China has suffered some terrible earthquakes, and it isn’t surprising that China’s scientists want to find ways of forecasting them. In 1975, they were successful. They cleared the city of Haicheng two hours before a devastating quake and saved the city’s population. Earthquake forecasting is, however, still inexact; the Chinese have failed to predict several earthquakes since 1975, but they …

How does the Earth keep warm? This is a question that you have answered for yourself every time that you have been sunbathing. Almost all of the Earth’s heat, and this means its energy, must come from the Sun. In addition to this the interior of the Earth has retained much of the heat which was generated as the formation …

How is the height of different places on earth measured from the sea level? The height of different places on earth is measured with the help of the ‘altimeter’. The instrument used for measuring the height at a place is basically a barometer. At sea level, the height of the barometric liquid (mercury) is 76 cm. When we go to …

Is the earth perfectly round? No, it isn’t. The earth is in fact like a rubber ball which has been gently squashed at the top and bottom, so that it is widest at the equator. It also has four bulges which form rough corners. These are in Ireland, and near the countries of Peru, South Africa and New Guinea. Scientists …

New Jersey, a Middle Atlantic state located between New York on the north and east and Pennsylvania and Delaware on the west, occupies a peninsula bounded by the Delaware and Hudson rivers. The state’s northern border is its only artificial limit. The Atlantic Ocean to the southeast provides an attractive and popular resort area. The “waistline” of the state is …

New Mexico, located in the southwestern United States at the southern end of the Rocky Mountains, borders Mexico on the south, Arizona on the west, Colorado on the north, Oklahoma on the east, and Texas on the east and southeast. With an area of 314,938 sq km (121,598 sq mi), it ranks fifth among the states in size. New Mexico’s …

Arkansas, one of the Southern states of the United States, is bordered by Missouri on the north and northeast, by Tennessee and Mississippi on the east, by Louisiana on the south, and by Texas and Oklahoma on the west. The region of Arkansas was first visited by Europeans in 1541-42, when Hernando DE SOTO, a Spanish explorer, led a party …

Festive mood gripped the entire Kashmir valley, as Eid-ul-Fitr is being celebrated. Eid-ul-Fitr Festive mood grips Srinagar Valley: While people were seen thronging the marketplaces for last-minute shopping, others were seen rushing home early ahead of the festive occasion. Maximum rush of shoppers was witnessed at the bakery and butcher shops. Most of the offices, especially the government ones, wore …

Originally, it was thought that the centre of the earth has magnetized iron deposits, which caused it to act like a huge permanent bar magnet. However, the theory failed to explain how the magnetic field had sustained itself for long, because even if there was magnetized iron in the core earlier, the core of the earth is so hot that …

It is nearest to the sun on about the second or third day in January. The distance varies because it spins round the sun in an elliptical orbit or path. The time when the earth is closest to the sun is called the perihelion. The time when it is farthest away the aphelion comes six months later on the first …