Where on earth? #2013-1

So, let's start a new series of "puzzles" I like to call "Where on earth?". The idea is very simple. I pick a famous place on Google Earth and show you a picture of it. All you have to do is to identify it!

So, here goes...

Where on earth? - 2013-1

Yosemite National Park in Time-lapse View

Check out this awesome time-lapse video of Yosemite National Park, California, USA produced by Sheldon Neill and Colin Delehanty. Watch closely – there are some very cool items captured.



Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

Can you figure out what those tiny “insects” are?
How about those shooting stars? Are they shooting stars? No? What are they? And how do you figure they are not shooting stars?

What is a National Park?

A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural or developed land that a nation declares. By declaring an area a national park, it can be protected and kept in pristine condition. It also helps keep the flora and fauna in the original and natural state.

Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, USA) was established as the first national park in 1872 by USA. It was signed into a law by then President Ulysses S. Grant on Mar 1, 1872 (source Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park). Since then, there are more than 6,500 national parks around the world. In USA, we have 58 national parks (source Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_parks). 

US government has established a National Park Service agency within Department of Interior to take care of these national parks and other places of historical and natural interests.

So, here's an assignment. Figure out what are some of the national parks in your country and what do they feature? Also, have you visited those parks?

Here's another video featuring some of the best national parks from USA. See if you can recognize these places. How many parks featured in this video have you visited?


Far and Wide :: Timelapse Cut from Fr. Johannes M Schwarz on Vimeo.

Hope you enjoyed this video!

Back to Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park is located in eastern part of state of California in USA. It is a valley formed by the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. In the video you can see El Capitan (a prominent granite cliff that looms over Yosemite Valley, is one of the most popular rock climbing destinations in the world because of its diverse range of climbing routes in addition to its year-round accessibility), Half Dome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_Dome), Mirror Lake and Bridalveil Falls.

What is time-lapse view (video)?

Now, on to how this video was created!

This video was created using a technique called time-lapse photography. You simply put a camera on a tripod, use manual exposure control and then take pictures of a scene every few seconds – without moving the camera of course! Then you combine all those pictures into one seamless movie using tools available on computer. Check out more details here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-lapse_photography.

Most popular subjects for time-lapse photography include cloudscapes and motion of celestial bodies, plants and flowers growing and evolution of construction project. The time-lapse photography techniques provide a great insight into how something happens over a period of time.

Some cool time-lapse videos

Check out these videos on BBC UK site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0085nk0

Here’s a video of a Disney Fantasy ship being built. Very interesting – they construct major portions of the ship separately and then put those in place.




Of course there are other photographic techniques which can provide different view of objects. These include Stop motion animation, slow motion photography and motion controlled photography.

There’s another related photography technology called High Dynamic Range (HDR) which can provide a great detailed view of a scene but that’s a topic for a different post.

In any case, here's a beautiful video of city lights with pictures taken using HDR technique.


HD Time Lapse Footage Showreel 2011 - Night Rush Around the World 2 from HDtimelapse.net on Vimeo.

Check the Vimeo page below to see what all cities are featured in this video.
http://vimeo.com/25213730

Here are more similar videos: http://vimeo.com/hdtimelapse

Make your own time-lapse videos

You can use your camera and a tripod to make a time-lapse video too! Here are few links which can help you create such videos. You may have to experiment a bit but I am sure you will make great videos.
http://vimeo.com/videoschool/lesson/9/timelapse

So, make a time-lapse video and then please share those with us.

Until next time…

Hiren

Art meets science

This is a fun experiment you can do at home to demonstrate hydrophobic and hydrophilic chemical properties. These are two very important properties in chemistry and biology that has varied applications. All you need is milk, some food coloring and dish soap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOWg2cTfA9w

You will find a detailed description of the experiment and variations of the experiment you can do at home at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/milk-color-explosion

More about hydrophobic molecules:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrophobe

and hydrophilic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrophilic

Try the experiment at home and send us pictures of your results.

What is the fastest path between two points?

What is the fastest way to get from point A to point B? Well, you would think that moving in a straight, downward slope, correct?

Not quite! Newton was given the same challenge called the "Brachistochrone problem" and he and a few other fellow mathematicians/scientists came up with the cycloid.Here are some links to read about the problem and the solution.

• http://mathworld.wolfram.com/BrachistochroneProblem.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachistochrone_curve

And about the cycloid itself:

• http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Cycloid.html

And here are some videos demonstrating the same...

• In action - normal speed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzk3ba-Oe00&sns=em
• In action - slow speed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y05nIAGiIqw&sns=em

Here's an interesting observation: Wherever you start from on the cycloid slope, you will reach the bottom of the curve at the same time. Two demonstrations showing this:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib1TdgeYL4o&sns=em
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAYWccuLVvY&sns=em

Can anyone explain why?

China plans manned moon mission

The US is currently the only country to have put men on the moon. But China might soon be the next country to head to the lunar surface. And the best outcome if China makes this official is that it might restart the US space shuttle program.

You can view the moon in 3D in Google Earth. http://www.google.com/moon/

Did you know we only see one side of the moon? Do you know why? Here are some interesting links to study

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tothemoon/puz1n2.html

http://www.kcvs.ca/martin/astro/au/unit7/173/chp17_3.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8ymFeGjibk

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/06/moon-lunar-wobbling/