8 accidental inventions that took the world to surprise…

1. Potato chips:

who would have thought that potato chips were actually made from french fries?!!!The story goes like this: a customer at a restaurant complained about the French fries being thick. Even after serving thin french fries to him he was not satisfied and kept complaining. To mock the customer the chef sliced the chips in very thin layers and served it to him. Surprisingly the customer liked the item and this lead to the invention of potato chips.

2.Saccharin:

Saccharin, the sweetener now found at many places was discovered accidently by Ira Ramsen and Constantin Fahlberg in a laboratory. Fahlberg forgot to wash his hands before eating. The taste of his food had become sweet due to a chemical left on his hand. This caught their attention and eventually saccharin was invented.(But there were quarrels between the two because the patent had the name of Fahlberg only)

3.Match stick:

John, a British pharmacist was stirring his chemicals and he noticed a dry mass of lump attached to the end of the stirrer. While scrapping the lump away he accidentally put fire to it and this invented the match stick.

4. Penicillin :

Sir Alexander only discovered the medicine after giving up on his medical experiments. He noticed a mold on an old dish which was breaking down bacteria. Growing the mould, he discovered that it contained antibiotic penicillin and history was created.

5. Corn flakes:

John and Will Kellogg discovered it when they accidentally left a pot of boiled grain on a stove for number of days.

6. Microwave Oven:

Pery Spencer was working on a radar related experiment when he noticed that the chocolate in his pocket had started melting. Taking this into account he patented the microwave oven.

7. Non stick pan:

Chemist Plunkett was trying to create a new form of CFC when he accidentally created some mysterious white flakes. This turned out to be the high melting point lubricant now applied on all non stick pans.

8. Safety Glass:

Chemist Edward while working noticed that a glass flask did not break into several pieces when it dropped to the floor. He later realized that it was because the inner surface of the flask was covered with plastic cellulose nitrate. He later patented it and now it is being used in a majority of cars.

The Google Story(book review)

The Google Story

By David A Vise

“Google” is an enterprise which has become omnipresent, with every individual using the website to get the most minute and most trivial of information. David A Vise in his book takes you on a journey on how Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of this indispensable part of our life, turned their idea into a multi-billion dollar enterprise.

The book begins with giving the readers an insight in the early life of Sergey and Larry and emphasises on the fact that how their family background and childhood had a major role in shaping their future. From their schooldays it moves onto their college phase, where this to legends meet for the first time in Stanford. The friction and the chemistry between the two is very well articulated and really gets the reader excited to know about how they came up with the very idea of google.

The book never lets the reader get bored as it is written in the form of a tightly scripted thriller movie. It beautifully encompasses the initial hiccups, the problems faced by the founders in the initial funding and most importantly on how to gain profit from this amazing idea.
Once the initial problems are phased out and “Google” is established as a stable company, the reader is introduced to its new challenges, like coping up with intense competition(Yahoo and Microsoft being already well established in the market), lawsuits, dilemma of whether to go public or not and many more. But it is astonishing to see how google rises above all this problems like a phoenix from the ashes to maintain a top spot in the market.

The book is not only an account of Google as a company but an account of human perseverance and hardwork, and an example of how an idea can change the lifestyle of the whole of the humankind irrespective of their geographical location. It is really good experience to read this book as it gives an account of the initial decade of the global phenomena and leaves you hanging on a high point by stating the future goals and endeavour of Google.

A+ blood needed urgently

A student named Ayush who is studying in our NGO is suffering from blood cancer. He is just 12 years old and is admitted in civil hospital. A+ blood is required for his treatment. This child has still a lot to see and experience in life. Your small contribution might help a child live. So please help him by donating blood and get a chance to save a life.

Contact no: 7622908596(Rajnikant Kidecha, volunteer at Bachhpan NGO)

Acceptable Risk (by Robin Cook)

             Robin Cook is an American novelist who is best known for combining medicle writing with thriller genre. This book is of the same style and solves a seventeenth century mystery.               

             The story describes a small village town in Salem in 1692. Elizabeth Stewart is alone at the house as her husband, a navy merchant is away at the seas. The story starts off with one of her child hallucinating for which she is executed on the the charges of practising witchcraft. The situation is too mind boggling for a seventeenth century mind.

 

              The story then jumps to 1994. Elizabeth’s direct descendent Kimberly Stewart is a nurse at the hospital. Her boyfriend Edward Armstrong is a researcher at Harvard who is keenly interested in the Salem mystery. He finds out the bread which Elizabeth had baked was fungus infected and that hallucination was one side effect of it. Edward further researches on the fungus and separates an alkaloid which turns out to be a great antidepressant.

          Kim had inherited the house of Elizabeth and the neighbouring place in which she and Edward shifted. Edward turns the nearby building into a lab and quickly starts the process of patenting the drug he had discovered  and starting a business. However to accelerate the process Edward and his colleagues, whom he had invited to research upon the drug, start testing the drug on themselves as it is non toxic. This event turns out to be fateful and Salem is once again reminded of the incident that happened in the 1690’s.

           Kim is a sensitive, caring and industrious woman. Edward on the other hand is obsessed to reasearch and even more obsessed after the discovery of the million dollar drug. As the book progresses he becomes more and more greedy working tirelessly to bring the drug in the market. In hurry he makes rash decision which ultimately proves to be fateful.

             Overall the book expresses the negative side effects of drugs and medicines. Also he explores a whole new site of entrepreneurship in the medical field. It is an interesting take on the 1690’s  Salem witch trials and also shows why ‘feel good’ and confidence enhancing drugs should be avoided. Overall the book is a thrilling experience and the climax even more so.

 

        

PRAVEG’17 a National Level Symposium

           We, the members of Mechanical Engineering Students Association (MESA) had organized Praveg’17 at the institute of technology, Nirma University on 5 and 6 of October. Praveg is the annual fest of our branch. But this time , it was one of the biggest techno-cultural fest of Gujarat. 

             Every year our theme is realted to the Indian forces and this time it was based on the Indian Air Force. Great dignitaries remain present every year and make our event even more better. With us this time, we had the honorable Defence Minister of India, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Mr. Arnab Goswami(co-founder of the Republic TV) and spokes person of BJP, Mr. Sambit Patra.

(This are the publicity posters used by us) 

Along with them, other dignitaries like the mayor of Ahmedabad Mr. Gautam Shah and  Mr. Saurabh Shukla (the founder of News mobile) were also present.

        On the first day, we had various       workshops, events  and the air force lecture. The workshops that were included are 1. Automobile workshop 2. IOT workshop(internet of things) 3. App development workshop 4. CAD workshop. 5. Aero modelling and 6. Virtual reality. Various events such as 1. Beg, Borrow, Steal 2. Youth parliament 3. Lego challenge 4. Blind fold 5. Logo quiz 6. Start up India 7.Water rocket  8. Paint ball and 9. Lan gaming were organized and conducted by us.

      The most eye catching thing at praveg was the exhibition done by the air force. Various instruments,weapons and vehicles were shown by them. They also provided basic knowledge about those things.

From 2 to 4 we had the expert lecture of Mr. Arnab Goswami (the co-founder of Republic TV)

And from 4 to 6 we had the talent hunt in which many youths outcased their talent.

 On the 2nd day, we had the defence minister of India Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman. She gave  speech regarding the Indian Air Force,  scopes available in air force and persuaded us to give our any possible means of support to the Indian forces. She also attended the air force exhibtion and the air force show.

The event that drew everyone’s attention  was the the performance by the Garud Commandos. Thier coming in the helicopter and rope sliding down was really a spectacular event. 

Finally on the night of the 2nd, day we had one of the greatest band of India  i.e. The Local Train. Students really enjoyed their performance. A few of our students also played before the band to show them thier talent.

        So, this was the end of one of the spectacular event in the history of Nirma university and Gujarat. Being able to co-ordinate such an event and completing it successfully really requires great effort and dedication. This event would not have been possible without the contribution of each and every member of MESA. Feeling really proud to be a member of this club and we will continuously strive to create even grander events than this. Special thanks to the Defence Minister of India and the Indian Air Force.

About Einstein’s special theory of relativity

It is said that sharing knowledge is the best thing you can do as a student. So i will try to enlighten some points about the special theory of relativity. The special theory of relativity deals with cases of constant velocity. I hope this brief description of phenomenons will make you curious about the theory and motivate you to study about it.

1. CLOCKS ON TWO OBSERVERS :

 Let there be two observers A and B. A is stationary on Earth and B is moving with a certain velocity with respect to A on an aircarft. Both A and B initially( before take off of B) have syncronised their clocks and they show the same time. Now according to this theory, the observer A will see the clock of B to be showing different time than his(in A’s frame of reference). Now according to relativity theory observer B will also see A’s clock to be showing different time. In short both the observers will see the others clock to be unsynchronized.(we will not go for the derivation).

2. LEADING CLOCKS LAG:

Consider the previous situation of A and B, but this time B has two clocks on the aircraft(one at the front of aircraft and another at the back). According to Einstein’s special theory the forward clock on B will be lagging than the backward clock(wrt to A) i.e the forward clock will be running slowly than the backward. But according to B both the clocks on the aircraft will be syncronised. This is explained by the theory of relativity.

3. PRINCIPLE OF LIGHT   CONSTANCY:

According to this principle the relative velocity of light remains constant irrespective of whether the observer is moving or stationary. So in both the cases i.e. the observer is moving towards or away from the light source, the velocity of light wrt to observer remains constant. The relative velocity is equal to the speed of light.

4. PHENOMENON OF LENGTH CONTRACTION:

Let A be on a bridge observing an underneath passing train in which B is the passenger. According to this phenomenon, the length of the train as observed by A will be less than the actual length of the train. B will measure the length equal to the actual length of the train.

5. THE TWIN PARADOX: 

This is one of the most famous paradox in the special theory of relativity. It goes as follows: let say there are twin brothers, one A and the other B. B takes of from the earth and goes to the nearby star and comes back. Now according to the special theory, when B comes back, he will see/deduce that A is younger than him. On the contrary A will deduce that B has become younger than him. This paradox is explained from the theory of relativity. (This actually occurs due to change in direction of reference frame when B takes a backward turn from the nearby star to come back). 

6 BREAKING THE ULTIMATE SPEED LIMIT:

It is proved from the cause and effect relationship that no body can have speed geater than the speed of light.(derivation is available on various sites)

These are some of the important phenomenons/effects related to the special theory of relativity ( there are more of these). Learning and knowing of these phenomenons was really astonishing. Further there is THE GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY which takes into consideration the acceleration of the body. 

When I came across terrorism in kashmir…

            It was the evening of 8th July 2016. Me and my family came back to the hotel after a so called 2 day long travel from vaishnodevi. We had arrived early to the hotel and so the driver suggested that we could leave for Jammu to visit some places there. But being tired, we needed a day’s rest. So we relegated the advice( which we were going to remorse afterwards). 

          When we were taking dinner, we heard that  Burhan Wani(the leader of terrorist group hizbul mujahideen) was killed in an encounter by the Indian army and situations in Kashmir were becoming worse. I should not say, but although Kashmir is an integral part of India, some  people there have a feeling of antinationality( not in Jammu). The people there became enraged on hearing about the death of burhan. They came out in masses and started retaliating against the army. They pelted stones on the army and the army not getting permission could not give any counter response. When they were not satisfied, they started setting cars and buses in fire. They threw stones not only on the army but also on the tourists there. They by force closed  all the petrol pumps  of the near by places(we were lucky enough to have filled the petrol tank before this). Seeing this conditions  and hearing about them to be more worse we decided to leave Kashmir as soon as possible. We packed our bags and started off to Jammu. But at the cross road ahead, the army stopped us and ordered us to go back as the situation was worse ahead at Anantnag(the birth place of burhan). I asked the army man about how much hours will it take for everything to settle down. He laughed and told me not to talk in hours but in days. He told me it might take atleast one week for conditions being normal. We were definitely not going to stay there for this much time( even the ATM’s were closed). But for the time being, listening to the man we went back to the hotel. 

             We passed two days at the hotel. We were allowed to go out in the nearby places from 12pm to 4 pm. The food supply being stopped we were having snacks as lunch and dinner which was in dearth.

            Later on the 3rd day, I went at the army base camp( to the opposite of our hotel) with our driver. There I inquired about the conditions ahead. They said that the conditions are less exaggerated than before but still they could become baneful and the retaliating people could come up from anywhere. They adviced us to stay but added that we could travel back to Jammu “at our own risk”. They said that they were allowing few cars to go after  1 am . 

        We went back to hotel and informed everything to the people there ( by chance almost 85% of the people in the hotel  were from Gujarat). After thinking deeply for sometime about what to do we decided to do the assiduous travel. So we packed our bags and waited for 1 am.

         At 1 am we started our travel. There was army at the cross road ahead. They told us to be circumspect and adviced that if we suspect anything wrong, we should reverse the car and come back instead of pacing more ahead as this was the last army camp till Anantnag. Finally gathering courage we moved ahead. 

       All of our cars were moving at a pace not less than 90km/h. Stones and burnt wheels were lying on the road. Dodging the bigger stones we constantly moved ahead. Then came the moment we all were worried about and wished it to not occur. An innova car came back rushing from ahead and the driver shouting to us “stones ,stones” set off back to the army camp. Being in a state of fear, lot of cars went back to the hotel. Remaining  cars waited there to confirm if that driver was speaking true. We also waited. We waited there for almost an hour but saw no people from ahead approaching us. Thinking that the innova driver had misunderstood something, we fearfully started our journey back. After sometime we finally came to the most dreadful place i.e Anantnag. All the street lights were broken, a lot of stones scattered on the road, burnt vehicles. And the army camp building of Anantnag was burned. There was complete silence. Only our cars were breaking the silence. Luckily we crossed the district without any problem. Now we were less tense. Still there were  miles to cover but that fear had reduced. At last we crossed the tunnel connecting Jammu and kashmir.(the only road to connect the two places). 

              Kasmir is really a place worth visiting. It is called the heaven on Earth. It’s the most beautiful place I have ever seen. But some people there are creating terror by their antinationality feeling. In my point of view,  entire kasmir should be given in the hands of army without any restrictions . They only would be able to handle such type of situations. I loved kashmir but will definitely not visit it again till the problems there are solved permanently. 

     Few photos of some of the beautiful places in kasmir:

 

The best fiction book to read

          This is one of the best science fiction book of all times. The book describes the animosity between religion and science. In the early times, science was not that much promulgated and religion had an upper hand over it. Religious people i.e. the church senates used thier power to hinder the progress of science and maintain thier dominance over them. They used to declare them as criminals and give them death penalties. They once imprisoned the great scientist Galileo as his theory opposed the geocentric model which religion had given. This maliced the scientists and they left Greek and formed the group Illuminati.

             Now after a long period, science is under full pace and people have been astonished by the miracles science can do. People  are more influenced by science and on the other hand religion has suffered a great debacle. The funds for the religion is decreasing and people are more prepossessed to science. 

            Meanwhile in a laboratory at CERN, a scientist and his daughter made a destructive weapon out of “no matter” which was called as antimatter . Uptil now science was not able to answer a question “From where did energy originate i.e from where did matter come into existence?” . Religion said it to be a miracle  of God . With this invention science would be able to show how something was created from nothing. Definitely, some religious people will remonstrate against it.

                           Before the invention was publicized, it was stolen by a hired criminal i.e the HASSASIN and the scientist was murdered. On the chest of the victim there was a symmetrical symbol i.e an ambigram which were only known to the Illuminati. This incidence aroused a possibility of the existence of Illuminati which were long before believed to be decimated. 

           The antimatter was seen on a wirless camera in the city of Rome, where presently the election process of the next pope was going on. Police was not able to locate the antimatter and was busy in search for the four cardinals that had been kidnapped on that day. The search for the timed antimatter bomb and the four cardinals was done with the help of a professor from Harvard and the daughter of the killed scientist. The real thrill is the difficulties and the pernicious situations they face to find the antimatter at the last moment.

         The final climax occurs when they come to know that the son of the dead pope had hired the hassassin and hide the canister. The son had deliberately done  this act and by  pretending to show that God had told him the place where the canister is, he persuades people to worship God. By showing the deadliness of the weapon he showed people how science could completely destroy mankind. But later, the son realizes his mistake and commits a suicide. The story ends by people being in a situation of dilemma of what had actually occurred and the selection of a new pope.

Game of thrones theories and predictions :

1. Tyrion Lannister is actually Tyrion Targaryen:

This may not be evidence based but it atleast holds a bit of merit. Tyrion has always been an outcast from his own Lannister family. Tywin once commented that Tyrion is “No son of mine”( it could also be persiflage). Also tyrian has the same color of hair as many of the Targaryen. Also he and Jon Snow had a sense of kinship in the first season.

2. Jaime will kill Cersie:

According to the prophecy of the foreteller, Cersie will lose all her children(and she actually does) and she will be killed by her younger brother. While we think of Tyrion to do this sororicide, we should not forget that Jaime is also younger to Cersie. Jaime, who is the ‘ king’s slayer ‘ might also slay the queen.

3. The fourth dragon egg:

There is another dragon egg and it is believed to be deep under the ocean.

4. Syrio Forel is alive as Jaqen Hghar:

 Although  Syrio was seen last fighting with the lanister men with a broken wooden sword, he was not shown dead.

Syrio and Jaqen both said that they are from Bravos. Also as Jaqen can change faces, it might be possible that he is actually Syrio changing faces and protecting and training Arya.

The person behind the girl in Bravos looks like Syrio.

Also both Syrio and Jaqen called Arya a boy.

5. Reunion of Arya and her wolf:

Arya separated from her wolf when it attacked the prince of kings landing(fearing it might be killed). There would be great eagerness to see the direwolf save Arya when she is in danger.

6. Jon Snow going North to catch a living white walker:

To prove that the white walkers exist , Jon Snow might go north to catch one. The aim of this might be to reunite the kingdoms against their strongest enemies.

7. Making of swords from dragon stone: 

The white walkers can only be killed with dragon stone. So some one is definitely going to make swords from dragon stones.

4 books that can change your thoughts and life entirely!!

          There is always that one  thing that changes your entire perception about living. It could be a life experience, a quote, or a statement by a prominent personality. If reading is what drives your thoughts, here are some books that you can count on to learn the art of thinking.

1. MAGIC OF BELIEVING BY CLAUDE BRISTOL.

         It’s the very first Inspirational book I read. The book talks about the conscious and the subconscious mind and the influence of them on our life. It talks about the methods with which we can control the above two and live the life of our dreams.

2.THINKING FAST AND SLOW BY DANIEL KAHNEMAN:

         It explains how your ability to reach goals and succeed depends on mastering the two systems of your brain. It guides you how proper coordination between the slow(logical and deliberate system ) and fast (emotional and intuitive) system can help you succeed. 

3.THINK AND GROW RICH BY NAPOLEON HILL:

        This book is one of the best sellers of the early time. It is divided into various chapters based on the different millionaires the author had the chance to visit. It talks about the thinking process of those successful people and the way they turned from ordinary to extraordinary. A must read book for those wishing to earn lots of money.

4. THINK LIKE A FREAK BY STEPHEN J DUBBNE AND STEVEN LEVIT:

        Enough of being sophisticated. It’s time to think like a freak and make the most of the available resources. Innovate. Disrupt. Create your own path. This is exactly what this book is about. Writers Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt aim to retrain your brain to think out of the box and find out the obvious and easier solutions otherwise often missed by common thinkers.

 WISHING ALL A GREAT FUTURE!!!