James Cameron Now at Ocean's Deepest Point At 5:52 p.m. ET Sunday (7:52 a.m. Monday, local time), James Cameron arrived at the Mariana Trench's Challenger Deep, members of the National Geographic expedition have confirmed. His depth on arrival: 35,756 feet (10,898 meters)—a figure unattainable anywhere else in the ocean. Reaching bottom after a 2-hour-and-36-minute descent, the National Geographic explorer and filmmaker typed out welcome words for the cheering support crew waiting at the surface: "All systems OK." Folded into a sub cockpit as cramped as any Apollo capsule, the National Geographic explorer and filmmaker is now investigating a seascape more alien to humans than the moon. Hovering in what he's called a vertical torpedo, Cameron is likely collecting data, specimens, and imagery unthinkable in 1960, when the only other explorers to reach Challenger Deep returned after seeing little more than the silt stirred up by their bathyscaphe. Rendezvous at Challenger Deep "Is my manipulator working properly?
The Electoral College - Origin and History by William C. Kimberling, Deputy Director FEC National Clearinghouse on Election Administration In order to appreciate the reasons for the Electoral College, it is essential to understand its historical context and the problem that the Founding Fathers were trying to solve. They faced the difficult question of how to elect a president in a nation that: was composed of thirteen large and small States jealous of their own rights and powers and suspicious of any central national government contained only 4,000,000 people spread up and down a thousand miles of Atlantic seaboard barely connected by transportation or communication (so that national campaigns were impractical even if they had been thought desirable) believed, under the influence of such British political thinkers as Henry St. Origins of the Electoral College The Constitutional Convention considered several possible methods of selecting a president. One idea was to have the Congress choose the president. The First Design
Dry Ice Hash The Legend of Cliff Young: The 61 Year Old Farmer Who Won the World’s Toughest Race - Elite Feet The legendary story of Cliff Young is already known to many runners. If you aren't familiar with it, you're in for a fascinating read. An Unlikely Competitor Cliff Young Every year, Australia hosts 543.7-mile (875-kilometer) endurance racing from Sydney to Melbourne. In 1983, a man named Cliff Young showed up at the start of this race. The press and other athletes became curious and questioned Cliff. When the race started, the pros quickly left Cliff behind. The Tortoise and the Hare All of the professional athletes knew that it took about 5 days to finish the race. When the morning of the second day came, everyone was in for another surprise. Eventually Cliff was asked about his tactics for the rest of the race. Cliff kept running. When Cliff was awarded the winning prize of $10,000, he said he didn't know there was a prize and insisted that he did not enter for the money. Continued Inspiration In the following year, Cliff entered the same race and took 7th place.
How the Electoral College Works" Do you remember voting for the president in a mock election in elementary school or junior high? Maybe you selected your candidate at random because you didn't really know the difference between the two (or care). Well, now you're older and wiser and know that who you vote for does make a difference. Take the Electoral College, for instance. Truth is, the results of the popular vote are not guaranteed to stand because the presidential election is really decided by the votes of the Electoral College. For some of us, the Electoral College process (and its outcome) may seem a bit shocking. By now you're probably wondering how -- and why -- the Electoral College began.
BAM! Sugar Is Not as Sweet as You May Think You may think of sugar as purely a sweet ingredient meant for baking, but it can actually be a deadly explosive, according to PopSci's Gray Matter: "In 2008 the sweetener killed 14 people in Georgia -- not from diabetes or heart disease, but in a violent explosion. Absence of regulation, ineffective enforcement, and lack of preparation for the potential danger led to the Imperial Sugar factory disaster, one of the worst industrial accidents of our time. Any substance that burns at all can be made to burn bigger and faster by increasing its surface area, thus increasing its access to oxygen. Fine powders can have very large surface areas, making materials such as flour and sugar, which barely burn when in bulk form, explosive enough to demolish a factory." Want to test it yourself? The experiment is simple: "To demonstrate the awesome power of confectioners' sugar, I blew a stream of it over a candle flame, creating a two-foot-long burst of fire.
Shout out to organic chemistry Rock Candy - How to Make Rock Candy Video You don't have to visit a candy store to get colorful rock candy. See how easy it is to grow your own sparkling (and tasty) rock candy crystals at home.See Transcript Hi, I'm Dr. Anne Helmenstine for About.com. Rock Candy Ingredients The only two ingredients you need for rock candy are sugar and water, though you can add food coloring and flavoring if you want colored and flavored crystals. Prepare the Rock Candy Crystal Solution In a saucepan, heat at least three cups of sugar together with one cup of water. While the sugar solution is cooling, prepare a container for growing your rock candy. Growing Rock Candy Crystals Pour the sugar solution into your jar. You'll start to see crystals growing in a day or two. Allow your rock candy to grow until you are pleased with the crystals. I hope you had fun making rock candy. About videos are made available on an "as is" basis, subject to the User Agreement.
Secrets of the first practical artificial leaf A detailed description of development of the first practical artificial leaf -- a milestone in the drive for sustainable energy that mimics the process, photosynthesis, that green plants use to convert water and sunlight into energy -- appears in the ACS journal Accounts of Chemical Research. The article notes that unlike earlier devices, which used costly ingredients, the new device is made from inexpensive materials and employs low-cost engineering and manufacturing processes. Daniel G. Nocera points out that the artificial leaf responds to the vision of a famous Italian chemist who, in 1912, predicted that scientists one day would uncover the "guarded secret of plants." The most important of those, Nocera says, is the process that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The artificial leaf has a sunlight collector sandwiched between two films that generate oxygen and hydrogen gas. The author acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation and the Chesonis Family Foundation.
Sucre De Wikidebrouillard. Article incomplet en cours de rédaction Présentation de l'expérience Seriez-vous capable de faire brûler du sucre ? Matériel 3 petits pots en verre ou verres Du sucre en poudre De la cendre Un briquet ou des allumettes L'expérience L'expérience permet de mettre en évidence le rôle de la mèche dans une bougie. En vidéo La manipulation Faire trois tas, un sur chaque verre retourné : Un tas de sucre. Essayer de mettre le feu à chacun des tas. Que voit-on ? Un seul tas prend feu : celui qui mélange sucre et cendre. Explications Le sucre se caramélise : c'est une réaction de maillard. Caramélisation sur Wikipédia La cendre ne peut pas brûler seule (carbone uniquement). De manière simple Dans la réaction, la cendre ne peut pas brûler. On peut faire le même type d'expérience avec une bougie. Allons plus loin dans l'explication Pour une combustion, 3 éléments sont requis : combustible, comburant et une énergie d'activation : électricité, radiation, pression. * Le sucre de table :
Can You Call a 9-Year-Old a Psychopath? Elinor Carucci/Redux, for The New York Times Michael, a 9-year-old whose periodic rages alternate with moments of chilly detachment, with his mother, Anne. Michael’s problems started, according to his mother, around age 3, shortly after his brother Allan was born. At the time, she said, Michael was mostly just acting “like a brat,” but his behavior soon escalated to throwing tantrums during which he would scream and shriek inconsolably.