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Brooklyn Bridge

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Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge was a stepping stone in the world of bridge building.

  • Brooklyn Bridge is a neo-gothic styled cable suspension and cable-stayed bridge located in the United State’s New York City, connecting the areas of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
  • Brooklyn Bridge is 25.9 metres (85 feet) in width and reaches 1.825 kilometres (1.134 miles) in length, and was initially the longest suspension bridge on earth.
  • The building of Brooklyn Bridge began in 1869, as one of the first bridges of its kind, and it is made of steel, granite, limestone and concrete, while the latter materials were primarily used for the bridge pillars.
  • John Augustus Roebling, a civil engineer who emigrated from Germany years before, designed Brooklyn Bridge, but he died before construction commenced.
  • After the death of John Roebling, his son, Washington Roebling, became the engineer for the construction of Brooklyn Bridge, however Washington became incapacitated from caisson disease, a decompression sickness that forced him to be restricted to viewing the work from his apartment window, and as a result, he directed his wife Emily to oversee much of the onsite work.
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Brooklyn Bridge
Image courtesy of keith.bellvay/Flickr
  • ‘Brooklyn Bridge’ has also been known as ‘East River Bridge’ and ‘New York and Brooklyn Bridge’ in its history.
  • The 24 May 1883 marked the official opening of Brooklyn Bridge, which was crossed by 150,300 people on the occasion, including the then US President Chester Arthur and the then New York Mayor Franklin Edson.
  • The construction of Brooklyn Bridge cost approximately US$15.5 million, which converts to almost 380 million US dollars in 2015, and major renovations began on the bridge in 2010, which are expected to be completed in 2016, in response to the deficient standard of the bridge, graded in a previous inspection.
  • Many of those who worked on Brooklyn Bridge were immigrants, with more than 24 people reaching their death throughout the construction, while some worked underwater in airtight containers and many of these workers came away with caisson disease.
  • Brooklyn Bridge reaches a height of 84.3 metres (276.5 feet) from the average East River water level that it spans, and there is approximately 41.1 metres (135 feet) between the water and the base of the bridge.
Bibliography:
Brooklyn Bridge, 2015, History, http://www.history.com/topics/brooklyn-bridge
Brooklyn Bridge, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Bridge

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Vinegar

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Vinegar

Versatile vinegar!

  • Vinegar is an acidic liquid made of water and acetic acid, which has the chemical formula C2H4O2.
  • Vinegar is made by allowing wine, juice or cider to sit exposed to oxygen and aerobic bacteria, and the process can take many months or years, depending on the circumstances, although quick methods can result in the final product in three days.
  • Among the first discoverers of vinegar were the Babylonians in the Middle East, who are said to have used it before or about 5000 BC for its preserving, cleaning and perceived medicinal properties.
  • Vinegar can be made from a variety of substances, including but not limited to barley, rice, palm fruits including coconuts and dates, grapes and apples.
  • In the food industry, vinegar is used to add flavour or as a liquid base, and it is frequently used in condiments like salad dressings, is found in some drinks, is used for pickling particular vegetables, and is sometimes sprinkled onto potato chips or other vegetables.

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  • Vinegar has been used throughout history to treat ulcers, coughs, fevers, and bacteria, and as a neutraliser for certain jellyfish stings.
  • The acidic nature of vinegar is enough to cause teeth to decay, and remove sticky residue, among other substances, and is often used in conjunction with water to clean items, and the product is also able to kill mould.
  • Vinegar can be used to kill weeds, although a stronger dose may be required to completely destroy some plants, and the liquid can be used for various other purposes in the garden including killing or deterring pests including snails, slugs and ants.
  • Vinegar can vary in colour, and can be brown, deep red, black, yellow or colourless, depending on its origins.
  • There are various methods of producing commercial vinegar, and some produce more acetic acid than others, while bottles of the liquid commonly found in supermarkets usually contain up to 5% of the acid.
Bibliography:
Know how vinegar came into existence, n.d, The Human Touch of Chemistry, http://humantouchofchemistry.com/know-how-vinegar-came-into-existence.htm
Vinegar, 2015, How Products Are Made, http://www.madehow.com/Volume-7/Vinegar.html
Vinegar, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinegar
Vinegar History, 2015, Apple Cider Vinegar Benefits, http://www.apple-cider-vinegar-benefits.com/vinegar-history.html

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Plastic Shopping Bag

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Plastic Shopping Bag

Do you understand the harm of plastic shopping bags?

  • Plastic shopping bags are strong cheap plastic bags primarily used to carry groceries or other items bought from retail outlets.
  • ‘Plastic shopping bags’ are called ‘plastic grocery bags’ and ‘carrier bags’, and they are also known by the generic terms ‘bags’, ‘shopping bags’ and ‘plastic bags’.
  • Plastic shopping bags are most commonly made of polyethylene, although bags can be made of bioplastic that originates from vegetable sources and is said to decompose safely when exposed to sunlight and oxygen.
  • Plastic bags were invented after the introduction of polyethylene in the 1930s, and in 1962, engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin of Sweden filed a patent for a one-piece plastic shopping bag with an integrated handle for the Celloplast company, and this style of bag is said to be the basis of most modern designs.
  • Commercially used plastic shopping bags became highly popular worldwide by the 1980s, acting as a replacement to paper bags which were originally used for purchased goods.

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  • The cited number of plastic bags produced worldwide varies by source, with suggestions of 500 to 1,000 billion per year, with over 100 billion used in the United States in 2009 and approximately 13 billion used in the United Kingdom in 2008.
  • Plastic shopping bags come in a wide variety of colours, made with the addition of different chemicals, and common colours include white, and grey, while words, logos, and other designs are often printed on the bags.
  • Plastic shopping bags generally take a hundred years or more to breakdown, and therefore are significant polluters of the environment, killing thousands of marine wildlife yearly, and even causing drain blockages that cause flooding, especially in poor countries.
  • Caution should be taken with plastic shopping bags, as they can cause suffocation in children, especially those of a young age, and warning information has been in place on some types of bags in some countries since 1959.
  • Stores, nations and even countries like China, Rwanda and Bangladesh, have been banning, limiting or discouraging the use of plastic shopping bags for environmental reasons, including the large quantities of resources required to create the bags in the first place.
Bibliography:
Keller A, History of the Plastic Bag, 2011, Bag Monster, http://www.bagmonster.com/2011/05/history-of-the-plastic-bag.html
Plastic Shopping Bag, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_shopping_bag
Polythene’s story: The accidental birth of plastic bags, 2008, The Independent, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/polythenes-story-the-accidental-birth-of-plastic-bags-800602.html

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Vampire Bat

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Vampire Bat

Vampire bats are the closest real thing to vampires.

  • Vampire bats are a subfamily of three species of bats native to Central and South America, and Mexico in North America.
  • The scientific name of a vampire bat is Desmodontinae, from the family Phyllostomidae, the family of New World leaf-nosed bats, and the fur of the bat generally ranges from brown, black to grey in colour.
  • The diet of vampire bats consists only of blood, from either mammals or birds, depending on the species, and the bat needs to consume it at least every two days so that it does not starve to death.
  • Vampire bats grow to be 7 to 9.5 centimetres (2.7 to 3.7 inches) in height; have wings that spread 15 to 18 centimetres (5.9 to 7 inches); and the weight ranges from 19 to 57 grams (0.7 to 2 ounces).
  • On the end of their nose, vampire bats have receptors that can interpret infrared, that are used to find heated areas on a mammal’s body, which are normally areas that contain blood close to the surface.
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Vampire Bat
Image courtesy of stanzer/Flickc
  • Colonies of vampire bats, numbering around 100 or as many as a thousand, live together, and they care for each other, even to the point of vomiting up blood to keep a fellow bat alive, or looking after orphaned young.
  • A female vampire bat has a single baby at a time, that drinks its mother’s milk until it is approximately three months of age; and the bats typically live to be 8 to 12 years of age.
  • A vampire bat typically feeds by itself, generally landing nearby its usually sleeping prey, scrambling onto it with its arms and legs, and biting the animal to make a wound, which is usually not felt by the host and does not clot due to chemicals in the bat’s saliva.
  • Vampire bats spend roughly 20 to 30 minutes feeding off a single wound at a time, and they do not directly cause fatalities to their prey, although diseases and bacteria may be transferred.
  • Despite being classified as least concern, vampire bats are reducing in numbers due to loss of habitat and poisoning by humans, especially farmers, to protect their livestock.
Bibliography:
Common Vampire Bat, 2015, National Geographic, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/mammals/common-vampire-bat/
Vampire Bat, 2013, A-Z Animals, http://a-z-animals.com/animals/vampire-bat/
Vampire Bat, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_bat

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Lascaux Cave

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Lascaux Cave

Lascaux Cave contains a past of mysteries.

  • Lascaux Cave, also known simply as ‘Lascaux’, is a group of connected caves located in the Vézère Valley in France’s region of Aquitaine, in Europe.
  • Lascaux Cave is famous for its cave artwork that is believed to have been created more than 15,000 years ago, in the late Stone Age.
  • The UNESCO World Heritage Convention declared the Lascaux Cave a World Heritage Site in 1979, as part of a group of prehistoric sites and caves in the area.
  • Lascaux Cave was accidentally discovered in September 1940 by Marcel Ravidat and his friends, who were in their late teens at the time.
  • Approximately 600 drawings and 1500 engravings can be found in Lascaux Cave, featuring patterns, and human and animal depictions, in colours of red, black, yellow, violet and brown.
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Part of Lascaux Cave
Image courtesy of Bayes Ahmed/Flickr
  • Lascaux Cave was opened publicly from 1948 to 1963, and later, and nearby, much of the cave and paintings were meticulously replicated over a period of 12 years, to make what is known as Lascaux II, which was opened in 1983 and is visited by thousands of people each year.
  • The meaning of the Lascaux Cave paintings is disputed, and some proposed theories include that they are documentations of life and hunting, or they are religious metaphors.
  • The paintings of Lascaux Cave are endangered by constantly growing mould and deterioration, and the cave was closed from public view in 1963, due to increased carbon dioxide levels from visitors, and the lighting and air conditioning system has also contributed to the problem.
  • Paintings and engravings were not the only artefacts found in Lascaux Cave, as bones, tools and other objects were also discovered.
  • The small original opening into Lascaux Cave was enlarged to make an entrance that was easily accessible to visitors, however, this changed the airflow in the cave, which contributed to the deterioration of some of the paintings.
Bibliography:
Lascaux, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux
Lascaux (ca. 15,000 B.C.), 2015, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/lasc/hd_lasc.htm
Lascaux cave paintings discovered, 2015, History, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lascaux-cave-paintings-discovered
Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley, 2015, UNESCO World Heritage Convention, http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/85

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Yellow

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Yellow

Caution! Don’t ignore yellow!

  • Yellow is a colour located on the visible spectrum between orange and green, that has a wavelength of 520 to 590 nanometres (nm), as well as having the hex code #FFFF00 and the RGB value (255, 255, 0).
  • Yellow is among the three primary colours of pigments, shown in the RYB colour wheel, and in light it can be made with green and red in the RGB spectrum.
  • Yellow comes from the terms ‘geolu’ and ‘geolwe’, which both are from Old English, which in turn is derived from the Germanic ‘gelwaz’.
  • Natural pigments of a yellow colour can be made from ochre, saffron, turmeric and Garcinia tree resin; and many other minerals have proven toxic, including crocoite which contains lead, while the synthetic chemical tartrazine is commonly used today.
  • The colour yellow appears often in nature, and can be seen in fruit like lemons, flowers like sunflowers, and animals including tigers, giraffes, some reptiles and fish, insects like bees and butterflies, and birds including canaries and ducklings.

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  • Yellow can be highly symbolic, representing gold, gods, caution, warmth, courage, happiness and sunshine.
  • Numerous natural objects coloured yellow, including egg yolk, daffodils and bananas, contain carotenoid pigments; while other objects commonly coloured in this colour include rubber ducks, some forms of road machinery, and in some regions taxis and buses.
  • Black alters yellow shades most dramatically and most unpleasantly of all colours, with only small mixes making unattractive colours.
  • Shades of yellow include mustard, cream, gold, amber, maize, goldenrod, straw, saffron, and lemon, and shades of hair in this colour are usually called ‘blonde’ or ‘golden’.
  • Yellow is the first colour to be recognised visually, hence it being used on warning signs, and contrary to popular belief, a room in this colour does not make a baby cry more.
Bibliography:
Yellow, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow
Yellow, n.d, Color Matters, http://www.colormatters.com/the-meanings-of-colors/yellow

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