This blog site is an effort to share unique and interesting ideas in science, as a part of a group learning effort. The participants can be from any age group, but the focus of our activity are kids in primary and high schools.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
A simple proof of Pythagoras Theorem
Monday, December 20, 2010
A lecture on prime numbers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtsrAw1LR3E
In the beginning of the video observe the description of his profile.
The key result of his that he talks about is the following:
"Primes contain arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions"
Examples:
3,5,7 are primes. These are an arithmetic progression of 3 prime numbers spaced 2 apart.
5,11,17,23 are an arithmetic progression of 4 prime numbers with common difference 6.
7,157,307,457,607,757 are an arithmetic progression of 7 prime numbers (the common difference is 150).
The result he proved in 2004 says that among primes, there are arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions. The longest found so far contain 23 prime numbers:
56211383760397 + 44546738095*n ( n = 0, 1, ... , 22)
I am sure most of you will agree that understanding the result is easy. Notice, in the lecture, that he mentions that there can be arithmetic progressions millions of prime numbers long; no one knows how to find them!! The best we have got is 23 primes sequence.
Also, visit his blog http://terrytao.wordpress.com/ and check out the "Career Advice" section for something you may find useful.
WHEN EMPERORS BUILD GREAT PALACES, WE CAN HAVE A ROLE TOO!
Peddappa, what is your subject of research?
Narasimhanna's reply:
Sunday, November 28, 2010
What is Group Theory?
Saturday, November 27, 2010
On Dimensions, etc
Here is a gist of an email conversation that happened between Srinidhi and Narasimhanna. You are welcome to participate in the discussion.
Srinidhi wrote:
Peddappa, can you explain what fourth dimension is?
Dear Srinidhi,
I can and I will. It is better when we meet and talk.
In simple terms, dimension keeps track of the number of `factors' we have to keep in mind when we are thinking about any particular matter.
When you walk in a straight line (or when you write), there is only one direction. That is one dimensional.
When we paint a picture or see a picture in a plain paper, there is both length and breadth. So two dimensions in this case.
The space we all exist at any given time has three dimensions : there is length, there is breadth and there is height. The house we live in is in three dimension; the cake you eat has length, breadth and height.
But if you think a little carefully, we really live in four dimensions : we live at a particular place (that is, three dimensions) and at a given time (that is an additional dimension, the fourth one).
All the changing events you see (like your eating, a plane flying, earth rotating, etc.) take place in four dimensions. Just as it is important to know
(i) the length when you buy a string (MALTHADU),
(ii) the length and breadth when you buy a piece of cloth,
(iii) the length, breadth and height when you choose a cake to eat,
when you think of the stars or galaxies, you should think of not only the position of that object but also the time of its existence.
Think of this fact, I was amazed when I came across as a teenager. Many rays of light that is falling on you now (as you are reading this) originated from stars which no longer exist!
When they started, perhaps even our dear sun, let alone our life sustaining earth, did not exist!
It is like you coming across a gift today in your backyard from your fathers, fathers, fathers,... (200 times over)]
So in thinking about such long time phenomena, we should keep track of not only space but also time. You can think of many situations where this may be necessary as thinking about both the length and the breadth is necessary when you are buying a bedsheet.
Think of this: Mudiyanur inhabited by Subbaiahgaru is different than the Mudiyanur inhabited by Subbanna. The space is the space, but time is different.
Think about fourth dimension. I will explain to you some time later why it is important to think of 5 dimensions, 6 dimensions, 7, dimensions, etc.
-Yours affectionately
Narasimha
Srinidhi Wrote:
Peddappa, I understood this. I am eagerly waiting for what is 5th, 6th, 7th etc.,.
Dear Srinidhi,
As you see, we use `spaces' to describe things. Dimension of the space chosen depends on the things we want to describe: dimension one if it is a string, dimension two if it is the site you want to purchase, dimension three if you want to describe the size of the ball you want to describe, dimension four if you want to describe the position of a planet, etc.
But you see, each dimension corresponds to an important feature (`parameter') of the object we want to describe. You can easily imagine many objects/situations where more than four important features are need to describe the object effectively.
Here are some examples:
A. In describing an iron furnace at any given moment (the one used to manufacture iron, like the one in Bhadravathi), the following factors may have to be specified: its temperature, pressure inside the furnace, the quantity of ore inside it, the number of years it has been in use (its age, if you like), the amount of power available to it, number of staff operating that, etc. So you see in describing this we need to keep track of several dimensions.
B. To describe the Bangalore Bus transport system on any particular day : the parameters could be, number of buses available, number of routes, an average number of potential passengers in each route, number of drivers available, number of conductors, amount of fuel available on that day, etc.
The same for a description of Air lines.
The description of the economic profile of a family also needs many dimensions!!
I am sure you can make up many more examples. But, any way, I suppose you get the idea. As the society gets more and more complicated, it is necessary for accurate descriptions (at least as accurate as we can and use that usefully) of various situations.
So, you see, description of space is very important in human life and that is why it has played such an important role in all societies (modern, primitive). The subject that studies it is Geometry. That is why from the old civilizations ( like Aryans, Egyptians, Greek) to the modern era, Geometry is at the core of human thinking and has been very useful.
These days, the computers and Information Theory people are fast developing appropriate geometries to suit their needs.
But the GREATEST ATTRACTION OF GEOMETRY IS ITS BEAUTY.
That is why the ancient Greeks said that God was a geometer.
That is what attracts the indulgence of many thinkers at all times.
-Yours affectionately,
Narasimha
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Believe it or not's !!
An unbelievable number of 43 species of ant can be found on a single tree in the Peruvian Amazon, which is equal to the entire ant fauna of the UK!
The Oldest Trees
The Bristlecone Pine is the oldest known tree species in the world. It is found only in the scattered, arid mountain regions of six western states of America, in a harsh windswept environment. The oldest Bristlecone Pines grow at an elevations of 3,000 to 3,300 metres, and the oldest known tree is 'Methuselah', which is 4,789 years old!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Electric Bulb
The actual inventor of the very first electric lighting was Humphrey Davy. In 1809, he invented the original source of electric lighting. Since his invention, many other men had set out to improve this idea and invent their own form of electrical lighting. Many have succeeded, but none were practical or long lasting.
It was only in 1879 that Edison invented a carbon filament that would burn for at least forty hours. With his great mind and wonderful thinking, he had made a longer lasting electric light bulb in 1880. It burned for over 1,200 hours, using a bamboo-derived element.
So, though there were very many men trying to invent longer, safe, and economical electric lighting, it was Thomas Alva Edison who did the best job. He made quite a few improvements on his improvements on his invention too. Edison spent several years after this, putting together the electric industry, so that this new source of lighting would be used throughout the world, on streets, in homes, and in businesses.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Some more fun stuff
Monday, October 11, 2010
INTERESTING FACTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1. 4.5 pounds of sunlight strike the Earth each day.
2. A ball of glass will bounce higher than a ball made of rubber. (try it outside)
3. . At room temperature, the average air molecule travels at the speed of a rifle bullet.
4. Each day, up to 150 species of life become extinct.
5. Each day is longer than the previous on by 0.00000002 seconds which is 13 seconds each century!
CHECK OUT MORE OF THESE FACTS IN THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE
http://www.funfactz.com/science-facts/
Sunday, October 10, 2010
TEST POST!
This is Jayesh, Shruthi's brother. I am really looking forward in getting to know all the members from putkutti science club. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me.
Thanks, Bye Bye
Friday, October 8, 2010
Believe it or not!
Image:
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Africa/South_Africa/East/Mpumalanga/Blyde_River_Canyon/photo183281.htm
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Testing
Sunday, September 26, 2010
What is strange about the lakes of Keli Mutu?
The people who live in the area believe that these lakes are the resting place of souls, of sinners, virgins and babies. What is even stranger is that the lakes have changed colour over the years. Some years back, they were black, maroon and blue, and in the 1960's, they were milky coffee brown, red brown, and blue! No one can explain the cause of such colour changes except to suppose that different minerals are dissolved in the waters of each lake at Kelimutu. Did you know that the word 'Kelimutu is a combination of words 'Keli' which means mountain and 'Mutu' which means boiling?
ಚಿತ್ರ-http://thepowerofindonesia.blogspot.com/2010/02/kelimutu-unique-lake-with-three.html
ಶ್ರೀನಿಧಿ
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
S Chandra
http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/apr252000/generalia.pdf
Here is a very lengthy interview with him where he discusses his career in greater detail:
http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4551_1.html
It surely is inspirational material!
PS: Srinidhi, you have disable comments for your posts. Try to enable comments. When you edit the post, click on "Post Options" link you see at the bottom left of edit window. This has an option to enable comments.
The comment I wanted to make is this: The fossils of tree trunks appear to be those that are neatly cut, like from a chain saw. How did that happen when this should be dating back from pre-human days?
I haven't had time to post of late. The following are coming up soon:
1. The universe may end up in a Big Crunch or a Big Freeze or a Big Rip. These are certain ideas that capture our imagination.
2. Narasimhanna suggested that I draw pictures to depict visual proofs of such things as (a+b)^2=a^2+2ab+b^2 and Pythogoras theorem, etc.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Amazing!
धन्यवाद
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Believe it or Not !
Image - http://www.moore-fun.net/images/Petrified%20Forest.jpg
ధన్యవాదాలు
శ్రీనిధి
Monday, September 13, 2010
Carnivorous plants
List of carnivorous plants available at -
http://www.pinguicula.org/pages/pages_principales/SEZNAM%202004.pdf
How these plants trap the prey and digest is available at -
http://www.ehow.com/list_5791411_carnivorous-plants-list.html
ಇಂತಿ
ಶ್ರೀನಿಧಿ
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Why can't red beans grow into anything other than red bean plants?
Nagashree was talking to me about Classification of Plants and animals yesterday. The following question came up: If you look at two varieties of bean plants (say red bean and brown bean) just when they sprout, they look similar. But when they grow up they produce different varieties of beans. The red bean variety always produces red bean plants and the brown ones always produce brown bean plants. What is in the bean seed that determines what the plant grows into ? And what is the process involved?
Nagashree, try to find more on the above question.
A related question: Certain lizards re-grow their tails when their tails are cut off. Why does that not happen to most other animals?