422 search results
How to read a rock
Science, Maths & Technology

How to read a rock

...carbon), and sulphur found in volcanoes. Most minerals though, are compounds, i.e. different combinations of different elements, just like words are various combinations of different letters. The mineral quartz (SiO2) is quite a simple word, just made up of the elements silicon (Si) and oxygen (O). Transcript The mineral garnet is much more complicated and can have...
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Article 10 mins
Engineering: The nature of problems
Science, Maths & Technology

Engineering: The nature of problems

...Carbon-fibre composite 500 200 60 1100 454 181 54 Magnesium-based alloy 300 300 45 1780 176 176 25 You can see the great potential for carbon-fibre composites and the strong competition between the other frame materials, particularly for the deflection-based index E/ρ. However, there are three major limitations that need consideration before we all go out and start...
View course Engineering: The nature of problems
Level 2: Intermediate 40 hrs
Does counting calories work?
Health, Sports & Psychology

Does counting calories work?

...carbon dioxide exhalations. Scientists know how much energy is used during the metabolic processes that create the carbon dioxide we breathe out, so they can work backwards to deduce that, for example, a human who has exhaled 15 litres of carbon dioxide must have used 94 calories of energy. The facility’s three indirect calorimeters are down the halls from the research...
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Video 5 mins
Killed by Agatha Christie: Strychnine and the detective novel
History & The Arts

Killed by Agatha Christie: Strychnine and the detective novel

...footprints, spies, cheating husbands, cheating wives and other misunderstandings among the red herrings litter the landscape. But in my particular version of fandom, all can be forgiven in admiration of the precise (and elegant) chemistry that underlies the story. The crime comes one summer morning when the household is awakened by “the most alarming sounds” coming...
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Article 5 mins
Challenge: Make paper and ink
Science, Maths & Technology

Challenge: Make paper and ink

...carbonate. Boiling the cellulose in the potassium hydroxide broke down the fibres allowing them to interweave to make paper. Once the fibres had been washed they were then sized (coated) with sticky cherry liquid. This would prevent the ink soaking in like blotting paper. Our scientists made a paper press to squeeze out excess moisture before leaving the sheet to dry in...
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Video 15 mins
Introducing environmental decision making
Nature & Environment

Introducing environmental decision making

...carbon dioxide emissions resulting from my travels. To quantify this impact, I used an ‘Air Travel Calculator’ that I found online. I was surprised to discover that my three journeys produced similar carbon dioxide emissions to a whole year of car use. In 2005, I drove approximately 16,000 kilometres, which produced around three tonnes of carbon dioxide compared to...
View course Introducing environmental decision making
Level 3: Advanced 24 hrs
Effects of pollutants on the aquatic environment
Nature & Environment

Effects of pollutants on the aquatic environment

...carbon that provides nutrients to the animals in the river. But if inadequately treated or in excessive quantities, sewage effluent can seriously damage the plant and animal life of a river by reducing the oxygen content of the water. In extreme cases, where the oxygen content is reduced to zero (or nearly so), the river will support very little life, and will become foul...
View course Effects of pollutants on the aquatic environment
Level 3: Advanced 3 hrs
What is Planetary Protection?
Science, Maths & Technology

What is Planetary Protection?

...carbon-rich asteroids, gas giant planets and some of their moons, some dwarf planets and Kuiper Belt objects III Flyby, orbiter Mars, Europa (moon of Jupiter), Enceladus (moon of Saturn) IV Lander Mars, Europa, Enceladus V ‘Restricted Earth return’ - Mars, Europa, Enceladus V ‘Unrestricted Earth return’ - Venus, Moon If the target body is of interest to the...
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Article 5 mins