Discover the expert in you.
Discover the expert in you.
The texture of soil affects its ability to hold nutrients. Clay soils are hard or sticky, silty soils are powdery, and sandy soils are sharp and rough. Because sand particles are the largest, they allow water to move through the soil more quickly and that can remove nutrients and make sandy soils less fertile.
Identifying stars and constellations is something you can do right from your iPhone's camera. Identify stars and constellations with the iPhone with help from an experienced electronics expert in this free video clip.
Hibiscus plants (Hibiscus spp.), with their large, colorful blooms, add tropical flair to any landscape. Any landscape, that is, with the kind of weather conditions ideal for hibiscus growth. These plants, which range from shrubs to trees and even annual flowers, have specific environmental needs that must be met in order for them to grow and bloom properly.
If your lawn has been invaded by a low-growing, square-stemmed weed with coin-shaped foliage, purple-blue flowers and a minty aroma, you've got a case of ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) on your hands. Though ground ivy is cultivated as a ground cover in the U.K., in the U.S. it's considered a weed. Though ground ivy grows in a number of soil types, it does have a preference.
GPS devices rely on the presence of four or more satellites to determine a location, and multiple tracking sources are required in order to get an accurate measurement on the ground. For GPS to function around another stellar body such as the Moon, you'd need GPS-enabled tracking devices around that body as well. GPS may work on the Moon someday, but the ability to do so is currently beyond human capability.
"Dinner for Schmucks" is a comedy film that starred Steve Carrell as the titular schmuck. Find out about "Dinner for Schmucks" hairstyles with help from a NYC born and raised hair/makeup artist in this free video clip.
If you're having a night sky party, there are a few key types of decorations that you're really going to want to experiment with. Learn about night sky party decorations with help from an experienced corporate event planner in this free video clip.
The area under a growth curve typically represents a very specific thing. Find out what the area under a growth curve means with help from a research scientist and one of the world's leading experts on star formation in this free video clip.
A number of different types of landforms exist on land. Learn about the types of landforms on land with help from a science teacher and writer in this free video clip.
Polishing stone floors requires you to take into consideration just what type of stone you're talking about. Learn about how to polish stone floors with help from an experienced building manager in this free video clip.
Icy sidewalks can be a serious wintertime problem, but using rock salt to get rid of ice can cause its own kind of trouble. Salt is the most common way to melt ice, but it will cause damage to grass and other plants. It is also not effective if the temperature dips much below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, plus it requires twice as much rock salt to do the same job as other deicers. For these reasons, many people look for an alternative substance to melt ice. Fortunately, there are some good choices available.
Apple captured 73 percent of the tablet market with its 2010 and 2011 iPads, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. The introduction of the iPad3 in March 2012 was the latest salvo in Apple’s campaign to attract additional tablet users and win over laptop fans. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is one of the iPad’s leading competitors in the tablet market. It not only competes against the iPad but also other options in the crowded PC tablet market. With only minor differences in weight and screen size, the rivalry between the iPad and Galaxy Tab hinges on their features.
Colored sand and candles make the perfect decorations for a wide variety of different situations. Learn about decorating with colored sand and candles with help from a craft expert in this free video clip.
Properly maintained, a slate roof can last up to 100 years. However, ice dams along the eaves can back up under the slate, causing leaks in the roof, walls and ceilings of your home. Ice dams are caused by heat escaping from the living space into the attic. As the heat rises, snow at the top of the roof melts, sending water down the roof. Ice dams develop when water refreezes at the eaves, where no heat is trapped.
Cyclomaniacs is an online flash game designed for those who enjoy the thrill of bike racing. In the game, players compete in a series of timed races to win money, unlock new characters and reveal new levels. Cyclomaniacs has six different levels: the Dunes, Volcania, Sunset City, Outlands, Planetoid and the Moon. In order to progress to the next level, players must complete various achievements. Unlocking the Moon level is only possible once you have completed 69 of the 70 total game achievements. Unlocking this level gives players the opportunity to compete in a thrilling bonus race against 20 other…
Transplanting seedlings and planting seeds according to the phases of the moon dates back to ancient times. The Hendry County Cooperative Extension Service in Florida states that the practice has roots in the belief that the moon's gravitational pull affects the fluids flowing inside plants as the satellite passes through its monthly quarters. Gardening by the moon also involves observing the astrological sign associated with each day of the month to determine the best one for planting.
Knowing how fine soils behave – and whether they are clay or silt –helps engineers predict how soil will respond under various circumstances. Atterberg “limits of consistency” are seven international indeces devised by Swedish scientist Albert Atterberg. They are performed on fine-grained silt and clay soils to determine their relative activity in relationship to moisture content. The liquid limit is the one test most often used today to classify fine soils, though the plastic limit is also still used and, rarely, the shrinkage limit. The liquid limit identifies the level of moisture at which a particular soil changes from a…
An icy road or driveway may be great for sledding but also poses a sizable risk to the safety of those who walk or drive on the slick pavement. Homeowners can easily shovel snow off their driveway, but ice sticks to the surface of the road. Consequently, homeowners can only effectively remove ice with the right chemicals. A colligative property, molecules that interact with water possess the capacity to drastically reduce the freezing point of water. The freezing point of pure water approaches 32 degrees Fahrenheit, but ions can interact with the water molecules and reduce it to 15 degrees.…
It’s no surprise that exposed water pipes can freeze in winter, but that danger exists for pipes inside your walls too. If the pipe is in an exterior wall, or if the temperature inside and outside drops too low, that pipe can freeze. Frozen pipes require immediate action because they can crack while thawing if you leave them alone.
Ice on your doorstep is a potential hazard for you, your family, guests to your home and even your mailman. Doorstep ice deposits occur often as the result of heat from your home hitting the snow built up on your porch or around your front door. The warm air melts the snow, and the cold temperature freezes it back into ice. Natural remedies and natural ingredients let you melt the ice and remove it from the doorstep without using any manmade chemicals.
“Full Moon Mario," a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, was released in a cartridge that was inserted into the NES to play. If you don't have an NES, you can use an NES emulator instead to play “Full Moon Mario” right from your computer. An NES emulator can launch “Full Moon Mario” from a ROM image file.
Grout is useful for providing structural support to the tiles in your floors and walls but it also serves a decorative purpose as well. Anyone who's ever seen moldy shower grout knows how important it is aesthetically to keep the grout clean and looking its best. The good news is you can alter the color of your non-sanded grout even after it has already been applied and completely dried. Preparation of the area is important but the end result improves the appearance of your floor or wall.
Rising and falling temperatures in wintertime result in snow melting and then freezing into ice. Removing ice from any surface can be a challenge that requires effort to resolve. A large driveway requires more time and effort, but you can melt ice on your large driveway with a combination of techniques that is both effective and a bit more environmentally friendly than traditional rock salt.
Most children are curious about the solar system because of its mystery. Parents who want to encourage a child's intellectual growth while simultaneously nurturing her interests might consider a space-themed gift for birthdays, holidays and other special occasions.
Weedeaters use a length of poly rope or string to cut weeds and grass. The string is attached to a rotor, which spins at high speed. The cutting rope or string in your Weedeater can become jammed for a variety of reasons. The line may jam if it is tangled on the internal spool, if a kink or knot exists, or if dirt has clogged the release hole. Loosely wrapped string and the use of string which is too thick or too thin for your trimmer can also cause jams.
The Nokia E71 smartphone hit the market in July 2008. One of the Nokia E series, it was replaced in 2010 by the similar E72. Nokia E series smartphones come with a variety of features, including quad-band GSM 3G HSDPA, keyboard, GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, camera and SMS (Short Message Service) text messaging. If your E71 is unable to send text messages, several causes are possible, most of which are easily remedied. SMS messages rely on your phone’s connection to the 2G, 3G or 4G wireless networks to be sent and received properly.
Tundra is a biome -- or ecosystem -- found in the Arctic, the Antarctic and at the top of mountains. The word tundra comes from the Kildin Sami word “tundar," which means “treeless mountain tract” or “uplands.” Vegetation in alpine tundra areas is made of grasses, mosses, lichens, shrubs and sedges. No trees grow because of the high altitude.
Transport tanks carry a wide variety of products. The decision to line a transport tank is based upon the type of product the transport truck hauls. Certain food products, such as milk, are shipped in stainless steel tanks or mild steel tanks with an epoxy lining. Other products, especially those caustic in nature, are shipped in tanks lined with a material that does not react to the commodity shipped. Types of linings include rubber or fluoropolymer sheets, epoxy or zinc silicate paint. Procedures for cleaning tanks are also taken into consideration when selecting a lining method.
Libraries store aged collections of documents and books that swell in the heat and retract in the cold. Museums house ancient artifacts that can be damaged by extreme weather changes inside their enclosed spaces. Heat and humidity encourage the growth of mold. Temperature fluctuations damage furniture, impact the health of people who use the building and cause paint to peel, metal to corrode and dyes to fade. Controlling relative humidity and temperature will reduce this damage.
Newtek Aura is a two-dimensional, bitmap-based digital animation software program. It is also known as TVP animation. Newtek Aura combines the ability to do rotoscope with 2-D animation, while maintaining the ability to add text and special effects when creating a video. Newtek Aura gives the user the ability to create drawings with fine detail. The stylus used by the program allows you to create detailed lines and layers that are necessary when creating maps.
The cold winter months brings the possibility of safety hazard with frozen surfaces. Dawn dish soap is a cheap and effective alternative to expensive and possibly damaging rock salt that many homeowners sprinkle on their icy driveways and steps. Mixing the Dawn dish soap with hot water might melt the ice, and since Dawn does not freeze at below zero temperatures, it could keep the driveway from freezing again. Before using the Dawn mixture, test it on an out-of-the-way area of the driveway.
Frozen gutters happen when the home’s interior heat melts snow and ice on the roof. The resulting water flows into the cold gutter system and begins freezing. A gutter becomes completely clogged with ice, causing water to back up and sometimes leak into the home. It’s called an ice dam. Solutions that are more permanent are costly and require professional installation, but should be considered if you experience ice dams as an ongoing problem. Keeping gutters running clear is a quick fix, and suitable where ice dams happen infrequently.
A Geographic Information System (GIS) is any computer-based mapping or land survey application. Metadata is data that gives information about other data. Metadata is not the main focus of a system, but it informs users of the meaning of data by providing a context. Metadata in general can be divided into three categories, “descriptive,” “structural” and “administrative.” The storage of data in databases creates a fourth metadata category: “Technical.”
The amount of heat your home loses through under-insulated or uninsulated walls depends on several factors. These include the temperature outside, the thickness and composition of your walls, and the amount of heat lost via other problems, such as leaky windows and doors. In terms of energy expenditure, most homeowners would save up to 20 percent of their heating and cooling costs if they insulated their homes properly, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports.
It's useful to perform a hard reset on the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant smart phone model SGH-T959, to restore original ("factory") default settings. Typically, a person performs a hard reset to clear personal data or downloaded applications in order to re-customize the phone, sell it or ship it for repair. In addition, a hard reset is known to unlock or fix the phone sometimes if it freezes or malfunctions. On the Samsung Vibrant, you perform a hard reset by accessing the phone’s hardware or system menus.
Thermosiphon systems and solar trough heater systems were two of several systems developed in the 1970s as a way to harness solar power. Each system has different methods of collecting sunlight and transforming that sunlight into usable energy. Solar trough heaters produce electricity, while thermosiphon systems heat water. Trough shaped solar collecters can be used in place of panel-shaped solar collectors within thermosiphon systems, but solar troughs heater systems and thermosiphon systems are distinctly separate energy producing systems.
Typophone, a minimalist mobile theme designed for iOS devices, displays the time, date and month on the lockscreen. Another version, called Typophone Weather, also shows the local weather forecast and current temperature. The Typophone Weather app is available in the iTunes App Store, but it does not offer lockscreen capabilities. In order to set Typophone as the lockscreen, you need to install the theme on a jailbroken iPhone via Cydia.
A star's life cycle varies depending on its mass. You can represent the life cycle of a typical smaller star like our sun with a series of five plastic globes illuminated by Christmas bulbs. On a piece of thin plywood, space the globes evenly from left to right in this order, based on their diameter -- 6 inches, 8 inches, 7 inches, 10 inches and 6 inches. Draw a circle around each globe. Remove the globes and drill a 1.5-inch hole in the center of each circle. Arrange a string of Christmas bulbs in the following left-to-right sequence: white, orange,…
In dry, desert-like climates, evaporative, or swamp, coolers reduce the temperature inside houses and buildings. Warm outside air moves through pads soaked in water and the cooled air is blown into the house. On the average, evaporative coolers use 3 to 15 gallons of water per day and lower the inside temperature up to 30 degrees Fahrenheit. They are usually mounted on the roof or in a window. Evaporative coolers are only useful for cooling air within a specific dew point range.
Columbia University professor Dickson Despommier coined the term "vertical farming" when describing food production in skyscrapers. Not only could these "farmscapers" produce food throughout the year, but the yield of one building could potentially feed tens of thousands of people. Such measures may be important to feed the estimated population of more than nine billion in 2050, of whom 80 percent will be urban dwellers. Besides providing local and spacious farming options, vertical farms can produce four to six times the amount of food as a plot of land in the same footprint and are not as vulnerable to weather…
Solar power collects the light from the sun and converts it into electricity that can power home utilities. At the heart of the home solar energy system is the photovoltaic panel. These photovoltaic panels consist of a number of solar cells made of special materials that efficiently collect solar energy and can convert it to electric power. These panels can be installed safely by do-it-yourselfers, using recommended practices and the required safety equipment.
When the weather turns cold, snow and ice are never far behind. As driveways and sidewalks begin to freeze, many homeowners turn to rock salt to help melt the ice. Rock salt, which is largely made up of sodium chloride, is chemically similar to regular table salt. It’s widely available and inexpensive, but it’s a highly corrosive substance that can be damaging to plants. Instead of using rock salt to melt ice in your garden, mix a solution of water and calcium chloride or magnesium chloride. Both of these chemicals are salts that are highly effective at melting ice but…
In addition to time and date readouts, indoor-outdoor thermometers provide a home or property owner with temperature readings inside the home as well as ambient readings from outside. There are several make and models of the units that operate by hanging a remote sensor outdoors to gain accurate readings. At times, issues may arise that affect a correct outdoor reading, provided the unit is showing any readout at all.
Ice can damage your roof, but so can ice removal. Insulating and ventilating your attic to prevent ice buildup on your roof is a better strategy than melting ice after it forms, but during a very cold snowy winter or an extended period of freezing rain, sometimes you get ice buildup despite your best efforts. Several different strategies can be used to melt roof ice.
Various finely ground, abrasive materials are used to sandblast paint, dirt, mold and other items from surfaces as well as to abrade surfaces mildly to improve their adhesion with a product. Depending on the sandblasting material and the sandblaster's pressure setting and proximity to the surface, damage to the substrate can result. That is especially true of fiberglass, which is softer than steel. Deep scratches and even holes may occur in fiberglass if care is not taken during sandblasting.
Many pre-kindergarten children are fascinated by the sun, moon and stars and the changing colors of the sky above them. They may be too young to grasp the concept of a solar system. But by focusing on a simple craft activity, it is possible to introduce the idea that our planet is one of many that move around the sun.
In "Final Fantasy XII," legends tell the tale of espers, powerful elemental creatures who appear only to the strongest and worthiest hunters. If you defeat one of the 12 espers, it agrees to fight for you in battle. Each esper has its own element, such as fire, ice or lightning, and that element determines the monster's strength and weakness. Not all espers have a weakness, though. If an esper has no weakness, you need to rely on physical attacks to take it down.
You'll need an orange marker and a red one if you want to draw a binary star. Learn how to draw a binary star with help from an artist in this free video clip.
The Law of Conservation of Mass states that substances involved in chemical reactions do not lose or gain any detectable mass. The state of the substance, however, can change. For instance, the Law of Conservation of Mass should prove that an ice cube will have the same mass as the water that forms as the cube melts. Perform this experiment to prove the law to your fellow students, and to prove to your teacher, that you understand the theory behind the law.
Photovoltaic, or solar power, systems convert light directly into electricity, according to the National Renewable Energy website. Electrical output varies and is dependent upon factors such as the amount of available light, the position and angle of the solar panels, ambient temperature, the efficiency of the panels and the voltage supplied by the system. Calculating how many kilowatt hours of electricity are produced by a solar system is often a 'best guess' activity because conditions can change in seconds, but a good estimate of the average power production can be made using straightforward techniques.
