Flight
While birds have been flying for millions of years, it's something relatively new to humans and we rely on some important scientific principles to achieve it.
Beginning with simple kites, humans have moved on to develop gliders, airships, helicopters, commercial planes and even supersonic flight.
Supersonic flight (breaking the sound barrier) is achieved when an object travels at a speed faster than sound (1235kph, 768mph).
The Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were American aviation pioneers who created the first successful airplane, thanks in part to their invention of 3-axis control, enabling the pilot to effectively control the plane.
While a number of flight pioneers were working on their own powered flight at the time (including New Zealand's Richard Pearse) the Wright Brothers are widely credited with the first controlled and sustained human flight on December 17, 1903.
Planes have wings that feature an airfoil (aerofoil) shape, this is important as it helps overcome the effect of gravity pulling down on the plane.
The wing creates lift as it moves through the air, a process that can be explained by Bernoulli's principle. Because of the airfoil shape, air flows faster over the top than the bottom, creating higher pressure underneath the wing which then pushes the plane up through the lower air pressure.
Disturbed air and friction create drag as the plane moves forward, slowing it down.
An engine provides thrust to move the plane forward at a speed great enough to overcome drag and allow the wings to create the lift necessary to fly.
Airships and blimps are lighter than air and use buoyancy for flight. They are typically filled with gas (such as helium) that is less dense than the surrounding atmosphere.
The only living things capable of powered flight are insects, birds and bats.
While some can glide, bats are the only mammals that can achieve sustained level flight.
Flying fish have been known to glide for hundreds of metres thanks to enlarged fins that act like wings.
Time
We use time to order events in the past, present and future. We also use it to make comparisons and measure the speed at which things move.
If you wanted to measure time you could use a watch, clock, hourglass or even a sundial.
A sundial is a tool that uses the position of the Sun to measure time, typically involving a shadow cast across a marked surface.
The use of pendulums to accurately measure time was discovered by Galileo Galilei around 400 years ago. A pendulum is a free swinging weight hanging from a pivot.
Normal years have 365 days but a Leap year has 366. The Earth takes a little longer than 365 days to go around the Sun so we add an extra day in February every four years (with a few exceptions) to keep calendars and seasons aligned.
10 years is known as a decade, 100 years is known as a century and 1000 years is known as a millennium.
Milliseconds, microseconds and nanoseconds are examples of very small units of time.
Planck time is the name given to the smallest known unit of time. It’s a little confusing but it measures the amount of time it takes light to travel 1 Planck length (a distance so small that it can’t even be measured!).
Scientists believe the moon was used as a form of calendar as far back as 6000 years ago. Calendars have been changing ever since and are very accurate in modern times.
Accurate clocks that measure hours, minutes and seconds have improved with the invention of sundials, water clocks, mechanical clocks, pendulums and hourglasses through to the digital displays and atomic clocks of today.
Many places use daylight saving time (typically by putting clocks forward an hour) for longer daylight in the evenings.
Different parts of the world are located in different time zones. This means that while you are having breakfast in the morning, someone in another part of the world is having dinner.
Theories related to time have been put forward by famous scientists such as Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. You may have even heard of the term ‘spacetime’, a model in physics that joins space and time together.
In terms of philosophy, time is difficult to define. Scientists and philosophers have disagreed on our understanding of time for many years. Some argue it is a ‘real’ part of the Universe while others argue it is just the way humans think, comparing events and putting them in sequence. It’s a little confusing but fun to think about, what do you think?
Some more questions to get your brain buzzing: Does time have a direction? Did it begin with the Big Bang? Is time travel possible?
Sports Science
Olympic gold medals are actually made mostly of silver.
Dimples on a golf ball help reduce drag, allowing the ball to fly further than a ball without dimples.
Anaerobic exercise refers to high intensity activities over a short duration (e.g. sprinting) while aerobic exercise refers to physical activity performed at a moderate level over longer periods of time (e.g. jogging).
Regular exercise helps boost the immune system.
The string tension of most tennis racquets is around 50 to 70 pounds (220 to 310 newtons). With lower tension a tennis racquet produces less control and more power while higher tension produces more control and less power.
The official distance of a marathon is 42.195 kilometres (26.219 miles).
The tallest basketball players to ever play in the NBA were Manute Bol (from Sudan) and Gheorghe Muresan (from Romania). They were both 7 ft 7 in tall (231 cm).
Common sports injuries include muscle cramp
Nature
The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the world’s largest reef system.
The waste hierarchy or 3 R’s are (in order of importance) reduce, reuse and recycle.
Around 75% of the volcanoes on Earth are found in the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area around the Pacific Ocean where tectonic plates meet.
Despite it name, the Killer Whale (Orca) is actually a type of dolphin.
Giant water lilies in the Amazon can grow over 6 feet in diameter.
The largest ocean on Earth is the Pacific Ocean.
The largest individual flower on Earth is from a plant called Rafflesia arnoldii. Its flowers reach up to 1 metre (3 feet) in diameter and weigh around 10kg.
Plants on the surface of the Earth have existed for around 400 million years.
Unlike humans, cows and horses sleep while standing up.
When an insect touches the hairs of a Venus Fly Trap it triggers the plant to close, trapping its victim before killing and dissolving it in acid.
Although Polar Bears have white, fluffy fur, their skin is actually black.
Female lions are better hunters than male lions and do most of the hunting for a pride.
Around three quarters of the increase in CO2 levels from human activity over the last 20 years is from the burning of fossil fuels. The rest is made up largely of land use changes such as deforestation.
The largest land based mammals on Earth are elephants.
Born in 1809, Charles Darwin was an English naturalist who developed the idea of natural selection and changed the way we think about evolution.
Math
Mathematics is important in many different types of jobs, including engineering, business, science, medicine and more.
It is believed that Ancient Egyptians used complex mathematics such as algebra, arithmetic and geometry as far back as 3000 BC.
It wasn’t until the 16th century that most mathematical symbols were invented. Before this time math equations were written in words, making it very time consuming.
What comes after a million, billion and trillion? Why a quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion, septillion, octillion and nonillion of course.
Cutting a cake into 8 pieces is possible with just 3 slices, can you work out how?
An icosagon is a shape with 20 sides.
A three dimensional parallelogram is called a parallelepiped.
Trigonometry is the study of the relationship between the angles of triangles and their sides.
The smallest ten prime numbers are: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29.
The name of the popular search engine ‘Google’ came from a misspelling of the word ‘googol’, which is a very, very large number (the number one followed by one hundred zeros to be exact).
A ‘googolplex’ is the number 1 followed by a googol zeros, this number is so big that it can’t be written because there isn’t enough room in the universe to fit it in! It would also take a length of time far greater than the age of the universe just to write the numbers.
The number Pi (the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle) can’t be expressed as a fraction, this means it is an irrational number. When written as a decimal it never repeats and never ends.
Here is Pi written to 50 decimal places: 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510
If two quantities have a ratio of approximately 1.618, they are said to be in the golden ratio. This ratio has been used throughout history to design aesthetically pleasing art works such as the Parthenon. It also appears in paintings, music, the design of books, and even in nature.
Space
The Sun is over 300000 times larger than earth. More Sun facts.
Halley’s Comet was last seen in the inner Solar System in 1986, it will be visible again from Earth sometime in 2061 (get your camera ready). More comet facts.
Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system with a surface temperature of over 450 degrees celcius.
Many scientists believe that an asteroid impact caused the extinction of the dinosaurs around 65 million years ago. More asteroid facts.
The Solar System formed around 4.6 billion years ago. More Solar System facts.
The Moon appears to have more craters and scars than Earth because it has a lot less natural activity going on, the Earth is constantly reforming its surface through earthquakes, erosion, rain, wind and plants growing on the surface, while the moon has very little weather to alter its appearance. More Moon facts.
Saturn isn't the only ringed planet, other gas giants such as Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune also have rings, they are just less obvious.
Footprints and tyre tracks left behind by astronauts on the moon will stay there forever as there is no wind to blow them away.
In 2006, astronomers changed the definition of a planet. This means that Pluto is now referred to as a dwarf planet. Learn more dwarf planet facts.
Because of lower gravity, a person who weighs 200 pounds on earth would only weigh 76 pounds on the surface of Mars.
The only planet that rotates on its side like a barrel is Uranus. The only planet that spins backwards relative to the others is Venus.
Some of the fastest meteoroids can travel through the solar system at a speed of around 42 kilometres per second (26 miles per second). Check out more meteoroid facts or learn the difference between comets, asteroids and meteoroids.
The first man made object sent into space was in 1957 when the Russian satellite named Sputnik was launched.
Jupiter's 4 biggest moons are named Europa, Ganymede, Callisto and Io. More Solar System moon facts.
It is because of the Sun & Moons gravity that we have high & low tides.
Sun
The Sun is a star found at the center of the Solar System.
It makes up around 99.86% of the Solar System’s mass.
At around 1,392,000 kilometres (865,000 miles) wide, the Sun’s diameter is about 110 times wider than Earth’s.
Around 74% of the Sun’s mass is made up of hydrogen. Helium makes up around 24% while heavier elements such as oxygen, carbon, iron and neon make up the remaining percentage.
Light from the Sun reaches Earth in around 8 minutes.
The Sun’s surface temperature is around 5500 degrees Celsius (9941 degrees Fahrenheit), so pack plenty of sunscreen if you plan on visiting (remembering that the average distance from the Sun to the Earth is around 150 million kilometers).
The Sun’s core is around 13600000 degrees Celsius!
The Sun generates huge amounts of energy by combining hydrogen nuclei into helium. This process is called nuclear fusion.
Because of the Sun’s huge influence on Earth, many early cultures saw the Sun as a deity or god. For example, Ancient Egyptians had a sun god called Ra while in Aztec mythology there is a sun god named Tonatiuh.
The Sun produces a solar wind which contains charged particles such as electrons and protons. They escape the Sun’s intense gravity because of their high kinetic energy and the high temperature of the Sun’s corona (a type of plasma atmosphere that extends into space).
Planets with strong magnetic fields such as Earth manage to deflect most of these charged particles as they approach.
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth.
Comet
A comet is a relatively small solar system body that orbits the Sun. When close enough to the Sun they display a visible coma (a fuzzy outline or atmosphere due to solar radiation) and sometimes a tail.
The coma is created as the comet gets closer to the Sun, causing water, carbon dioxide and other compounds to sublime (quickly changing from solid to gas) from its surface.
Comets are made of ice, dust and small rocky particles.
The name comet comes from the Greek word meaning ‘hair of the head’, it came from the Greek philosopher Aristotle who observed comets as ‘stars with hair’.
Short term comets (also known as periodic comets) have orbital periods of less than 200 years while long term comets have orbital periods of over 200 years.
Halley's Comet
Halley’s Comet (or Comet Halley as it is also known) is the most well known comet.
It is known as a periodic comet (or short term comet) because the time it takes to orbit the Sun is less than 200 years.
Records of humans observing Halley’s Comet go back thousands of years, with appearances noted by Babylonian, Chinese and European star gazers.
It can be seen with the naked eye from Earth every 75 to 76 years (although the time period has between 74 and 79 years in the past).
It last appeared in the inner Solar System in 1986 and will return again sometime in 2061 (start charging your camera battery).
Halley’s Comet is named after English astronomer Edmond Halley who first determined its period of orbit. It was the first comet to be recognized as having a periodic orbit.
Halley’s Comet appearance in 1986 allowed researchers to investigate its make up more closely using spacecraft. While some previous theories were proven correct, other models were altered with the new information. For example, while earlier models predicted the comet to feature many volatile ices, the actual amount was less than first expected.
The tail and fuzzy glow you see around Halley’s Comet is known as a coma. It occurs when the comet gets close to the Sun and compounds such as frozen water and carbon dioxide sublime (rapidly change from solid to gas) from its surface.
While the coma over Halley’s Comet can stretch up to 100,000 km across, the nucleus is actually small, only around 15km (9.3 miles) long, 8km (5 miles) wide and 8km (5 miles) thick.
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
In July 1994, the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet broke apart and collided with Jupiter. This event gave astronomers a unique opportunity to observe what happens when such a collision occurs.
The largest fragments were 2 km (1.2 mi) in diameter and struck Jupiter at a speed of around 60 km/s (37 mi/s). The impact scars were clearly visible for months after the impact.
Shoemaker-Levy 9 was originally located by astronomers Eugene M. and Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy in March 1993.
Asteroid
Asteroids are small Solar System bodies that orbit the Sun. Made of rock and metal, they can also contain organic compounds (some scientists suggest that asteroids could have brought they necessary chemicals to start life on Earth).
Asteroids are similar to comets but do not have a visible coma (fuzzy outline and tail) like comets do.
Asteroids are also known as planetoids or minor planets.
Asteroids vary greatly in size, some feature diameters as small as ten metres while others stretch out over hundreds of kilometres. Note that objects under ten metres in diameter are generally regarded as meteoroids.
The first asteroid was discovered in 1801 by Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi. Named Ceres, it features a diameter of around 950 kilometres and is now regarded as a dwarf planet. Ceres was given dwarf planet status in 2006, along with Pluto, Eris, Makemake and Haumea.
The asteroid belt lies roughly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter in the Solar System. It is home to a large amount of irregular shaped asteroids that range in size from dust through to the dwarf planet Ceres.
The technology used for discovering asteroids has improved dramatically since original discoveries and astronomers now have access to a range of powerful telescopes to aid in their research and discoveries.
It is believed by many scientists and researchers that an asteroid impact was the cause behind the extinction of the dinosaurs around 65 million years ago.
The possibility of an asteroid colliding with Earth has received increased attention over recent years. The Shoemaker-Levy comet that collided with Jupiter in 1994 were given widespread media coverage and Hollywood also played its part with moves such as Deep Impact (1998) and Armageddon (1998). While these movies sometimes featured dubious science they certainly increased public awareness of the topic.
There are now many groups and organizations that use automated systems to discover near Earth asteroids. While many are discovered, they rarely have the potential to cross paths with Earth.
There have been many ideas suggested as ways to avoid the unlikely but potentially devastating impact of an asteroid collision with Earth, these include using nuclear explosions to break the asteroid into smaller pieces or other weapons to deflect it off course.
Solar System
The solar system includes the Sun and all the objects that orbit around it due to its gravity. This includes things such as planets, comets, asteroids, meteoroids and moons.
The Solar System formed around 4.6 billion years ago.
There are eight planets in the Solar System. The four inner planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars while the four outer planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
The inner planets (also known as terrestrial planets) are smaller and made mostly of rock and metal.
The outer planets (also known as gas giants) are much larger and made mostly of hydrogen, helium and other gases.
As of 2008, there are also five dwarf planets: Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Makemake & Haumea.
There is an asteroid belt which lies between the orbits or Mars and Jupiter, it features a large number of irregular shaped asteroids.
For thousands of years humans were unaware of the Solar System and believed that Earth was at the center of the Universe.
Astronomers such as Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton helped develop a new model that explained the movement of the planets with the Sun at the center of the Solar System.
The Sun contains 99.86 percent of the Solar System's known mass, with Jupiter and Saturn making up making up most of the rest. The small inner planets which include Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars make up a very small percentage of the Solar System’s mass.
Moon
The Moon is the Earth’s only natural satellite. A natural satellite is a space body that orbits a planet, a planet like object or an asteroid.
It is the fifth largest moon in the Solar System. Learn more about the other moons in the Solar System.
The average distance from the Moon to the Earth is 384403 kilometres (238857 miles).
The Moon orbits the Earth every 27.3 days.
Mons Huygens is the tallest mountain on the Moon, it is 4700 metres tall, just over half the height of Mt Everest (8848m).
The Moon rotates on its axis in around the same length of time it takes to orbit the Earth. This means that from Earth we only ever see around 60% of its surface (50% at any one time).
The side that we can see from Earth is called the near side while the other side is called the far side (it is sometimes called the dark side despite the fact that it illuminated by the Sun just as much as the near side).
The effect of gravity is only about one fifth (17%) as strong on the surface of the Moon compared to the strength of gravity on the surface of the Earth.
The Soviet Union’s Luna program featured the first successful landing of an unmanned spacecraft on the surface of the Moon in 1966.
The USA’s NASA Apollo 11 mission in 1969 was the first manned Moon landing.
The first person to set foot on the Moon was Neil Armstrong.
The far side of the Moon looks quite different due to its lack of maria (ancient pools of solidified lava).
The surface of the Moon features a huge number of impact craters from comets and asteroids that have collided with the surface over time. Because the Moon lacks an atmosphere or weather these craters remain well preserved.
Although research is continuing, most scientists agree that the Moon features small amounts of water.
The Moon is very hot during the day but very cold at night. The average surface temperature of the Moon is 107 degrees Celsius during the day and -153 degrees Celsius at night.
The Earth’s tides are largely caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon.
The phases of the Moon are: New Moon, Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, Crescent, New Moon….
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon.
Dwarf Planet
In 2006 the International Astronomical Union adopted the term ‘dwarf planet’ for solar system objects that were bigger than small solar system bodies such as comets and asteroids but not quite planets.
The definition of a dwarf planet is an object orbiting the Sun that is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity but is not gravitationally dominant in its orbital area and is not a moon.
As of 2008, there are five recognized dwarf planets: Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Makemake & Haumea.
There are a number of other candidates for the status of dwarf planet. Some of these classifications could be resolved as NASA’s Dawn and Horizon missions venture towards Pluto in the coming years.
Pluto
Pluto hit the headlines in 2006 when it was demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union. While most astronomers agreed with the new classifications, some disagreed and still refer to Pluto as the ninth planet.
Ceres
Ceres is located in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It was discovered in 1801, well before Pluto and 45 years before Neptune. Ceres was considered a planet for around 50 years before being reclassified as an asteroid and once again in 2006 as a dwarf planet.
Eris
Eris was discovered in 2005 and was referred to as the tenth planet until it was reclassified in 2006. It is the largest of the dwarf planets.
Makemake
Makemake was discovered in 2005 and the third largest dwarf planet behind Eris and Pluto.
Haumea
Haumea was discovered in 2004 and named a dwarf planet in 2008.
Gravity
Objects with mass are attracted to each other, this is known as gravity.
Gravity keeps Earth and the other planets in our solar system in orbit around the Sun. It also keeps the Moon in orbit around Earth.
Tides are caused by the rotation of the Earth and the gravitational effects of the Moon and Sun.
Because Mars has a lower gravity than Earth, a person weighing 200 pounds on Earth would only weigh 76 pounds on Mars.
It is thought that Isaac Newton’s theories on gravity were inspired by seeing an apple fall from a tree.
While Newton’s older law of universal gravitation is accurate in most scenarios, modern physics uses Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity to describe gravity.
Acceleration of objects to due to the gravity on Earth is around 9.8 m/s2. If you ignore air resistance (drag) then the speed of an object falling to Earth increases by around 9.8 metres per second every second.
The force of gravity 100 kilometres (62 miles) above Earth is just 3% less than at the Earth’s surface.
The human body can handle increased g-forces as seen in activities such as dragster races, airplane acrobatics and space training. The highest known acceleration voluntarily experienced by a human is 46.2 g by g-force pioneer John Stapp.
While formula one racing drivers may feel around 5 g’s under heavy braking, they can experience over 100 g’s if a crash causes them to decelerate extremely quickly over a very short distance.
Some roller coasters have been known to include g-forces of around 4 to 6 g.
The higher something is, the greater its gravitational potential energy. Back in the Middle Ages, weapons called trebuchets were used to take advantage of this principle, using mechanical advantage and the gravitational potential energy of a counterweight to hurl rocks and other projectiles at or over walls. In modern times we use the gravitational potential of water to create hydroelectricity.
Meteoroid
A meteoroid is a small rock or particle of debris in our solar system. They range in size from dust to around 10 metres in diameter (larger objects are usually referred to as asteroids).
A meteoroid that burns up as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere is known as a meteor. If you’ve ever looked up at the sky at night and seen a streak of light or ‘shooting star’ what you are actually seeing is a meteor.
A meteoroid that survives falling through the Earth’s atmosphere and colliding with the Earth’s surface is known as a meteorite.
The fastest meteoroids travel through the solar system at a speed of around 42 kilometres per second (26 miles per second).
The Earth’s atmosphere experiences millions of meteors every day.
Meteors are easier to see during the lower light conditions of night.
A small percentage of meteoroids fly on a path that goes into the Earth’s atmosphere and then back out again, they are known as Earth grazing fireballs.
When many meteors occur in a close time frame in the same part of the sky it is called a meteor shower.
Around 500 meteorites reach the Earth’s surface every year but of those only around 5 ever make it to scientists for study.
Meteorites that are observed as they fall through the Earth’s atmosphere and later recovered are called ‘falls’, all others are called ‘finds’. To this date there have been around 1000 collected ‘falls’ and 40000 ‘finds’.
Solar System Moon
While we usually think of the Earth’s Moon there are many other moons in the Solar System.
As of 2009, there were 336 moons in the Solar System. 168 of these orbit planets, 6 orbit dwarf planets, while the rest orbit asteroids and other Solar System objects (many yet to be classified).
Jupiter’s four main moons are named the Galilean moons (after Galileo Galilei). Their names are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
Io features over 400 active volcanoes.
Some scientists believe that water could exist below the surface of Europa.
Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System.
Callisto has a similar diameter to the planet Mercury but only one third of its mass.
Saturn’s largest moon is named Titan, it is the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere.
Neptune’s largest moon, Triton, is similar in size to Earth’s moon. Discovered in 1846 it is the seventh largest moon in the Solar System.
The largest moon of the dwarf planet Pluto is named Charon, it was discovered in 1978 and has a diameter that is around half as wide as Pluto’s.
Mars has two moons named Phobos and Deimos, both were discovered in 1877.
Venus and Mercury have no moons.
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a spaceflight program to lead, pilot or be a crew member of an expedition to space on a spacecraft.
As well as being used to describe a professional space traveller, the term astronaut or cosmonaut is now often used for anyone who travels into space, such as scientists, politicians, journalists, and tourists.
The World Air Sports Federation (FAI) recognizes only those flights that reach an altitude of more than 100 km (62 mi) as space flights. However, the USA awards astronaut wings to any astronauts who travel above 80 km (50 miles).
The "edge of space" is scientifically accepted to be 100 km (62 mi) above sea level at the 'Karman line'. As of June 2013, a total of 532 people representing 36 nations have been above the Karman Line and therefore have reached outer space.
The term "astronaut” is derived from the Greek words astron, meaning "star", and nautes, meaning "sailor".
An astronaut employed by the Russian Federal Space Agency is called a kosmonavt (cosmonaut in English), derived from the Greek words kosmos, meaning "universe", and nautes, meaning "sailor".
The first person to reach space was Soviet, Yuri Gagarin, in 1961, on board the spacecraft Vostok 1, he orbited Earth for 108 minutes.
The first woman in space was Soviet Valentina Tereshkova, in 1963. She orbited Earth for nearly 3 days aboard Vostok 6.
Russian, Sergei Krikalev, has been to space 6 times including on two ISS expeditions and has spent a total of 803 days, 9 hours and 39 minutes (or 2.2 years) in space, more than any other human who has ever lived (as at 2013).
Including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, 12 men have walked on the Moon, two from each of the six different Apollo missions.
Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov was the first person to carry out an extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or a "spacewalk", on March 18, 1965, on the Voskhod 2 mission.
Cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev holds the record for the most EVAs or spacewalks with 16, over a total of 82 hours and 22 minutes (as at 2013).
Astronauts that undertake an EVA or spacewalk usually have to use 70 to 110 tools to complete the tasks or fixes required on a spacecraft.
Americans Jerry L. Ross and Franklin Chang-Diaz have been into space a record seven times each (as at 2013).
The farthest an astronaut has travelled from Earth was 401,056 km (249,205 mi), by Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise, aboard Apollo 13.
Throughout spaceflight history 18 astronauts have lost their lives during four tragic space flights. 11 other people have lost their lives training for spaceflight.
In early space programs, trainee astronauts needed previous military jet test piloting and engineering experience. Today, high achieving students of engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics can all make it.
To become a NASA trainee, you are required to be a US citizen, you must pass a strict physical examination, have 20/20 vision, and good blood pressure.
Once selected, NASA astronauts spend 20 months training in a variety of areas. To simulate spacewalks and test equipment astronauts often have to train underwater in swimming pools here on Earth.
Galaxy
A galaxy is a massive group of stars, star clusters, interstellar gas and dust, and dark matter which is all gravitationally bound together.
The word 'galaxy' is derived from the Greek word galaxias which means "milky", it is a reference to our own galaxy the Milky Way.
There are potentially more than 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe. Some, called dwarf galaxies, are very small with about 10 million stars, while others are huge containing an estimated 100 trillion stars.
Based on shape astronomers have identified various kinds of galaxies including, elliptical galaxies, spiral galaxies, lenticular galaxies and irregular galaxies.
Spiral galaxies are rotating flattened disk-shapes with at least two spiral arms of newer stars extending out from a central bulge of older stars.
The dense molecular clouds of hydrogen gas and dust in the spiral arms of spiral galaxies are areas of intense star formation.
Barred spiral galaxies (like our Milky Way) contain a long bar in the middle with spirals arms coming off the ends. Around two-thirds of spiral galaxies contain a barred structure in their center.
The Hubble classification scheme, lists spiral galaxies as type S, with an 'a', 'b', or 'c' depending on how tight the spiral arms are and the size of the center bulge. Barred spiral galaxies have the symbol SB.
Spiral galaxies are believed to be younger than elliptical galaxies, as spiral galaxies burn through their gas and dust star formation slows, they lose their spiral shape and slowly evolve into elliptical galaxies.
Elliptical galaxies are a mass of stars bunched together in the shape of an elliptical disk.
Elliptical galaxies are often larger, very old and contain little gas and dust, so therefore form very few new stars.
The Hubble classification scheme identifies elliptical galaxies with the letter E, followed by a number representing the degree of ellipticity.
Lenticular galaxies (S0 symbol) have a bright central bulge with a disk-like structure but, unlike spiral galaxies, the disks have no spiral structure and are not actively forming many stars.
Any galaxy that has no obvious spiral or elliptical structure are called irregular galaxies. Some irregular galaxies would have just formed that way while others are the result of other galaxy types crashing into each other.
Our Milky Way Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy about 120,000 light-years in diameter containing up too 400 billion stars and possibly just as many planets.
Our Solar System is located within the disk of the Milky Way Galaxy, around 27,000 light-years from the Galactic Center of the galaxy.
Supermassive black holes are believed to sit at the center of most galaxies.
Our Milky Way Galaxy is part of a 'Local Group' of galaxies in which the galaxies move relative to each other. The Andromeda Galaxy is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, followed by the Milky Way and the Triangulum Galaxy, there are around 30 other smaller galaxies in the group.
Galaxies often collide with each other. Usually, the stars within each will move past one and other due to the vast space between them. Any gas clouds and dust will interact, forming new stars. Gravity can pull the galaxies into new shapes, two spiral galaxies might join into a new elliptical, others produce bars, rings, or tails.
Starburst is a name for galaxies that form a lot of new stars at a fast rate, usually after much molecular cloud is produced as two galaxies merge.
Satellite
A satellite is an artificial object that is deliberately sent into orbit in space, usually in order to send, receive or bounce back information to different areas of Earth.
Artificial satellites are man-made satellites, they differ to natural satellites such as the Moon which orbits Earth and Earth itself which orbits the Sun.
Satellites are usually launched on rockets into space to reach their orbits.
In October 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 which was the world's first artificial satellite to be sent into space orbit.
This event lead to the start of the 'Space Race' between the Soviet Union and the United States which would continue for many years.
Sputnik 2, launched in November 1957, carried the first living creature into orbit, a dog named Laika.
Just three months after the Soviet Unions first successful satellite launch, the USA launched its first satellite, Explorer 1, in January 1958.
Since the first satellite was launched in 1957, over 6,500 satellites have been sent into orbit (as at October 2010). An estimated 3,600 of these remain in orbit. With about 1,000 still operational, the rest are now classed as space debris.
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest artificial satellite currently orbiting Earth.
There's 3 main groups of satellites. Fixed satellite services handle billions of voice, data, and video transmissions. Mobile satellite systems used for navigation (GPS) and to connect remote ships, aircraft, etc. Scientific research satellites for meteorological data, land survey images, and other scientific research functions.
A geostationary satellite orbits Earth from west to east over the equator. It moves in the same direction and speed as Earth is spinning, therefore from Earth, these satellites don't appear to be moving.
Polar-orbiting satellites orbit Earth in a north-south direction from pole to pole, so as Earth spins underneath, these satellites scan the entire globe strip by strip.
Low Earth orbit (LEO) is an altitude classification for any satellites that are in orbit less than 2000 km (1240 mi) above Earth, which has about 500 active satellites.
Medium Earth orbit (MEO) is any orbit higher than LEO but still below the altitude for geostationary orbit which is 35,786 km (22,236 mi), about 50 active satellites.
High Earth orbit (HEO) is any orbit higher than geostationary orbit at 35,786 km (22,236 mi), which has over 400 active satellites.
'Geocentric orbit' is the term for an orbit around Earth. 'Heliocentric orbit' is a term for an orbit of the Sun. 'Areocentric orbit' is the term for an orbit of Mars.
The two main components of an artificial satellite is an antenna to send and receive information and a power source such as a solar panel or battery.
The speed a satellite must travel to stay in space is called its orbital velocity. It usually needs to be more than 17,500 mph (28,200 km/h).
Space debris can be anything from large obsolete satellites to natural or artificial fragments of space materials. Since 1957, the Space Surveillance Network SSN has tracked more than 26,000 objects above 10 cm in diameter.
As more satellites are launched the chances of a crash increases, in 2009, two communications satellites - one American and one Russian - collided in space.
Space probes have been put into orbit around other planets and moons in our solar system.
Space Definitions
Asteroid: Asteroids are small solar system bodies that orbit the Sun. Made of rock and metal, they can also contain organic compounds. Asteroids are similar to comets but do not have a visible coma (fuzzy outline and tail) like comets do.
Asteroid Belt: The asteroid belt lies roughly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter in the Solar System. It is home to a large amount of irregular shaped asteroids that range in size from dust through to the dwarf planet Ceres.
Astronaut: An astronaut (also known as cosmonaut) is someone trained to be a crew member of a spacecraft. While the word astronaut usually refers to space travel professionals it can also include normal people who have the privilege of traveling into space.
Comet: A comet is a relatively small solar system body that orbits the sun. When close enough to the Sun they display a visible coma (a fuzzy outline or atmosphere due to solar radiation) and sometimes a tail.
Dwarf planet: An object orbiting the Sun that is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity but is not gravitationally dominant in its orbital area and is not a moon. There are currently five recognized dwarf planets: Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Makemake & Haumea.
Earth: Earth is the fifth largest planet in the Solar System and third from the Sun. It was formed around four and a half billion years ago and is the only place in the Universe where life is known to exist.
Galaxy: A galaxy is a large group of stars, dust, gas and dark matter held together by gravity. They vary in size with some containing millions of stars while others could contain as many as a trillion. They can also form in different shapes such as elliptical galaxies and spiral galaxies.
Halley’s Comet: Halley’s Comet (or Comet Halley as it is also known) is the most well known comet in the Solar System. It orbits the Sun and can be seen with the naked eye from Earth around every 75 years, returning for its next visit sometime in 2061.
Jupiter: Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. It features the famous ‘Red Spot’ and a large number of orbiting moons.
Mars: Mars, or the 'Red Planet' as it is sometimes known, is the fourth planet from the Sun. It features a dusty, rocky surface, relatively calm conditions and a thin atmosphere.
Mercury: Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun in the Solar System. As well as being very hot, it features a barren, crater covered surface which looks similar to the Moon.
Meteor: A meteoroid that burns up as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere is known as a meteor. If you’ve ever looked up at the sky at night and seen a streak of light or ‘shooting star’ what you are actually seeing is a meteor.
Meteorite: A meteoroid that survives falling through the Earth’s atmosphere and colliding with the Earth’ surface is known as a meteorite.
Meteoroid: A meteoroid is a small rock or particle of debris in our solar system. They range in size from dust to around 10 metres in diameter (larger objects are usually referred to as asteroids).
Milky Way: The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy where our Solar System and Earth are located.
Moon: The Moon is a natural satellite which orbits the Earth. It is around a quarter the size of Earth and can be easily seen in the night sky. While other planets in the Solar System have ‘moons’, they are usually referred to by name, such as Jupiter’s Ganymede, or as natural satellites.
Neptune: Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and is nearly four times the size of Earth. It features strong winds and violent weather.
Planet: A planet is an object orbiting a star that is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity. It is also gravitationally dominant in its orbital area but not large enough to cause thermonuclear fusion (like stars do). There are eight planets in the Solar System.
Pluto: Pluto was the furthest planet from the Sun until it was demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet in 2006.
Saturn: Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system, the sixth planet from the Sun and features an impressive system of rings.
Small Solar System Body: Objects that orbit the Sun but aren’t planets or dwarf planets are known as small solar system bodies, these include comets, asteroids and other small bodies.
Solar System: The solar system includes the Sun and all the objects that orbit around it due to its gravity, including Earth.
Star: A star is a huge, bright ball of burning gas that is held together by gravity. Stars contain mostly hydrogen as well as helium and smaller amounts of other elements. The Sun is the closest star to Earth.
Sun: The Sun is a star and the biggest object in the Solar System, it burns brightly in the center as planets and other objects orbit around it. It has a diameter around 110 times bigger than the Earth’s and is located around 150 million kilometres (93 million miles) away.
Universe: The Universe is made up of everything that exists, including planets, stars, galaxies and all forms of matter and energy.
Uranus: Uranus is the third largest planet in the Solar System and seventh planet from the Sun. Uranus rolls like a barrel rather than spinning like Earth and was the first planet discovered by telescope.
Venus: Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun. It is similar in size to Earth and features thick a thick atmosphere which locks in heat as the surface rages with active volcanoes.
Star
A star is a massive, bright, sphere of very hot gas called plasma which is held together by its own gravity.
Stars radiate energy created from nuclear fusion, which is a process that takes place in a star's core and involves hydrogen fusing (burning) to make helium.
As a star is near the end of its life, it begins to change the helium into heavier chemical elements, such carbon and oxygen, and the star will begin to change color, density, mass and size.
The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is classified as a G2 yellow dwarf star.
After the Sun in our Solar System, the nearest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri. It is about 39.9 trillion km away or 4.2 light years. This means it takes light from this star 4.2 years to reach Earth. Using the newest, fastest space probe propulsion systems would still take a craft about 75,000 years to get there.
There are approximately 200-400 billion stars in our Milky Way Galaxy alone.
Each galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars and there is estimated to be over 100 billion galaxies in the universe. So the total number of stars in the universe is mind boggling, estimated to be at least 70 sextillion and possibly as high as 300 sextillion, that's 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000!!!!!
Stars are usually between 1 and 10 billion years old. Some stars may even be close to the age of the observed Universe at nearly 13.8 billion years old.
Binary stars and multi-star systems are two or more stars that are gravitationally linked, they orbit around each other.
Stars form in nebulas, which are large gases areas. As gravity attracts more and more gas, young stars (called protostars) start to form in thick molecular gases cloud areas of the nebula.
Once nuclear fusion has began in the core, a star is sufficiently fuelled to spend the majority of its life as a main sequence star in its most stable form.
The most common star, are red dwarfs. They are less than half the size and mass of our Sun, and burn their fuel very slowly so live longer than any other type of star, over 100 billion years. Red dwarfs are cooler than most stars and so shine less, eventually getting dimmer they do not explode.
A brown dwarf forms if a star cannot get hot enough to reach nuclear fusion. Its failed to become a proper star but is still not a planet because it does glow dimly.
As yellow dwarf stars like our Sun start to run out of hydrogen fuel, the core shrinks, heats and pushes out the rest of the star turning it into a red giant.
Red supergiants, such as Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion make our Sun look small, 20x its mass, and 1,000x larger. Red hypergiants such as the largest known star VY Canis Majoris are even bigger, over 1,800x the size of the Sun.
When smaller stars such as red dwarfs or red giants use up all their fuel and nuclear fusion slows they start to die, and become small “white dwarf” stars which will emit white light until they finally darken into "black dwarfs".
Big stars like supergiants and hypergiants have shorter lives as they consume their fuel at a faster rate than smaller stars. As these massive stars die they explode as massive bright supernova.
Very heavy stars that have gone supernova can actually turn into black holes.
Other supernova leave behind very small 20 to 40km (25 mi) in diameter white neutron stars, that have dense cores made of neutrons.
Star matter blown away by supernova explosions form new stellar nebula and the process of making stars begins again.
Stars range in color depending on how hot they are, in order from lowest to highest temperature they are can be brown, red, orange, yellow, white, or blue in color.
The light from stars takes millions of years to reach Earth, therefore when you look at the stars you are literally looking back in time.
Stars do not actually twinkle. They only appear to twinkle due to turbulences in the Earth's atmosphere deflecting the light that reaches our eyes.
The stars have played a very important role throughout human history. They have formed part of religious practices, been grouped into constellations, used in astrology star signs, helped to design calendars and were very important navigational tools for early explorations across land and seas.
ISS
The International Space Station (ISS) is a habitable human-made satellite that orbits Earth at an altitude of between 330 km (205mi) and 435 km (270 mi).
The ISS comprises pressurised modules for astronauts to live in, external trusses for propulsion, solar arrays for power and many other amazing components.
The first part of the ISS sent to space was the module called Zarya. It was launched into space on a Russian Proton rocket on November 20th, 1998. Zarya provided propulsion, attitude control, communications and electrical power.
Two weeks later, NASA launched a module called Unity aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, successfully attaching it to the Zarya module. The Unity module was equipped with all the requirements for long-term human living.
The ISS is now the largest artificial body in orbit. It is 357 ft (109 m) in length, making the space station's area span about the size of an American football field.
The space station weighs nearly 925,000 pounds (419,500 kg's).
The ISS has 2 bathrooms, a gym and more room than a 6 bedroom house.
The space station is nearly 4 times bigger than the Russian space station Mir and about 5 times as large as the U.S. Skylab.
The ISS was built to be a space environment research laboratory and observatory, where crew members could conduct experiments in many scientific fields including: biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, and meteorology.
The station also provides valuable opportunities to test spacecraft systems and equipment and act as a staging base for possible missions to the Moon or Mars.
Approximately 3.3 million lines of computer code on the ground supports over 1.8 million lines of flight software code for the ISS.
Over eight miles of wire connects the electrical power system on the ISS.
The first ISS crew mission called 'Expedition 1' launched on a Russian Soyuz, October 31, 2000. The 3 Russian cosmonauts docked and entered the ISS on November 2nd, 2000. The space station has been continuously occupied since, making it the longest continuous human presence in space.
The ISS has been visited by astronauts and cosmonauts from 15 different nations. There has been a total of 352 flights to the ISS, by 211 individual people, 31 of these were women, and 7 were 'space tourists' (as of 2013).
As of 2013, 76 people have visited the ISS on two occasions, 25 people have made three trips to the station and amazingly 5 people have been four times.
As of 2013, there has been 174 spacewalks outside the modules in support of the ISS's construction and maintenance, that's almost 1,100 hours (nearly 46 days).
There's been 38 expeditions to the ISS as of 2013. An expedition can last up to six months. Early expeditions had 3 person crews, this was reduced to 2 person crews for safety, however today crew numbers regularly reach 6 people.
On average the ISS travels at 27,724 kilometres (17,227 mi) per hour.
The space station completes 15.5 orbits a day, which means the crew members on board the station experience a sunrise or sunset every 92 minutes.
The ISS programme is a joint project that involves 5 space agencies. NASA, of USA, Roskosmos of Russia, JAXA of Japan, CSA of Canada and ESA made up of agencies from France, Brazil, Malaysia, South Korea and Italy.
The Cupola module in the ISS has a 7 window observatory area which has been compared to the 'turret' of the Millennium Falcon in the movie Star Wars.
The ISS is arguably the most expensive single item ever built. As of 2010, the cost of the station is believed to be $150 billion.
With the naked eye, the ISS can be seen from nearly every area of Earth at some point in time, it appears as a slow moving bright white dot in the night sky.
Technology
Television
Television is a popular technology that allows us to watch our favorite TV shows on screen.
Television sets receive and display broadcasts of moving images.
Televisions also produce sound through speakers.
The images on a TV screen refresh fast enough to appear as smooth motion to the human eye.
Televisions first went on sale in the late 1920’s.
Early television was displayed in black and white.
Although the technology was developed earlier, color television sets didn’t become widespread until the 1970’s.
The 1980’s saw the arrival of remote controls.
Television sets are also used to watch DVD’s and Blu-ray discs, as well as play video games through the use of a console.
Video cassettes were used before DVD’s and Blu-ray discs but have been phased out in favor of new technology since the late 1990’s.
Early monitors used cathode ray tubes (CRT) but they have since been replaced by thinner screens that use liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma.
Similar to radio, television broadcasts are transmitted at specific frequencies.
More recently there has been a change from analog transmissions to digital. The 0’s and 1’s of a digital transmission are like the information stored in a computer, making them more reliable than traditional analog broadcasts.
Television broadcasts feature a wide range of programming, everything from news to sports, documentaries, sitcoms, reality TV, drama, movies and commercials.
The most watched TV broadcasts are typically global events such as the Olympics and Football World Cup.
Broadcasting companies use commercials and subscriptions to earn revenue and pay for the costs of production.
Money
Money is used to pay for various goods and services.
It is also used to measure and store value.
Money usually takes the form of coins, banknotes and bank balances.
There are a number of different currencies used in countries around the world.
Many countries have their own currency, while some use a shared currency.
An example of a shared currency is the euro used in the European Union by countries such as France, Germany and Spain.
The currency most traded around the world is the United States dollar.
Other heavily traded currencies include the euro, Japanese yen and pound sterling (British pound).
It is believed that products such as livestock and grain were used to barter (exchange goods and services without the use of money) over 10000 years ago.
The first coins were minted (made) around 2500 years ago.
Paper money was first used in China over 1000 years ago.
The benefit of metal coins is that they are portable and durable.
The original value of a British pound was equal to a pound (in weight) of silver.
Credit cards were first used in the United States in the 1920’s.
The US dollar and many other currencies use the dollar sign $ as a symbol.
US currency features former presidents such as George Washington ($1 bill), Abraham Lincoln ($5 bill), Andrew Jackson ($20 bill) and Benjamin Franklin ($100 bill).
Coins and banknotes are popular items for collectors, especially rare, old and misprinted ones.
Inflation decreases the purchasing power of money over time.
Video Game
Video games can be played on a number of different platforms. This includes game consoles, handheld systems, computers, mobile phones, and others.
The first coin operated video games were introduced in the 1970’s with titles such as ‘Computer Space’ and ‘Pong’ gaining popularity.
Popular game consoles that dominate current markets include the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3. The three companies are battling to gain the attention of gamers in the competitive gaming industry.
Often seen as an industry leader and innovator, Nintendo have helped grow the video games industry beyond just hardcore gamers thank to games such as Nintendogs, Brain Training and Wii Sports, titles that take advantage of Nintendo’s unique gaming platforms and appeal to casual gamers.
In the past the primary input for video games has been the handheld controller, this has changed recently as game makers look to capture new audiences with new interactive input devices. Examples of this include cameras which respond to user movement, guitars, microphones, touch screens, motion sensitive controllers and more.
Video game genres are wide and varied. Examples of popular genres include action adventure, strategy, role playing, sports, racing, simulation and puzzle.
Making video games has become big business and creating a high quality game often takes the input of a large number of game developers for the game to be successful. As well as a high number of graphic designers and programmers, other skills such as management, writing and music are also important to the final product.
With the rise of the Internet gaming has seen a strong growth in the field of multiplayer games. While this previously was limited to playing with someone in the same location, it now includes people interacting with each other who are in different cities, countries or even living on opposite sides of the globe.
A popular example of multiplayer gaming can be seen in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG). These games enable large numbers of players to interact in the same virtual world, creating fictional characters, living virtual lives and experiencing the challenges and quests that various MMORPG games offer. A good example of this type of gaming can be seen in the popularity of World of Warcraft (WoW), this game has become immensely popular and currently has over 10 million paying subscribers.
Depending on your view point, video games can be seen as in both a positive and negative light. While users can be entertained as they improve hand eye coordination, problem solving skills and other abilities there is also research of extended gaming limiting children’s physical activity and an overexposure to violence at a young age.
Computer
Early electronic computers, developed around the 1940’s, were the size of a large room and consumed huge amounts of electricity. They were vastly different to the modern computers we use today, especially when compared to small and portable laptop computers.
Computers are programmed to carry out instructions. These instructions are usually very simple and require adding numbers together, moving data from one place to another etc.
A computer program can include as little as a few instructions to upwards of millions of instructions depending on the complexity of the program. Modern applications such as word processors, web browsers and graphic editors take large teams of programmers a long time to complete.
A computer’s memory stores numbers in huge amounts of cells that are addressed and can be quickly accessed by the CPU to perform calculations. There are two main types of computer memory, ROM (read only memory) and RAM (random access memory). ROM contains pre-written software and data that the CPU can only read, while RAM can be accessed and written to at any time.
Computers interact with a number of different I/O (input/output) devices to exchange information. These peripheral devices include the keyboard, mouse, display, hard drive, printer and more.
Computers are used to help link the world in the form of networks. Networked computers allow users to share and exchange data that is stored in different locations. You may have heard of a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) which connects areas of various sizes. The Internet is a vast network of computers spanning the globe that allows users to access email, the World Wide Web and other applications.
Although we normally think of computers as the ones we use in our everyday lives to surf the web, write documents etc, small computers are also embedded into other things such as mobile phones, toys, microwaves and MP3 players. We use computers all the time, often without even knowing it!
Cell Phone
Modern cell phones are capable of much more than just sending and receiving phone calls. Mobile phones used in today’s world allow users to send and receive text messages, emails, photos and video as well as access the Internet, play games, listen to music, use GPS (Global Positioning Systems) and more.
The cell phone has become an important communication tool that is used by people all over the world to keep in contact with each other at any time. Although they started off as quite bulky devices they are now very sleek, small and portable, comfortably fitting in a users pocket and surviving for hours on end thanks to a rechargeable battery.
Cell phone designs are constantly evolving to incorporate the new needs and desires of users. Some of these new functions include space for memory cards, flip screens, cameras, touch screens, USB ports etc.
Modern mobile phones also have wireless capability in the form of infrared, Bluetooth and other wireless protocols.
Some of the larger manufacturers of cell phones include Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Apple.
Applications that cell phone owners can take advantage of include word processing, calendars, mobile banking, web surfing, alarms, memos, video streaming, games and much more. Applications have exploded in popularity in recent times thank to the iPhone App Store which allows iPhone users the ability to download a wide variety of third party apps.
Despite all the positive benefits of cell phones, there are also some negative side effects which include the dangers of cell phones being used while driving, cell phones being used for harassment and students cheating on tests by using their cell phone to access information. Cell phones are often banned in classrooms or other school locations due to the distractions they can cause.
Internet
Although the World Wide Web is often referred to as the Internet, the two are not the same thing. The Internet is a huge network of networks that links computers together all over the world using a range of wires and wireless technologies. The World Wide Web is the collection of linked pages that are accessed using the Internet and a web browser.
English physicist Sir Tim Berners-Lee is regarded as having invented the World Wide Web in 1989. Since then he has continued the development of web standards and other web related projects.
Website addresses such as http://www.sciencekids.co.nz are known by the term Uniform Resource Locater (URL).
The domain name system of the Internet includes top level domains such as .com, .info, .net, .org, .edu, .mil and .gov as well as country specific domains and more.
As well as the World Wide Web, the Internet is used for such application as email, file sharing, online chat, phone and video calls, online gaming and more.
Thanks to the increasing accessibility of the Internet, the popularity of the web has exploded over the last 10 years. The web is now used for a number of different purposes including online shopping, social networking, games, news, travel information, business, advertising and much more.
Social networking websites such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter have become popular over the last few years. People now spend a large amount of their time online keeping in touch with each other through these applications and services.
Security and privacy concerns have always been a problem on the Internet with many people often unaware of the potential risks they take when inputting confidential data, passwords and personal information into various websites. Viruses and spam emails are other sources over security concerns which frequently cause disruptions and headaches for users of the web.
One of the best and most common ways of finding information on the web is through the use of search engines such as Google and Bing. Google is currently the most popular search engine, receiving hundreds of millions of search queries every day.
History of Robotics
320 BC
Greek philosopher Aristotle made this famous quote:
“If every tool, when ordered, or even of its own accord, could do the work that befits it... then there would be no need either of apprentices for the master workers or of slaves for the lords.”
1495
Around 1495 Leonardo da Vinci sketched plans for a humanoid robot.
1700 - 1900
Between 1700 and 1900 a number of life-sized automatons were created including a famous mechanical duck made by Jacques de Vaucanson that could crane its neck, flap its wings and even swallow food.
1913
Henry Ford installs the world’s first moving conveyor belt-based assembly line in his car factory. A Model T can be assembled in 93 minutes.
1920
Karel Capek coins the word ‘robot’ to describe machines that resemble humans in his play called Rossums Universal Robots. The play was about a society that became enslaved by the robots that once served them.
This idea is now a common theme in popular culture, ie Frankenstein, Terminator, The Matrix etc.
1932
The first true robot toy was produced in Japan. The ‘Lilliput’ was a wind-up toy which walked. It was made from tinplate and stood just 15cm tall.
1937
Alan Turing releases his paper “On Computable Numbers” which begins the computer revolution.
1941
Legendary science fiction writer Isaac Asimov writes the short story ‘Liar!’ in which he describes the Three Laws of Robotics. His stories were recompiled into the volume “I, Robot” in 1950 – later reproduced as a movie starring Will Smith.
Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics:
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
1950
Alan Turing proposes a test to determine if a machine truly has the power to think for itself. To pass the test a machine must be indistinguishable from a human during conversation. It has become known as the ‘Turing Test’.
1954
George Devol and Joe Engleberger design the first programmable robot ‘arm’. This later became the first industrial robot, completing dangerous and repetitive tasks on an assembly line at General Motors (1962).
1957
The Soviet Union launches ‘Sputnik’, the first artificial orbiting satellite. This marks the beginning of the space race.
1964
The IBM 360 becomes the first computer to be mass-produced.
1968
Stanley Kubrick makes Arthur C. Clark's, 2001: A Space Odyssey into a movie. It features HAL, an onboard computer that develops a mind of its own.
1969
The U.S. successfully use the latest in computing, robotic and space technology to land Neil Armstrong on the moon.
1977
The first Star Wars movie is released. George Lucas‘s movie inspires a new generation of researchers through his image of a human future shared with robots such as the now famous R2-D2 and C-3PO.
1986
The first LEGO based educational products are put on the market and Honda launches a project to build a walking humanoid robot.
1994
Carnegie Universities eight-legged walking robot, Dante ll, successfully descends into Mt Spur to collect volcanic gas samples.
1997
On May 11, a computer built by IBM known as Deep Blue beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov.
The first Robocup tournament is held in Japan. The goal of Robocup is to have a fully automated team of robots beat the worlds best soccer team by the year 2050.
1998
LEGO launches its first Robotics Inventions System.
1999
Sony releases the first version of AIBO, a robotic dog with the ability to learn, entertain and communicate with its owner. More advanced versions have followed.
2000
Honda debuts ASIMO, the next generation in its series of humanoid robots.
2004
Epsom release the smallest known robot, standing 7cm high and weighing just 10 grams. The robot helicopter is intended to be used as a ‘flying camera’ during natural disasters.
2005
Researchers at Cornell University build the first self-replicating robot. Each ‘robot’ is made up of a small tower of computerized cubes which link together through the use of magnets.
2008
After being first introduced in 2002, the popular Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner has sold over 2.5 million units, proving that there is a strong demand for this type of domestic robotic technology.
Types of Robots
QRIO
Made by: Sony
Height: 61cm
Pronounced “curio” the name stands for “quest for curiosity” in Japanese.
Purpose: To live with you, make life fun and make you happy.
What can it do? Walk, talk, run, dance, recognize voices and faces, play ball games and surf the web.
Features:
Foot sensors so it can play soccer.
Ankles with ball joints so it can walk on uneven surfaces.
Picks itself up after falling and even checks itself for damage.
Moves with quick, smooth movements. Check out this video of QRIO dancing.
HRP
Made by: Kawada Industries
Height: 1.5m
Weight: 58kg
Purpose: To work in human environments and use human tools.
What can it do? Walk, get up from awkward positions, walk on uneven surfaces and grasp objects.
Features:
It can walk, crouch and get up off the floor as swiftly and smoothly as a human.
Capable of working alongside humans in a range of industrial and domestic settings.
Said to be the strongest and most agile of humanoid robots.
ASIMO
Made by: Honda
Height: 1.2m
ASIMO stands for: Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, it also takes its name from robotic visionary Isaac Asimov.
Purpose: Began in 1986 as a study into human movement and has since evolved into a robot capable of a wide range of tasks.
What can it do? It can walk, run, turn corners, recognize hand gestures, carry objects, dance and climb up and down stairs.
Features:
May be the most advanced humanoid robot in the world.
Can perform simple tasks, such as switching on a light switch.
PARO
Made by: The Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Japan)
Length: 45cm
Weight: 2.7kg
Purpose: Paro is a therapeutic toy designed to comfort those in need like the elderly and sick.
Features:
Responds to stroking/cuddling through special touch sensors beneath its fur and on its whiskers.
Modeled on a baby harp seal.
Has voice recognition and authentic seal sounds.
PaPeRo
Made by: NEC
Height: 38cm
PaPeRo stands for: Partner-type Personal Robot
Purpose: To both entertain and assist around the house.
What can it do? Recognizes speech, talks, moves, responds to users, controls household devices.
Features:
Recognizes 650 phrases and 3000 words.
Can wirelessly control your TV and surf the internet.
Designed to look cute so humans feel protective rather than threatened.
AIBO
Made by: Sony (Japan)
Height: 27cm
AIBO stands for: Artificial Intelligent Robot
AIBO features a variety of senses:
Touch - Feels human contact through sensors on head, back, chin & paws.
Hearing - Detects sound through a pair of stereo microphones, voice recognition.
Sight - Color camera, distance sensors and facial recognition.
Balance - Keeps balance through acceleration sensors.
Other features:
AIBO possesses 5 basic instincts: Love, Search, Movement, Recharge & Sleep
Each AIBO begins life as a newborn puppy, over time it will develop its own unique personality based upon how it is raised.
AIBO likes to dance & play with his toys - An AIBOne and pink ball, he also likes to perform tricks with them.
When AIBO is low on power he will seek out his energy station on his own.
AIBO can take photos on command or whenever he chooses to, these can be sent via email or stored on his memory card.
AIBO can look after you’re house when you are away, he can detect movement and sound, taking a picture and notifying you via email.
As well as voice recognition, you can also communicate to AIBO using his graphics cards, these are useful when the surroundings are noisy.
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