Posts

Showing posts with the label facts

MYSTERIOUS LANDSCAPE IN AFRICA

        Many mysteries abound in Africa, many of them are unexplainable even with science advancement and technological greatness. Mysteries like ghost attack, reincarnation, witchcraft, nightmares, e.t.c. have been explained in many ways but the truth is that not one of the explanations is right. One of the amazing mystery is an unbelievable landscape in Namib Desert, what made it more amazing is the fact that is it physical that is you can see it, touch it, and feel it.         In an area of about 2,000-kilometer swath along the western edge of the Namib Desert in southwestern Africa, patches of barren, sandy soil three meters in diameter dot the landscape. Each patch is girded with a ring of tall grass. To some visitors the rings look like terrestrial chicken pox or splash marks made by giant raindrops. Local tradition has it that these circles possess magical powers. Some tribes believe that each circle surrounds the grave of a bushman who died in one of the many conflicts

HOW TO MEASURING THE EARTH WITH A STICK

                                      Have you ever heard of the Greek mathematician and astronomer Eratosthenes? His name is probably best known among astronomers. Why do they think so highly of him?           Eratosthenes was born about 276 B.C.E. and received some of his education in Athens, Greece. He spent a good part of his life, however, in Alexandria, Egypt, which at that time was under Greek rule. In about 200 B.C.E., Eratosthenes set out to determine the dimensions of the earth by using a simple stick. ‘Impossible!’ you may say. How did he do it?         In the city of Syene [now called Aswan], Eratosthenes observed that at noon on the first day of summer, the sun was directly overhead. He knew this because there was no shadow cast when the sunlight reached the bottom of deep wells. However, at noon on the same day in the city of Alexandria, which was located 5,000 stadia to the north of Syene, a shadow could be observed. That gave Eratosthenes an idea.       Era