1. HOW WAS ELECTRICTY DISCOVERED?

Electricity would remain little more than an intellectual curiosity for millennia until 1600, when the English scientist William Gilbert made a careful study of electricity and magnetism, distinguishing the lodestone effect from static electricity produced by rubbing amber.[6] He coined the New Latin word electricus ("of amber" or "like amber", from [elektron], the Greek word for "amber") to refer to the property of attracting small objects after being rubbed.[9] This association gave rise to the English words "electric" and "electricity", which made their first appearance in print in Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica of 1646.[10] Further work was conducted by Otto von Guericke, Robert Boyle, Stephen Gray and C. F. du Fay. In the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin conducted extensive research in electricity, selling his possessions to fund his work. In June 1752 he is reputed to have attached a metal key to the bottom of a dampened kite string and flown the kite in a storm-threatened sky.[11] A succession of sparks jumping from the key to the back of his hand showed that lightning was indeed electrical in nature.[12] He also explained the apparently paradoxical behavior of the Leyden jar as a device for storing large amounts of electrical charge. In 1791, Luigi Galvani published his discovery of bioelectricity, demonstrating that electricity was the medium by which nerve cells passed signals to the muscles.[13] Alessandro Volta's battery, or voltaic pile, of 1800, made from alternating layers of zinc and copper, provided scientists with a more reliable source of electrical energy than the electrostatic machines previously used.[13] The recognition of electromagnetism, the unity of electric and magnetic phenomena, is due to Hans Christian rsted and Andr-Marie Ampre in 1819-1820; Michael Faraday invented the electric motor in 1821, and Georg Ohm mathematically analysed the electrical circuit in 1827.[13] Electricity and magnetism (and light) were definitively linked by James Clerk Maxwell, in particular in his "On Physical Lines of Force" in 1861 and 1862. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity 2. WHAT ARE ISOBARS? Isobars are atoms (nuclides) of different chemical elements that have the same number of nucleons. Correspondingly, isobars differ in atomic number (or number of protons) but have the same mass number. An example of a series of isobars would be 40S, 40Cl, 40Ar, 40K, and 40Ca. The nuclei of these nuclides all contain 40 nucleons, however they contain varying numbers of protons and neutrons.[1] The term "isobars" (originally "isobares") for nuclides was suggested by Alfred Walter Stewart in 1918.[2] It is derived from the Greek word isos, meaning "equal" and baros, meaning "weight". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isobar_%28nuclide%29 3. WHY DID BENJAMIN FRANKLIN FLY A KITE DURING A THUNDERSTORM? So he could capture the electricity from lightning and figure out how to use it in everyday life. It obviously worked pretty well or else you wouldn't be reading this on your electricity-powered computer. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_did_Benjamin_Franklin_fly_a_kite_in_a_storm 4. WHO INVENTED THE LIGHTNING CONDUCTOR? The Lightning Conductor was invented by the American Benjamin Franklin in 1752. He built a kite with an iron tip, threaded a key (also of iron) at the bottom of the string, and flew the kite during a thunderstorm. Franklin proved that the iron tip attracted the lightning and carried the electric charge down the string to the key - in fact, Franklin got an electric shock by touching the key. Following the experiment, Franklin built his first Lightning Conductor, a steel mask which he placed a short distance from this house.

http://more2kno.blogspot.com/2011/07/who-invented-lightning-conductor.html 5. WHAT CAUSES LIGHTNING? Lightning is a discharge of electricity in the atmosphere. A lightning strike takes just a few thousandths of a second to go from the clouds to the ground or an object that is raised off the ground, then to go back up to the clouds along the same pathway. The electrostatic discharge raises the air surrounding this pathway to a temperature that is roughly five times hotter than the surface of the sun. This happens so quickly that the heated air doesn't have enough time to expand and becomes compressed to many times the normal atmospheric pressure. As the compressed air expands outward, it creates an acoustic shock wave that is heard as thunder. http://www.wisegeek.org/what-causes-thunder.htm 6. WHAT CAUSES THUNDER? Thunder is caused by lightning, which is essentially a stream of electrons flowing between or within clouds, or between a cloud and the ground. The air surrounding the electron stream is heated to as hot as 50,000 degrees Farhenheit, which is three times hotter than the surface of the sun. As the superheated air cools it produces a resonating tube of partial vacuum surrounding the lightning's path. The nearby air rapidly expands and contracts. This causes the column to vibrate like a tubular drum head and produces a tremendous crack. As the vibrations gradually die out, the sound echoes and reverberates, generating the rumbling we call thunder. We can hear the thundering booms 10 miles or more distant from the lightning that caused it. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-causes-thunder 7. WHY ARE SHIPS LAUNCHED WITH A CHAMPAGNE? Christening a new ship with wine or holy water has obvious religious overtones, but the practice predates Christianity. A Babylonian narrative from the third millennium BC replaces a bottle of Dom with a couple of heifers: Openings to the water I stopped; I searched for cracks and the wanting parts I fixed: Three sari of bitumen I poured over the outside; To the gods I caused oxen to be sacrificed The practice of breaking a bottle of wine over a ship's bow was introduced by the British navy in the late 17th century as a cost saving measure! Previously the ships were baptized with a "standing cup" of precious metal, which was then promptly thrown overboard. The rapid production of ships during the height of the British Empire put an end to that. Why champagne over wine? We couldn't find a specific answer, but champagne has always been closely tied to new births, new years, and celebration in general. It's also a secular beverage with no religious strings attached. And it looks great flying around everywhere. http://ask.yahoo.com/20010423.html 8. WHAT ARE GOOSE PIMPLES? Goose bumps, also called goose flesh, goose pimples, the medical term cutis anserina, are the bumps on a person's skin at the base of body hairs which may involuntarily develop when a person is cold or experiences strong emotions such as fear, nostalgia, pleasure, euphoria, awe, admiration and sexual arousal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goose_bumps 9. WHY ARE COMPUTER KEYS ARRANGED IN CERTAIN ORDER?

The keys on a Qwerty keyboard are not arranged alphabetically because the creator of the Qwerty keyboard designed it where the most used keys were on the home row or within easy reach of the fingers. The least used letters, like Q, X, and Z, are put at the corners of the keyboard, where the fingers take the most effort to reach. Thus, the Qwerty keyboard was arranged for easier typing. Before computers in olden days most of them used Type machines so they learned how to type in the type machines...in the same way key board letters are designed i the same face. The keys Q,W,E,R,T and in some cases Y are put there because when the computer/keypad were invented they were very slow. Many people would type so fast the computers jammed. So they made the keypad with the 5/6 most used letters on the left to slow right-handed people [most people] down and stop the computers freezing up. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_are_the_keys_on_a_QWERTY_keyboard_not_arranged_in_alphabe tical_order 10. WHY DO WE BLOW OUT BIRTHDAY CANDLES? In present times too, people place candles on birthday cakes and a silent wish is made before blowing out the candle. It is believed that blowing out all candles in one breath means the wish will come true and the person will enjoy good luck in the coming year. Some also smear out the name of the person before slicing of the cake to bring good luck. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_cake 11. HOW DO SHIP USE FLAGS TO SEND A MESSAGES? 12. WHAT ARE THE MOST FAMOUS FLAG SIGNAL EVER KNOWN? 13. WHAT IS A PATENT? A patent (/ptnt/ or /petnt/) is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time, in exchange for the public disclosure of the invention. An invention is a solution to a specific technological problem, and may be a product or a process.[1]:17 The procedure for granting patents, requirements placed on the patentee, and the extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between countries according to national laws and international agreements. Typically, however, a patent application must include one or more claims that define the invention. These claims must meet relevant patentability requirements, such as novelty and non-obviousness. The exclusive right granted to a patentee in most countries is the right to prevent others from making, using, selling, or distributing the patented invention without permission.[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent 14. WHERE DO EELS COME FROM? Eels are elongated fish, ranging in length from 5 cm (2.0 in) in the one-jawed eel (Monognathus ahlstromi) to 4 m (13 ft) in the slender giant moray.[2] Adults range in weight from 30 g to well over 25& tbsp;kg. They possess no pelvic fins, and many species also lack pectoral fins. The dorsal and anal fins are fused with the caudal or tail fin, forming a single ribbon running along much of the length of the animal.[1] Most eels live in the shallow waters of the ocean and burrow into sand, mud, or amongst rocks. A majority of eel species are nocturnal, and thus are rarely seen. Sometimes, they are seen living together in holes, or "eel pits". Some species of eels also live in deeper water on the continental shelves and over the slopes deep as 4,000 m (13,000 ft). Only members of the Anguilla family regularly inhabit fresh water, but they too return to the sea to breed.[3]

Eels begin life as flat and transparent larvae, or encephalitic. Eel larvae drift in the surface waters of the sea, feeding on marine snow, small particles that float in the water. Eel larvae then metamorphose into glass eels and then become elvers before finally seeking out their juvenile and adult habitats.[2] Freshwater elvers travel upstream and are forced to climb up obstructions, such as weirs, dam walls, and natural waterfalls. Gertrude Elizabeth Blood found, at Ballistics, the eel fisheries were greatly improved by the hanging of loosely plaited grass ladders over barriers, enabling the elvers to ascend. The daylight passage in the spring of elvers upstream along the Thames was called "eel fare", and the word 'elver' is thought to be a corruption thereof. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel 15. WHAT IS AN ARCTOPHILE? A person who is very fond of and is usually a collector of teddy bears. http://wordsmith.org/words/arctophile.html 16. WHAT IS THE BEAUFORT SCALE? The Beaufort scale (pron.: /bofrt/) is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale, although it is a measure of wind speed and not of "force" in the scientific sense of the word. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale 17. HOW FAR AWAY IS LIGHTNING? To estimate the distance between you and a lightning flash, use the "Flash to Bang" method: If you observe lightning, count the number of seconds until you hear thunder. Divide the number of seconds by five to get the distance in miles. Example: If you see lightning and it takes 10 seconds before you hear the thunder, then the lightning is 2 miles away from you (10 divided by 5 = 2 miles). http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/distance.htm 18. WHICH GASES ARE FOUND IN AIR? Dry air contains roughly (by volume) 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.038% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1%. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_gases_are_found_in_air 19. WHY IS THE SEA BLUE? The sea looks blue for the same reason the sky looks blue: the refraction and scattering of light rays. Light scatters as it passes through air or water. Since blue light has a short wavelength, it scatters most easily. Conversely, red light has a long wavelength and scatters less easily. So, the blue rays get reflected back, and that's what we 'see' as the color of the sky or the water surface. http://therightblue.blogspot.com/2007/08/why-is-sea-blue.html 20. WHY DOES MILK SOUR IN A THUNDERSTORM? It is an old country saying that thunderstorms make milk go sour. That was true in the old days, when there were no refrigerators. Milk could not be kept fresh over long periods of time and on a hot and humid day, lactobacilli would reproduce at a fairly high rate. That caused the milk to go sour quite fast. http://www.mpreis.com/index.php?id=836 21. HOW ARE CLOUDS FORMED?

Clouds are formed when air containing water vapor is cooled below a critical temperature called the dew point and the resulting moisture condenses into droplets on microscopic dust particles (condensation nuclei) in the atmosphere. http://answers.encyclopedia.com/question/clouds-formed-121294.html 22. WHO WAS PELORUS JACK? Pelorus Jack (fl. 1888 April 1912) was a Risso's dolphin that was famous for meeting and escorting ships through a stretch of water in Cook Strait, New Zealand, between 1888 and 1912. Pelorus Jack was usually spotted in Admiralty Bay between Cape Francis and Collinet Point, near French Pass, a notoriously dangerous channel used by ships travelling between Wellington and Nelson. Pelorus Jack was shot at from a passing ship, and was later protected by a 1904 New Zealand law. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelorus_Jack 23. WHY ARE MAPS DRAWN WITH NORTH AT THE TOP? The reason why maps are drawn North to South is due to a tradition set forth by our forefathers. Although the Universe has no clear directions but humans need a navigation guide to set our compass right and put a reference to everything, hence the invention of bearings and directions. If today, bearings were invented with South on the top and North at the bottom, we would naturally find it acceptable. For example if aeroplanes were known as trains all along, we would never have doubted why was it named as trains in the first place. http://belindaang.com/2009/02/why-are-maps-drawn-north-to-south/ 24. WHICH IS THE FASTEST ANIMAL ON EARTH? Cheetahs are, without a doubt, the fastest creatures in the world on land. (There's probably some wickedly fast creatures in the ocean that we still don't even know about). Why would a cheetah need to be able to run so fast? The only animal that comes in a close second to the Cheetah's amazing speed is its favorite prey, the gazelle. In order to catch up with a meal that's as swift as the wind, the cheetah had to develop the ability to run as fast, or faster than the gazelle, or face the alternative - starvation. Pretty strong motivation for practicing their wind sprints. These cats can run 70mph/112kph. http://www.extremescience.com/cheetah.htm 25. WHAT ARE SINGING SANDS? Singing sand, whistling sand or barking sand is sand that produces sound. The sound emission may be caused by wind passing over dunes or by walking on the sand. Certain conditions have to come together to create singing sand: 1. The sand grains have to be round and between 0.1 and 0.5 mm in diameter. 2. The sand has to contain silica. 3. The sand needs to be at a certain humidity. The most common frequency emitted seems to be close to 450 Hz. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_sand 26. WHERE DOES CORT COME FROM? 27. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MARY CELESTE? The Mary Celeste (or Marie Cleste as it is fictionally referred to by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and others after him) was a British-American merchant brigantine famous for having been discovered on 4 December 1872 in the Atlantic Ocean, unmanned and apparently abandoned (one lifeboat was missing, along with its crew of seven), although the weather was fine and her crew had been experienced and

capable seamen. The Mary Celeste was in seaworthy condition and still under sail heading toward the Strait of Gibraltar. She had been at sea for a month and had over six months' worth of food and water on board. Her cargo was virtually untouched and the personal belongings of passengers and crew were still in place, including valuables. The crew was never seen or heard from again. The Mary Celeste crew's disappearance is often cited as the greatest maritime mystery of all time. The fate of her crew has been the subject of much speculation. Theories range from alcoholic fumes, to underwater earthquakes, to waterspouts, to paranormal explanations involving extraterrestrial life, unidentified flying objects (UFOs), sea monsters, and the phenomenon of the Bermuda Triangle, although the Mary Celeste is not known to have sailed through the Bermuda Triangle area. The Mary Celeste is often described as the archetypal ghost ship, since she was discovered derelict without any apparent explanation, and her name has become a synonym for similar occurrences. The ship was said to be "cursed" and had a long history of disasters and catastrophes, and three captains died on the ship. The ship was destroyed in 1885 when it was intentionally wrecked off the coast of Haiti in an attempt to commit insurance fraud. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste 28. WHAT IS A CALORIE? The calorie is a pre-SI metric unit of energy. It was first defined by Nicolas Clment in 1824 as a unit of heat,[1] entering French and English dictionaries between 1841 and 1867.[2] Its use has been replaced by the SI unit of energy, the joule. However, it still remains in occasional use as a unit of food energy in the US, UK and some other Western countries. It may also still appear occasionally in the field of chemistry, but is not used as a standard unit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie 29. WHAT IS A NAUTICAL MILE? The nautical mile (symbol M, NM or nmi) is a unit of length that is about one minute of arc of latitude measured along any meridian, or about one minute of arc of longitude at the equator. By international agreement, it is 1,852 metres (approximately 6,076 feet). It is a non-SI unit (although accepted for use in the International System of Units by the BIPM) used especially by navigators in the shipping and aviation industries,[1] and also in polar exploration. It is commonly used in international law and treaties, especially regarding the limits of territorial waters. It developed from the sea mile and the related geographical mile. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_mile 30. WHY IS A SHIP SPEED MEASURED IN KNOTS? In the ancient times, the only way to measure ship speed was to throw a wood log into the water and observe how fast it moves away from the ship. This approximate method of ship speed measurement was called 'Heaving the Log' and was used until 1500-1600s when the 'Chip Log' method was invented (both methods probably invented by Dutch sailors.) The 'Chip Log' apparatus consisted of a small weighted wood panel that was attached to the reel of rope, and a time measuring device: a half-minute sand glass (as shown in image below to the right.)Chip Log Rope had knots tied at equal distances along the reel. Sailors would throw the wood panel into the sea, behind the ship, and the rope would start unwinding from the reel. The faster the ship was moving forward the faster the rope would unwind. By counting the number of knots that went overboard in a given time interval, measured by the sand glass, they could tell the ship's speed. In fact that is the origin of the nautical speed unit: the knot.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090502084508AA96rnR 31. HOW WAS A SUNDIAL INVENTED? The Egyptians and the Babylonians were the first to make use of the sun to measure time. This was around 3500 BC. Their sundials were big pillars and they were called obelisks. The word obelisks comes from the Greek word, which roughly translates as a pillar. http://www.thegeminigeek.com/who-invented-sundials/ 32. WHAT IS THE LEGEND OF LORELEI? The legends about Lady Lorelei along the Rhine in Germany have circulated for hundreds of years. Here the origins of this myth are explained.Along the banks of the Rhine River in Germany lies a rock over 100 meters high called the Lorelei (also spelled Loreley.) The Lorelei situates itself at the point where the Rhine River reaches its narrowest point and most shallow point. Countless ships have wrecked there in the area over hundreds of years. The German folklore attributes these accidents to the legendary Lorelei. http://suite101.com/article/the-legend-of-the-lorelei-in-germany-a180837 33. WHO INVENTED THE HOVER CRAFT? The hovercraft was invented by Christopher Cockerell, an English electronic engineer in the 1950s. The first full-sized hovercraft, the SRN1 was not built and ready for testing until May 28, 1959. http://library.thinkquest.org/16541/eng/learn/library/content/hovercraft.htm 34. WHY DO PEOPLE BLINK? Blinking, as opposed to batting, our eyes automatically supplies two forms of moisture to our eyes, to keep them from drying out, and to keep foreign matter from entering and irritating our eyes. Eyelids themselves, our built-in "wind-shield wipers," are merely folds of skin, controlled by muscles capable of expanding and contracting so rapidly, that blinking does not impair our vision. Mother Nature lined the rims of our eyelids with 20-30 sebaceous, oil-producing glands, which are located between our eyelashes, and are invisible to the naked eye. Blinking automatically coats the eyelid and eyelashes with the lubricant it secretes, to prevent them from drying out. Blinking also protects the eye from dryness by irrigating, not by irritating, the eye, The eyelid, through suction, automatically draws the fluid we cry with from the well we refer to as the tear duct over the eyeball, to irrigate, and to moisturize the eye. The process is similar to the manner in which the farmer uses water to irrigate his crops during a dry spell. http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/blink.asp 35. WHAT IS AN UGLI? An ugli (Citrus reticulata) is a tropical fruit originating in Jamaica. This unattractive fruit has a loose, wrinkled, yellowish-red skin with a greenish tinge. It ranges in size between a navel orange and a giant grapefruit. The acid-sweet flavor of the ugli is like that of a grapefruit with hints of orange. The ugli may actually be a hybrid (the offspring of genetically different varieties of species) between a grapefruit and a tangerine. http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-an-ugli-288676 36. WHICH FOOD IN FABRIC COLOURING WAS MADE FROM CRUSHED INSECTS? 37. HOW OFTEN DO WE USE BREATHE?

A resting person requires 14.5 L of O2 per hour to maintain metabolic activities. Such a person breathes in 0.5 L of air at approximately 20 C with each breath. The inhaled air is 20.9%O2 while the exhaled air is 16.3%O2 . http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081101091301AA9S429 38. WHO WAS PRESERVED IN BRANDY? 39. HOW WERE THE DAYS NAMED? The days of the week were named after Norse gods and giant objects in the sky. These names come to us originally from the Greeks and Romans, who named the days of the week after their gods. The Anglo-Saxons, who invaded Britain hundreds of years ago, adopted this idea but substituted their own gods. The English language has inherited and changed those names a bit, but the ones we use today resemble those names. http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/funfacts/daysoftheweek.htm 40. HOW STRONG IS AN ANT? Like all insects, ants have six legs. Each leg has three joints. The legs of the ant are very strong so they can run very quickly. If a man could run as fast for his size as an ant can, he could run as fast as a racehorse. Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight. An ant brain has about 250 000 brain cells. A human brain has 10,000 million so a colony of 40,000 ants has collectively the same size brain as a human. http://lingolex.com/ants.htm 41. WHO INVENTED RADAR? WHAT IS A RADAR? Radar is an object detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio waves or microwaves which bounce off any object in their path. The object returns a tiny part of the wave's energy to a dish or antenna which is usually located at the same site as the transmitter. Radar was secretly developed by several nations before and during World War II. The term RADAR was coined in 1940 by the United States Navy as an acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging.[1] The term radar has since entered English and other languages as the common noun radar, losing all capitalization. As early as 1886, German physicist Heinrich Hertz showed that radio waves could be reflected from solid objects. In 1895, Alexander Popov, a physics instructor at the Imperial Russian Navy school in Kronstadt, developed an apparatus using a coherer tube for detecting distant lightning strikes. The next year, he added a spark-gap transmitter. In 1897, while testing this equipment for communicating between two ships in the Baltic Sea, he took note of an interference beat caused by the passage of a third vessel. In his report, Popov wrote that this phenomenon might be used for detecting objects, but he did nothing more with this observation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar 42. WHAT ARE FLAT SAM AND JET SAM? In maritime law, flotsam, jetsam, lagan and derelict describe specific kinds of wreck. The words have specific nautical meanings, with legal consequences in the law of admiralty and marine salvage.[1] Flotsam is floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo. Jetsam is part of a ship, its equipment, or its cargo that is purposefully cast overboard or jettisoned to lighten the load in time of distress and that sinks or is washed ashore. Lagan (also called ligan[2]) is cargo that is lying on the bottom of the ocean, sometimes

marked by a buoy, which can be reclaimed. Derelict is cargo that is also on the bottom of the ocean, but which no one has any hope of reclaiming. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flotsam_and_jetsam 43. WHAT ARE THE MONTH OF THE YEAR NAMED AFTER? The names for the months in the current Gregorian calendar were designated by the Romans in honor of their gods and specific events. Below are the months, with their Latin translations in parentheses, followed by the origin of each name. January (Januarius)named after Janus, a Roman two-faced god; one face is looking into the past, the other into the future. February (Februarium)from the Latin word februare, meaning "to cleanse." During this time period, the Romans performed religious rites to purge themselves of sin. March (Martius)named after Mars, the god of war. April (Aprilis)from the Latin word aperio, meaning "to open," because plants begin to grow in this month. May (Maius)after the Roman goddess Maia. Also from the Latin word maiores meaning "elders," who were celebrated during this month. June (Junius)after the goddess Juno and the Latin word iuniores, meaning "young people." July (lulius)originally called quintilis from the Latin word meaning five, since it was the fifth month in the early Roman calendar. Its name was changed to July in honor of Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.). August (Augustus)named after the first Roman emperor, Augustus Caesar (63-14 B.C.). Originally the month was known as sextilis, the sixth month in the early Roman calendar. September (September)from the Latin word septem, which means "seven," since it was the seventh month of the early Roman calendar. October (October)from the Latin word octo, which means "eight," since it was the eighth month of the early Roman calendar. November (November)from the Latin word novem, which means "nine," since it was the ninth month of the early Roman calendar. December (December)from the Latin word decem, which means "ten," since it was the tenth month of the early Roman calendar. http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-were-months-year-named-289395 44. WHAT IS THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE? The Bermuda Triangle, sometimes called the Devil's Triangle, is reputedly an area in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean. The triangle doesn't exist according to the US Navy and the name is not recognized by the US Board on Geographic Names.[1] However, a number of aircraft and surface vessels are said to have disappeared in the triangle under unknown circumstances. Popular culture has attributed various disappearances to the paranormal or activity by extraterrestrial beings.[2] Documented evidence indicates that a significant percentage of the incidents were spurious, inaccurately reported, or embellished by later authors.[3][4][5] Contrary to popular belief, insurance companies do not charge higher premiums for shipping in this area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda_Triangle 45. WHAT IS A SEMAPHARE?

In computer science, a semaphore is a variable or abstract data type that provides a simple but useful abstraction for controlling access by multiple processes to a common resource in a parallel programming or multi user environment. A useful way to think of a semaphore is as a record of how many units of a particular resource are available, coupled with operations to safely (i.e., without race conditions) adjust that record as units are required or become free, and, if necessary, wait until a unit of the resource becomes available. Semaphores are a useful tool in the prevention of race conditions; however, their use is by no means a guarantee that a program is free from these problems. Semaphores which allow an arbitrary resource count are called counting semaphores, while semaphores which are restricted to the values 0 and 1 (or locked/unlocked, unavailable/available) are called binary semaphores (same functionality that mutexes have). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_%28programming%29 46. WHAT IS MORSE CODE? Morse code is a method of transmitting text information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment. The International Morse Code[1] encodes the ISO basic Latin alphabet, some extra Latin letters, the Arabic numerals and a small set of punctuation and procedural signals as standardized sequences of short and long signals called "dots" and "dashes",[1] or "dits" and "dahs". Because many non-English natural languages use more than the 26 Roman letters, extensions to the Morse alphabet exist for those languages. Each character (letter or numeral) is represented by a unique sequence of dots and dashes. The duration of a dash is three times the duration of a dot. Each dot or dash is followed by a short silence, equal to the dot duration. The letters of a word are separated by a space equal to three dots (one dash), and two words are separated by a space equal to seven dots. The dot duration is the basic unit of time measurement in code transmission.[1] For efficiency, the length of each character in Morse is approximately inversely proportional to its frequency of occurrence in English. Thus, the most common letter in English, the letter "E," has the shortest code, a single dot. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code 47. WHAT IS A TOPIARY? Topiary is the horticultural practice of training live perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes,[1] perhaps geometric or fanciful; the term also refers to plants which have been shaped in this way. As an art form it is a type of living sculpture. The word derives from the Latin word for an ornamental landscape gardener, topiarius, a creator of topia or "places", a Greek word that Romans also applied to fictive indoor landscapes executed in fresco. No doubt the use of a Greek word betokens the art's origins in the Hellenistic world that was influenced by Persia, for neither Classical Greece nor Republican Rome developed any sophisticated tradition of artful pleasure grounds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topiary 48. WHO INVENTED THE FOLLOWING: Safety pin American mechanic Walter Hunt is regarded as the inventor of the safety pin that bears resemblance to those used today. The safety pin included a clasp that covered the point and kept it from opening, and a circular twist at the bend to act as a spring and hold it in place.[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_pin Paper clip

According to the Early Office Museum, the first patent for a bent wire paper clip was awarded in the United States to Samuel B. Fay, in 1867. This clip was originally intended primarily for attaching tickets to fabric, although the patent recognized that it could be used to attach papers together.[1] Fay received U.S. patent 64,088 on April 23, 1867. Although functional and practical, Fay's design along with the 50 other designs patented prior to 1899 are not considered reminiscent of the modern paperclip design known today.[2] Another notable paper clip design was also patented in the United States by Erlman J. Wright in 1877. This clip was advertised at that time for use in fastening newspapers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_clip Snooker The game of snooker was invented by a Britain, Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain of the British Army garrisons of India. The game is believed to have came about as a mix of other billiard games, mainly english billiards, this new billiard sport of snooker surfaced around 1875. The term snooker was used as a derogatory term for the first year recruits of the Royal Military Academy of Woolwich in England. For many years the game was known as 'Snookers Pool' and was played with a smaller number of balls and to very different scoring rules than the game we know today. http://www.snookerclub.com/snooker.shtml Acupuncture Acupuncture has a clearly recorded history of about 2,000 years, but some authorities claim that it has been practiced in China for some 4,000 years. The Chinese believe that the practice of acupuncture began during the Stone Age when stone knives or sharp edged tools, described by the character 'Bian', were used to puncture and drain abscesses. In fact the Chinese character 'Bian' means the 'use of a sharp edged stone to treat disease', and the modern Chinese character 'Bi', representing a disease of pain, is almost certainly derived from the use of 'Bian stones' for the treatment of painful complaints. http://www.healthy.net/Health/Article/The_History_of_Acupuncture_in_China/1819 Crossword A crossword puzzle is a game of words where the player is given a hint and the number of letters. The player then fills in a grid of boxes by finding the right words. Liverpool journalist, Arthur Wynne invented the first crossword puzzle. http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/crossword.htm Fish finger In 1953 the American company Gorton-Pew Fisheries, now known as Gorton's, had been the first company to introduce a frozen ready-to-cook fish finger, named Gortons Fish Sticks, which won the Parents Magazine Seal of Approval. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_finger Clarinet Johann Christoph Denner invented the clarinet in Germany around the turn of the 18th century by adding a register key to the earlier chalumeau. Over time, additional keywork and airtight pads were added to improve tone and playability. Today, the clarinet is used in jazz and classical ensembles, in chamber groups, and as a solo instrument. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarinet Saxophone

he saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846.[4] He wanted to create an instrument that would be the most powerful and vocal of the woodwinds, and the most adaptive of the brassthat would fill the vacant middle ground between the two sections. He patented the saxophone on June 24, 1846 in two groups of seven instruments each. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxophone Cats eye The inventor of cat's eyes was Percy Shaw of Boothtown, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. When the tram-lines were removed in the nearby suburb of Ambler Thorn, he realised that he had been using the polished strips of steel to navigate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%27s_eye_%28road%29 Radio Within the history of radio, many people were involved in the invention of radio technology that continues to evolve in modern wireless communication systems today.[1][2][3] Radio development began as "wireless telegraphy", first invented by David Edward Hughes.[1][4] Later, during the early commercial development of wireless technology that followed the first Hughes demonstrations, highly publicized disputes arose over the issue of who could claim credit for the invention of radio. The enormous publicity and commercial importance of these disputes overshadowed the much earlier theoretical, experimental, and applied work of James Clerk Maxwell, David Edward Hughes, Heinrich Hertz, Jagadish Chandra Bose, and others. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_radio Television At the dawn of television history there were two distinct paths of technology experimented with by researchers. Early inventors attempted to either build a mechanical television system based on the technology of Paul Nipkow's rotating disks; or they attempted to build an electronic television system using a cathode ray tube developed independently in 1907 by English inventor A.A. Campbell-Swinton and Russian scientist Boris Rosing. Electronic television systems worked better and eventual replaced mechanical systems. http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Television.htm Matches In 1827, an English pharmacist named John Walker produced his "sulphuretted peroxide strikables," gigantic, yard-long sticks that can be considered the real precursor of todays match. Small phosphorus matches were first marketed in Germany in 1832, but they were extremely hazardous. In 1836 in the United States, Alonzo D. Phillips of Springfield, Massachusetts, obtained a patent for "manufacturing of friction matches" and called them locofocos. The danger problem was not resolved until the invention of amorphous (red) phosphorus in 1845. Carl Lundstrom of Sweden introduced the first red phosphorus "safety" matches in 1855. http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/matches.htm