I tell him, "Oh did you know..." and he says, "Yes, I took that class last year."
of course you did...
But, I can unleash my knowledge upon you, oh unsuspecting reader!
A few days ago I learned about Barbados. There were a few prompt questions from the assignment and I researched all of them. Yay! I am a nerd!
Barbados, an island in the Windward Island group, is mostly flat compared to its hilly neighbors.
The government of Barbados is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system; the main language being English, and its main religion being 95% Christian.
The currency is called the Barbadian dollar.
Percentages of Barbadian ethnic groups are 93% Black, 3.2% White, 2.6% mixed, 1% East Indian, and .2% other.
The major industries are tourism, sugar, and light manufacturing.
The main trade partners of Barbados for exports are the U.S. Trinidad, Tobago, UK, and Jamaica; for exports are U.S. Trinidad, Tobago, Japan, and the UK.
That's Barbados' flag.
Barbados was discovered in 1536 by Portuguese explorer Pedro a Campos. The first European colony of Barbados was not founded until the English came in 1627 and names the settlement Jamestown (AKA Holetown).
Barbados' independence day falls on November 30, 1966.
Some interesting facts about Barbados:
-two of Barbados' natural disasters are the Great Hurricane of 16 October, 1780, and the Great Landslide of 1786
-Some famous people from Barbados are Rihanna, Sylvesta Stuart, and Grandmaster Flash
-The name 'Barbados is derived from the Bearded Fig trees on the island
-Barbados has never succesfully been invaded by a foreign power
-the first slaves in Barbados were white (called 'indentured servants'); people who, for various reasons, had been deemed enemies of the Crown. This practice was so prevalent during the period 1640-50, that a phrase for the punishment was coined 'to be Barbadoed.'
-1841-1845 Barbados was considered the healthiest place to live in the world, having 1 death per 66 people compared to the rest of the world with 1 death per 35 people.
-South Caroline was first settled by Barbadians, and its first governor was Barbadian
And I also recieved another assignment for Chemistry. Joy to the world.
Chemistry is not my favorite, but I was allowed to choose my topic. So that was nice.
I chose wind energy. I am to give a power point presentation to my class.
In the power point, I begin with the history of windmills. These, to my surprise date so far back that researchers do not agree who invented them first. The main debate I found was between the Chinese, Europeans, and the Cretans. This, obviously, is a photograph of the windmills on Crete.
This is one from Europe.
As you can see, the first blades were crafted from sails, much like a sail boat, which is where the ancients derived their idea. The function of windmills in the past, of course, was not to produce energy, but to either grind corn or wheat, or pump water.
And an American windmill:
Simple, but effective.
And I'm not sure what these words mean, but it sounds intelligent.
panemone. yep, that word is red-underlined on blogger too....
I wish the words were visible on this image. They might be to you, but I can't see them. (I'm blind as a bat).
But I like the concept. It shows the evolution of the windmill, which brings me up nicely to my next point.
Modern day windmills.
Those are varieties. A small wind farm can produce enough energy for 9,000 homes, and a large wind farm even more so.
Scientifically, yet rather simply, this machine produces electricity. The weather vane on the top detects wind direction allowing the wind mill to face the wind, for optimum power.
Inside, with all those gears and lever things, something pretty nifty happens:
The grey bar attached to the turbines, rotates at approximately 18 revolutions per minute. Now, that is too slow to conduct any electricity, so it has to go faster. The gears in the blue box help rotate the smaller grey bar to turn approximately 18,000 revolutions per minute, which is now fast enough to produce the electricity.
Conclusion: I think I'll do well on my presentation next week!
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