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Medical x-rays provide images of the body but utilize radiation that in large doses can damage cells. A completely different technology, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), emerged in the late 1970s. It produces highly detailed images of soft tissues and requires no x-radiation. MRI is based on nuclear magnetic resonance, a technique developed to probe molecular structure. Ironically, public anxiety about radioactivity and nuclear energy kept the word “nuclear” out of the name of this new kind of imaging, which otherwise might have been called NMRI (nuclear magnetic resonance imaging). Precessing Protons:To understand the MRI, let’s think about a molecule that contains hydrogen, like a molecule of water or fat. The nuclei of these hydrogen atoms are protons. Each proton possesses an intrinsic spin, so that it acts much like a spinning top. Now suppose we put the molecule between the pole-pieces of a magnet, so the protons are in a magnetic field. Each proton now turns around the field direction like a little gyroscope. (See diagram.) This motion is called precession.As they precess, the protons, according to quantum mechanics, can have only two orientations. Because of the magnetic field, these two orientations correspond to slightly different energies. If we shine radio waves on these protons, and the radio waves have just the right frequency, the lower energy protons can absorb photons of radiation and flip over. (Quantum mechanics tells us that the photon’s energy is proportional to its frequency.) By observing the details of this energy absorption, which depend on the environment of the protons, we can figure out, for example, if the protons are in water or in fat. If we analyze many such measurements, we can get an image of a “slice” of the body, as shown. Notice the detail can be seen in the soft tissues. MRI images can show features as small as 1 mm.
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The Dec. 26th Indonesian megathrust earthquake quickened Earth's rotation and changed our planet's shape.
NASA scientists studying the Indonesian earthquake of Dec. 26, 2004, have calculated that it slightly changed our planet's shape, shaved almost 3 microseconds from the length of the day, and shifted the North Pole by centimeters.
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Tsunami is a Japanese word with the English translation, "harbor wave." Some call it Seismic wave, but ,the term "seismic sea wave" is also misleading. "Seismic" implies an earthquake-related generation mechanism, but a tsunami can also be caused by a nonseismic event, such as a landslide or meteorite impact.The recent Tsunami was a seismic wave. A tsunami cannot be felt as it passes ships on the open ocean, for the wave is usually small, one to two feet, and traveling very fast, as fast as airliners. It is only as it approaches shallow water that it begins to break; as the bottom of the wave slows, the top keeps traveling at the higher speed and increases in height, hitting landfall at 30 to 40 miles an hour.
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We know that the temperature of a liquid do not increase when it start boiling.The heat suppied to the liquid is utilised in evaporating the liquid.Please keep in mind that we are not talking about increase in boiling point with increase in pressure.(pressure cooker).We are interested in boiling a liquid at existing pressure.
If heated uniformly throughout,A liquid can be heated to a temperature higher than its boiling point (at existing pressure) and this phenomenon is known as superheating.This phenomenon can be easily observed while heating water inside a Microwave oven.
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