Paraffinum Liquidum (mineral oil) is a petroleum by-product and is created through distillation. Mineral oil is completely transparent and is basically a liquid form of petroleum jelly. It is produced in large quantities and is used in many different ways all over the world, mostly due to its low toxicity and low cost. Mineral oil …
A nuclear power plant works in the same way that a coal power plant works. Heat is generated which causes water to turn into steam. This steam turns a turbine which causes a generator to spin which generates electricity. However, a nuclear power plant does not use coal. Instead, the fuel of choice is uranium …
Facial recognition systems are computer programs that are used for automatically identifying a person. Research on this technology started in the mid 1960s. This technology works by using several facial features in a person's image and comparing these with existing images in the database. Facial recognitions systems are used as an additional and mass security …
The Tyndall Effect refers to the reflection of light as it comes in contact with small particles in a translucent medium. It involves the scattering of light in different colors depending on how short or long a particular wavelength is. For example, the Tyndall Effect can describe the haze seen as light travels through a …
A volcano is any opening in the Earth’s surface that allows molten rock and volcanic gases to escape from far below the Earth’s surface. Although many volcanoes are mountainous in shape, a volcano can exist in nearly any form, including volcanic vents on the ocean floor, ice volcanoes, which have been found on a variety …
Left handedness is a person's preference in using the left hand over the right hand which, when considering the number of people, is relatively rare. It is believed that anywhere from seven to ten percent of the adult population is left handed. The rest are predominately right handed. The fundamental problem when discussing left handedness …
An ionic compound is any compound in which an electrostatic force holds the ions together. Ionic compounds are made of positively charged particles that rest against negatively charged particles in order to balance out the two particles’ magnetic imbalance. They can be found in both solid and liquid states, although solid ionic compounds are poor …
An oxygen generator is a device that produces oxygen on demand, usually through the use of inorganic reactions. There are several types of oxygen generators but each depends on thermal reactions to produce oxygen. This causes the generator to become very hot, between 500 and 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, and can present a serious fire hazard …
The term stereoscopic vision refers to the human ability to view with both eyes in similar, but slightly different ways. This allows humans to judge distance, which develops their ability to have true depth perception. Historically, the human’s ability to view the world through stereoscopic sight has given him/her a significant advantage over entities and …
A fuel cell is a device that produces electrical energy through chemical reaction. This energy conversion process is known as electro-chemical energy conversion. The simplest form of electrochemical device that we use in our day to day life is a battery cell. A fuel cell is different from a battery cell in so far as …