Grasp It

How do we fire torpedoes? T orpedoes can be launched from both ships and submarines during warfare, using torpedo tubes placed up along the hull. World War II-era torpedoes were guided towards the destination using an internal gyroscope, and their pathway could be fine-tuned using the rudders after they had been released. A pendulum inside of the torpedo kept it level after its release. Many modern torpedoes are wire guided, which means that they can be commanded remotely after their launch, before the wire is cut off and the internal supervision system takes over. Once the torpedo detects an enemy the ship, or makes contact with it, the on-board explosive is detonated to rip a hole in its side in order to send it settling to the bottom of the ocean without a proof.

Ocean pollution From oil and debris to sewage and toxic chemicals – our seas have it all O ceans cover 71 % of our planet’s surface and contain an estimated 1.5 million species, but that hasn’t stopped humanity using the sea as a giant, watery rubbish bin. We’re familiar with terrible images of seabirds whose feathers are clogged with viscous black oil. But catastrophic spills from tankers account for just a portion of oil pollution in the sea; street runoff, vehicle exhausts, and industrial waste are all chronic contributors to the problem. Indeed, almost all marine pollution stems from activities on land. Runoff from farms introduces pesticides and insecticides into the aquatic food chain, as well as an overabundance of nutrients in the form of fertilizer. This causes populations of algae to spike, draining the surrounding waters of oxygen and choking other marine life. Finally, human-made rubbish is everywhere throughout the world’s oceans, where it is corralled by currents i...

What’s Inside a Single Stream Recycling plant ? The machine that separates your recyclables so you don’t have to 1   Tipping floor A steady stream of recycling collection vehicles arrives at the facility, dumping their cargo of various recyclables out onto the tipping floor. Drivers look out for any oversized things like car engines that would cause destruction to the plant machines. 2  Loading Powerful loaders shunt heaps of mixed recyclables into a large hopper, where they are tumbled over a rotating drum to loosen compacted materials. They then flow onto a giant conveyer belt, which speeds the jumble into the main facility. 3  Manual pre-sort Teams of human sorters pick out non-recyclable items from the fast-moving stream, including crisp packets, plastic bags, shoes, and nappies, as well as big items like scrap metal that might block the machines. 4  Star screen sorting A series ...

Why are Rain Clouds Grey? The reason why overcast days are so dismal T o understand why clouds can appear grey, you first need to know why they also appear white. It’s all to do with the reflection of light. Clouds are created when air and  water vapour  near the ground warms up and rises. As it gets uplifted, the water vapour  condenses, and the droplets join together to make clouds. The more condensation there is, the more droplets there are and the bigger the clouds become. When light from the Sun passes through these large aggregations of water vapour , the droplets scatter the light in all directions. The droplets are tiny and spread out enough to scatter the entire spectrum of light, which means that they will appear white. As more water droplets accumulate and the clouds get larger, less light is able to penetrate through the cloud. What we see from the g...