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Sex and the Sea Slug

The sea slug, Aplysia. Now there's an expert on sex. Equipped with both male and female sex organs, this shell-less, subtidal mollusk lives alone most of the year. It loses its self-sufficiency, however, when the mating season comes around. In summer, sea slugs congregate in breeding colonies called (yes, it's true!) brothels. They crawl around and ...

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SexSeaSlug
Physics

The Coriolis Effect

The Earth, rotating at about 1000 miles per hour (1,609 km/hr), influences the flow of air and water on its surface. We call this the Coriolis Effect, named after French scientist Gaspard Coriolis, ... Continue reading

Coriolis
Biology

Word Power of the Very Young

Before they turn 2, most children have a vocabulary of about 50 words. From 1st to 5th grades, according to some estimates, their vocabulary increases by about 30,000 words. That's 20 words a day! How ... Continue reading

WordPowerChildren
Medicine

What Is High Blood Pressure?

High blood pressure is a blood pressure reading of 140/90 mmHg or higher. Both numbers are important. About one in every four American adults has high blood pressure. Once high blood pressure ... Continue reading

WhatIsHighBloodPressure
Geology

When This Lake 'Burps,' Better Watch Out!

Nearly twenty years ago, two lakes in Cameroon, a country in Africa, 'burped,' killing hundreds of people. What makes a lake burp? Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun are unusual lakes. They each formed in the ... Continue reading

LakeBurps

How To Calculate The Volume Of A Cylinder

VolumeOfACylinder Calculating the volume of a cylinder is even easier than calculating its area. All you have to do is recognize that a cylinder is no more than just a bunch of circles stacked to a certain height, just like a cube is just a bunch of squares stacked up one on top of the other, and every circle in the stack is identical. The area of each circle is obtained by multiplying the radius of the circle by itself and then by the value of p. The length of the cylinder is just the length of the cylinder. The volume of the cylinder can then be calculated by the general formula: V = pr2l.

As an example of how to use this formula, suppose you have a large water storage tank by your garden that you need to fill with water. You also promised to take the kids to a baseball game in exactly four hours. Your garden hose delivers 25 liters of water every minute, and you want to know how long it will take to fill the tank this way The tank is three meters long and 1.5 meters wide, which means the radius is 0.75 meters. (use p = 3.1416 for a more accurate estimate). The volume is therefore; V = pr2, = 3.1416 X 3 X 0.75 X 0.75, = 5.8905 cubic meters.

Each cubic meter contains 1000 liters, so the tank holds 5890.5 liters. At 25 liters per minute it will take 235.62 minutes to fill the tank from your garden hose, or 3 hours and 56 minutes. Turn the hose on right now, and don't forget to turn it off when you take the kids to the baseball game.