Saturday, April 30, 2016

49th Annual Summer School day 5:(29-04-2016): Talk by Prof: MRN Murthy, IISc. Topic: "The Wonderful living"


Today was a amazing and interesting lecture based on our wonderful living world. Professor MRN Murthy explained today’s students about the living universe.It was a mesmerizing topic and presentation which attracted all the students present.We learnt a lot of unique facts and tried to acquire knowledge as much as possible by Prof. M.R.N Murthy on the topic The Living World.


The cosmos(the universe) and the brain are the wondering subjects and have some sort of connection in them.


Cosmos- This is far as anything on Earth can see. The age of the universe is 14 billion years, so in theory we are unable to observe anything further than 14 billion light-years away. Due to the expansion of space, these objects are now around 46 billion light years away — the limit of the observable universe. In fact, the photons in the cosmic microwave background have travelled a cool 45 billion light years to get here. That makes the visible universe some 90 billion light years across. That's big but the universe is almost certainly much bigger.


 The brain- The human brain has been called the most complex object in the known universe, and in many ways it's the final frontier of science. A hundred billion neurons, close to a quadrillion connections between them, and we don't even fully understand a single cell. 
The two wonders of the world is cosmos and the brain. The small muscle tissue present in living organisms is really an gift to us. It is a mini super computer which has the thirst to know about the amazing wonders.

The story of Earth is an epic filled with crises, catastrophes, and remarkable, repeated change. Earth traces its origin to simple atoms that were created in the big bang, transformed into heavy elements in stellar explosions, and then forged into a planet inside the nebula that gave birth to the solar system. Like many other planets, Earth went through phases of melting, volcanism, and bombardment by asteroids. But only on Earth did events lead to a flourishing biosphere—life. And once life was established, it drove the evolution of our planet in startling new directions. Rocks that date to the early stages of the formation of the solar system arrive on our planet all the time. They are chondrite meteorites, which are 4.567 billion years old, older than Earth itself.


Green Earth: The green of photosynthetic life is the most visible sign of the living world.



We also learnt some interesting facts about the celestial body like:



Sun is a celestial body which is 150,000,000 away from sun and 5000 years old and takes 8 to 9 min to reach Earth.

Comet is a celestial body which is also believed as granting wishes but if collides with Earth it can cause a catastrophe and it consists of solid carbon-dioxide and ice.

Important fact- 12 November 2014


ESA’s Rosetta mission has soft-landed its Philae probe on a comet, the first time in history that such an extraordinary feat has been achieved.


“Rosetta is trying to answer the very big questions about the history of our Solar System. What were the conditions like at its infancy and how did it evolve? What role did comets play in this evolution? How do comets work?” 


Evolution of gases


After loss of the hydrogen, helium and other hydrogen-containing gases from early Earth due to the Sun's radiation, primitive Earth was devoid of an atmosphere. The first atmosphere was formed by outgassing of gases trapped in the interior of the early Earth, which still goes on today in volcanoes. 


Life started to have a major impact on the environment once photosynthetic organisms evolved. These organisms, blue-green algae  fed off atmospheric carbon dioxide and converted much of it into marine sediments consisting of the shells of sea creatures. While photosynthetic life reduced the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere, it also started to produce oxygen. Once oxygen had been produced, ultraviolet light split the molecules, producing the ozone UV shield as a by-product. Only at this point did life move out of the oceans and respiration evolved.


Present challenge-the arising crisis of the present day is the shortage of power.



Newtons law of  inertia-


Uranium which divides the nucleolus on its own without any external force and iodine which goes on decreasing for a fortnight without any external force.


Invention of microscope  is great contribution


We also learnt that there were many microscopes designed at the beginning to observe minute things which were not that magnified. Then the fact that electrons also emit light gave rise to electrone microscope which helped in observing minute things which were far from the observation of normal microscope. Then as time went along there were


X-ray which helped in determining the structure of the molecule.


  Some electron microscopes can magnify specimens up to 2 million times, while the best light microscopes are limited to magnifications of 2000 times. Both electron and light microscopes have resolution limitations, imposed by their wavelength.


 Some electron microscopes can magnify specimens up to 2 million times, while the best light microscopes are limited to magnifications of 2000 times. Both electron and light microscopes have resolution limitations, imposed by their wavelength.


DNA is the essential component and its unique from one another.there’s a sequence structure function relationship.


 


Quantum mechanics-


Rate of radioactive decay depends on the number of nuclei present.


 


QUESTIONNAIRE SESSION-





o   IS RAMAYANA THE ENSCRIPTURE TRUE IN ALL THE FACTS?

o   Some facts are not  true in all aspects. Like that of pushpaka vimana.



o   Some scientists are against “theory of evolution”?

o   Theory of evolution is true . its better to believe the fact.



o   Researches are  going on based on anti-aging?

o   Aging is a lively process in all living organisms. We can stop aging but its not necessary based on today’s situation



o   If all the honeybees die , humans will also die in the next four years. Is it true?

o   No its not, it wont affect the diversity of human beings.



o   They say there’s only possible of survival of the fittest.

o   Every living organisms has consciousness. It has super inherent powers .


















Friday, April 29, 2016

49th Annual Summer School day 4: 28-04-2016: Field Trip to Maiyya's Food company and Beverages Pvt.Ltd.



Every Homo sapiens cravingly dines
Even behind this acts our science

The above is what we nay explored in today’s field trip to the biggest competing food producer of the state-  maiyya’s food company and beverages pvt.ltd. Instilling a ‘scientific temper’ we entered , only to find a hygiene check at the entrance. We were given a pair of feet-cover ,hair caps and a mouth mask. Moving ahead, our first visit was to the spice and snacks unit. Maiyya’s has come up with brand new products in this part namely – fruit & nut bar, bhelpuri bar and a rasam cube. All these have a same basic science behind their making and finishing.

A vessel with the mixture pouring down into a compressor which then cuts them into the cubical shapes. The second unit we inspected was that of the beverages.  Today’s specialty , was the 'badam milk'.  It consisted of canning mill and filling mill.  The packed beverages then undergo the effect of NANOTECHNOLOGY.  They are heated with intense temperature of 120 degree Celsius until the food turns ‘patho-free’ to attain a shelf-life about an year.  Is science helping in safety?  Yes!

Then came the “ready to eat” kitchen.  Study and research of science has accelerated technology, and technology has fostered employment, reversely to a workaholic population. 
In the present scenario, All that a man needs is “fast food” to pop up instantly.  Maiyya’s ready to eat does exactly the same.  Another considerable fact is the absolute zero use of artificial preservatives like BHA(butylated hydroxyl tuolene), BHT(butylated hydroxyl anisole), benzoates or polysulphates in this process.
Another instance of applied science is the flushing of 90% of Nitrogen in the Packets of maiyya’s chakkli, kodubele, bhakharwada and more.  When we asked ourselves why? We remembered it’s because of “rancidity”.

The next complex we visited was the tongue-pleasing sweets.  We saw the making of soan papdi in 4 different flavours.  The viscous sugar syrup was being made in the churner and soan papdi threads and strands in the pulling machine.  The aroma in the room was just teasing our nostrils.

Another instant way of food consumption and preservation is the “freezing technique”.  Maiyya’s owns this too. The hot fryums are made to pass through spiral refrigerator with a lowest temperature of -35 to -40 degree celsius.  This gives the primary foods a shelf-life of about 6 months or more.

The steel cans used for packaging are served to Maiyya’s by an iron and steel company called “metcan”.  Moreover, the packets in which the fryums are sealed and zipped are four –layered quadripacks; each layer with its own function. The spices unit which prepared seasonings like rasam powder and sambar powder showed us tunnel shape vessels called silos.  The ingredients are designed to be mixed in the silo through a  PLC software program. This is how every machine is autonomous with the effect of transmission of the branch computer science in food technology.
Moreover the phenomenon of electromagnetism is yet another application working behind the movement of conveyor belts.  These belts are the backbone of the motile food production.
So,
Science Science here and there,
Science Science everywhere.


This factory is the only producing unit of Maiyya’s in India. Maiyya’s pvt ltd employes about 350-400 workers per unit with a turnout of 150 crore per annum. This company owned by DR. P SADANANDA MAIYYA has an over all production of 300-350 tonnes of food and beverages extending its transports to about 30 countries over the globe and 10 states in the state. To reach bigger heights, Maiyya’s has aimed to touch a turnover of 250 crores for this year 2016.  Indeed, science has the power to start a livelihood, run lives and sustain the planet. Thus a new version of the science definition can be immortality.
Such was our experience today in the arena of food technology!
We thus owe our new learnings and expeditions to  Bangalore Science Forum- summer camp and all honourable scientists and  lecturers of the national college sincerely.
Let the vision of SCIENTIFIC TEMPERAMENT be in FACT and not just a FICTION.


Report by:
GROUP 4
Sanjana B.A.
Ananya K.V.
Keerthana K
Nagarjun S.G.
Vasudha


Thursday, April 28, 2016

49th Annual Summer School Day 3: (27-04-2016) Talk By: Dr. Sriraghavan Topic: Lighter Side of Light



Since we are attending this science summer camp, I think it would not be wise if we have not yet made a discovery of our own. Well, the first two days of this camp were really inspiring and gave us a little to think and scratch our heads about and bring out the “curious” side which was hidden deep within ourselves. And today our group made an important observation about this camp, which is we found a link between this camp and the godfather movies, which is it just keeps getting better and better!!
 
Today we were introduced to an amazing resource person, Sri. Sriraghavan, founder and director of Brain Stars. Today it was his session and took the topic “THE LIGHTIER SIDE OF LIGHT” for this lecture today. It was an awesome lecture in which we experienced the joy of learning through experiments and explanations. It was like a class where science makes the magic and we couldn’t just believe it but in the end it was all  science. ‘Light is not something we can see, it is something that we can experience'. This was said by him when he asked us what is light and can anybody draw a diagram of light.

 The topic was very simple today, but later on we found the complications practically. He showed us the bridge connecting the basic and complex levels of an idea through his jaw dropping experiments, which were simple but yet fascinating.  He first put the question of what are the important features of light and as we went on giving him answers, he stooped us when we came to the topic of the wave particle dual nature of light. You could say he is a very unorthodox teacher as he helps us to get to the mind boggling questions and then ask us to find the answers!! Then we learnt about the history of scientists who tried to understand the property of light and thanks to a series of scientists like Faraday,Maxwell and Einstein, we know something about light. He explained how Maxwell proved mathematically that light is an electro-magnetic wave by explaining the process of electromagnetic flux and how Kepler found the speed of light.

 Then came the highlight of the session, which was the simple and mind blowing experiments!!  The whole session went on with astonishment. He first started with the filter paper experiment  and then went on to show us color shadows. Then came many other such experiments and the most important of them all was diffraction. He showed wonderfully how light  can literally be cut. He sacrificed a strand of a female student’s hair and unfortunately his!! He used to involve us students in his demonstrations and if we had something to say to his questions, he used never leave us without asking why. We also got to see a sophisticated laser holder!! 

We could learn so much today. Absolutely Sri. Sriraghavan is fantastic where he encouraged us to explore and he “Ignited our Minds”, boosted our imaginations and motivated us to think innovative as it is said by Dr. Abdul Kalam “Imagination leads to creativity, creativity gives you knowledge and knowledge makes you great”. At the end of the session he left us with few questions and activities to try at home and also suggested us to read a book “9 colors of the rainbow”. Nearly all the members of our group tried this experiments. The session was so interesting we were left mesmerized. 

Then Dr.Y.C.Kamala showed a movie related to the discovery and advancement of technology of the world of telescopes it was really interesting to watch the brilliance behind these magnificent instruments.. This has become a golden moment of our lives, a memorable one indeed and eagerly waiting for the coming up programs all the credit should go to The Bangalore Science Forum for creating such a golden opportunity for the students. For igniting the minds to think innovative, it’s like slowly handing over our future to and making us build our future by ourselves. I think the name of this summer camp should have been “Igniting Minds”. Is a life time experience coming here a golden time indeed. 


Report by: Vishwas Shankar            


Wednesday, April 27, 2016

49th Annual Summer School Day 2:(26-04-2016): Speaker Dr. Y.C Kamala Topic: Scientific temper



Today was the second day of the summer school. The speaker for today was Dr. Y.C.Kamala and the lecture was about scientific temper. We not only got to know about scientific temper but also about many other important facts in science. It was class filled with knowledge and facts. We were able to understand science phenomenon easily by this lecture. Here are a few key points which were said by the speaker in the course of the lecture.

Scientific temper is looking at different aspects of life in the view of science.
Science is anything that satisfies three objectives. They are-

1]  QUANTITATIVENESS
2]  UNIVERSALITY 
3]  OBJECTIVITY

According to the definition of scientific temper any statement is science if it is the same in quantity and is universal and is also objective.For example,  Kepler’s  three laws  are same in quantity anywhere in the universe. Similarly the properties of light are also same in quantity anywhere in the universe.
Scientific temper is a word that was coined by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru . Scientific temper is included even in the constitution and is the duty of every citizen to have scientific temper.

 Why do we need scientific temper?
If a nation has to develop, the people of the must be aware of science. That's why scientific temper is important.


Dr.H.Narasimaiah is the founder of this organisation. He did his PhD in nuclear physics and started this organisation in 1962 to improve scientific temper in INDIA.
We also got to know about many important dates which are significant for establishing various research institutes in India.

They are:
1757- Battle of Plassey
1784- Asiatic society was started
1833- Wood’s dispatch
1857- 1] The first Indian war of independence
          2] India was now directly ruled by the throne of England
          3] Three new universities were started in Kolkata, Madras, and Mumbai.
1876- Indian Association for Cultivation of Science (IACS).
1907- C V Raman joins the IACS.
1915-Science college was started by Ashutosh Mukherjee.
1917- Raman joins the college as a professor resigning the highly paid post in the government.
1928- Raman discovered the secondary scattering of light.
1930- Raman got the Nobel prize for his work on Raman effect.
C V Raman became the first scientist to get Bharata Ratna.
Raman effect is widely used even today like in the fields of geology , material science , purity of diamond and many more.

 Application of Raman Effect -
  • Geology
  • Material Science 
  • Petrochemistry , polymers
  • Pharmaceutical Industry
  • Nuclear Science
  • Forensic Science
World science day
World science is celebrated in February 28. It is celebrated in the memory of Raman discovery of Raman effect.

 Today we were also introduced to scientists like





CV RAMAN- Mahendra Lal Sarkar established IACS(Indian Association of Cultivation of Science).
·       Raman joined the IACS in 1917.
·       Raman entered as a Folic Professor  at  Kolkata University.
·       He discovered the scattering of light using a prism . He received Nobel Prize for this discovery in 1930.

   We also got a brief information about some of the famous Indian Scientists like:
HOMI JAHANGIR BHABHA

 

 JAGADISH CHANDRA BOSE
 
 

 PRAFULLA CHANDRA RAY

 


 Dr.APJ ABDUL KALAM
 


 PROF. KIRAN KUMAR