When All Things Began First, Why And How?

It’s unclear when things began. Scientists have diverse views, but no one knows for certain. Some people believe in religious stories about how things began. Others examine evidence and attempt to solve it using science.

One idea is the Big Bang theory. It claims that a massive explosion occurred approximately 13.8 billion years ago. This explosion created everything in the cosmos, including stars, planets, and galaxies. These things evolved over time to become what we see today.

But even before the Big Bang, some scientists wondered if there was anything more. They’re still attempting to figure out how and why it started. It’s a question that may not have a clear answer, but it’s intriguing to consider and investigate.

When were fingerprints first used for identification.

The fact that human beings had ridges on their fingerprints, and that these were different for each person, was known even to prehistoric man! There are ancient Chinese tablets on which fingerprints appear as a way to identify the author of the tablets.

So, we can say that fingerprints have been used for personal identification for at least two thousand years. But there is a difference between knowing that man makes individual fingerprints and organizing this information in a scientific way.

The first important contribution to the science of fingerprinting was made by Marcello Malpighi in 1686. Malpighi, an Italian anatomy professor, studied the ridges of fingertips under a microscope. He saw that these ridges were arranged in patterns of loops and spirals.

Fingerprints were first used officially in Europe to identify prisoners in 1858.A few years later, the first study on the possible use of fingerprints was published. This study described a method of taking prints by using a thin film of the printer’s ink, a method that is still used today.

In the 1880’s, Sir Francis Galton, an English scientist, began work on a system for classifying fingerprints. Some years later,the system was simplified by Sir Edward Henry, a London police commissioner. Soon after that, fingerprints were being used almost everywhere as a means of identification and crime detection.Did you know that in many hospitals today, the footprints of babies are taken shortly after birth? They are also a means of identification.

When was the first painting made?

The earliest artists to do drawings and paintings were the cavemen. Colored drawings of animals, dating from about 30,000 to 10,000 B.C., have been found on the walls of caves in southern France and Spain. Many of these drawings are amazingly well preserved because the caves were sealed up for many centuries. Early man drew the wild animals that he saw all around him.

The cave artists filled the cave walls with drawings in rich, bright colors. Some of the most beautiful paintings are in the Cave of Lascaux in France. The pigments used by cave painters were earth ochres (iron oxides varying in color from light yellow to deep orange) and manganese (a metallic element).

These were crushed into a fine powder, mixed with grease (perhaps animal fat), and put on with some sort of brush. Sometimes the pigments were used on sticks, like crayons. The grease mixed with the powdered pigments made the paint fluid, and the pigment’s particles stuck together. The caveman must have made brushes out of animals’ hairs or plants.

As far back as 30,000 years ago, man had invented the basic tools and materials for painting. Techniques and materials were refined and improved in the centuries following, but the discoveries of the caveman remain basic to painting.

One of the first civilizations was developed in Egypt about 5,000 years ago. The Egyptians developed their own paintings. In one method, watercolor paint was put on mud-plaster or limestone walls. The dry climate of the region has helped preserve some of the watercolor paintings from being destroyed.

When was oil first used as fuel?

Crude oil was called petroleum. The rocks in which petroleum is found lie deep underground. The oil is reached by drilling below the earth’s surface.

In some places, petroleum seeps to the surface of the ground through cracks. These seepages, or oil springs, were easy for men to locate. And this crude oil from surface seepages was known to most ancient peoples. Some oil was burned in lamps and torches.

The real history of oil began in the 19^th century. The Industrial Revolution brought a need for better lamp fuels to light the new factories. In the United States, oil lay close to the surface in many regions, and it was often used as medicine.

The first man who thought of drilling for oil was a New York lawyer named George Bissell. He sent a sample of Pennsylvania crude oil to a scientist at Yale University, Benjamin Silliman,who reported that it yielded many useful products: lamp oils, lubricating oils, illuminating gas, paraffin wax for candles, and others. Silliman’s report convinced businessmen that there was money to be made in oil.

Bissel hired a man named Edwin Drake to drill for oil near Titusville, Pennsylvania. On August 27, 1859, they struck oil. The virus spread quickly. Men rushed to buy or lease lands where oil might be found, and the oil rush was on. Oil fever spread to other parts of the United States, to Canada, and to Europe. New uses for petroleum products were found, including their use as fuel, and the demand for oil increased. Today, the search for new oil fields is still going on all over the world.

Why was Washington made the capital of the U.S?

After the American Revolution,states needed a capital city. The selection of the site resulted in a compromise. Various cities and sections of the country wanted the honor of being the nation’s capital.

It was finally decided to create a new city. Congress passed a bill in 1790 giving permission for a site to be chosen. It was to be somewhere near the Potomac River and not over ten miles square (25.9 square kilometers). The land was to be called the district of Columbia, after Christopher Columbus, and the city to be built on it was to be named Washington, in honor of the country’s first president.

In 1971, George Washington chose the place where the city now stands, he thought it was a good location because the Potomac River was deep enough for ships to come as far as the city.

The land was given to the federal government by the states of Maryland and Virginia. About 165 square kilometers were given by Maryland and about 93 by Virginia. Later in 1846, the land given by Virginia was returned to the state at her request.

President Washington chose a brilliant French engineer and architect, Major Pierce L’Enfant, to design the new city. The plan called for broad avenues lined with trees, beautiful government buildings, and monuments to honor great men.

By 1800, the president’s house was nearly completed. The capital was built on a hill for the buildings where Congress was to meet. In 1800, President John Adams and other members of the government moved to the new federal city, Washington, D.C.

How were the time zones decided?

Before time zones were set up, there was a great deal of confusion, especially when people had to use railroad timetables. To end this confusion the United States in 1883 began using a system of standard time zones.

In 1884 an international conference was held in Washington, D.C., to set up a system to fit the whole world. The earth divided into 24 zones, each covering 15 degrees each hour.

Within each zone the time is the same, and the difference between one zone and the next is exactly one hour. Greenwich (London), England, was selected as the starting point. Thus, when it is noon in Greenwich, the time in the next zone eastward is 1 P.M. The time zone westward is 11 A.M. In New York, five zones west of Greenwich, the time is 7 A.M.

The United States is divided into four zones based on the 75^th, 90^th, 105^th, and 120^th meridians. The times in these zones are called Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific Standard Time.

On the opposite side of the world from Greenwich is another dividing line, the International Date Line. This line is approximately the 180^th meridian. When it is noon at Greenwich it is midnight at the International Date Line. Crossing the line, a person gains or loses a day, depending on whether he is moving east or west.

How did fruits and vegetables get their names?

There is no single explanation of how fruits and vegetables got their names. Some were named after their appearance, some after their place of origin, some because they resembled something else, and so on. Here are some examples of how this happened.

Strawberry was originally called “Strawberry,” because its runners stray from the parent plant in all directions. The blackberry owed its name to its color. The cranberry was originally called “craneberry” because its slender stalk resembles the long legs and neck of the crane.

Currants were named after Corinth, from which they first came. Cherries got their name from a city called Cerasus. Grape is the English equivalent of the Italian grappo, which means a bunch. Raisin is a French word which comes from the Latin racenus, meaning a dried grape.

Orange goes back to the Arabic word narandj, and lemon to the Arabic word lamium. Melon is the Greek word for apple. Tomato is the West Indian name for “love apple.” The pineapple owes its conical shapes, which resembles the pine tree.

Cabbage was originally written “cabbish.” It comes from the Latin capitas, having a head. Lettuce comes from the Latin lactuca, because it contains “lac,” or milky juice. Rhubarb comes from the Latin rhabarbarum. This meant the “root of the barbarians,” because the Romans considered the people who ate it barbarians!

Radish is from the Latin radix, a root. Bean is Anglo-Saxon from the Greek and Latin puanos. And potato is our way of spelling the Spanish word patata.

Why is the number 13 considered unlucky?

The idea that the number 13 is unlucky is a superstition. There are many different kinds of superstitions, based on things in nature, charms, sprits, objects, colors, accidents, and so on.

But there is probably no superstition that has as many people observing it, in one way or another, all over the world, as the one that 13 is unlucky. Many hotels don’t have a 13^th floor- the count goes from 12 to 14. Some hotel rooms don’t have 13. Many people would never have 13 persons at a dinner table.

Yet the strange thing is that there is no single, accepted explanation for the origin of the superstition about 13. There are many different ideas about the origin of it.

Some experts say 13 was unpopular from the time when man learned to count. By using his ten fingers and two feet as units, he came up with the number 12. But beyond that -13-was unknown and frightening to him.

Within religious circles, the 13 superstitions is traced back to the Last Super, at which were Christ and the 12 Disciples- 13 in all. Other people go back to the story of the Valhalla banquet in Scandinavian mythology, to which 12 gods were invited. Loki, the spirit of Strife and Mischief, intruded, making 13. As a result, balder, the favourite of the gods, was killed.

Another strange thing about 13 is that this number was regarded as lucky by the ancient Chinese and Egyptians.

When was coffee first brewed?

The first coffee plants probably grew in kaffa, a province of Ethiopia. This province may have given coffee its name. In the 14^th century Arabian merchants came to kaffa and became acquainted with the coffee seeds. They then began cultivating coffee in Yemen.

There the people began to brew coffee. The followers of Mohammed were forbidden to drink wine, and coffee was a stimulating beverage that could take the place of wine for them.

About the middle of the 15^th century, the use of coffee as a beverage spread from Yemen to Mecca, and from there to Baghdad, cairo, Damascus, and other places. There were coffeehouses in Cairo as early as 1511.

Coffee was first introduced to Western Europe around 1615. It created quite a lot of excitement, and many people were against the idea of drinking coffee. They thought it was poisonous. But coffeehouses soon became a part of the social life of England.

In fact, so many people used to gather in coffeehouses that king Charles II was afraid plots against the government were being hatched there. He ordered them closed. But by this time coffee was so popular that he was forced to open them again.

Why were schools started?

From the time of the cavemen, human beings have always taught what they knew to their young. If they had not, no child would have survived. He would not have known which animals were dangerous, which plants were good to eat, or how to make a fire to keep warm.

After many centuries man learned to write down what he knew. In this way he could save up more knowledge and pass it on to his children and grandchildren.

Once systems of writing had been invented, schools began. The earliest schools we know about were in Mesopotamia and Egypt three thousand to four thousand years ago.

So, schools were started to pass on knowledge and to help prepare young people for living in the world. But the way society was set up in most places in ancient times, it was felt that schools and a good education were not for all young people. In Egypt, for example, there were higher levels of education for young men who were going to be priests, government officials, architects, or doctors. Only a very few young men received this much education.

Another ancient people, the Hebrews, had a long tradition of education. When they were an independent nation, the father of each family taught his sons the history of their people, their laws, and their religion. Later, when the Herbrews were conquered by outsiders, they were afraid that their own customs and beliefs might be lost. They set up formal schools where everybody, rich or poor, was taught the language, the religion, and the history of the Jews. This was probably the first time in human history that formal education was given to rich and poor alike.

Why was the metric system invented?

As science began to develop a few hundred years ago, scientist had trouble with measurement. Standards varied from nation to nation and even within one country. So, during the 1700’s scientist argued for a sensible system of measurement that could be accepted all over the world.

Such a system was invented in France in 1791. The French had other reasons for doing it, too. They were in the middle of a revolution at the time. The leaders of the revolution wanted to get away from all reminders of their hated past. They were therefore willing to set up a new system of measurement.

They began with with length. They decided to establish the “meter” (from a Latin word meaning “measure”) as a standard. Because of this, the entire system of measurement is called the metric system. Originally, they tried to make the meter exactly 1/40,000,000 of the circumference of the earth. But when calculations turned out to be wrong about the earth’s circumference, the meter was taken to be the distance between two marks on a platinum-iridium bar. All units of measurement in this system-length, capacity, mass-are linked in some way to the meter.

Actually, the metric system is easy to remember and easy to use. At first, though, people didn’t want to change over. In 1840 the French Government had to insist that the people use the metric system or be punished.

Other nations gradually adopted the metric system, and today almost the whole world uses it. The United Kingdom is “phasing in” the system today.