Organic Chemistry

Organic Chemistry has to do with the study of compounds that contain carbon (and sometimes hydrogen). Even though carbon is only the fourteenth most common element on the planet, it produces the greatest number of different compounds on Earth. Not surprisingly then, much of the study of chemistry involves organic chemistry.

The most studied groups of organic compounds are those that contain nitrogen. These organic compounds are important because they are often linked to the amino group. When the amino group combines with the carboxyl group, amino acids are born. Amino acids are important because they are as the building blocks of proteins.

Inorganic Chemistry

Inorganic chemistry involves the study the properties and reactions of compounds that do not contain carbon and which are not organic. Inorganic chemistry studies all non-living matter, such as minerals found in the Earth’s crust. There are many branches of inorganic chemistry, including geochemistry, nuclear science, coordination chemistry, and bioinorganic chemistry.

There is much overlap between organic and inorganic chemistry. For instance, organometallic chemistry studies the use of compounds that are capable of creating a covalent bond between carbon and metal.

Physical Chemistry

As its name implies, physical chemistry has to do with the physical properties of materials. Physical properties that are studied may include the electrical and magnetic behavior of materials, as well as their interaction with electromagnetic fields.

There are several subcategories of physical chemistry. These include thermochemistry, electrochemistry, and chemical kinetics. Thermochemistry studies the changes of entropy and energy that naturally occur during chemical reactions. Electrochemistry is concerned with the study of interconversions of electric and chemical energy of matter, as well as the effects of electricity on chemical changes. Chemical kinetics involves the study of chemical reactions. Specifically, chemical kinetics studies the equilibrium it reached between products and their reactants.

Biochemistry

Biochemistry is a branch of chemistry concerned with the composition and changes of living matter. Biochemists commonly focus on the physical properties and structures of biological molecules. Common biological molecules include carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. Biochemistry is sometimes referred to as physiological chemistry and biological chemistry. Biophysics, molecular biology, and cell biology are research fields closely related to biochemistry.

Analytical Chemistry

Unlike the other main types of chemistry, analytical chemistry doesn’t deal specifically with specific elements. Analytical chemistry is concerned mainly with the various techniques and laboratory methods used to determine the composition of materials. Qualitative and quantitative analysis are the two most basic methods used in analytical chemistry. Qualitative analysis has to do with identifying all the atoms and molecules in a sample of matter, with attention paid to trace elements. Quantitative analysis also involves determining the atomical and molecular structure of matter, but includes also measuring the exact weight of each chemical constituent.

Wind energy is one option when it comes to renewable power. Large spinning turbines harvest the movement of the air, and the energy is transferred into an electricity generator for usage in any application. While it’s not available everywhere, wind energy represents one of the fastest sectors of growth when it comes to alternative power sources, and it is consequently one of the most widely used alternative sources. As a matter of fact, since the year 2000, the number of wind turbines present in the United States has more than doubled!

Solar power is another significant source of renewable energy. Solar cells known as photovoltaics are placed on sun-catching areas such as the roof of a house. These cells turn light energy into electricity, and enough electric panels can provide power for an entire home, leaving you independent of the energy companies altogether.

Geothermal energy represents a source of energy that is not commonly discussed. Heat from underneath the earth’s surface is harvested as steam, which helps to spin a turbine much in the way of wind power. The spinning motion is sent to an electricity generator, and the power can be used in any modern application.

Low impact hydropower represents another significant source of renewable energy. Incorporating the use of a turbine, hydropower is created in streams and rivers which produce enough of a force to properly spin the turbines. Many aspects of hydropower need to be approved to ensure that the turbines do not significantly effect wildlife that may be living in the area where the energy is being harvested. Most hydropower sources do not dam a river up; they operate with the river in free-flow as to minimize the effect on the environment.

While these sources may not be easy to come by, your conscience can be unburdened regarding the climate crisis by switching to one of these environmentally friendly sources of energy. Do your part in helping to change our planet for the better!

Individuals react differently to stressful situations: some experience more physiological changes when under pressure than others. Stress and the immune system can bring about conditions in which your body’s cells can actually be suppressed and rendered unable to engage in their useful functions of protecting your body against infections.

From one stressful presentation you have to make at work, to the everyday traffic congestion that can turn into road rage, stress and the immune system play a significant role in your overall health. If your body’s immune system isn’t functioning properly, all sorts of germs, bacteria, viruses, and diseases have the opportunity to pass into your system to cause you more grief.

Diabetes, ulcers, heart attacks, and asthma are just a few conditions made worse by the effects of stress and the immune system. Increases in chemicals produced by your body that help with nerve conduction cause changes in your heart rate and blood vessels, compromising the immune system’s response when you enter situations that cause you stress.

To help lower the chances that stress and the immune system will negatively affect your daily life, you can take steps such as eating right, getting regular exercise and getting plenty of rest. Your body needs you to take care of it so that it can help take care of you. Eating healthy and nutritious foods is a good place to start. Consumption of foods such as orange vegetables (carrots, pumpkin, squash, and sweet potatoes) help with the Vitamin A your skin needs to help prevent bacteria from getting into your body. Lean, low-fat beef and certain types of mushrooms containing zinc promote the building of white blood cells to help fight infection. Tea, fortified cereals and yogurt also aid in keeping your immune system functioning well.

You can also try to keep your stress levels at a minimum — easier said than done for a lot of people. Practice deep-breathing exercises and other anxiety-calming techniques to try to reduce your stress levels. Stress and the immune system can negatively impact your body’s health and well being when stress gets out of hand and your immune system isn’t up to its job. Stress is a physiological process, but you can take psychological steps to rein it in and get control over the situation before it gets out of control and causes an illness to befall you.

CLEANING UP THE PROJECT

Not so fast. Shipping the uranium out of the ISL plant isn’t the final step. The water has to be cleaned up, the property returned to its original condition. If done properly, then the footprint of the ISL uranium operation should have been nearly erased. In an earlier article, “Wyoming Uranium: Now and the Future,” we talked to Pat Drummond at Smith Ranch about this process:

The company is meticulous in restoring the landscape as well. Any restoration work on the surface is called “reclamation.” That can involve farming. “When we start a well field, we have to, by license, remove the topsoil and store it somewhere,” Drummond explained. “When we go back to reclaim the property, we take all the pipes out, we take the houses down, and cut our wells off. It’s all identified. We put an ID marker on the well. In 50 years time, when Farmer Joe comes around and wonders what was there, the state can say, ‘That was a uranium well.’ From the time we’ve stopped mining, we put everything back to normal.”

The one item we did not address at the time was cleaning up the water after the orebody has been mined out. Why is restoring the water back to background important? “In the mining process, you’re basically elevating sulfate,” explained Anthony. “You’re also elevating calcium because you’re lowering the pH a little bit, down to 6.5 to 7. Because you run it across the ion exchange circuits, you get a little leakage of chlorides into the lixiviant.” Subsequently, the water will have sulfate, chloride, calcium and bicarbonate circulating within it. “When you add carbon dioxide, you’re forming bicarbonate,” Anthony noted. “These are the major ion groups you are elevating during the mining process.” He also added that in some projects, you may get arsenic, vanadium and/or selenium. “They all go into the solution so that at the end of your mining process, these ions will be elevated above their baseline values.” The water will need to undergo a purification process to return them back to a quality consistent with baseline values.”

What does the ISL operator do with the water once the facility has mined out the uranium? There are three options, which we discussed with Glenn Catchpole, who has also set up previous ISL operations. In 1996, Catchpole was the General Manager and Managing Director of the Inkai uranium solution mining project in Kazakhstan. He is currently the Chief Executive of Uranerz Energy. “Here’s my order of priority: If you have a receiver formation for deep disposal on your project, that’s my first choice.” Sometimes, a project may not have access to a deep disposal aquifer, warned Catchpole.

The water is sent down the receiver formation, down about 4000 feet. “You’re usually sending this water to a formation that is very briny, a poorer quality than what you’re sending down,” Anthony pointed out. Another option, according to Catchpole, would be operations ponds, or evaporating ponds, where the water is evaporated. A third option is “land applied.” Catchpole explained this was for land application. “You take your waste stream, you treat it to remove the certain level of impurities, according to the government requirement, and then you’re allowed to disperse it on the land surface, as if you were irrigating.” When applied to the land, it is soaking into the land. “It’s growing grass, and it’s going into the groundwater system,” concluded Catchpole, “Whatever water quality standard they allow for you to put that water in the land, they want to ensure it doesn’t accumulate some particular chemical over time that is going to build up and contaminate the land.”

Generally, during the restoration process, the water is circulated through the barren orebody about eight times. It’s another instance of pore volumes ? eight more times through the sandstone formation. Anthony explained, “Normally, the first pore volume is evacuated and disposed of via a disposal well.” But he warned, “This will cause an inflow of surrounding native water back into the mine zone. The resulting water is pumped to the surface and processed through a reverse osmosis unit.” Anthony compared this to the desalination of seawater. “The reverse osmosis equipment acts like an ‘ion filter,’ allowing pure water to pass through a membrane and filtering out ions of sulfate, calcium, uranium, bicarbonate and so forth,” Anthony explained.

Two streams of water are produced by the reverse osmosis unit. One stream is called “product water,” and is normally consistent with drinking water quality. The smaller stream of water is called “brine.” It contains, according to Anthony, “95 percent of all the dissolved ions that were in solution.” He said, “The brine is disposed down a deep well into an underground formation, which is typically not suitable for any use.”

CONCLUSION

For all the lip service and media attention paid to the environmental movement in terms of financial support, recognition and respect, it is the ISL miner who cares more about the environment, about preserving Mother Nature. Environmentalists remain ignorant of, or care not to publicize, the dangers of coal-fired electrical generation. Mining and burning coal to generate power for industry and residential electricity poses a greater threat to Mother Nature than ISL mining and nuclear power-generated electricity. No more evident a case in point is New Mexico, where the Navajo Nation “banned” uranium mining, because their president was misled by environmentalists in believing ISL uranium mining could pose a threat to groundwater. At the same time, the Navajo Nation enjoys over $100 million in coal royalties each year, as their air is polluted by carcinogens filling their air from coal mining in the San Juan Basin and coal-fired plants, which produce most of their electricity. It is time for the world’s environmentalist movements to wake up and smell the air they are breathing.

Unfortunately, ISL uranium mining will not replace conventional uranium mining in many deposits across the world. According to the World Nuclear Association, ISL mining accounted for 21 percent of worldwide uranium mining in 2004. “The overriding constraint of ISL is the technology is only applicable to selected uranium deposits,” Stover cautioned. “It’s those deposits wherein the uranium ore resides in a permeable environment, where you can flow water through the deposit and where you can bring the dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide into contact with the uranium.” Stover explained that, during the evolution of ISL mining, a number of projects failed because the uranium was associated with organic material, was not accessible to the leaching solution, or the uranium was tied up in clays or shale-like material. “They were not able to flow fluid through it,” explained Stover. “The key issue at the onset is a careful characterization of the host environment in which the uranium exists.”

The key advantage to ISL is the far lower capital costs to start up a project, compared to the hundreds of millions required for a conventional mining and mill complex. For example, UR-Energy’s William Boberg and Uranerz Energy’s Glenn Catchpole both believe they can install an ISL operation on their Wyoming properties for as little as $10 million. Labor costs are also less. Doug Norris pointed out, “In its heyday, the Highland mine probably had 4,000 working in it.” By comparison, Cameco’s Smith-Highland ranch in Wyoming may soon ramp up to nearly 100 employees. “We’re talking about installing a centralized water treatment plant supported by a large number of water wells, typically completed with PVC,” Stover explained. “That’s in contrast with conventional mining, where you have extensive earth moving, in the case of an open pit or extensive underground workings, and a more complicated, much larger processing plant.”

In terms of environmental impact, ISL offers something sensible to the environmentalists. “ISL is much less intrusive, and it is short lived,” Stover said, echoing the sentiments of all who have been involved in this type of uranium mining. “It’s acceptance by the general public is much more favorable,” he concluded.

What does the future hold for ISL uranium mining in the United States? “Up until 2004, prices were flat,” Norris pointed out. “The economic picture has just now switched to where mines can start coming on again, but it does take years to properly define where the ore is. It takes a lot of geologic drilling and time to decipher it. Then there are the regulatory requirements, and that can take several years. Even if everybody reacted right now to what’s out there, it would still be several years, upwards of five years, before production jumped from its existing rate to 10 to 20 million pounds at the most.”

(2) If we have absolutely nothing in common with the Aliens, can we still recognize them as intelligent life forms and maintain an exchange of meaningful information with them?

II. Artificial vs. Natural

“Everything is simpler than you think and at the same time more complex than you imagine.”
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

Complexity rises spontaneously in nature through processes such as self-organization. Emergent phenomena are common as are emergent traits, not reducible to basic components, interactions, or properties.

Complexity does not, therefore, imply the existence of a designer or a design. Complexity does not imply the existence of intelligence and sentient beings. On the contrary, complexity usually points towards a natural source and a random origin. Complexity and artificiality are often incompatible.

Artificial designs and objects are found only in unexpected (”unnatural”) contexts and environments. Natural objects are totally predictable and expected. Artificial creations are efficient and, therefore, simple and parsimonious. Natural objects and processes are not.

As Seth Shostak notes in his excellent essay, titled “SETI and Intelligent Design”, evolution experiments with numerous dead ends before it yields a single adapted biological entity. DNA is far from optimized: it contains inordinate amounts of junk. Our bodies come replete with dysfunctional appendages and redundant organs. Lightning bolts emit energy all over the electromagnetic spectrum. Pulsars and interstellar gas clouds spew radiation over the entire radio spectrum. The energy of the Sun is ubiquitous over the entire optical and thermal range. No intelligent engineer – human or not – would be so wasteful.

Confusing artificiality with complexity is not the only terminological conundrum.

Complexity and simplicity are often, and intuitively, regarded as two extremes of the same continuum, or spectrum. Yet, this may be a simplistic view, indeed.

Simple procedures (codes, programs), in nature as well as in computing, often yield the most complex results. Where does the complexity reside, if not in the simple program that created it? A minimal number of primitive interactions occur in a primordial soup and, presto, life. Was life somehow embedded in the primordial soup all along? Or in the interactions? Or in the combination of substrate and interactions?

Complex processes yield simple products (think about products of thinking such as a newspaper article, or a poem, or manufactured goods such as a sewing thread). What happened to the complexity? Was it somehow reduced, “absorbed, digested, or assimilated”? Is it a general rule that, given sufficient time and resources, the simple can become complex and the complex reduced to the simple? Is it only a matter of computation?

We can resolve these apparent contradictions by closely examining the categories we use.

Perhaps simplicity and complexity are categorical illusions, the outcomes of limitations inherent in our system of symbols (in our language).

We label something “complex” when we use a great number of symbols to describe it. But, surely, the choices we make (regarding the number of symbols we use) teach us nothing about complexity, a real phenomenon!

A straight line can be described with three symbols (A, B, and the distance between them) – or with three billion symbols (a subset of the discrete points which make up the line and their inter-relatedness, their function). But whatever the number of symbols we choose to employ, however complex our level of description, it has nothing to do with the straight line or with its “real world” traits. The straight line is not rendered more (or less) complex or orderly by our choice of level of (meta) description and language elements.

The simple (and ordered) can be regarded as the tip of the complexity iceberg, or as part of a complex, interconnected whole, or hologramically, as encompassing the complex (the same way all particles are contained in all other particles). Still, these models merely reflect choices of descriptive language, with no bearing on reality.

Perhaps complexity and simplicity are not related at all, either quantitatively, or qualitatively. Perhaps complexity is not simply more simplicity. Perhaps there is no organizational principle tying them to one another. Complexity is often an emergent phenomenon, not reducible to simplicity.

The third possibility is that somehow, perhaps through human intervention, complexity yields simplicity and simplicity yields complexity (via pattern identification, the application of rules, classification, and other human pursuits). This dependence on human input would explain the convergence of the behaviors of all complex systems on to a tiny sliver of the state (or phase) space (sort of a mega attractor basin). According to this view, Man is the creator of simplicity and complexity alike but they do have a real and independent existence thereafter (the Copenhagen interpretation of a Quantum Mechanics).

Still, these twin notions of simplicity and complexity give rise to numerous theoretical and philosophical complications.

Consider life.

In human (artificial and intelligent) technology, every thing and every action has a function within a “scheme of things”. Goals are set, plans made, designs help to implement the plans.

Not so with life. Living things seem to be prone to disorientated thoughts, or the absorption and processing of absolutely irrelevant and inconsequential data. Moreover, these laboriously accumulated databases vanish instantaneously with death. The organism is akin to a computer which processes data using elaborate software and then turns itself off after 15-80 years, erasing all its work.

Most of us believe that what appears to be meaningless and functionless supports the meaningful and functional and leads to them. The complex and the meaningless (or at least the incomprehensible) always seem to resolve to the simple and the meaningful. Thus, if the complex is meaningless and disordered then order must somehow be connected to meaning and to simplicity (through the principles of organization and interaction).

Moreover, complex systems are inseparable from their environment whose feedback induces their self-organization. Our discrete, observer-observed, approach to the Universe is, thus, deeply inadequate when applied to complex systems. These systems cannot be defined, described, or understood in isolation from their environment. They are one with their surroundings.

Many complex systems display emergent properties. These cannot be predicted even with perfect knowledge about said systems. We can say that the complex systems are creative and intuitive, even when not sentient, or intelligent. Must intuition and creativity be predicated on intelligence, consciousness, or sentience?

Thus, ultimately, complexity touches upon very essential questions of who we, what are we for, how we create, and how we evolve. It is not a simple matter, that…

III. Intersubjectivity and Communications

The act of communication implies that the parties communicating possess some common denominators, share some traits or emotions, and are essentially more or less the same.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1999 edition) defines empathy as:

“The ability to imagine oneself in anther’s place and understand the other’s feelings, desires, ideas, and actions. It is a term coined in the early 20th century, equivalent to the German Einfühlung and modelled on ’sympathy’.”

Empathy is predicated upon and must, therefore, incorporate the following elements:

Imagination which is dependent on the ability to imagine;
The existence of an accessible Self (self-awareness or self-consciousness);
The existence of an available Other (other-awareness, recognizing the outside world);
The existence of accessible feelings, desires, ideas and representations of actions or their outcomes both in the empathizing Self (”Empathor”) and in the Other, the object of empathy (”Empathee”);
The availability of common frames of reference – aesthetic, moral, logical, physical, and other.
While (a) is presumed to be universally present in all agents (though in varying degrees), the existence of the other components of empathy cannot be taken for granted.

Conditions (b) and (c), for instance, are not satisfied by people who suffer from personality disorders, such as the Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Condition (d) is not met in autistic people (e.g., those who suffer from Asperger’s Disorder). Condition (e) is so totally dependent on the specifics of the culture, period and society in which it exists that it is rather meaningless and ambiguous as a yardstick.

Thus, the very existence of empathy can be questioned. It is often confused with inter-subjectivity. The latter is defined thus by “The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, 1995″:

“This term refers to the status of being somehow accessible to at least two (usually all, in principle) minds or ’subjectivities’. It thus implies that there is some sort of communication between those minds; which in turn implies that each communicating minds aware not only of the existence of the other but also of its intention to convey information to the other. The idea, for theorists, is that if subjective processes can be brought into agreement, then perhaps that is as good as the (unattainable?) status of being objective – completely independent of subjectivity. The question facing such theorists is whether intersubjectivity is definable without presupposing an objective environment in which communication takes place (the ‘wiring’ from subject A to subject B). At a less fundamental level, however, the need for intersubjective verification of scientific hypotheses has been long recognized”. (page 414).

On the face of it, the difference between intersubjectivity and empathy is double:

Intersubjectivity requires an EXPLICIT, communicated agreement between at least two subjects.
It pertains to EXTERNAL things (so called “objective” entities).
Yet, these “differences” are artificial. This is how empathy is defined in “Psychology – An Introduction (Ninth Edition) by Charles G. Morris, Prentice Hall, 1996″:

“Closely related to the ability to read other people’s emotions is empathy – the arousal of an emotion in an observer that is a vicarious response to the other person’s situation… Empathy depends not only on one’s ability to identify someone else’s emotions but also on one’s capacity to put oneself in the other person’s place and to experience an appropriate emotional response. Just as sensitivity to non-verbal cues increases with age, so does empathy: The cognitive and perceptual abilities required for empathy develop only as a child matures… (page 442)

Thus empathy does require the communication of feelings AND an agreement on the appropriate outcome of the communicated emotions (an affective agreement). In the absence of such agreement, we are faced with inappropriate affect (laughing at a funeral, for instance).

Moreover, empathy often does relate to external objects and is provoked by them. There is no empathy in the absence of an (external) empathee. Granted, intersubjectivity is confined to the inanimate while empathy mainly applies to the living (animals, humans, even plants). But this is distinction is not essential.

Empathy can, thus, be recast as a form of intersubjectivity which involves living things as “objects” to which the communicated intersubjective agreement relates. It is wrong to limit our understanding of empathy to the communication of emotions. Rather, it is the intersubjective, concomitant experience of BEING. The empathor empathizes not only with the empathee’s emotions but also with his or her physical state and other parameters of existence (pain, hunger, thirst, suffocation, sexual pleasure etc.).

This leads to the important (and perhaps intractable) psychophysical question.

Intersubjectivity relates to external objects: the subjects communicate and reach an agreement regarding the way THEY have been AFFECTED by said external objects.

Empathy also relates to external objects (to Others) – but the subjects communicate and reach an agreement regarding the way THEY would have felt had they BEEN said external objects.

This is no minor difference, if it, indeed, exists. But does it really exist?

What is it that we feel in empathy? Do we feel OUR own emotions/sensations, provoked by an external trigger (classic intersubjectivity) or do we experience a TRANSFER of the object’s feelings/sensations to us?

Probably the former. Empathy is the set of reactions – emotional and cognitive – triggered by an external object (the Other). It is the equivalent of resonance in the physical sciences. But we have no way of ascertaining that the “wavelength” of such resonance is identical in both subjects.

In other words, we have no way of verifying that the feelings or sensations invoked in the two (or more) subjects are the same. What I call “sadness” may not be what you call “sadness”. Colours, for instance, have unique, uniform, independently measurable properties (their energy). Even so, no one can prove that what I see as “red” is what another person (perhaps a Daltonist) would call “red”. If this is true where “objective”, measurable phenomena, like colors, are concerned – it is infinitely more so in the case of emotions or feelings.

We are, therefore, forced to refine our definition:

Empathy is a form of intersubjectivity which involves living things as “objects” to which the communicated intersubjective agreement relates. It is the intersubjective, concomitant experience of BEING. The empathor empathizes not only with the empathee’s emotions but also with his physical state and other parameters of existence (pain, hunger, thirst, suffocation, sexual pleasure etc.).

BUT

The meaning attributed to the words used by the parties to the intersubjective agreement known as empathy is totally dependent upon each party. The same words are used, the same denotates, but it cannot be proven that the same connotates, the same experiences, emotions and sensations are being discussed or communicated.

Language (and, by extension, art and culture) serve to introduce us to other points of view (”what is it like to be someone else” to paraphrase Thomas Nagle). By providing a bridge between the subjective (inner experience) and the objective (words, images, sounds), language facilitates social exchange and interaction. It is a dictionary which translates one’s subjective private language to the coin of the public medium. Knowledge and language are, thus, the ultimate social glue, though both are based on approximations and guesses (see George Steiner’s “After Babel”).

But, whereas the intersubjective agreement regarding measurements and observations concerning external objects IS verifiable or falsifiable using INDEPENDENT tools (e.g., lab experiments) – the intersubjective agreement which concerns itself with the emotions, sensations and experiences of subjects as communicated by them IS NOT verifiable or falsifiable using INDEPENDENT tools.

The interpretation of this second kind of agreement is dependent upon introspection and an assumption that identical words used by different subjects possess identical meanings. This assumption is not falsifiable (or verifiable). It is neither true nor false. It is a probabilistic conjecture, but without an attendant probability distribution. It is, in short, a meaningless statement. As a result, empathy itself is meaningless.

In human-speak, if you say that you are sad and I empathize with you, it means that we have an agreement. I regard you as my object. You communicate to me a property of yours (”sadness”). This triggers in me a recollection of “what is sadness” or “what is to be sad”. I say that I know what you mean, I have been sad before, I know what it is like to be sad. I empathize with you. We agree about being sad. We have an intersubjective agreement.

Alas, such an agreement is meaningless. We cannot (yet) measure sadness, quantify it, crystallize it, access it in any way from the outside. Both of us are totally and absolutely reliant on your introspection and on my introspection. There is no way anyone can prove that my “sadness” is even remotely similar to your sadness. I may be feeling or experiencing something that you might find hilarious and not sad at all. Still, I call it “sadness” and I empathize with you.

FINIS

The Hubble telescope is named for Edwin Hubble, the astronomer who originally determined that the universe is expanding. This discovery, one of the foundations of modern astronomy and cosmology, made Hubble an excellent choice for the honor of having this telescope named for him.

The concept for the Hubble telescope was originally the idea of Lyman Spitzer back in 1946. He clearly saw that earth-based telescopes were inherently limited in their ability to see into the heavens, since dust, clouds, and even turbulence in the atmosphere interfered with telescopes’ clarity. Which meant that the best way to get a clear image from a telescope was with a telescope that was in orbit around the earth.

After some success with the smaller Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, the plan for a large scale telescope was born. There were some fits and starts however, mostly due to budget constraints, and the project did not really take off until the 1970’s and funding was not approved until 1978. Then, with funding in place, plans were made to launch the Hubble telescope in 1983. However, due to various delays, it was not actually launched until 1990.

After a few early problems, the Hubble telescope finally started sending back clear images. And those images were well worth the effort. The Hubble telescope was able to achieve a sharpness and resolution that was unimaginable with a standard, earth-bound telescope; crisp images that not only showed new detail in known areas of space, but also peered deeper into space than ever before. And with these new images, astronomers have been able to discover new and exciting information about our universe.

However, it is not only astronomers who have been amazed at the images that the Hubble telescope has produced. In fact, the images from Hubble are delights to view all on their own. From the clearly defined galaxies, to pictures of nebulae, to the Apollo 15 landing site, Hubble has been as exciting for the public as it has been for scientists.

As the Hubble telescope ages, its future is uncertain. Corrective software has allowed earth-based telescopes to pick up much of the information previously possible only with a space-based telescope. And as NASA retools itself to follow its mandate to take a man to Mars, money that would be spent on maintenance of the Hubble is being spent elsewhere. However, before the Hubble telescope enters the atmosphere sometime in 2010, it will provide a remarkable window into the universe and all that is in it.

The light produced by this lamp is yellowish which is produced at its optimum pressure of about 0.004mm of mercury. This pressure is obtained at a temperature of about 280° C and so it becomes necessary to maintain this temperature. For this purpose the U-tube is enclosed in a double walled flask to prevent lose of heat. The double walled flask is interchangeable and can be fitted on to another U-tube. While replacing the inner U-tube one must be very careful because if it is broken and sodium comes in contact with moisture, it may result in fire.

All electric discharge lamps require a higher voltage at the time of starting and low voltage during operation. Generally, sodium vapour lamps are operated by a high leakage reactance transformer. At starting a high voltage of about 450 volts is applied across the lamp which is sufficient to start the discharge. When the lamp is fully operative after 10 – 15 minutes, the voltage across it falls to about 150 volts. Because of the high reactance of circuit, the power factor is low and hence a p.f improvement capacitor is connected.

The efficiency of a low pressure sodium vapour lamp is very high (about 40 – 50 lumens/watt) and it produces a light of particular wavelength having yellow color. Sodium lamps are mainly employed for street, high way and airfield lighting where color distinction is not so necessary.

Is it okay to buy second-hand or used home solar panel for your home instead of buying a brand new one? Of course, especially if the used solar panel that you bought is still of good running condition. However, pass up on solar items that have major defects or damage on them.

You might also decide on passing up on the old model type of solar panels on sale. Better think again. The older, very first home solar panels are the ones that are durable and really functioning well. They simply are such great buys especially if used properly and well taken care of by the previous owner.

As for the lifespan of a used solar panel, it can really be hard to tell. Some takes years and years before bogging down and needing some repair or a replacement on a spare part or two. Most of the time, the gadget is installed on the appropriate location or top of your roof and that’s it. You let it be as it needs minimal maintenance.

The main thing to do when buying used home solar panels is to avoid those that have damage on them, such as cracks and broken glass, moisture on the glass and damaged lines and connections. Unless you have extra cash to repair these defects, then it is best to steer away from these used solar products.

If purchasing your own full system is outside your budget indeed there is a more affordable way to take advantage of solar for you electrical needs.
A product is now available where you can actually rent the whole solar panel system for no more than you pay the electric company for energy. A company called Citizenre has come up with an innovative way to make solar an affordable lifestyle choice. Citizenre REnU program packages solar power for you in a simple and smart way. Plainly put, the Citizenre Corporation pays for, installs, owns and operates the solar installation. You don’t have to worry about maintaining the equipment or any of the other concerns that come with making an investment into solar power.
All you have to do is pay a flat monthly rent. You generate your own, renewable energy from the solar panels you rent and this power offsets the power you were buying from your utility. Your savings can cover the monthly rent and even put money back in your pocket. And since your rent is locked in for up to 25 years, you can save significantly over time as electricity prices continue to rise.
These are some of the benefits the customers receive:

-No upfront investment, no need to become a financial expert to justify your investment.

-No waiting for rebates.

-No headaches with the city and the utility; let us handle the engineering, procurement, and construction.

-With our flat monthly rent and our “Performance Guarantee” you can generate your own, renewable electricity and pay for the rent with your savings. Since your Agreement will show the amount of energy your system can generate, it is simple to calculate your savings.

-Hassle-free operating and maintenance; it’s handled by the experts.

-Actual hedge against future utility price increases: you can “lock in” your rates for the electricity generated from the solar system at your home for a period of up to twenty-five years, far longer than the guaranteed rates offered by other electricity providers.

Indeed, a solar panel, whether brand new, second hand or rented, is definitely a wise choice as it helps you in minimizing your electric bills, helps the worlds growing energy needs and is especially an environmentally healthy and helpful choice.
If you’re interested in getting more info on a free solar panel installation check out www.jointhesolution.com/rethink-solar

Also if your interested in joining the solution and becoming a Citizenre sales associate check out www.powur.net/rethink-solar

What are the symptoms?
Flu-like symptoms: headaches, muscle aches, confusion, dizziness, vomiting (lasting several hours), sweating, tiredness, but most of all, fever. Anemia and jaundice can occur.
Symptoms generally occur from 7 days to a few weeks after being bitten, however may not occur for up to one year.

How is it prevented?
The following drugs should be taken before embarking on a trip to a country where malaria is prevalent:
Atovaquone/proguanil
Doxycycline
Mefloquine
Primaquine (in special circumstances)
Visit your doctor or health clinic several weeks before travelling as these drugs need to be administered in advance.
A good insect repellent should also be applied to exposed skin whilst abroad; preferably one containing DEET (N.N – diethyl meta-toulamide) which is the only ingredient guaranteed to work and is long lasting. There are other repellents on the market for those not wishing to use DEET, but they need to be applied frequently.

What countries are at risk?

Afghanistan. Angola, Brazil, Benin, Burkino, Cambodia, Camaroon, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Comoros, Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial New Guinea, Eritrea, Faso Burindi, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Bissau, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Principe, Rwanda, Sao Tome, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Uganda, Vietnam, Zaire, Zambia.

BE SAFE!

An Overview of Wind Farms

A wind farm is simply a collection of wind turbines in a location used to produce electricity. Wind farms can be found in the United States, but are far more prevalent in Europe. China is also beginning to invest large amounts of resources in wind farms as its energy needs grow.

The fundamentals of electricity production through wind farms are pretty simple. Highly efficient wind turbines are placed in locations where they will receive the maximum amount of wind energy. These turbines can be traditional horizontal windmills or vertical eggbeater windmills.

Regardless, the wind turns the blades as it passes, which turns a generator within the turbine. The turning motion converts the wind energy into electricity when the generator cranks, which is then sent into a utility company power grid or stored in batteries. This process is similar to hydropower with wind being used instead of water.

The stereotypical wind farm is an exercise in topography. The goal is to find locations where wind exists as frequently as possible. Put in practical terms, ideal spots are in areas where ground variation occurs as wind is produced when different surface areas heat up at different rates. As each surface heats up, the air rises and cooler air rushes in to replace it. Thus, we have wind. Given this situation, ideal locations for wind farms are often along shorelines or in valleys funneling winds from the shore.

Many people are under the impression that wind farms are located only in areas of land where winds are howling through valleys and over hills. While this is certainly true, the current trend is to build wind farms off the shorelines of countries.

The advantage of offshore wind farms has to do with the frequency and generation of winds. Shorelines represent fertile wind generation areas. On top of this, the open space of the ocean allows winds generated from remote locations to move towards shorelines. If you have ever spent time going sailing, you have an understanding of how strong these winds can be. On top of all of this, placing wind farms in the ocean avoids the cost of buying pricey space on land.

Wind farms are up and functioning in most first world countries. The bigger issue is getting them to produce enough energy at as low a price as possible to make them a viable energy production platform.