Oxygen is a vital gas that occupies up to twenty one percent of the earth’s atmosphere. Animals and human beings require oxygen for their survival while it is the excreted by plants as an end product of photosynthesis.
As a matter of fact, oxygen is present almost everywhere forming two thirds of the body mass of a healthy human being, it accounts for half the mass of the crust of the earth as well as nine tenths of water masses. Its discovery was therefore one of the most successful discoveries on earth. But the question is who really discovered oxygen?
There have been many debates disputing on who the first person to discover oxygen was. Some will argue that it was discovered by Carl Scheele a Swedish chemist; others will give credit to Priestly while others would associate Lavoisier with its discovery. Born in 1733, Joseph Priestly I believe is the man behind the discovery of oxygen gas. Priestly made discoveries of oxygen gas in a Bowood House laboratory in the year 1774.
In his laboratory experiment, he took a glass container and inverted it then inside it put a lump of reddish mercuric oxide and focused it using sunlight through a wide glass burning lens. This experiment resulted into an emission of a gas that in his opinion was six times better than the common air. To validate his discovery, Priestly carried tests and noticed that the ‘gas’ could burn intensively. He also found out that the ‘gas; discovered was able to keep a mouse alive up to four times longer than the common air.
He later on named the gas ‘dephlogisticated air’ since it lacked phlogiston and supported combustion. Apart from the lab experiments, Priestly found out that a mouse kept in jar with a plant would survive unlike that kept in a jar of air only. In addition to his discovery, Priestly found out that a jar that had a sprig inside for twenty seven days rekindled a candle.
In all these he was confirming the discovery of the oxygen gas. However, he decided to share the news of his discovery with Lavoisier who disapproved his theory of ‘dephlogisticated air’. After several experiments Madame Lavoisier discovered that air had an element that had the ability of combining with hydrogen to form water. This element was oxygen referred to as dephlogisticated air’ by Priestly.
Given the above contributions made in the discovery of oxygen, it is difficult to make a decision on who should be credited with the discovery of oxygen. This controversy has been confusing even at the Nobel Committee panellists where there has been no agreement on who should get the ward of the first “Retro-Nobel Prize.”
Nevertheless, it can be argued that the idea of discovering the existence of oxygen was Priestly’s who however had no idea of its reaction. Looking at it from a different perspective, it can again be argued that Madame Lavoisier is the discoverer of the real oxygen since he was able to prove its existence in the atmosphere through the water reaction.
However, basing on the facts of the discovery experiments I would agree that all had their share of contributions in the discovery but Priestly seems to be the initiator of the whole discovery though with little explanations. Lavoisier only made an expansion of the idea and found out that the gas was actually oxygen. Giving credit where credit deserves, Priestly deserves the award.
Since the major catastrophe of 2009, little has been known of previous civilizations, and archeologists have been lost in guesses at what the previous civilizations could have looked like. However, last Friday the veil was lifted by a group of children who discovered a completely intact lodgment that once obviously belonged to the pre-2009 population. Now we have finally obtained at least some clues to what life used to be like before.
To start with, it appears that people used to live separately, in small detached abodes divided into even smaller fragments that performed certain functions. One of the cells contains a horizontal piece of furniture that could have been used for sleeping.
Since it is covered with a down-filled piece of cloth, the guess that it used to be a bedroom seems to be right. The special intimacy of the room is emphasized by several half-burnt candles in shape of heart around the sleeping place. Even then, people would have barely used those for making light since they already had electrical lights all over their place.
Another specialized cell contains a set of three ceramic tanks, all of different shapes. Their construction suggests that they could have been used for water treatment; this assumption is bolstered by a number of bottles that contain washing agents. Yet another cell, all filled with containers and cutting devices of all kinds, was obviously utilized for food processing: remnants of food-like substances have been discovered in the multiple drawers and cabinets.
Finally, the purpose of the biggest cell was the hardest to define, since it contains too many variegated objects: a big screen in the wall, a device for sitting, an abstract image in oil on canvas, an upright cupboard with white and black keys and two pedals — this list gives something to think about. There have been suggestions that the latter device could have been used as an ancient computer, but no evidence of its connection to the big screen has been discovered yet.
As for the inhabitants of the lodgment, there appear to be at least two of them: a male and a female. This conclusion was possible on the basis of the cloth items found inside the big storage in the sleeping area.
The shape of the clothing reminds of male and female anatomy, and the amount of clothing for both sexes suggests that females were the dominant sex, since female clothes are countless. One of the most revealing clues as to the ancient civilization was a collection of printed images that probably represent the inhabitants of the lodgment.
The same male and female appear in almost every image, which suggests they formed a stable couple. They were still young, and obviously fertile, as the female kept a pack of contraception pills in the sleeping area. The fact that the couple had a common dwelling evidences that neither of them was each other’s slave; perhaps, slavery did not exist in that society at all, since there are no images of slaves anywhere on the printed images.
The same images suggest that the couple had a diversified social life, since the locations depicted vary from dark crowded caves enlightened by occasional colored flashes to natural landscapes including plentiful water and sand. The couple in the images are accompanied either by creatures of their age or older, which leaves unsolved the issue of whether they had younger generations at all.
Further investigation is carried on by the archeologists who still have more questions than answers about the remote civilizations. A huge amount of strange devices that were obviously used by the people of the past are a mystery for the modern generations. In addition, nothing of the past religious practices can be concluded yet, since the ancient books are written in unknown language. The results of in-depth research shall be reported in the coming issues.
Pierre Curie was fascinated by the ability of uranium to blacken photographic plates after months of exposure. At the time, the phenomenon was hard to explain as it was in contrary to the scientific fact that energy can neither be created, nor destroyed.
When his wife, Marie Curie, needed support for her doctoral thesis, Pierre helped her work on solving the uranium compound problem. In the eight months that followed, Marie did her research and discovered two new elements that also signified the start of radioactive studies as a new scientific field.
The two new elements were Polonium, discovered in December, 1898 and radium that was discovered a few months later. The tale of the discoveries demonstrates the importance of scientific rigour and an ever curious mind of the scientist (Mould 1998).
According to Mould (1993), the two discoveries relied on other discoveries such as those of piezoelectricity, the electrometer, and the radioactive properties of uranium. The curious mind of Pierre on why a substance seemed to defy a scientific law started the journey that led to the discovery of polonium and radium.
The basic application of chemistry and physics procedures, such as the use of the electrometer, precipitation, and crystallisation of compounds played a salient role in the discoveries.
A critical property of uranium that eventually allowed Marie to isolate the two new elements was its ability to make the surrounding air conduct electricity, thereby providing a means of quantifying rays from uranium.
Even with the ability to conduct quantitative measurements of the uranium rays, the results would not be reliable until Pierre’s quadrant electrometer was used. This was a device developed for practical application of the 1880’s discovery made by Pierre and his brother Jacques on piezoelectricity (Rodgers 2011).
The duo found out that hemihedral crystals could produce electricity when pressure was exerted on them. Using quartz as a hemihedral crystal to produce charges, Pierre was able to compensate the charges produced by uranium in an ionization chamber and the whole setup is what came to be the quadrant electrometer later.
With the device, both Marie and Pierre working together were able to quantify uranic rays by relying on the weight and time it took to compensate the charges.
The discovery of Polonium
Marie wanted to know whether other substances would be able to mimic uranium and make air conduct electricity. She concluded that only compounds that contained uranium were able to do so. In particular, she noted that pitchblende, a variety of uraninite, produced the highest activity.
She hypothesised that a separate form of uranium that formed part of pitchblende was responsible for the extra activity. After further study, she found out that there was an unknown element that seemed to show more activity than pure metallic uranium.
The next logical step was to identify the new element. Identification would be done through a trace of radioactivity. To do that, she had to do a chemical separation through analytical chemistry.
The process allowed her to observe the chemical characteristics of the radioactive element that she was seeking. She noted that it became increasingly radioactive as she continued the separation process (Rodgers 2011).
Her next procedure was to precipitate sulphides that contain bismuth, lead, and the active substance so that she could remain with a solid that consisted of the substance only. At this stage of the experiment, her aim was to find out how active the solid was so that she could match it with an appropriate element in the periodic table.
Marie found out that it was 400 times more active than uranium. She had to repeat the experiment with the rarest substances to conclude that this was indeed a different element not available in the periodic table. She concluded that they were not all active.
To that point, the new element became known only based on its ability to emit uranic rays. Its validity was still questionable. The scientific field of chemistry demanded that an element had to be pure and have a distinct atomic weight and measurable spectral lines that were unique for it to make it to the periodic table.
The task of measuring was handled by Eugène Demarçay, who failed to find any new characteristics. This partially ended the speculation that the Curies had discovered a new substance.
Confirmation of the existence of polonium as a separate element came a few years later when Pierre and Marie noticed their sample was disappearing progressively.
At the time, no one knew that the half-life of polonium was 138 days (Rodgers 2011). Marie was lucky to have worked on her sample for three months only. A spark spectrum of the disappearing sample revealed that it was indeed a different element because it had few additional distinct lines.
Further research by other scientists led to the discovery of the half-life and contributed to the research literature on the element and its practical applications.
The discovery of Radium
Marie concluded that the radiation strength of a compound depended on the amount of uranium or thorium contained in it and not on the compound itself. She concluded this based on the fact that different compounds from the same element showed different characteristics in terms of physical and chemical properties.
The observation led to the realization that the ability to radiate comes from inside the atom and not on the arrangement of atoms when they form a molecule. This deductive reasoning of the source of radiation is what came to be the foundational knowledge of separating uranium and thorium compounds to end up with polonium and radium.
It was months after getting polonium that Pierre and Marie claimed to have found a new element that resembled barium, but it had a higher radioactive property. As they had done with polonium, they commenced on a tedious work of separating and analysing different compounds to validate their findings.
Mould (1998) reports that the process involved chemical separation of compounds, which was done by Marie, and physical measuring of their masses done by Pierre. Much of the separation involved heating. Marie had to stir the boiling mass for hours to aid the process.
The final one decigram of radium chloride came from thousands of crystallisations achieved from several tons of the initial compounds used for the research. The pure radium chloride allowed Marie to determine the atomic weight of radium as 225.
She was able to do this because the other elements of the compound had distinct properties. She used the knowledge to arrive at her deductive conclusion.
She obtained barium chloride by starting with pitchblende, as reported by Davis (1995). She was then able to get radium chloride through the fractional crystallisation process. In this process, barium as an element crystallised and left the compound.
After separation, the next process was to analyse the remaining substance through spectroscopy. When Marie looked at the spectrum of barium chloride, she was unable to assign several lines to any known element. Given that the substance was a true copy of barium, she suggested its name be radium.
The seemingly easy discovery of radium that just took a few months after that of polonium was aided by the characteristic advantages of the new element. Unlike polonium, barium has a half-life of 1600 years; thus, it did not disappear progressively as Marie worked on it.
From the original pitchblende ore, the concentration of radium was about 5000 times more than that of polonium. That increased its odds of discovery. Lastly, it was fairly easy to assign the element a place in the periodic table because its distinct lines were clearly visible in the spectrum analysis (Davis 1995).
Conclusion
Although the discovery of polonium appears to be accidental, it still clearly highlights the nature of scientific inquiry. Without the curiosity surrounding the uranium radioactivity puzzle, the scientists would not have embarked on a discovery journey that led them to two new elements.
The continuous research on the elements and their compounds even after their classification would later aid in their application in various processes in both chemistry and physics. Marie was able to finally isolate radium as a metal after collaborating with André Debierne.
Her husband conducted tests with his body using radium to demonstrate its effect on body cells and later suggested in a demonstration that it could be used in eliminating cancerous cells as a treatment compound.
List of References
Davis, JL 1995, ‘The research school of Marie Curie in the Paris faculty’, Annals of Science, vol. 52, no. 4, pp.321-55.
Mould, FR 1993, A century of X-rays and radioactivity in medicine: With empasis on photographic records of early years, Institute of Physics Publishing, London.
Mould, RF 1998, ‘The discovery of radium in 1898 by Maria Sklodowska-Curie (1867-1934) and Pierre Curie (1859-1906) with commentary on their life and times’, British Journal of Radiology, vol. 71, no. 852, pp.1229-1254.
Rodgers, G 2011, Descriptive inorganic, coordination, and solid state chemistry, Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning, Belmont, CA
Dighton rock was discovered in river Massachusetts. In the year 1963, it was excavated for storage and later listed among the artifacts in the year 1980 (Hurstwic.org par. 23). Dighton rock is sandstone of about 40 tons. It is a six-sided slanting block, approximately 3.4m long, 1.5m high and 2.5m wide (Hurstwic.org par. 23). It is classified as an artifact due to the inscriptions found on one side of the rock.
The rock has a crystalline, grey-brown appearance. Currently, the rock is located in Dighton museum in Massachusetts and can only be viewed on an appointment basis. The original place where it was found has been converted into a park open to the public (Department of Conservation and Recreation par. 1).
This inscription dated back in the 17th century. It has been classified as an important archeological tool. The inscriptions found on the stone are believed to have been made by the Indians according to the 17th century American scholars (Hurstwic.org par. 24). Other scholars urge that this historical landmark is linked to Portuguese explorers who visited the Americus.
The surface where the inscriptions are located has a trapezoidal countenance inclined at an angle. The stone was found inclined 70 degrees northwest, with the inscriptions oriented towards the waters of the bay (Hurstwic.org par. 24). The inscriptions found in the rock were identified to have originated from Portugal by an American scholar in the 20th century.
This scholar went ahead to suggest that the tool used to make the inscription to be bug-eyed aliens (Hurstwic.org par. 27). The evidence retrieved from the site back the theory suggested by the American scholar. There are many theories that have been put in place to try to explain the origin and meaning of the inscriptions (Massachusetts Historical Society par. 1).
Currently, scholars have not adopted any theory as that can be used to explain the mystery surrounding the rock. Artists, on the other hand, have also come up with numerous arguments about the artistic nature of the rock leading to varied explanations about the origin of the art used to decorate the rock (Massachusetts Historical Society par. 10).
The most credited explanation on who made the inscriptions goes to Rafn Carl C., the Secretary of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries in Copenhagen in the year 1830 who linked the inscriptions on the rock to the Norse explorers who are believed to be among the earliest explorers to have reached North America (Hurstwic.org par. 28).
The information available about Dighton Rock places it at the center of three important groups in American history (Department of Conservation and Recreation par. 1). These groups are the Portuguese, Indians, and the Norse. This proves that these three groups must have been among the earliest settlers of North America.
All these groups of people are linked to this artifact proving that they might have something to do with the artifact or maybe they interacted at the time this artifact was made creating a link of all three groups to the artifact. This artifact can, therefore, be used in the development of American history. As a form of evidence, it can trace the origin of three of the ancient American settlers.
Therefore, it is a significant archeological artifact that can be studied and used in explaining the cultural practices carried out by the ancient settlers of the Americas (Massachusetts Historical Society par. 9). The form of communication relayed by the inscriptions on the curving proves the existence of writing skills in the enceinte times.
Besides, the message put in the inscriptions is linked to natives and explorers. The most important aspect of this rock is the rich history it carries and therefore, its use in historical studies enhances understanding of the past civilizations.
Works Cited
Department of Conservation and Recreation. Dighton Rock State Park. 2013. Web.
Hurstwic.org. Dighton Rock in Berkley 2003. Web.
Massachusetts Historical Society. Seth Eastman on Dighton Rock. 2013. Web.
The accidental archeological discovery made in South African Pretoria has shocked the scientists. A mysterious cavity was found by the workers of a building site. The cavity located several feet underground was of unknown origin, so the builders called a team of archeologists to investigate. The contents of the cavity were horrifying.
It turned out to be an ancient crypt, the last home to a creature, whose looks made the scientists startle. The mummy buried there was three times taller than an average human, it had four-inch-long claws, and its legs and arms were arranged in a wild position, reminding of a dance. The name this finding received is “African Frankenstein.” The scientists were determined to find out the origins of the creature and to solve the secret of the grave.
Mysterious creatures are claimed to be discovered all over the world. The news and websites keep posting mysterious facts about the remains of ancient beasts, unknown monsters, mutants, giants, aliens. Tombs of all kinds are being unearthed. They contain bodies buried in strange positions, with missing body parts, they may be filled with treasures, or remains of animals, the bodies are mummified, or dried, or placed in various containers. The stories behind each of such tombs are fascinating and scary at the same time.
The archeologists have to be ready to face unexpected shock like it was with the screaming mummies in Egypt, or with chained corpses in the Czech Republic, or with the sewer filled with the remains of newborn babies. All of the archeologists share the same passion for unearthing something incredible, a history-altering finding and making a discovery that will change the world forever. The research of the case of African Frankenstein also began with a hope to find a new incredible creature never seen before.
During the research, the scientists used quantitative methods of data collection. They kept the most careful records, as it is always done during the archeological research and investigation. They took multiple photographs of all corners of the discovered tomb and of every inch of the unearthed bodies.
They took the measurements, performed chemical analyses and DNA tests, and sent all the samples to the expertise. They also interviewed the members of aboriginal tribes to collect more information. The archeologists also used qualitative methods evaluating the data, making assumptions, based on their own experience and knowledge, and creating various hypotheses.
The list of the terrifying archeological findings unearthed in different periods of human history recently became one story longer. The shocking discovery was made by accident in South African Pretoria. The workers of a local building company phoned the Ministry of Archeology of South Africa asking a group of scientists to visit their building site immediately. The workers said they might have found some ancient grave. The grave looked like an underground crypt.
The digger broke one of its walls; this is how the builders noticed that there is a cavity under a layer of rocks and soil. Of course, the workers were hoping that they came across some lost treasure. Before calling the Ministry of archeology, they decided to check what was inside of the mysterious underground cavity. Since the hole was not big enough for a man to fit into it, they used flashlights. After having seen what was inside the hole, the workers immediately left the building site and decided this was the job for the scientists.
The team of archeologists that arrived at the site did not expect to see what they saw. An hour later, the area was isolated and pronounced an excavation site of higher importance. When the scientists managed to get inside of the cavity, it really turned out to be a crypt, but the archeologists were not sure how to call what was buried there. The creature, whose skeleton the scientists found on the floor of the crypt was mummified and wrapped in fabric, but not in the way Egyptian mummies are.
The legs and arms of the creature were wrapped separately, and the corpse was lying in an unusual position with arms apart, and above the head, legs were straight, but not together, the feet were a dozen of inches away from each other. Before moving the finding, the scientists took all the necessary measurements and photographs. The mummy looked huge – around three times taller than an average human body. The hands of the creature had unusually long nails; their length reached four inches.
Shocked by the sight of this discovery, the scientists did not know what to start with. The remains of the monster were carefully transported to the research laboratory for further examination. A group of scientists remained in the crypt to collect more data about this grave. After the mummy had been studied in the laboratory, the archeologists were a little disappointed by the results. First of all, the “monster” was not an alien or a strange animal but had human DNA.
The age of the mummy counted approximately three hundred years. When the mummy was unwrapped, its unusual height was explained by the fact that the parts compiling its skeleton were taken from at least three different corpses. The mummy was immediately nicknamed as “African Frankenstein.” The researchers continued their investigation in order to understand why such a thing was done to the body and what the purpose of the creation of this “monster” was.
The data collected in the crypt helped clarify some of the information. The cavity was decorated with ornaments reminding the patterns consisting of birds, in the corners of the crypt the sculptures of bird-like creatures were found. The area around the place where the mummy was lying was filled with ritual objects, vessels, statues, dishes, and totems. The scientists associated all of these objects with the remnants of the mummy and came to a conclusion that what they were examining was actually an ancient grave of a tribal shaman.
The scientists picked up multiple samples of smaller bones and shells that belonged to all kinds of creatures. Besides, there was another grave within that cavity. The grave contained the missing bones and body parts; in general, all the human bones exhumed from the tomb have compiled three full female skeletons.
The question of why these bones were used to construct one large monster-like creature and put in a strange position was still unanswered. In history, there was no other case of such an unusual style of dumping. The scientists decided to turn to legends and myths of African tribes. Bantu religion has a story about Dzivaguru, the goddess of rain, darkness, streams, and earth.
According to some versions, the goddess owned the swallows, who Shona people considered the birds of sunlight (Myths, Legends, Beliefs, and Traditional Stories from Africa, par. 13). Other versions said that Dzivaguru looked like the mixture of a very tall human and a bird. This legend explained the bird-like position of the mummy in the grave.
It seemed that the creators of the ancient tomb buried their female shaman, who worshiped the goddess, and tried to recreate the body of the goddess using the remains of the humans, making an ultimate totem for their tribe, a symbol, which contained their totemic animal, their goddess, and their shamans all in one.
To sum up, the scientists shocked by their unexpected finding and confused by its looks, decided first to analyze all of the pieces of the puzzle, and then carefully look for the connections between them, in order not to make a false conclusion. The analysis showed that practically there were three female bodies in the grave, surrounded with religious and ritual attributes and paraphernalia typical to a tribal shaman. Logically, they assumed that at least one or all of the females were shamans.
Unusually long nails are still typical for some tribal shamans of Africa. The ornament on the walls of the crypt consisted of birds that appeared to swallow. The legend of the goddess, who looked like a giant bird, matched the position of the mummy – with the arms apart, like wings and legs creating the swallowtail – and its unusual size. Obviously, the ancient tribe of Bantu origin tried to create a totem out of the bodies of their shamans, so they could protect their people even after death.
Works Cited
Myths, Legends, Beliefs and Traditional Stories from Africa. A-Gallery. Web.
Ever since ancient times, celestial bodies have been a massive source of interest and mystery for humanity. Today, in astronomy, the dwarf planets are some of the most mysterious celestial bodies. This category of planets was created not so long ago. Its creation became the result of lengthy arguments between the scientists in reference to the planets of our solar system and their classification and the features that define them. Currently, apart from the eight planets in our solar system, the astronomers recognize five dwarf planets.
Pluto
Discovery
Pluto is the most well known of the dwarf planets. The story of its discovery is very peculiar. Predicted to be out there in 1915 by Percival Lowell, Pluto was finally discovered by a self-taught astronomer called Clyde Tombaugh in Lowell Observatory by a lucky chance.
In 1930 Tombaugh spend quite a very long time studying photographs of the fragments of space by means of using “blink comparator”, the device designed to compare paired photographs and detect the differences between them to find objects that moved (Beyond the Planets – the discovery of Pluto, n. d., para. 5).
Such photographs show a lot of various bodies and also false objects that can be very confusing, but Tombaugh’s eyes, apparently, were very sharp, so he managed to locate Pluto. (Original photos compared by Tombaugh, n. d.).
The fact that the scientist chose that particular area of the sky to examine was just a lucky accident. Initially, Pluto was recognized as the ninth planet of our solar system. Its mass and size were also considered much larger than they turned out to be later. Pluto’s temperature is one of the oldest known to science; it is minus 375 degrees F. The surface of this body is covered in gigantic craters, some of which were named after the characters of “Star Trek,” the well-known TV show about space adventures.
Peculiarities
Pluto is 2274 km in diameter, its density is 2.3 g/cm3, it has retrograde rotation, and its axis is tilted by 17 degrees. Pluto has always been the focus of rigorous arguments among the scientists, first of all, for a long time, it was impossible to study its features well since it is so far away.
Secondly, Pluto’s orbit is very different from the orbits of the eight planets of the solar system, it has an elliptical shape, so normally Pluto is further away from the Sun than all of the planets, but there are times when its unusually shaped orbit brings it closer to the Sun than Neptune is. Finally, Pluto’s orbit is tilted in relation to the orbits of the eight planets, which all move parallel to each other.
As a result of the arguments caused by this list of significant differences between Pluto and the eight planets of our solar system, the science came up with a solution to introduce a new category to distinguish between the planet-mass objects that cannot be called planets or natural satellites. The astronomers agreed to call them dwarf planets.
Dwarf Planets
In total, the contemporary science knows about five dwarf planets. Apart from Pluto, there are also Eris, Haumea, Makemake, and Ceres. According to their scientific definition, dwarf planets are to be of round shape and orbit the Sun directly. The difference between planet-mass objects known as planets and dwarf planets is that the latter is much smaller and cannot clear their orbits of the presence of other bodies. Dwarf planets are also known to have a smaller size than planets and their natural satellites.
All of the five known dwarf planets are smaller than the moon the Earth has, but dwarf planets cannot be considered as moons as they orbit the Sun. In fact, dwarf planets may have their own moon, for example, Pluto has a natural satellite that is rather large, and its name is Charon. The introduction of the new category of dwarf planets was caused by the discovery of several objects of significant size located in the disk of space debris that stretches outside of Pluto’s orbit; this disk is known as Kuiper belt.
The objects found there mainly consist of ice because they are very far away from the Sun. Interestingly enough, together with other significantly sized bodies found in the asteroid belt that is situated between Jupiter and Mars, the scientists currently count up to one hundred and twenty-five planet-like objects that directly orbit the Sun. This number does not include a huge variety of smaller objects that were also cataloged by the astronomers.
Ceres
Pluto was not the first dwarf planet that was initially classified as a planet. Ceres, with its orbit located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, was first observed in 1801 and recognized as a planet of the astronomers of that time (Redd, 2013, p. 1). Its discoverer’s name was Giuseppe Piazzi. When the multiple smaller objects overcrowding the asteroid belt were discovered, the scientists decided to downgrade this body to the status of an asteroid, just like the objects around.
Ceres was promoted again and became a dwarf planet in 2006 after the same decision was made about Pluto. The peculiarity of Ceres is that it is considered rather suitable for hosting life the way we know it. Besides, among the other icy bodies, Ceres is located the closest to the Sun, which makes is much warmer so that its ice can melt (Redd, 2013, p. 2).
Ceres is carefully examined as it may become the breaking point in relevance to the existence of water in the middle solar system, just like the moon of Jupiter called Europa and Saturn’s satellite Enceladus. Ceres is much smaller than other dwarf planets. Its diameter is around 952 km, and its density is 2.07 g/cm3.
Eris
Eris is the dwarf planet that came very close to being pronounced a planet based on data provided by Hubble, the world’s most powerful telescope that works from space. Hubble helped the scientists calculate the size of Eris, which made it larger than Pluto. This caused a debate among the astronomers who needed to decide whether Eris had to become the tenth planet, or Pluto had to be downgraded to the status of the dwarf planet (Dwarf Bodies in the Solar System, 2008, p. 68).
The final decision is well known, Pluto ended up to be denoted, and this is how the solar system lost one of its planets. This, actually, is not the first time something like this happens to the solar system. For example, during the 1820s, when Pluto has not been discovered yet, the notes of solar system included data about eleven planets, some of which later turned out to be asteroids (Dwarf Bodies in the Solar System, 2008, p. 67).
Just like Pluto, Eris is located in the Kuiper belt; it also has an elliptical orbit that is even more eccentric than that of Pluto. Eris is the largest among the five dwarf planets with a diameter of 2397 km and a density of 2.52 g/cm3. Another similarity between Eris and Pluto are their atmospheres that seem only to occur when the objects come closer to the Sun and freeze when they move away.
Makemake
Makemake is the third-largest dwarf planet. It is also suspected to have an atmosphere. The special feature of Makemake is the complete absence of natural satellites around it; all the other dwarf planets have at least one moon. Makemake is also one of the most recently discovered large celestial bodies. The scientists noticed Makemake in 2005. Makemake is estimated to be 1502 x 1430 km in diameter, and it has a red spectrum due to the heavy presence of methane in its atmosphere.
Haumea
Finally, Haumea is, probably, the most interesting looking dwarf planet. First of all, it has a rather unusual shape. Haumea is elongated and can be compared to an egg or an American football. Its size includes three parameters, 2000 x 1500 x 1000 km as the planet is an ellipsoid. (Dymock, 2010).
Haumea is covered in ice. The scientists have a theory that Haumea appeared after two rather large objects bumped into each other. This theory is confirmed by the pieces with the same spectrum found around Haumea. Another peculiarity of Haumea is its very fast axis rotation, which may be another reason why Haumea is so elongated (Dymock, 2010, p. 45). Haumea makes a complete turn on its axis within only four hours. This dwarf planet was discovered in 2004 by an astronomer Mike Brown and his crew.
Summary and Conclusion
All of the currently known dwarf planets were discovered in different periods of time since the 1800s till 2005, whereas the planets such as Venus, Mercury, or Mars have been discussed ever since ancient times. The reasons why dwarf planets were not discovered earlier are their small size and their rather distant location. Even today, when the astronomers have such powerful devices as Hubble, dwarf planets such as Eris and Haumea can only be theorized about because not much data is available about them due to their far away placement.
Reference List
Dymock, R. (2010). Asteroids and Dwarf Planets and How to Observe Them. Berlin, Germany: Springer Science & Business Media.
The findings that Galileo published in his book the Starry Messenger gave birth to modern science. These ideas created room for arguments. They were supported by the minorities of the society. It also gained acceptance from the action of the clergy and Catholic adherents.
Galileo was a Tuscan Italian citizen who specialized in astronomy and mathematics. He also was a Physicist and engineer as well as one of the key figures in the scientific revolution. His careful analysis of the French instrument led him to discover one of the most sophisticated and improved telescopes of his time. He illustrated how powerful it was in the Starry Messenger publication. He also mentioned it in the Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany.
The world took up the philosophical ideas of the early discoveries. The traditional Ptolemaic Aristotelian conception took a center stage in the world history. The Geocentric model held the view that all motion in the heavens was a uniform circular motion. They also proposed that the bodies in heaven were unique. They have superior qualities that are unchangeable. It means that the stars, the moon, and other heavenly bodies cannot change their illumination.
They also acknowledged that the Earth does not move or rotate. It is stationary at the center of all celestial materials. The Sun, the Moon and other planets and stars rotate around it. By this, they implied that the Creator made the mankind rule from the center of the universe. The Catholic Church adopted these geocentric principles and made it the Christian dogma.
The society of Christians also baptized the Greek philosophers who supported the views. Since the Catholic Church was the most dominant denomination of Christians that ruled the world, the Papal acceptance of the model meant that it became part of the Christian reference for scientific truth. The model joined scientific views and religious ideas together. There were also some Bible verses that the church leaders used to support such scientific opinions.
What the proponents of the geocentric did not realize was that when people acknowledge the scientific views of their time, they must also accept that there would be developments and new improvements. The search for knowledge continues from generation to generation.
They should have foreseen the challenge of the Heliocentric model of Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler. Instead, they closed their eyes to reasoning and development. They needed to understand that the careless use of scripture to validate themselves was biblically punitive in itself. Some scriptures did not have the literal meaning which went hand in hand with the interpretations acquired.
Galileo Galilei used his invented telescope to view the sky and noted some important aspects that would determine the future knowledge on science. It is important to disassociate the principles of Science from religious and spiritual doctrines.
Galileo discovered three basic views from his telescope and observations. The first one was that the Moon had similar physical features that were also on the Earth. The Moon had mountains, hills, valleys and water bodies. Due to poor observations of his challengers, they claimed that the Moon was smooth and had no other physical features.
They saw what they wanted to see due to the poor visual images of their lenses. Galileo was able to draw clear diagrams because he had a formal training as an artist. What created more disharmony in his work was the discovery of Jupiter with its four largest moons. Geocentric discoveries had taught and recorded that everything rotated around the earth because the earth was the center that was holding everything in place.
If one is to take a literal example of the planet using people, then one person should sit in the center representing the Sun. The sun should be bright colored and stationary. There should be circular lines where other planets including the Earth orbit the sun. The first planet should be the Mercury, followed by Venus, then the Earth.
The fourth one should be Mass, followed by Jupiter with four moons rotating around it. Jupiter should also have the four planets which are its satellites. The audience must also know that as the planets go round the sun, they also rotate on their axis. And that is why people see different shapes of the moon and different sizes of the stars.
Galileo wrote a letter to the Grand Duchess explaining how he had worked there for the leadership of the land. He also sought her protection since those who were trying to destroy his discoveries had wrong motives and intentions.
The views they use to disassociate themselves from his development are unfounded and lack basis. They go around spreading heresy and creating hatred against Galileo. It would have been good for them if they had allowed Galileo to have a chance to defend himself rather than stop him from continuing with his work.
The respected people of the society and the holy office of Catholic have had an opportunity to learn from the past discoveries. Previously, there had been nothing but the promotion of one doctrine by the church and the state. It would have been be an honor if they had been more flexible and heard Galileo’s views without passing judgment.
Britain’s most exciting archaeological discoveries and finds from the Neolithic period were made in the areas of Durrington Walls, Woodhenge and Winterbourne Stoke cemetery. This is what made these archaeological sites so popular and famous all over the world. Not every country is a proud owner of such amazing, mysterious and rare places.
Durrington Walls are also well known as the world’s biggest hedge. Its diameter is approximately five hundred metres. The archaeologists discovered that the monument originally was designed with four entrances, but these days three of them are not visible. The first research of Durrington Walls was conducted in 1967, and it has discovered a smaller circle made of timber. In 2006 some parts of the circle were excavated (Durrington Walls, par. 6). The scientists found out the walls were built in 2500 BC, this is why these days so little of this site can be seen (Neolithic Henge, par. 1). Today the archaeologists suggest that in the past the territory now occupied by the walls belonged to a settlement because of the multiple fragments of cattle bones found in that area (Pearson, par. 6)
Woodhenge is interesting because it is basically a version of Stonehenge; the difference is that it is made of wood. The diameter of the henge is around eighty-five metres. The concentric rings of Woodhenge were first found in 1926 (Pitts, par. 15). The researchers were sure that Woodhenge was an amazing find, yet soon doubts appeared, there were versions that Woodhenge could be nothing more than a simple wooden fence. The archaeological team examined the site and discovered many similarities between the famous Stonehenge and Woodhenge – the entrances of the wooden circle are aligned in the way that would allow the sun rays to enter the centre of the ring during the summer solstice (Rees and Petre, par. 1). The difference is that the henge consists of several rings situated one inside of another.
The building is dated from 2300 BC; nowadays, it is believed to be a religious ritual place. There are proofs that the circle was used by somebody in 1800 BC. There is a version that the place also carried defence functions (Woodhenge, par. 4). The archaeological excavations in that area showed that the place was used by some settlers even before the ring was built there (Neolithic/Bronze Age Henge and Timber Circle, par. 2).
The Stoke cemetery is another very famous archaeological site. The monument is compiled of nineteen earthworks of circular shape. They are called round barrows. (Winterbourne Stoke Crossroads Barrow Cemetery, par 1). This site started to be researched many decades ago. The excavations made in 1863 found the burial at the north-east that was called primary burial, and then several other burials were uncovered, they are called secondary. They are dated from the Bronze Age (Neolithic/Bronze Age Barrow Cemetery, par. 2).
Finding discovered in the area of the Winterbourne Stoke group are various. The archaeologists unearthed urns, food vessels, bronze weapon, pebbles, whetstones, remains of animals, fragments of bones, wooden coffins. Every round barrow was created to include only one burial. Obviously, these members of the ancient society were privileged somehow (Winterbourne Stoke – Barrow Cemetery in England in Wiltshire, par. 4).
All of the sites have been researched many times by many groups of archaeologists, and the scientific opinions and interpretations of the meanings of these sites were changed several times.
The territory of the UK is rich in numerous valuable archaeological sites. For instance, archaeologists have discovered and explored loads of areas with finds dating back to the Neolithic period. Crickley Hill, Belas Knap and Nympsfield Long Barrow are sites which can reveal secrets of this period as well as later periods of the development of the human society.
Crickley Hill
The first site to be considered is Crickley Hill. The site is situated in Gloucestershire, and the settlement dates back to ca. 7-6th century BC (Adams 16). The excavation started in the late 1960s at the site and lasted from 1970s to 1990s (Darvill 59). It is found that the territory was inhabited in the period between 4000 BC and 500 AD (Harding 84). The settlements were Neolithic, Iron Age and Post Roman. The site has great archaeological value as it helps understand the way human society developed in this part of the world.
Belas Knap
Belas Knap is another amazing archaeological site which sheds light on the Neolithic period. The site is situated in Gloucestershire as well, but the site became known to researchers much earlier than the previous one as the excavations started in the 1860s (Knusel & Smith 115). This site dates back to 3000 BC, and it is a complex of four chambers (Daniel 74). It is regarded as one of the best burial chambers in England (North 121).
It is also associated with Druidism as the outline of the chamber is similar to other burial chambers arranged by druids (Kendrick 165). Admittedly, this site has been explored extensively, and it seems there can be no questions. However, it is also clear that the site can reveal much more secrets concerning the life in the Neolithic and Iron Age periods. The site is also remarkable as it sheds light on one of the most questionable religious practices in the history of humanity.
Nympsfield Long Barrow
Nympsfield Long Barrow is one more valuable archaeological site. This burial site is located in Gloucestershire, and it also has several chambers (Hooke 47). There were three major excavations which took place in 1862, 1937 and in 1974 (Colledge et al. 319). This burial complex dates back to 2800 BC. It is also quite big, and it could be arranged for thirty corpses, and those people were buried in accordance with the beliefs of the Neolithic period (Bingham 3). Like in any other set of burial chambers, there were weapons, tools and other objects which could be necessary for those people’s afterlife.
Conclusion
To sum up, it is possible to note that the three archaeological sites considered above have a great historical and cultural value as they help people unveil secrets of previous generations. Analysis of the construction and objects found in the site has helped researchers learn about life in such periods as Neolithic, Iron Age and Post Roman. These sites should be some of the first stops of a novice archaeologist as they tell the story of the earliest settlements and cultures. This is the basis of the further development of human society in the area. These sites also help trace the changes which took place between 4000 BC and the first century AD. Interactions of different people and different cultures are also revealed in the sites.
Works Cited
Adams, Geoffrey William. Romano-Celtic Elites and Their Religion: A Study of Archaeological Sites in Gloucestershire. Armidale: Caeros Pty Ltd, 2005. Print.
Bingham, Jane. The Costwolds: A Cultural History. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.
Colledge, Sue, James Conolly, Keith Dobney, Katie Manning, and Stephen Shennan. Origins and Spread of Domestic Animals in Southwest Asia and Europe. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2013. Print.
Daniel, Glyn E. The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. Print.
Well nested on the east coast, is a place I never imagined I could long to go back and visit. Its funny how many individuals perceive east coast to be; a land where money and time-share a common language; “scarcity,” while forgetting there are better things there. To some extent, owing to its geographic position, it is not wrong for one to ague that, it is a forgotten treasure because it is rarely spoken when it comes to choosing places to tour.
During our winter holiday in 2009, my parents proposed that we should have a visit to one of the less spoken tourist centers; something that I opposed at first but on further consideration I accepted without knowing the fun that was awaiting me. It takes approximately two days to travel by road to this wonderful island if you live in New York or its outskirts.
Geographically it is near the southern Georgia coast. Occupiers of this island thrive within a magnificent ecosystem comprising of sand dunes, marshland, and a variety of tree species, which makes the place look even more beautiful.
This habitat is mainly is comprised of animals of the giant lizard family (which can scare the breath out of one), wild horses, birds, and pigs, turtles, sharks and snakes of all species. The site of nesting turtles made the scenery even more beautiful as they maneuvered around their eggs making sure no predators struck.
Although the journey to the island was exciting, the site of the scenery left me more excited. One unique thing with this island is that, its weather; you can imagine living home in a quite chilly morning, hence the need to cover yourself, only to find that you have abused the weather on reaching the Island the following day; because the temperature were more than anyone could anticipate.
Because this is an island, our adventure commenced the moment we arrived at the seashore. We had an option of using a private boat but my parents opted for a ferry, which we boarded at St. Mary’s Georgia. It was my fist time riding in a ferry; hence, you can imagine how fun it was having met local natives who spoke a language one could think they were not American citizens, but rather originated from some foreign country where English was a scarce language.
Have small crawling animals like ticks ever defeated you? Do not laugh and take it as a joke because this visit proved this to me. Like oxygen, ticks were allover, hence acting as our welcoming masters and hosts something we got used to because even if you tried to kill them it was just a waste of time. Singly I can testify I removed more than 150 ticks stuck on my body, a fact that made me question the essence of companies manufacturing insecticides because, this ticks not only seemed stubborn, but also immune.
Although the ticks had given us a general preview of how life was to be in these nine days, it was important for the rangers on duty to give us a formal welcome. On funny thing about their welcoming note was that, instead of them encouraging us, they increased the levels of our heartbeats by telling us how dangerous animals in this park were; hence the need to take precaution.
I cannot deny that I had seen raccoons previously, but Cumberland’s Raccoons were more that one could anticipate their size could be; because not only were they enormous, but also they seemed more voracious. They were so famished that no matter how much we fed them, one could think they had an extra stomach they put the food because they were insatiable.
Because we could not stand these Raccoons, we opted to stay up at the Hickory hills, something we never knew was worse that feeding them. The conditions there were un-tolerable because, the place was extra thorny and invested with so many biting insects that included our welcoming friends; ticks.
On our second to seventh day, we went around the jungle park where we saw the beauty of creation and evolution, which included wild turkeys, a variety of serpents, and other wild animals, which I think are the causes of my nightmares. As it was culture of the island, on our second last day, we attended a unique swimming competition; unique in the sense that it was not between human beings, but rather between human beings and dolphins.
In addition to swimming with dolphins, the imagination of a shark attacking me made the experience more enjoyable, although terrifying.
In conclusion, I do not want to remember my last day in the park; it makes me long for the park. This is because for once, I had the chance of touching and feeding most venomous snakes, something that was my greatest fear. In addition, I had the chance of seeing wild horses mate, hence continuation of the living species; horses being my favorite animals.