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Research Results For 'JETS'

GEYSER

In geography, a geyser (from the Icelandic geysir which in turn deribes from heysa meaning to gush or rush forth) is a term applied to natural springs of hot water of the kind that were first observed in Iceland. The geysers of Iceland, about a hundred in number, lie about 30 miles north west of Mount Hecia, in a plain covered by hot-springs and steaming apertures. The two most remarkable are the Great Geyser and the New Geyser or Strokkur (churn), the former of which throws up at times a column of hot water to the height of from 80 to 200 feet. The basin of the Great Geyser is about 70 feet across at its greatest diameter. The New Geyser, which is only 100 meters away, is much smaller in size. The springs are supposed to be connected with Mount Hecia, and the phenomenon of eruption has been explained by Tyndall as due to the heating of the walls of a fissure, whereby the water is slowly raised to the boiling point under pressure, and explodes into steam, an interval being required for the process to be repeated. The geysers of Iceland, however, were surpassed by those discovered in the Rocky Mountains in the Yellowstone Region of Wyoming Territory, the largest of which throw up jets of water from 90 to 250 feet high. The hot-lake district of Auckland, New Zealand, is also famous in possessing some of the most remarkable geyser scenery in the world. These phenomena are of three kinds: the puias (fire-springs), geysers continually or intermittently active; ngawhas or inactive puias, which emit steam, but do not throw up columns of water; and waiariki or hot-water cisterns. This region is remarkable for the number of natural terraces containing hot-water pools or cisterns, and its lakes all filled at intervals by the boiling geysers and thermal springs, but the configuration of the country was considerably altered by the disastrous volcanic outbreak of 1886. Ngahapu or Ohopia, a circular rocky basin, 40 feet in diameter, in which a violent geyser is constantly
ng up to the height of 10 or 12 feet, emitting dense clouds of steam, is one of the natural wonders of the southern hemisphere.
Research Geyser

SPIDER

Spider (Araneidae) is an order of animals of the class Arachnida, all having eight legs. Most spiders are terrestial, but some live in fresh water.
The spiders have a body that is divided into two parts: the head and breast, fused into one piece; and the abdomen, usually all in one piece, and only in rare cases with hints of segmentation. Between these two parts there is typically a narrow waist. The region corresponding to the head bears two pairs of mouth parts: a pair of two-jointed poison-jaws or chelicerae; and a pair of sensitive, usually six-jointed pedipalps.
All spiders have a poisonous bite, but the bite is not severe except in a few tropical forms. The poison of the bird-catching spider (Mygale) kills a bird in a few minutes. In male spiders the tip of the pedipalp is complicated, it becomes a reservoir for spermatozoa at the mating season, and is used to transfer them into the female, where they fertilise the eggs just prior to the eggs being laid. In the main the pedipalps are organs of touch, with very sensitive tactile qualities.
On the top of the head are several pairs of simple short-sighted eyes. From the region corresponding to the thorax there arise four pairs of seven-jointed legs, ending in minute curved claws, by means of which spiders grip the surface on which they creep. At the end of the abdomen there are between four and six minute appendages transformed into spinnerets, from which the silken threads emerge. Each spinneret resembles the rose of a watering-can, and contains numerous minute tubes known as spinning-spools through which the silk issues. There may be hundreds of these spinning-spools and each is connected with an internal gland which produces the silk. The gland is enclosed in a muscular envelope, the contraction of which acting like a syringe, forces the liquid silk down a duct and out at the spinning-spool. There are sometimes three kinds of glands, producing different kinds of silk, and it rests with the spider to use more or fewer at one time, thereby adjusting the thickness of the thread produced. The thread is a fusion of many jets of liquid silk, which solidifies instantly it is exposed to the air.
A small minority of spiders breathe by two pairs of lung-books; all the rest breathe by two lung-books and by two or four tracheae like those of insects. The air enters the compartments of the lung-books through an external slit flush with the skin. In the partitions between the compartments of the lung-books the blood circulates and is purified.
Research Spider

ELTON JOHN

Picture of Elton John

Elton John is the stage name of Reginald Kenneth Dwight, an English pop singer, pianist, and composer. His best-known album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, published in 1973, includes the hit ' Bennie and the Jets'. Among his many other highly successful songs are 'Rocket Man', 'Crocodile Rock', and ' Daniel' all produced in 1972, ' Candle in the Wind' produced in 1973, ' Pinball Wizard' produced in 1975, 'Blue Eyes' produced in 1982, 'Nikita' produced in 1985, and 'Sacrifice' produced in 1989, the latter from his album Sleeping with the Past. His output is prolific and his hits have continued intermittently into the 1990s.
Research Elton John

BATTLE OF HOOGE

Picture of Battle of Hooge

The Battle of Hooge took place near the Belgian village of Hooge, in the province of West Flanders. It was situated on the Ypres-Menin road. three miles east of Ypres, and was destroyed in the Great War, but was rebuilt afterwards. Hooge was the headquarters of Sir John French in the first Battle of Ypres, and from its chateau he watched the temporary break in the British line at Gheluvelt and the recapture of the latter. The first and second Battles of Ypres brought the Germans nearer to Hooge, which they took in the gas attack of May, 1915.

In June, 1915, the trenches covering Ypres in this quarter were held by the 6th British Corps under Keir north of Hooge, by the 5th corps under Allenby on both sides of Hooge, and by the 2nd corps under Fergusson south of the 5th. On June the 16th, after a violent bombardment, the 3rd division of Allenby's corps attacked near Hooge chateau, the outbuildings of which the British had captured by a skilful local operation on June the 3rd. The object was to straighten out a German salient in the British front; after a severe struggle, the British secured the desired trenches and even pushed far beyond, taking 200 prisoners. The points, which were too far in advance of the new British line to be held, were evacuated during the day but the original objective was gained and held.

Farther to the north troops of the 6th corps, on July the 6th, suddenly seized a considerable section of the advanced German position and beat off German counter-attacks with heavy loss. In all these local combats the British lost heavily from the continuous German artillery bombardment, as in the moist ground about Hooge it was almost impossible to construct satisfactory defences, and every trench was plainly visible. On July the 7th the Germans attempted to retake their lost position, but ultimately were beaten back.

Between July the 22nd and 26th, the British, by skilful mining operations, in which they showed a great superiority over the Germans, made further gains of ground in the dismal terrain along the Menin road and near Hooge chateau, but the British trenches were continually bombarded by the German artillery, and the supply of projectiles in the British artillery was as yet insufficient to make an adequate reply. The Germans employed gas shells largely, against which the British gasmasks of that date were a very inadequate protection, and the sufferings of the British troops along the whole salient front were cruel, the men of the 6th and 14th divisions bearing the brunt of these serious attacks.

On July the 30th the Germans for the first time used against the British troops in this section of the front another weapon forbidden by the laws of war - flame-throwers, which had been previously tried against the French troops on other parts of the front. Early in the morning a mine was exploded under the British trenches near Hooge, and immediately afterwards jets of flame streamed from the German positions, only 20 yards away, into the British line, killing in the most horrible manner the men of the companies holding it. At the same time trench mortars poured bombs on the British front. Covered by the sheet of flame and the bombs, the German infantry assaulted and seized the advanced British line, after which they forced their way into certain of the support trenches, making a total advance of some hundreds of yards. There they consolidated their position, though the British artillery had opened on them a violent fire.

In the afternoon four British battalions attempted a counterattack, but were repulsed with heavy loss, leaving 50 officers out of 90 on the field. On the following night the Germans renewed their attack with liquid fire and a deluge of shells, behind which their infantry advanced, but without achieving any serious progress. They were stopped by the steadiness of troops of the 14th division, one of the New Army formations.

Extensive preparations were made by the British to recover the ground lost, which was of tactical importance, and the whole 6th division was brought up ready to attack. On the night of August the 8th the British artillery opened a heavy fire on the German position, and at 3.15 on the following morning the troops of this division delivered an assault. It was immediately successful; 500 Germans were killed and 100 taken prisoners but to hold the captured line was difficult in the face of the enfilading fire which the Germans were able to concentrate upon it from Hill 60, whence they commanded its rearward communications. In the end most of the ground won with such courage was retained, though it was necessary to withdraw detachments which had pushed so far forward that they were almost enveloped by the Germans. The British loss in this combat exceeded 2,000.

On June the 2nd, 1916, the Germans, in an attempt to minimise the effect of the Battle of the Somme, attacked the Canadian line to the south of Hooge, which was held at a cost of nearly 7,000 casualties in ten days of fierce fighting. The site of Hooge was retaken by the 8th division on July the 31st, 1917, and the region was finally cleared by the 9th and 29th divisions in the battle along the Menin road on September the 28th, 1918.
Research Battle of Hooge

TM 170

The TM 170 is a German APC based upon the commercial Unimog cross-country vehicle. The chassis is armoured to withstand 7.62 mm rifle fire. The TM 170 can accommodate a crew of two plus ten passengers and is available in a fully amphibious model (used by German Border Guards), using water jets and the paddle action of the wheels to swim.
Research TM 170

ZU-23

Picture of ZU-23

The ZU-23 is a Russian 23 mm calibre gas-operated automatic cannon mounted on two-wheeled infantry trailers, Mi-24 Helicopters and Su-25 attack jets. It has a rate of fire of between 800 and 1000 rounds per minute and a muzzle velocity of 970 metres per second and can pierce 30 mm of armour at 500 metres. It was designed in the 1940s and has become the standard gun mounted in Russian jet aircraft. The ZU-23 is also used as a towed anti-aircraft gun, with two cannons mounted on a carriage, with an effective ceiling of 2000 metres.
Research ZU-23

BARKER'S MILL

A Barker's mill or Scottish turbine is a hydraulic machine on the principle of what is known as the hydraulic tourniquet. This consists of an upright vessel free to rotate about a vertical axis, and having at its lower end two discharging pipes projecting horizontally on either side and bent in opposite directions at the ends, through which the water is discharged horizontally, the direction of discharge being mainly at right angles to a line joining the discharging orifice to the axis. The backward pressures at the bends of the tubes, arising from the two issuing jets of water, cause the apparatus to revolve in an opposite direction to the issuing fluid.
Research Barker's Mill

GAS LIGHTING

Gas lighting was a formerly common application of ordinary coal-gas, the gas obtained by heating coal, to the lighting of buildings, streets, &c. In 1739 the Reverend Clayton published a paper in
the Philosophical Transactions, on the inflammable nature of the gases obtained by the decomposition of pit-coal in heated close vessels; but no practical application of thia discovery was made before 1792, when a Mr. Murdoch, a native of Ayrshire, in the employ of Messrs. Watt and Boulton, lighted his own house and offices at Redruth on this principle. In 1798 he erected a gas apparatus on a large scale at the Soho Foundry, Birmingham, and in 1802 Le Bon lighted his house in Paris by gas, and made a proposal to supply the whole city. In 1803 Mr. Winsor exhibited gas illuminations at London in the Lyceum, and afterwards raised the sum of 50,000 pounds from a number of subscribers who formed themselves into a National Light and Heat Company in 1810. With this money Mr. Winsor lighted Pall Mall, but was soon succeeded by Mr. Samuel Grieg, who invented the hydraulic main, the wet-lime purifier, and the wet gas-meter. From this time coal gas became the most common illuminating agent wherever it could be prepared economically.

Another kind of gas for lighting that came into use to some extent, namely, water-gas, was produced from the decomposition of water in the form of steam by passing it through incandescent fuel.

Gas was obtained from coal, the best sorts being those bituminous coals known in England by the name of cannel, and in Scotland by the name of parrot. The coal was distilled in retorts of cast-iron or later, after about 1900, more generally of fire-clay, heated to a bright red heat. As they issued from the retort into the hydraulic main the products of distillation contained vapours of tar, together with steam impregnated with more or less ammonium carbonate, sulphide, hydrosulphide, thiosulphite, etc. These vapours would condense in the pipes in which the gas must be distributed, and would clog them up; they therefore had to be so far removed by previous cooling as to cause no inconvenient condensation at ordinary temperatures. The crude gas contained besides, sulphuretted hydrogen, the combustion of which would cause an offensive smell. Carbonic acid weakened the illuminating power of the gas, and also had to be removed.

The profitable consumption of gas, whereby the strongest light can be had at the least expenditure of gas, depends considerably upon the form of the burner, and the mode by which the flame is fed with the air necessary for its combustion. There must be a sufficient supply of oxygen to convert the carbon of the gas into carbonic acid, and the hydrogen into water. If there is not a sufficient supply of oxygen, the flame will be smoky from excess of carbon. In this case the remedy is either to reduce the supply of gas or increase the supply of air. This may be effected by modifying the form of the burner, or in the case of the Argand burner by having a different shape of glass chimney. As to the form of the burner, it was found that a plain jet about 6 mm in diameter at the orifice, will not give a flame free from smoke of a greater height than 60 mm but the same quantity of gas which would give a smoky flame from a plain jet, would produce a clear bright flame by extending or dividing the aperture of the jet so as to expose a larger surface of flame to the atmosphere. It was not, however, necessary to increase the superficial area of the flame;
it could even be diminished with a more intensely luminous effect by having instead of one aperture two small ones pierced at an angle to each other, so that the jets crossed each other a system known as the fishtail or union jet.

Another form was the slit or batwing burner, in which a clean slit was cut across the top of the beak. In the Argand burner a circle of small holes supplied the gas, and a current of air was admitted through the centre of the flame, which was surrounded by a glass chimney. In the Welsbach incandescent lamp the light was produced by causing the burning gas to raise to white heat what is known as the mantle, suspended over the burner. The mantle consisted essentially of cotton yarn steeped in a solution of salts of such metals as thorium, cerium, yttrium, lanthanum, magnesium, etc, and when the thread had been burned away there remained a skeleton of the oxides of the metals used.
Research Gas Lighting

NEBULA

A nebula is a cloud of gas and dust in space. Before the invention of the telescope, the term nebula was applied to all celestial objects of a diffuse appearance. As a result, many objects now known to be star clusters or galaxies were originally called nebulas.

Nebulas exist within other galaxies as well as in our own Milky Way galaxy. They are classified as planetary nebulas, supernova remnants, and diffuse nebulas, including reflecting, emission, and dark nebulas. Small, very bright nebulas called Herbig-Haro objects are found in dense interstellar clouds and are probably the products of gas jets expelled by new stars in the process of formation. Planetary nebulas, or planetaries, are so called because many of them superficially resemble planets through telescopes. They are actually shells of material that an old average star sheds during a late, red giant stage in its evolution, before becoming a white dwarf. The Ring nebula of the constellation Lyra, a typical planetary, has a rotational period of 132, 900 years and a mass calculated to be about 14 times that of the earth's sun. Several thousand planetaries have been discovered in the Milky Way. More spectacular but fewer in number are nebulas that are the fragments of supernova explosions, perhaps the most famous of which is the Crab nebula in
Taurus, now fading at the rate of about 0.4 percent per year. Nebulas of this kind are strong emitters of radio waves, as a result of the explosions that formed them and the probable pulsar remnants of the original star. Diffuse nebulas are extremely large structures, often many light-years wide, that have no definite outline and a tenuous, cloudlike appearance. They are either luminous or dark. The former shine as a result of the light of neighbouring stars. They include some of the most striking objects in the sky, such as the Great nebula in Orion. The tremendous streams of matter in the diffuse nebulas are intermingled in violent, chaotic currents. Many thousands of luminous nebulas are known. Spectral studies show that light emanating from them consists of reflected light from stars and also, in so-called emission nebulas, of stimulated radiation of ionised gases and dust from the nebulas themselves.

Dark, diffuse nebulas are observed as nonluminous clouds or faintly luminous, obscuring portions of the Milky Way and too distant from the stimulation of neighbouring stars to reflect or emit much light of their own. One of the most famous dark nebulas is the Horsehead nebula in Orion, so named for the silhouette of the dark mass in front of a more luminous nebular region. The longest dark rift observed on photographic plates of the star clouds of the Milky Way is a succession of dark nebulas. Both dark nebulas and luminous nebulas are considered likely sites for the processes of dust-cloud condensation and the formation of new stars.
Research Nebula

AIRBUS A300B

The Airbus A300B is the most advanced aircraft currently in airline service. Proposed in 1965 by the British and French governments (the British government subsequently withdrew its support and West Germany joined the team) it is built by companies in five countries and represents Europe's first attempt to break the US monopoly of the market for large subsonic airliners. The unique wing incorporates supercritical features, now being adopted in advanced military and other civil jetliners. These delay the onset of shockwaves up to high subsonic speeds. The wing took nearly 4,000,000 man-hours and almost 4,000 hours of wind-tunnel tests to perfect. The wing skin panels, some 15.5 metres long, are milled by computer-guided machines and preformed in gigantic presses. When released, they spring back to the exact aerofoil shape. The Airbus is the quietest wide-bodied jet with a top operating speed of 705 kmh and a range of 3000 km and the manufacturers claim it is quieter than smaller jets weighing one tenth as much. Unlike other wide-bodied jets, the Airbus A300B has only two engines: General Electric CF6-50C or alternatively Pratt and Whitney JT9D-59A turbofans which supposedly give it the lowest fuel consumption per passenger of any jet in history. A300B seating configurations can be varied from 345 passengers maximum in charter layout, to a mixed passenger/freight, or all-cargo payload. With an extra centre-section fuel tank, thicker wing roots and Kriiger flaps for a sprightly takeoff at 'hot and high' airports, the Airbus was converted from a short-to a medium-range airliner in the 1974 B4 version. Air France flew the first scheduled services in 1974.
Research Airbus A300B

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