COAL FIRED ELECTRICITY GENERATION.

              Energy, we all need it to do a work. As humans we use energy stored in our body. But most of the time energy stored in our body is not sufficient enough to finish the required work. Therefore we use machines to do our work. Most of these machines driven by electricity which makes electricity to play a major role in the form of energy for development of a country. Electricity generation required an efficient energy source. Energy sources that we use today is limited resulting a global problem called energy crisis.s

              Hydro power is the most common energy source that people familiar with the electricity generation in Sri Lanka. Other than that developed countries use nuclear energy to generate electricity. Fossil fuels, geothermal energy is also using for electricity generation. Due to the modern climatic changes hydro power stations cannot operate at their maximum capacity. And Nuclear power plants need more advanced technology and more capital which cannot afford by developing country like Sri Lanka, which lead to find a convenient alternative energy source to generate electricity. Such convenient alternative energy source is Coal. Coal is a solid fossil fuel which containing Carbon and it is the most impure of fuels, its impurities range from trace quantities of many metals including uranium and thorium to much larger quantities of aluminum and Iron to still larger quantities of impurities of such as Sulfur. 

Interesting Facts about Cats II

Saber toothed cat

    In my early post we talked about some common facts that are shared by the whole cat family. Now let’s talk about domestic cats. These Cats have a long history; their prehistoric member was SABRE TOOTHED CAT which is very much similar to the tiger and about the same size. This Saber toothed cat developed six inch long canine tooth extending from its upper jaw. scientists believed  this development of over sized tooth led to extinction of these unusual cats where as they could not open their mouth wide enough to bite well.

Kaffir cat

     While Saber toothed cat is the prehistoric member of the cat family KAFFHYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaffir_cat"IR CAT an African wild cat was probably an ancestor of the domestic cat.  They still live in North Africa and look very much like Tabbies (domestic cat breed). Egyptians were the first to tame and domesticate these small wild cats and it is thought that Phoenician ships calling at Egyptian ports traded  them and carried cats to Greece and Italy. And Roman armies marching in to Spain and Northern Europe took cats with them as pets. Probably some of these cats may have mated with European wild cats, which still exist in wild in Scotland and in wooded Northern Europe. These domesticated cats became the most sacred of the Egyptians and this may be the reason for the Egyptian moon goddess to have a cat’s face. In Egypt some cats were mummified and buried with their owners when they died. And it was a crime to kill or steal a cat. And they were the inspiration for statues, jewelry and many other forms of decorative arts. Not only in Egypt, in China  cats have been valued for many years. Their job was to protect the cocoons of silkworms from being destroyed by rats.

Interesting Facts about Cats I

     Cats! every girl and boy like cats. So what makes them so interesting and so lovable?  Why do people love them so much?  So it is better to know some facts about cats.

     Cat family includes more than 50 species which greatly differ in size, from small domestic cat to the magnificent Siberian tiger which may be 10 feet long and weigh over 200kgs. They live in various habitats that vary from tropical jungles to the Arctic. So one or more of these wild species are found in every country of the world. And these cats share many characteristic features, so their behaviors are somewhat alike to what we find in our domestic cats.

     All cats, wild or domestic are mammals, which give birth to the young and feed them with milk from their own bodies for some time.  And cats belong to the group of carnivore/ flesh eating. But our domestic cats might eat anything and we all know that they prefer flesh. Cats’ eyes are specially suited for seeing in dim light so that they can hunt effectively at nights or at dusk and dawn by adopting their eyes to very little light by enlarging the pupil (opening). By doing so they can gather much more light than we humans do and thus they can see

Salt and Heart diseases

           In modern society most people tend to have low salt diets. When we questioned about it they use to tell that one of their family members is suffering from a cardiac disease. So what is the relationship between salt and heart diseases? First I was confused by it because people started to use salt in their foods thousands of years ago. And salt contains Na⁺ (sodium) which is an important element in human body.

        Salt or Sodium chloride (NaCl) is used as a preservative as well as a seasoning in the ancient time. And by now we know that Sodium is an essential element in human body where as having Sodium in the fluid outside cell as the major cation, is important to a correct functioning of the nerve system since action potential occurs due to the Na⁺ (Sodium) K⁺ (Potassium) ion distribution across the cell membrane. And Sodium helps to maintain electrochemical balance in the body. This important element of Sodium (Na⁺) gets in to the body mainly through salt.

Wonders of the world (Firefly bug)

      Few years back when I was in grade one, me and my friends used to collect Tortoise beetles as our hobby. Whenever we caught a new Tortoise beetle which differed from others we brought them to school and showed them to others by saying that we got a new Tortoise beetles that you guys don’t have. And we explained how we caught them, from where we caught them, things they eat and that kind of funny stuff. Those are wonderful memories and i'm sure you also have those kinds of sweet memories with you. Back to story, but one day I caught a bug little bit different from Tortoise beetles. Usually, Tortoise beetles are hemispherical in shape and have bright colors. But the one that I caught was little bit elongated and thin. So I thought I caught a new Tortoise beetle that none of my friends have caught early. Since my friends don’t have such a Tortoise beetle with them, I was so happy. So that I can show my new Tortoise beetle and tell them about it.

I put my new friend with my other Tortoise beetles. So that I can take it to school on the next day. But at night I suddenly got waken up by a strange light emitted from my Tortoise beetle container. I was afraid and I called my mother to tell about this. She told me that she will explain it in the morning and asked me to sleep. But I couldn’t sleep all that night. 

e-Waste/ Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment

            e-Waste or waste electronic and electrical equipment is a major environmental issue that is faced by developing countries even though they produce a small amount of electronic products. These e-Wastes can be either electronic items such as computers, televisions that are discarded, donated or sold by the original owner.

 These e-Wastes contain several harmful pollutants like large quantities of epoxy resins, fiberglass, PCBs, PVC (polyvinyl chlorides), thermosetting plastics, lead, tin, copper, silicon, beryllium, carbon, iron and aluminum and also elements found in small amounts like cadmium, mercury, and thallium. They also contain elements found in trace amounts like americium, antimony, arsenic, barium, bismuth, boron, cobalt, europium, gallium, germanium, gold, indium, lithium, manganese, nickel, niobium, palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, selenium, silver, tantalum, terbium, thorium, titanium, vanadium, and yttrium.

PCB (Poly Chlorinated Biphenyl) Pollution

                PCBs or in other words, polychlorinated biphenyls are widely used as organic compounds and as dielectric fluids in transformers and capacitors. PCBs are organic compounds that contain 1-10 chlorine atoms attaché to biphenyl group (C₁₂H_10-xCl_x) and they are formed by electrophilic chlorination of biphenyl with chlorine gas. PCBs or Polychlorinated biphenyls were first commercially used in 1929 as a “safer” cooling and as an insulating fluid in electrical industry.

                These PCBs are not only used as coolants and insulating fluid but they are also used as components in early light fittings and in electrical transformers. Besides all these usages, PCBs are also used as plasticizers in paint and cement, as stabilizing additives in flexible PVC coating, in electrical wiring and in electronic components. Since PCBs have high viscosity, high flashing point and high thermal conductivity they can be used for cutting oils, as reactive flame retardants, lubricant oils, hydraulic fluids and sealants. And PCBs are organic compounds that contain Chlorine in it and therefore can also be used as pesticide.

Greenhouse effect and Global warming

Global warming is one of the worst environmental problems that the modern world is facing due to several unfavorable human behaviors. According to scientists and scientific research, global warming increases the average temperature of the earth’s near surface, air and the ocean. As a result of global warming unwonted environmental effects take place, such as the rise of sea level which causes several problems to small islands like Maldives islands.  Because of the global warming, there can be changes in the amount of precipitation, extreme weather conditions like droughts and heat waves.  And also global warming can affect the biodiversity of the world by eliminating animal and plant species due to the shifting of the temperature.

For this worst environmental effect, the main reason is the human activities. For instance, after the industrial revolution, people started to use more fossil fuels which gave rise to greenhouse gases. These greenhouse gases lead to a natural phenomena called greenhouse effect, which helps us live in a warmer place or on the other hand which warms the earth beyond its effective temperature. Without greenhouse effect the earth surface will be much cooler than what we are experiencing today.

Climatic Changes

            Climate basically includes changes in temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, precipitation of that place from a long period of time, whereas weather is the present condition of these elements.  And we all know that climate is changing from place to place, since climate is affected by the latitude, terrain, altitude and the nearby water bodies. Therefore, we can say that climate is a prediction made by observing the weather of a place for a long period of time; these predictions of climate, are very important to human life because the distribution of natural resources like forest/ vegetation depends on the climatic factors. Therefore, even a slight change in the climate can influence human life at a greater degree.

             Climatic changes are long term changes in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over period of time that range from decades to millions of years. The United Nations framework conversion on climatic changes defines climatic changes as “A change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods”.  Climatic changes occur mainly due to the human behaviors that destroy the environment. Other than that, variation of solar radiation, deviation in the earth orbit, mountain building and continental drift contribute to the present undesirable climatic changes like extreme weather conditions.

FABRIC SOFTENERS/FABRIC CONDITIONERS

Fabric softeners or Fabric conditioners are liquid product that used while laundering to make cloths soft and eliminate static cling. Fabric softeners or conditioners are introduce in early 20^th  century in cotton industry since dye which use to colour the fibers make them feel harsh. Therefore cotton softeners were introduce to improve the quality of the cotton. With the rapid development in Industrial Chemistry more effective fabric softeners make their way in to commercial market. 

When fabric softener is introduce in to the washing cycle, Fabric softener tends to deliver a variety of attributes to the cloth. Such as superior softness, Improve iron glide, Reduce the winker formation during wash cycle, Improve winker removal after washing, Better colour retention and enhance the stain protection.

CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE IN SRI LANKA

Chronic kidney disease is a major health problem in Sri Lanka since in last 8-10 years. CKDu or chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology is characteristic from other kidney disease by its slow progressive asymptomatic development. This disease start at a younger age group and it is common among people who engaged in agriculture typically around age 40-60 years

In chronic kidney disease kidney dose not usually fail at once instead it slowly stepwise fail to perform it tasks  chronic kidney disease involves 5 stages. Therefore stage 5 chronic kidney disease is also referred to as kidney failure, end-stage kidney disease, or end-stage renal disease, wherein there is total or near-total loss of kidney function. There is dangerous accumulation of water, waste, and toxic substances, and most individuals in this stage of kidney disease need dialysis or transplantation to stay alive.