Research Bin

Highlands are an interesting climate zone with chilly weather and sometimes even snow capped mountains. Higher the elevation, colder the climate. But why does it feel colder in the mountains? Why mountaintops are cold even when they're closer to the sun? What causes coldness with altitude? These are fascinating age old questions, to which the answer is not quite straight forward. Let's explore how it happens.

The Earth have one natural satellite; the Moon. The moon is the closest natural celestial body seen to the naked eye from Earth. Scientists believe it has helped shaped life and climate of the planet over the eons. But is there really any use of it? If so, how can we make use of it? Let's look into some possibilities..

The Sun produces massive amounts of energy by a process called nuclear fusion where Hydrogen atoms are combined to form Helium atoms. This energy is emitted to space in the form of electromagnetic radiation. After 8 minutes of journey, a portion of it arrives on Earth with an estimated energy density over a 1000 Watts per square meter. About 30% of this energy is reflected back to space. The rest of it powers up the planet as we know it. On Earth, energy arrives in the form of electromagnetic waves including Infra-red (IR), visible light and Ultraviolet (UV). We refer to it as “ sunlight ”. The following list is a composition of the main forms of energies produced from solar energy and stored on Earth.

Our eyes perceive light. Our brains interpret it into shapes and forms that we are familiar with. What we see is lighter or darker depending on how much of light enters the eye (that is; intensity) and is applied with "colors" based on the flavors of light we receive. As vivid as they may be, these so called flavors of light are physically non-existent in nature. They are solely an interpretation that exists only within our perception.

There are 3 distinct states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. The molecular differences between these states are determined by the ability of their kinetic energies to overcome the forces of attraction among the molecules. Out of them, Gaseous state of matter exhibits the highest degree of freedom for movement in 3 dimensional space. This allows gases not only to acquire the shape of the container but also to adapt its volume to occupy the container as well. Interestingly, these moving gas molecules are responsible for three major phenomena distinct from each other.

Have you ever wondered why plants and trees growing at the margins of pools and lakes of water look magically beautiful? They grow branches and leaves towards the water. They grow along and across the water surface but never touch it. How is that even possible? Let's look at the processes involved in plants to produce this eye-catching scenery.

Weather refers to the conditions of atmosphere at a given time. It is determined mostly by the Sun, the winds and the clouds. Of them, both the winds and the clouds are driven by the Sun. So basically, 'weather is driven by the sun' atleast for most of the time. Weather has a big impact on our day-to-day work and lifestyle. Knowing what might next happen is very helpful in our work. From Earth, we can look up to the sky and see this for ourselves...

Clouds are all interesting things if you take some time to think about them. We know that they contain water droplets because they bring rain. But, did you know that they exist in liquid and ice forms?. And..