Yews have long been associated with religious worship. So it is likely that churches were originally built near the sacred trees rather than the other way round. These trees live longer than any other species in Europe and can grow to an enormous size. Many are thought to be well over 1,000 years old. Yews were revered by the druids …
Read More »Why is the word love used in tennis?
Long ago, no score was indicated on French tennis scorecards by an egg-shaped zero. This was unknown as “L’oeuf’, the French word for egg, and the English-speaking players used the name word, but in this case it sounded like love, and has been called love ever since.
Read More »T. C. Yohannan
T. C. Yohannan — Thadathuvila Chandapillai Yohannan, generally known as T.C. Yohannan has been an Indian Athlete who used to specialize in the Long Jump event and created a National Record in the event that remained unbroken for almost 3 decades. Early Life He was born on the 19th of May 1947 at Kundara village in District Quilon of Kerala. …
Read More »Why is the summer hot?
The Earth takes one year to circle around the Sun. But the Earth is titled, so that at different times of year some parts receive more sunlight than others. These changes give us the season. On the equator, is no great change in the seasons.
Read More »Swapan Mukhopadhay
Swapan Mukhopadhay — In North 24 Parganas of West Bengal lives a homegrown social worker Swapan Mukhopadhay. Mama to the children in his destitute home, Swapan is a real hero. Swapan started Centre for Communication and Development (CCD) in 1994 after he saved 365 Indian children from Saudi Arabia who were used in camel racing. It was then that he …
Read More »Why is the shuttle like a saucer?
You could say because they are both spacecraft. However, the right answer is that they are both made of ceramics. Saucers are made of ceramic material called porcelain, and the space shuttle is covered with ceramic tiles that resist the intense heat of re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. Ceramics are materials like pottery. They are made of substances such as …
Read More »Why is the flame of a candle pointed?
The flame of a candle is produced when the wax of the candle melts due to heat and the molten wax rises in the wick. It gets vapourised at its tip, and the vapour starts burning. The chemical reactions that occur are quite complex, giving rise to various colours and different zones of the flame. As the heated gas rises …
Read More »Why is the empty space in a car measured in litres?
Generally, volume in litres is associated with liquid measurements. Space inside a car is a not a perfect cube or an easily calculable shape. Volumes are not always easy to measure for irregular solid objects or spaces. We can use litres and cubic centimetres, or even cubic metres for measuring solid objects, or space that something might fit into, for …
Read More »Why is the Dead Sea dead?
The Dead Sea is indeed a very scary name for a lake. It is called so because nothing lives in it. There are no sea weeds or plants, no fish either. This is because the Dead Sea is nearly six times as salty as the ocean. It also contains many other dissolved minerals, including magnesium chloride, calcium chloride and potassium …
Read More »Why is the Ball-point Pen Called So?
Writing is one of the most important inventions. Humans first used brushes for writing, then thick reeds were used. Feathers were used in medieval Europe for writing. In the mid-19 century, metallic pens and nibs were widely used, while the fountain pen was produced in 1884 by the American, LE Waterman. However, these pens had a lot of problems. The …
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