Green Cotton

Chinese and the Arabs discovered gun powder. Gun powder is a mixture of Potassium Nitrate, sulphur and charcoal. This was replaced in 1845 by nitrocellulose usually known as green cotton. Later, a terribly unstable explosive nitroglycerin was discovered.

Alfred Nobel combined nitroglycerin with silaceous earth (later with wood pulp) to make dynamite in 1867. It was Alfred Nobel who instituted the coveted Nobel prizes out of the profit made by selling dynamite.

The more modern explosives ammonium nitrate, trinitrotoluene, (TNT) and mixtures of such compounds.

Another very powerful explosive always in news is RDX or Research Department Explosive. Chemically it is known as Cyclotrimethylene trinitranine and is one and half times more powerful than TNT used in the military.

The most powerful explosive is Hexa nitro iso wurtzitane (CL20).

Plastics in Space

Space suits contain eight or nine layers of plastic fibers that can extremes of cold and heat. Outer surface of the suit is made of superstrong plastic fibre called Kevlar. Inner suit is of polyurethane coated nylon mixed with polyester fibre.

Robonauts

NASA Johnson Space centre in Houston, Texas has built and designed a dexterous humanoid robot named Robonaut. Robonauts are machines that can help  humans works and explore in space by working side by side with them, or going where the risks are too great for people.

Dirty Snowball

The only permanent part of a comet is its solid nucleus, or core. It is typically very dark, irregularly shaped, and several miles in diameter. The nucleus is often described as a DIRTY SNOWBALL because it consists of ice mixed with large amounts of fine, sooty dust particles. Some comets have more dust than ice.

Goa govt moots plastic waste management plant at Bicholim

Goa government is planning to set up a plastic waste management plant in Goa and has already identified a site in Bicholim for the purpose, said deputy chief minister Francis D'Souza. The plant will be environment-friendly and work on a technology that converts plastic into fuel, D'Souza said. "There will be no emissions from the plant," D'Souza stressed. Replying to queries , D'Souza said that the two solid waste management plants proposed to be set up at Calangute and Curchorem will work on "in-vessel" technology and therefore emanate no foul order. "The technology used for the garbage treatment plant at Sonsoddo is primitive," he said.

Make Diwali green, not smoky

When a cute child walks over to people and asks them not to burst crackers because of the ill effects they have on the environment and health, people listen. That is exactly what Savita Dutta does. All of 10, she is already a crusader on a mission. Dressed in red and green, 35 members of the NGO, VMAD (We make a difference) visited markets in Sarabha Nagar and Baba Deep Singh Chowk, two of the busiest places on Sunday evening and asked people to refrain from polluting the environment on Diwali.

Their first question to people was, "Do you burst crackers on Diwali?" Moving through the market in a pair, a green and a red, they worked to educate people about the price of mindless celebrations.

If the person approached said he will burst crackers on Diwali, the activist in red started telling him about how a recent survey suggests bursting crackers on one day of Diwali can increase pollution levels in the city by almost 30%.

"We try and make people understand how these crackers and the pollution they cause result in diseases like asthma and cancer and how giving them up will help curb problems of pollution in the city and the country. We try to convince them and make them promise they will not consider using crackers again in life", said 17-year-old Gauravdeep Singh from Dugri. For people who are already aware, members express their appreciation by presenting them with a band that reads, "Hum badlenge yug badlega", and a gift of Rs 10,000. "The currency is not real but it is simply a token of respect for people who look above their personal desire for fun and enjoyment. Through this gift we want to tell them that they have actually saved the money and the environment", said 25-year-old Jasveer Singh from Dugri.

This is not the first attempt for the NGO. According one of the members, Jaskirat, 16, "We conducted the campaign last year but we did so a day before Diwali. People had already bought crackers by then. So this time, we decided to initiate the campaign a week in advance."

Director of the NGO, Baljeet Kaur said, "We are looking forward to take the campaign further. If there is good response, children will be motivated". 

Moon Rocks

Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument Or M Cubed, on the Chandrayann-I Spacecraft found two different kinds of lunar rocks. One hidden in a basin on the far side of the moon and the other staring right at us on the near side. Just four minerals plagioclase feldspar, pyroxene, olivine and ilmenite account for 98.99% of the crystalline material of the lunar crust, but the composition of these newly found rocks are two different kinds of spinels, a magnesium spinel and chromite spinel. The composition and location of these new rock types are extremely puzzling, and lunar scientists are trying to determine more details about these mysterious Moon rocks