Wavelength

(λ) the distance between two similar and consecutive points on a wave, which have exactly the same displacement value from the rest position (that is, the same amplitude). An example would be the distance between two crests (maximum displacement) or two troughs (maximum displacement). Wavelength is a measure of distance and hence has units of metres (m).

Taken from Dictionary of Science

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In physics, the wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave – the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. It is usually determined by considering the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase, such as crests, troughs, or zero crossings, and is a characteristic of both traveling waves and standing waves, as well as other spatial wave patterns. Wavelength is commonly designated by the Greek letter lambda (λ). The concept can also be applied to periodic waves of non-sinusoidal shape. The term wavelength is also sometimes applied to modulated waves, and to the sinusoidal envelopes of modulated waves or waves formed by interference of several sinusoids.

Assuming a sinusoidal wave moving at a fixed wave speed, wavelength is inversely proportional to frequency: waves with higher frequencies have shorter wavelengths, and lower frequencies have longer wavelengths.

Examples of wave-like phenomena are sound waves, light, and water waves. A sound wave is a periodic variation in air pressure, while in light and other electromagnetic radiation the strength of the electric and the magnetic field vary. Water waves are periodic variations in the height of a body of water. In a crystal lattice vibration, atomic positions vary periodically in both lattice position and time.

Wavelength is a measure of the distance between repetitions of a shape feature such as peaks, valleys, or zero-crossings, not a measure of how far any given particle moves. For example, in waves over deep water a particle in the water moves in a circle of the same diameter as the wave height, unrelated to wavelength.

Taken from Wikipedia

Karyotype

the number, shapes and sizes of the chromosomes within the cells of an organism. Every organism has a karyotype that is characteristic of its own species, but different species have very different karyotypes. For example, all normal human females have 22 pairs of DIPLOID chromosomes with a similar shape and size, but all female horses have 32 pairs of diploid chromosomes which have their own unique shape and size.

Taken from Dictionary of Science

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A karyotype is the characteristic chromosome complement of a eukaryote species. The term may also be used of a cell, or an individual. The preparation and study of karyotypes is part of cytogenetics.

The basic number of chromosomes in the somatic cells of an individual or a species is called the somatic number and is designated 2n. Thus, in humans 2n = 46. In the germ-line (the sex cells) the chromosome number is n (humans: n = 23).

So, in normal diploid organisms, autosomal chromosomes are present in two copies. There may, or may not, be sex chromosomes. Polyploid cells have multiple copies of chromosomes and haploid cells have single copies. The study of whole sets of chromosomes is sometimes known as karyology. The chromosomes are depicted (by rearranging a microphotograph) in a standard format known as a karyogram or idiogram: in pairs, ordered by size and position of centromere for chromosomes of the same size.

Karyotypes can be used for many purposes; such as, to study chromosomal aberrations, cellular function, taxonomic relationships, and to gather information about past evolutionary events.

Taken from Wikipedia

Farad

the unit in which CAPACITANCE is measured. It is usually denoted by the symbol F. For example, the capacitance (C) of a conductor measured in farads is the charge (in coulombs) needed to raise the potential by one volt i.e. 1 farad = 1 coulomb per volt (1F = 1 CV^-1). As the farad itself is usually too large a quantity for most applications, the practical unit is the microfarad (µF), or one millionth of a farad.

Taken from Dictionary of Science

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The farad (symbol: F) is the SI unit of capacitance. The term farad is named after the English physicist Michael Faraday.

A farad is the charge in coulombs a capacitor will accept for the potential across it to change 1 volt. A coulomb is 1 ampere second. Example: A 47 mA current causes the voltage across a capacitor to increase 1 volt per second. It therefore has a capacitance of 47 mF. It has the base SI representation of s⁴·A²·m^-2·kg^-1. Further equalities follow:

The most commonly used multiples and submultiples in electrical and electronic usage are the microfarad, nanofarad and picofarad.

Taken from Wikipedia

Ecology

the study of the relationship between plants and animals and their environment. Ecology is also known as bionomics and is concerned with, for example, predator-prey relationships, population dynamics and competition between species.

Taken from Dictionary of Science

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Ecology (from Greek: οἶκος, "house" ; -λογία, "study of") is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their environment. Ecology is also the study of ecosystems. Ecosystems describe the web or network of relations among organisms at different scales of organization. Since ecology refers to any form of biodiversity, ecologists can conduct research on the smallest bacteria to the global flux of atmospheric gases that are regulated by photosynthesis and respiration as organisms breath in and out of the biosphere.

Ecology is a recent discipline that emerged from the natural sciences in the late 19th century. Ecology is not synonymous with environment, environmentalism, or environmental science. Ecology is closely related to the disciplines of physiology, evolution, genetics and behavior.

Like many of the natural sciences, a conceptual understanding of ecology is found in the broader details of study, including:

• life processes explaining adaptations

• distribution and abundance of organisms

• the movement of materials and energy through living communities

• the successional development of ecosystems, and

• the abundance and distribution of biodiversity in context of the environment.

Ecology is distinguished from natural history, which deals primarily with the descriptive study of organisms. It is a sub-discipline of biology, which is the study of life.

There are many practical applications of ecology in conservation biology, wetland management, natural resource management (agriculture, forestry , fisheries), city planning (urban ecology), community health, economics, basic & applied science and it provides a conceptual framework for understanding and researching human social interaction (human ecology).

Taken from Wikipedia

X-chromosome

one kind of CHROMOSOME that is involved in the determination of the sex of an individual. A woman has a pair of X-chromosomes, whereas a man has one X-chromosome and one Y-chromosome. There are many GENES on the X-chromosome which have nothing to do with the sex of the individual. For example, red-green colour blindness is determined by a RECESSIVE gene on the X-chromosome. If a woman carrying this gene has a son (X,Y) then he will inherit colour blindness as the Y-chromosome will have no corresponding gene to suppress (over-ride) the effect. If she has a daughter (X,X), and the father has normal vision, then the recessive gene is still inherited but its effect is suppressed (hidden) as the X-chromosome from the father will carry the dominant gene for normal vision.

Taken from Dictionary of Science

Abscissa

the term given to the horizontal or x-co-ordinate when describing the position of a point on a graph. It is the distance of the point from the vertical or y-axis. For example, a point two units along the x-axis and three units up the y-axis is said to have CARTESIAN CO-ORDINATES (2,3) where the abscissa is 2.

Taken from Dictionary of Science

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In mathematics, abscissa (plural abscissae) refers to the first element of an ordered pair.

It is the first of the two terms (x, y) by which a point is referred to, in a system of fixed rectilinear coordinate (Cartesian coordinate) axes. The abscissa is also known as the "x" coordinate of a point. The second coordinate, or "y" coordinate, is called the ordinate.

Taken from Wikipedia

Factor

one of two or more quantities that produce a given quantity when multiplied together. For example, the factors of the number 8 are 1, 2, 4, 8.

Taken from Dictionary of Science

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Factors are the numbers you multiply together to get another number:

Example: 3 and 4 are factors of 12, because 3x4=12.

Also 2x6=12 so 2 and 6 are also factors of 12, and 1x12=12 so 1 and 12 are factors of 12 as well.

So ALL the possible factors of 12 are 1,2,3,4,6 and 12.

Taken from Math Is Fun?

TRIVIA

A palindrome is a word or sentence that reads the same backward or forward. For example: Madam, I'm Adam. Another one: Step on no pets.

The Guinness Book of World Records says that this is the hardest tongue twister: "The sixth sick sheik's sheep's sick."

About 10 million people in the world have the same birthday as you.

The shortest war in history was between England and Zanzibar in 1896. It lasted only 38 minutes. England won.

There are only two words in the English language that contain all the vowels -- a, e, i, o, u -- in the proper order. They are facetious and abstemious.

A flea can jump 200 times the length of its own body.

On the day Mark Twain was born, Halley's Comet was in the sky. He died 75 years later, the next time Halley's Comet appeared over the earth.

Coca-Cola was invented in 1896. How to make it is still a secret that only two men know today. Even when these two men travel to the same place, they fly on different airplanes so that in case one of them should die in an accident, the other would still be alive with the secret.

A "phobia" is a fear, and some people have very strange ones. Here are just a few. Chromophobia is a fear of colors. Sitophobia is a fear of food. Verbophobia is a fear of words. Pedophobia is a fear of children and dolls. Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanit butter sticking to the root of the mouth.

To fill a teaspoon full of water would take 120 drops.

Every healthy person who lives for 70 years walks about 70,000 miles in a lifetime. That is about 18,000 steps in one day.

A housefly lives for only two weeks.

Condensed from Macmillan Illustrated Almanac for Kids