wide range of industries and the skills required are likewise variable. These range from circuit theory to the management skills of a project manager. The tools and equipment that an individual engineer may need are similarly variable, ranging from a simple voltmeter to sophisticated design and manufacturing software

Materials engineers

Materials engineers work out how to make the produces we use better. They develop new materials for making anything from hand tools to huge trains. They also find new ways to use the materials we already have.

Mechanical engineers

Mechanical engineers design new machines. Some mechanical engineers invent better ways of heating and cooling homes and buildings. The mechanical engineering field requires an understanding of core areas including mechanics, dynamics, thermodynamics, materials science, structural analysis, and electricity.

In many ways, engineers are helping to design the future.

 

Picture Credit : Google

How do robots learn new jobs?

With a click and a whirr, a robot keeps busy in the factory. It joins steel panels together. All day long it works on brand-new cars.

Some robots push a metal pin called a rivet through metal sheets to join the pieces together. Others are welders. They heat the edges of the metal very quickly so that they melt and join together.

There are no humans working these robots. These robots work by themselves.

How are robots able to join the parts correctly every time? First, a human teaches the robot to do the job. As the human moves the different parts of the mahine in and out, up and down, reaching out and twisting around, every movement is recorded by the robot’s microprocessor. Now the robot has all these movements in its memory. It knows exactly what to do every time a car is put in front of it. As long as the cars are put in exactly the same place each time, the robot will move into action and carry out exactly the right movements for riveting, welding, or even spray-painting.

 

Picture Credit : Google

How do tall buildings stay up?

Tall trees in the forest sway in the wind. So do tall skyscrapers in the city but you just don’t notice it as much. So how do these very tall buildings stay up?

The walls of a skyscraper are made of stone, concrete, glass, or metal. Under the walls is a frame of concrete or steel. This frame is strong enough to hold up the walls and floors. But it can also bend very slightly in the wind-like trees do. A tall tree has deep roots that hold the trunk and branches. Tall buildings have deep foundations. The foundation holds the steel girders in the ground.

The builders dig down until they find solid rock to build. The builders dig down until they find solid rock to build the foundation on. If there is no rock and the ground is soft, the basement is built on piles. Piles are deep holes bored into the ground. The holes are filled with steel and concrete. This gives the building a sturdy base to rest upon.

 

Picture Credit : Google

What material are bridges made of?

Thanks to bridges, rivers and lakes will not interrupt a journey. People build bridges to make it easier to cross rough land or water. There are thousands of bridges in the world, but only five basic kinds: beam, arch, suspension, cantilever, and cable-stayed bridges.

Do you think bridges could be made out of glass? Inventors are working on this idea now. Concrete used in bridges is worn down by salt, ice, and wind. The steel used to make the concrete stronger often rusts. But a special glass called fibreglass is very strong. When glass fibres are held together by a type of “glue” ice, and wind. The steel used to make the concrete stronger often rusts. But a special glass called fibreglass is very strong. When glass fibres are held together by a type of “glue” called resin, they become stronger than steel or concrete. Fibreglass is also lightweight and can be easily shaped.

Beam bridge: This can be made of wood, steel, or concrete.

Arch bridge: A beam bridge can break easily in the middle. But a curving arch helps to carry the load on the bridge.

Suspension bridge: The roadway is suspended, or hung, from long steel cables. This type of bridge can be much longer than other types.

Cantilever bridge: One or more independent beams joined by a centre span make a cantilever bridge.

Cable-stayed bridge: This is one of the newest kinds of bridge designs. It takes less concrete or steel than a beam bridge. And it fits across narrow rivers better than a suspension bridge.

 

Picture Credit : Google