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• The Voyagers are a pair of unmanned US space probes, launched to explore the outer planets.
• Voyager 1 was launched on 5 September 1977. It flew past Jupiter in March 1979 and Saturn in November 1980, and then headed onwards on a curved path that will take it out of the Solar System altogether.
• Voyager 2 travels more slowly. Although launched two weeks earlier than Voyager 1, it did not reach Jupiter until July 1979 and Saturn until August 1981.
• The Voyagers used the ‘slingshot’ of Jupiter’s gravity to hurl them on towards Saturn.
• While Voyager 1 headed out of the Solar System, Voyager 2 flew past Uranus in January 1986 and Neptune on 24 August 1989. It took the first close-up photographs of the two planets.
• The Voyagers revealed volcanoes on Io, one of Jupiter’s Galilean moons.
• Voyager 2 found ten unknown moons around Uranus.
• Voyager 2 found six unknown moons and three rings around Neptune.
• Voyager 2 discovered sulphur volcanoes on Jupiter, in 1979.
• Voyager 2 reached Neptune in 1989, revealing a wealth of new information about this distant planet. Space travel Voyager 2 will beam back data until 2020 as it travels beyond the edges of the Solar System.

Originally posted 2010-03-17 19:47:14. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

What is Dislocation of Bones?

A fracture means a bone is broken. In accidents, several may be affected. As bleeding, injury to surrounding structures, pain, shock or infection may all occur, emergency treatment is advisable. The key to success is to get the patient to emergency professional help as quickly as possible. Make the casualty comfortable and attend to any emergency symptoms that are amenable to first aid help.

The break in the bone is usually complete, but in children in whom growing bones are soft, it may be bent, cracked and incompletely broken (called a “greenstick” fracture).

The fracture may be closed or open (simple or compound), depending on whether it communicates with the air outside. Open fractures are more serious, for this allows contamination to enter the wound and probably the bone. Some fractures are “complicated,” which means surrounding structures, such as internal organs, blood vessels or nerves are also injured. These too are more serious, for they can lead to important complications. Fractures may be produced by direct force (such as receiving a direct blow by a car). They may be indirect, such as falling on the outstretched arm, which causes fracture of the shoulder bones. for instance. Occasionally sudden muscle contraction may cause a fracture.

Bones are well endowed with blood vessels, and any fracture, especially of major bones, is invariably accompanied by a heavy blood loss and consequent shock. (For example, a fractured femur, the large bone in the upper part of the lower limb, may hemorrhage a liter or more of blood if broken.) Pain invariably occurs. The first aider will endeavor to prevent further damage and minimize risks from blood loss, reduce pain, and if possible reduce the chances of infection.

The basic essential of immobilizing (stopping further movement) the injured part is to disturb the patient as little as possible, inflict minimum pain and avoid complications. Injured parts should be supported in a natural a position as possible.

Dislocation of Bones Symptoms

1. The fracture site is painful, swollen and bruised.
2. There is loss of function of the part, particularly noticeable in limbs.
3. The part may be obviously deformed.
4. There may be abnormal mobility of the part.
5. Shock, to some extent, is usually present. In injuries to larger bones, this may be severe.

What to Do in the Case of Fractures

1. Aim at bringing relief to the major injuries as quickly as possible, without making the condition worse, and then getting the casualty to expert medical attention (preferably the emergency ward of a large hospital) as soon as possible. Often assistance is necessary.
2. Keep calm. Don’t panic. Often the sight is distracting, and may nauseate you. Keep a cool head and act deliberately, but calmly and methodically. Rushing breeds confusion.
3. Immobilize the fracture (i.e. prevent further movement).
4. Control bleeding if present.
5. Handle gently, for it is easy to convert a simple fracture into a more complicated one.
6. Reassure the patient with words of comfort and confidence.

Dislocation of Bones Treatment

Often the use of broad bandages can help this. If not possible, narrow ones may be used. Triangular and crepe bandages are often useful in an emergency. Every effort should be made not to disturb or hurt the patient. Avoid jerking movements, particularly when bandaging or securing them.

Sometimes splints are necessary to prevent movement of the injured parts during transport. Anything that is wide, long and firm may be suitable. They should be well-padded, and securely applied, so as to immobilize the joints above and below the break.

Adequate padding will improve the efficacy of the splints, and this helps to bring relief to the patient. These can be improvised from any sort of material in an emergency.

Rather than run risks of bringing further damage to the patient (such as in suspected spinal fractures, where care in handling may be vital), it is advisable to make the patient as comfortable as possible, and call the ambulance. Ambulance officers are specially trained to handle potentially serious fractures, and know the special movements necessary. Also, some are equipped with special stretchers that can pick up the patient from the ground, thus ensuring minimum movement and risks.

Most people will not be conversant with the various first aid bandaging techniques that have been worked out for the different kinds of fractures. For practical purposes, general principles may be adhered to, and the patient transferred to expert help as a matter of urgency. Some general principles will be outlined that may be of assistance. This is not the time to teach bandaging.

However, anyone interested in learning full techniques is advised to take a St John First Aid instruction course, which gives excellent instruction in these useful techniques.

Originally posted 2010-03-08 07:10:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• A kind of jet engine was built by the Ancient Greek Hero Alexander in the first century AD. It was a ball driven round by jets of steam escaping from two nozzles.
• The first jet engines were built at the same time in the 1930s by Pabst von Ohain in Germany and Frank Whittle in Britain.
• Ohain’s engine was put in the Heinkel HE- 178 which first flew on 27 August 1939; Whittle’s was put in the Gloster E28 of 1941. The first American jet was the Bell XP-59 Aircomet of 1942.
• Jets work by pushing a jet of air out the back. This hits the air so fast that the reaction thrusts the plane forward like a deflating balloon.
• Jet engines are also called gas turbines because they burn fuel gas to spin the blades of a turbine non-stop.
• Turbojets are the original form of jet engine. Air is scooped in at the front and squeezed by spinning compressor blades. Fuel sprayed into the squeezed air in the middle of the engine burns, making the mixture expand dramatically. The expanding air pushes round turbines which drive the compressor, and send out a high-speed jet of hot air to propel the plane. This high-speed jet is noisy but good for fast warplanes and the supersonic Concorde.
• Turboprops are turbojets that use most of their power to turn a propeller rather than force out a hot air jet.
• Turbofans are used by most airliners because they are quieter and cheaper to run. In these, extra turbines turn a huge fan at the front. Air driven by this fan bypasses the engine core and gives a huge extra boost at low speeds.
• Ramjets or ‘flying stovepipes’ are the simplest type of jet engine, used only on missiles. They dispense with both compressor and turbine blades and simply rely on the speed of the jet through the air to ram air in through the intake into the engine.

Originally posted 2010-03-14 17:56:42. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Quasars are the most intense sources of light in the Universe. Although no bigger than the Solar System, they glow with the brightness of 100 galaxies.
• Quasars are the most distant known objects in the Universe. Even the nearest is billions of light-years away.
• The most distant quasar is on the very edges of the known Universe, 12 billion light-years away.
• Some quasars are so far away that we see them as they were when the Universe was still in its infancy — 20 percent of its current age.
• Quasar is short for Quasi-Stellar (star-like) Radio Object. This comes from the fact that the first quasars were detected by the strong radio signals they give out and also because quasars are so small and bright that at first people thought they looked like stars.
• Only one of the 200 quasars now known actually beams out radio signals, so the term Quasi-Stellar Radio Object is in fact misleading!
• The brightest quasar is 3C 273, two billion light-years away.
• Quasars are at the heart of galaxies called ‘active galaxies’.
• Quasars may get their energy from a black hole at their core, which draws in matter
• The black hole in a quasar may pull in matter ferociously.
• The Hubble space telescope’s clear view of space has given the best-ever with the same mass as 100 million Suns.

Originally posted 2010-03-16 18:18:52. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• When it is daylight on the half of the Earth facing towards the Sun, it is night on the half of the Earth facing away from it. As the Earth rotates, so the day and night halves shift gradually around the world.
• The Earth turns eastwards — this means that the Sun comes up in the east as our part of the world spins round to face it.
• As the Earth turns, the stars come back to the same place in the night sky every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.09 seconds. This is called a sidereal day (star day).
• It takes 24 hours for the Sun to come back to the same place in the daytime sky. This is the solar day, and it is slightly longer than the star day because the Earth moves one degree further round the Sun each day.
• On the other planets, the length of day and night varies according to how fast each planet rotates.
• One day on Mercury lasts 59 Earth days, because Mercury takes almost two months to spin around.
• A day on Jupiter lasts less than 10 hours because Jupiter spins so fast.
• A day on Mars is 24.6 hours — much the same as ours.
• A day on the Moon lasts one Earth month.

Originally posted 2010-03-14 11:40:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Velocity is speed in a particular direction.
• Uniform velocity is when the velocity stays the same. It can be worked out simply by dividing the distance traveled (d) by the time (t): v = d/t.
• Acceleration is a change in velocity.
• Positive acceleration is getting faster; negative acceleration is getting slower.
• Acceleration is given in meters per second per second, or m/s 2. This means that a velocity gets faster by so many meters per second in each consecutive second.
• Rifle bullet accelerates down the barrel at 3000 m/s2. A fast car accelerates at 6 m/s2.
• When an object falls, the Earth’s gravity makes it accelerate at 9.81 m/s2. This is called g.
• Acceleration is often described in gs.
• In a rocket taking off at 1g, the acceleration has little effect. But at 3 g, it is impossible to move your arms and legs; at 4.5 g you would black out in five seconds.
• A high-speed lift goes up at 0.2 g. An airplane takes off at 0.5 g. A car brakes at up to 0.7 g. In a crash, you may be able to survive a momentary deceleration of up to 100 g, but the effects are likely to be severe.

Originally posted 2010-03-17 19:35:53. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

In general, any direct injury to the eye – cut or puncture, blow with a ball or fist, or debris in the eye – should have immediate medical attention if there is significant pain, and/or loss of vision. If pain is minor and no serious injury is obvious, contact the doctor to determine whether your child should be seen in an emergency facility or the doctor’s office.

Eye Treatment

• Until it is seen by a doctor, keep the eye closed. This is a natural response to eye injury and helps reduce discomfort.
• If the eye has been penetrated or cut open, take the child directly to the emergency room. If there is fluid oozing from the eye, transfer the child lying flat on his back so additional fluid will not escape.
• Hold a simple shield, such as a paper cup, over the eye to protect it but don’t exert any pressure on the eye.

Chemicals in the Eye

Take prompt action whenever any chemical has splashed into the eye.

Although many materials will cause only minor irritation, some can result in serious injury or blindness if not attended to immediately. Start immediate and continued flushing with lukewarm water. A gentle flow of water should run into the affected eye(s). Hold the child under a tap or hose or carefully pour water from a glass or pitcher into the eye(s) with the child lying down. If only one eye is involved, hold the child on her side with the affected eye down so none of the chemical can accidentally flow into the other eye. You will probably need to have another adult hold the eye open while you pour the water. Use the following formula guidelines to determine how long to irrigate the eye:

• alkaline materials: 20 minutes
• acids: 10 minutes
• less reactive chemicals: 5 minutes

After the eye(s) has been irrigated, seek medical attention as soon as possible.

Alkaline materials can penetrate deeply and cause serious damage. Examples of alkaline materials are drain cleaners, oven cleaners, and bleach. Look for these words on product labels:

• lye
• sodium hydroxide
• potassium hydroxide
• ammonia
• calcium oxide
• trisodium phosphate
• wood ash

Acids tend to cause more localized tissue damage but can still cause significant injury. Examples of acids are automobile battery fluid, toilet bowl cleaners, and swimming pool acid. Look for these words on product labels:

• sulfuric acid
• hydrochloric acid
• phosphoric acid
• hydrofluoric acid
• oxalic acid

Less dangerous chemicals should be washed out of the eye also. Most of these materials will cause only mild redness, stinging, and temporary swelling involving the conjunctiva (the thin, clear tissue lining the white surface of the eyeball and inner surfaces of the eyelid). Irrigation will lessen the irritation and probably prevent the child from rubbing the eye and aggravating the soreness. Examples of less dangerous chemicals include food, alcohol, and household soaps.

Originally posted 2010-03-10 18:44:42. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Crystals are particular kinds of solids that are made from a regular arrangement, or lattice, of atoms. Most rocks and metals are crystals, so are snowflakes and salt.
• Most crystals have regular, geometrical shapes with smooth faces and sharp corners.
• Most crystals grow in dense masses, as in metals. Some crystals grow separately, like grains of sugar.
• Some crystals are shiny and clear to look at. Crystals got their name from the chunks of quartz that the ancient Greeks called krystallos. They believed the chunks were unmeltable ice.
• Crystals form by a process called crystallization. As liquid evaporates or molten solids cool, the chemicals dissolved in them solidify.
• Crystals grow gradually as more and more atoms attach themselves to the lattice, just as icicles grow as water freezes onto them.
• The smallest crystals are microscopically small. Occasionally crystals of a mineral such as beryl may grow to the size of telegraph poles.
• A liquid crystal is a crystal that can flow like a liquid but has a regular pattern of atoms.
• A liquid crystal may change color or go dark when the alignment of its atoms is disrupted by electricity or heat. Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) use a tiny electric current to make crystals affect light.
• X-ray crystallography uses x-rays to study the structure of atoms in a crystal. This is how we know the structure of many important life substances such as DNA.

Originally posted 2010-03-14 11:29:55. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Most people have suffered the discomfort of a foreign body entering the eye, even minute items such as very small pieces of dust, grit, particles flying from an emery wheel (common in industry), a cinder, or grains of sand in windy weather can cause acute discomfort and distress.

There is usually a desire to rub the eye, which will invariably aggravate the problem, causing the invader to traumatize a wider area of the highly sensitive lining, or conjunctiva.

Often large objects may partially enter the eye and abrade or injure the superficial surface. This can cause considerable discomfort and a “traumatic conjunctivitis” to occur.

Foreign Bodies in the Eye Symptoms

There’s generally a lot of pain when a foreign body, irrespective of size, enters the eye. There may be redness, irritation, itch, watering and a desire to rub, which only aggravates the condition. The eye may become very light-sensitive, so the child closes the lid and rubs it.

Foreign Bodies in the Eye Treatment

Bathe the eye. Frequent bathing of the affected eye with an eyebath of warm salty water will often remove the offending foreign body.

Reflection of eyelid. If this does not remove the object, reflect (i.e. turn back) the upper eyelid over a match. Often the foreign body may be seen adhering to the inner side. It may be simply removed with the moistened tip of the corner of a handkerchief, or piece of cottonwood rolled up into a tight wick and moistened. This is usually simple and painless. If the foreign body is seen on the eyeball, it may be removed in a similar manner.

Never attempt to touch the eyeball with a needle or any sharp or solid metal object. The eye is a very precious, delicate organ, and great care is essential.

If these simple measures are not successful, seek prompt medical attention. The doctor will use other methods, and may first insert local anesthetic drops. Pieces of metal (e.g. hot metal in a factory, pieces of grit from a revolving emery wheel, pieces of metal from filings etc.) often become deeply embedded in the cornea, the “window” of the eye. These need expert assistance, and only a doctor or eye specialist should attend to these. Sometimes antibiotic drops or ointments are prescribed afterwards to prevent infection.

Foreign bodies in the eye often occur more likely on hot, windy days when there’s a lot of dust in the air. It’s common at beaches and also worse on gusty days.

Another place where serious problems may occur is in workshops where particles may fly from a grinding machine and lodge in the surface of the eyeball. These may be hot pieces of metal that can cause permanent visual impairment if they strike the cornea and injure it. Also, flashes from welding machines and corneal burns are common and extremely painful injuries that should never happen, especially to youngsters.

No child should be allowed to go into one of these places unless wearing protective goggles. It’s probably more common on farms where there’s not so much supervision, and children are often attracted to the farm workshop to “help dad.”

Bathing the eye using a simple eyebath filled with warm water (or mildly salty water) may assist. In some cases this will wash the foreign body out.

It’s worth reflecting the upper lid over a match, or a cotton wool bud applied to the outside of the eyelid. By gently grasping the eyelashes between thumb and index finger it is easy to do this. Often the offending foreign body (a tiny black speck usually) may be seen adhering to the inner surface of the reflected upper lid. It may be simply removed by touching with the moistened tip of a hanky or cotton wool rolled into a point and moistened. Sorry to sound ominous, but what if the item is not seen and still continues to produce discomfort?

Then it is high time to take the patient to the doctor. Sometimes the foreign body will be embedded in the surface of the eye. Often it is very hard to see, and special magnification and instruments may be necessary to remove it. This is especially important if it lies on the cornea, the window through which one sees. Scratching or injury to the cornea may be serious. On no account touch the surface of the eye with anything sharp. This is entirely within the province of the doctor or eye specialist. Remember this; it is vitally important.

Originally posted 2010-03-10 22:09:32. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Laction is a baby’s best chances of developing normally and healthily come when this form of feeding is used.

Some mothers experience difficulties at the time of lactation. Probably the most common one is an apparent failure of the breasts to produce sufficient milk. This problem often begins very early after baby’s birth. It is essential that every effort be made promptly to ensure the milk glands are producing adequate amounts, and that the necessary stimulation for this be provided.

A baby may be a lethargic type and show little interest, in the early days, in suckling. Therefore, there is little stimulus to the breasts to continue to produce milk. It is essential that the breasts be completely emptied after each feed for the stimulation to be maintained, otherwise problems are inevitable. Manually expressing each breast is advisable. Offering your baby alternate breasts to begin each feed is also good.

Some baby experts have recommended that, for the first 10 days, all mothers express their breasts regularly after baby feeds. They say this gets the milk flow off to an excellent start. Before long, the “lethargic baby” will begin to suck more vigorously. In turn, this will promote an even greater stimulus for the glands to continue to produce milk abundantly.

However, some mothers are intrinsically poor milk producers. If there has been a history of previous difficulties and an apparent poor supply despite all efforts, artificial feeding may be preferable.

Originally posted 2010-03-14 02:18:03. Republished by Blog Post Promoter