ScienceIQ.com

What Are Squares And Square Roots?

The mathematical term 'square' comes from the two-dimensional shape of the same name. A square shape has the two dimensions of length and width, both exactly the same and at angles of 90 to each other. It is also perfectly flat. Put another way, a square is just as wide as it is long. The mathematical square of a number comes from the shape of a ...

Continue reading...

SquaresAndSquareRoots
Biology

What Causes Wrinkles?

Elastin and collagen are proteins in the skin's underlying layers that give it firmness and elasticity. As we age, skin begins to lose its elastin fibers. The fibers start to tangle in disorganized ... Continue reading

WhatCausesWrinkles
Biology

We Live In Two Distinct Visual Worlds

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live on a planet where all the colors were different from what you're used to? Actually, you already have a lot of experience with two different worlds ... Continue reading

VisualWorlds
Engineering

What Are Composite Materials?

A composite material is one in which two or more separate materials have been combined to make a single construct having more desirable properties. What many people don't realize is that composites ... Continue reading

CompositeMaterials
Geology

Silent Earthquakes

Try this demonstration of earthquake movement. Shape modeling clay into two blocks or get two firm sponge blocks. Press the sides of the blocks together while trying to slide them slowly past each ... Continue reading

SilentEarthquakes

Does The Sun Go A Bit Wobbly?

WobblySunOur Sun may seem an enduring, unwavering beacon in the sky, but in truth it has a 'heartbeat' of sorts--a pulsation between dimmer and brighter phases so slow that it only 'beats' 9 times each century! It's understandable that you might not have noticed. The pulsing is not only slow, it's also subtle. The total energy coming from the Sun only varies by about 0.1% over each 11-year cycle. For a long time scientists didn't notice it either, which is why the Sun's intensity is called, ironically, the 'solar constant.'

The intensity of the Sun varies along with the 11-year sunspot cycle. When sunspots are numerous the solar constant is high (about 1367 W/m2); when sunspots are scarce the value is low (about 1365 W/m2). Eleven years isn't the only 'beat,' however. The solar constant can fluctuate by ~0.1% over days and weeks as sunspots grow and dissipate. The solar constant also drifts by 0.2% to 0.6% over many centuries, according to scientists who study tree rings.

These small changes can affect Earth in a big way. For example, between 1645 and 1715 (a period astronomers call the 'Maunder Minimum') the sunspot cycle stopped; the face of the Sun was nearly blank for 70 years. At the same time Europe was hit by an extraordinary cold spell: the Thames River in London froze, glaciers advanced in the Alps, and northern sea ice increased. An earlier centuries-long surge in solar activity (inferred from studies of tree rings) had the opposite effect: Vikings were able to settle the thawed-out coast of Greenland in the 980s, and even grow enough wheat there to export the surplus to Scandinavia.