Knowledge is Power

What is the White Cream Cricketers put on their Face?

The white cream you’ll often see cricketers wear on their face is Zinc oxide. Zinc oxide is a ‘physical sunscreen’, often referred to as a ‘reflector’ that sits on top of the skin. It forms a strong protective layer that helps to reflect the sun’s harmful UVA & UVB rays away from the body. Your everyday sunscreens are ‘chemical sunscreens’, or ‘absorbers’. These soak into the body and allow UVA & UVB rays to pe*****te the top layer of the skin before they are dealt with below the surface. Cricketers use Zinc oxide because they can be exposed to direct sunlight for up to 6 hours during a game! This much exposure can be very harmful, and applying a reflective physical sun screen like Zinc oxide to sensitive areas is the best way to limit damage to your skin.

What would happen if we covered the Sahara Desert with solar panels?

The Sahara Desert is one of the most exposed places on Earth to the sun’s rays. So, the idea is that if we could gather all that energy, we could power the world. In reality, we would harvest so much more energy than we could ever possibly need. According to Forbes, solar panels covering a surface of around 335km2 would actually be enough to power the world, this would cover just 1.2% of the Sahara Desert.

Outside of electricity generation, this could have several consequences. First, the light colour of the Saharan sand serves the purpose of reflecting the sun’s light and heat back into the air. By covering this, we would be ensuring that more sunlight is absorbed, thus prompting a rise in ground temperature. Warmer air then rises to higher altitudes and condenses as clouds that will then fall as rain, completely transforming the desert as we know it.

The planet works based on a series of well-balanced systems, and this could completely upset the apple cart. The Amazon Rainforest, for example, is reliant on the mineral-rich sands blown from the Sahara for nutrients. Without these, the Amazon will not receive enough nutrients to survive, and its downfall could be accelerated. Furthermore, the increased heat in the desert won’t end there. It will be transported worldwide through weather systems, resulting in less rainfall for the Amazon and more unstable weather in regions such as North America or Asia.

We don’t need 100% of the Sahara to be covered in solar panels. Even 20%, which is the amount that would kickstart these impacts, is not needed. Instead, a series of smaller solar farms covering 1.2% of the surface should be enough to generate enough electricity without having such extreme impacts on the environment.

How do Game Developers make money?

Many of us play free video games. We install these games from marketplaces like Google Play Store or App Store without paying a single dime. So, did you wonder how these game developers publish their games for free?

Earlier, when there were no mobile phones and games were available either on PCs or gaming consoles. Game makers made money selling game CDs and cassettes. However, with the advent of technology and introduction of mobile gaming, developers found new means to generate revenue.

Currently, the revenue model of gaming companies is divided into two groups – 1) Paid by Ecosystem 2) Paid by Online Gamers

Paid by Ecosystem: This group includes in-app advertisements, in-game products or brand placements, and incentive based advertisement. Among these three, you must be familiar with In-app advertisements (IAA). In-app and incentive based advertisements are similar. While playing games on your phone, you may have watched several ads when progressing from one level to another, i.e. in-app advertisement. These range from ads for different games to insurance company ads. Game developers also earn money when they endorse products or brands in their games. This model is called In-game product or brand placement. For instance, if you play Asphalt 9, you will see racing cars of brands like Lamborghini, Mercedes, in the game. Here, the brands pay the game developers to endorse their products.

Paid by Online Gamers: This is a conventional route of generating revenue for game developers. However, currently, a significant portion of revenue comes from the ‘paid by ecosystem’ model. Here, online gamers pay game makers to get access to their online games. There are four routes, which game makers use to generate revenue.
1) Purchase/pay per download- Gamers pay an upfront fee to purchase or download the game.
2) Premium upgrades - A version of a game is available for free, but gamers must spend to access the next version or extra features of the game.
3) In App-purchases (IAP) - The game is available for free but gamers spend to purchase virtual objects (skins, new cars) or currency.
4) Subscription- Gamers purchase monthly or annual subscriptions of a game.

How is Math used in Video Game designing and programming?

Math is an absolute fundamental foundation to successful game development and game design.
Math is everything when it comes to games. From having the ability to calculate the trajectory of an Angry Bird flying through the sky, to ensuring that a character can jump and come back down to the ground without the help of mathematics, games simply wouldn't work.

A character wouldn't be able to walk up a slope, slide down a slide, fire a bullet from a gun, or even jump without the help of the mathematics. The most basic of games use some form of math to the most complex of games. Math is essential to the production of games. It is the flour to the cake that game developers are trying to bake. Without it, the cake wouldn't rise.

Math is used in every aspect of game development, including art. Maya is a math based program that plots out the vertices and normals in mathematical form while the artist just uses a tool that allows them to create stunning 3D graphics without worrying about math. Simply put, you could model Godzilla in notepad and push it into Maya, if you knew were to plot the points in numerical form (which is extremely difficult).

However, a lot of the math is computed at runtime and handled by the game engines that render back face culling, and the other nitty gritty things that would be too cumbersome to do without the use of using an engine to alleviate the math calculation portion at runtime.

A lot of math in gameplay scripting is fairly simple, but math used in game engine architecture is far more complex and a lot more taxing mentally. Math in game development is simulated either by the developer or handled by the engine at runtime by running computations to calculate the operation that is needed.

Why are Footballs made with a combination of Hexagons and Pentagon shapes?

Traditionally, footballs were made with a combination of hexagonal and pentagonal panels as they fit together like a puzzle to form a perfectly spherical shape which is why the hexagons and pentagons are equally important .

The stitched-football has 32 panels of leather or synthetic plastic tightly stitched together. 20 of these panels are hexagons and 12 of them are pentagons.

However, the modern day footballs are not stitched, they are thermally bonded. Thermally bonded footballs are different from their stitched counterparts in the way the panels are attached together. All of the panels are arranged inside a mold with adhesive applied to the edges of each panel. The mold is then heated and pressurized gluing all the panels together into a sphere.

This process is much less labor intensive than stitching the panels together. The first thermally bonded football was used in the 2004 European Championship.

What Happens When You Drink Too Much Water?

When you drink too much water, you may experience water poisoning, intoxication, or a disruption of brain function. This happens when there's too much water in the cells (including brain cells), causing them to swell. When the cells in the brain swell they cause pressure in the brain. You may start experiencing things like confusion, drowsiness, and headaches. If this pressure increases it could cause conditions like hypertension (High Blood Pressure) and bradycardia (Low Heart Rate).

Sodium is the electrolyte most affected by overhydration, leading to a condition called hyponatremia. Sodium is a crucial element that helps keep the balance of fluids in and out of cells. When its levels drop due to a high amount of water in the body, fluids get inside the cells. Then the cells swell, putting you at risk of having seizures, going into a coma, or even dying.

How Does a Tennis Ball Launcher Machine Work?

The majority of tennis ball launcher machines on the market operate using counter-rotating wheels. When the machine is turned on an electric fan draws in outside air which is then pushed into the canister. To protect the fan motor from debris the air passes through a slab of foam as well as a screen barrier.

An electric motor powered hopper is used to channel balls into the landing area. During this process the wheels squeeze the balls and put them under intense pressure, thus forcing them into a circular tube which leads to a small opening. This soft, rubbery circular area is called a detent. When the ball is lodged in the detent it creates an airtight seal at the end of the tube. Simultaneously, a plastic flap falls over the entrance which causes pressure to mount.

Under pressure method, Eventually air pressure pushing on the ball overpowers resistance from the detent. This causes the ball to shoot down the barrel and onto the court. When the pressure has been released the entrance flap is released and another ball is able to enter the tube. The process is repeated until all balls are depleted.