Mullapperiyar-a matter of havoc

One hundred and thirteen year old Mullaperiyar dam has undoubtedly become a matter of great havoc to people living on the banks of River Periyar. Not only the heavy rain water flow to the dam, heated exchange by the by the political heads of Kerala and TN has made the situation highly tense. People on the bank of river Periyar are panic. The permitted maximum water level of the reservoir is 136 feet and when it reached near that level, water started to flow to the Idukki reservoir through the spillway. As this was a rare phenomenon for past many years, people realized about the vast amount of water in the dam and that also made them more panic. More interesting is the difference of opinion among TN Engineers and their Kerala counter parts. The Chief Engineer of the Tamil Nadu Public Works Department had inspected the dam and reached the conclusion that there was no leak in the dam and what he found out only is rain water flowing down through the gap in the joint. However, Kerala engineering department differ in opinion.

K A Solaman
Express buzz online forum, dated 17 Aug 09

Mullaperiyar makes people panic

One hundred and thirteen year old Mullaperiyar dam has undoubtedly become a matter of great havoc to people living on the banks of River Periyar. Not only the heavy rain water flow to the dam, heated exchange by the political heads of Kerala and TN has made the situation highly tense. People on the bank of river Periyar are panic. The permitted maximum water level of the reservoir is 136 feet and when it reached near that level, water started to flow to the Idukki reservoir through the spillway. As this was a rare phenomenon for past many years, people realized about the vast amount of water in the dam and that also made them more panic.
More interesting is the difference of opinion among TN Engineers and their Kerala counter parts. The Chief Engineer of the Tamil Nadu Public Works Department had inspected the dam and reached the conclusion that there was no leak in the dam and what he found out only is rain water flowing down through the gap in the joint. However, Kerala engineers keep a diverse opinion and pointed out that there were signs of water pushing out from beneath, and it is a serious matter according to them. As engineers are not politicians one wonders how these engineers reached at contradictory inference when they had studied the same syllabus for their engineering degree. Actually, the new leaks and the escalation of the old leaks could be very risky allowing for the age of the masonry dam built of surki, a technology available at the time of construction of the dam. The flaw of the dam is a matter of unending concern to people of Kerala as any danger to it could affect about 35 lakh people living in five districts of Kerala.

It is to be stressed that normal life time of any dam oratomic power plant is about 50 years. And in that case Mullaperiyar dam is a doubly expired one. So, the concern about safety of this dam is not mislaid. It should be abandoned on war-footing basis and new dam should be constructed. But Tamil Nadu is seen neglecting this aspect and not thinking about the dam safety. They are interested only with water they get from the dam and keeps scant regard to lives of 3.5 million people of Kerala.

So it is time for Karunanidhi and his colleagues to stand favorably for the construction of new dam as there are all chances for the breaking of existing one causing huge human causality. If dam breaks and that too due to the negligence of the leaders of both states no human endeavor could be able to repair the damage. So MK and VS, the two chief ministers of the states come together for an immediate discussion to reach a settlement over the Mullaperiyar imbroglio. TN should abandon its stance of strengthening of the dam. Instead the dam should be decommissioned first. Any disaster in the worst would certainly make political bosses of the states redundant and more worse is the loss of innocent human lives

Petty games

Bal Thackeray’s objection to Sachin Tendulkar’s comment that Mumbai belongs to all Indians is unwarranted (“Thackeray targets Sachin”, Nov 17). By condemning a celebrated cricketer like Tendulkar, Thackeray is just playing petty political games. He is only a regional leader with his own agendas to promote. The local politicians of Maharashtra cannot have a monopoly over the city. Mumbai’s fame as the financial capital of India is a result of the hard work of all its inhabitants irrespective of regional identities.


K.A. Solaman
The Telegraph, Calcutta, Sunday 22-11-09

Stunning kiss!

The ‘wonder kid’ A P Abdullakutty kissing K Sudhakaran MP to share his joy of victory at Kannur Assembly seat seems marvelous. Possibly Dr VN Rosinaya would not have had such a highly treasured moment in life with her husband Kutty.

K A Solaman

Arunachal poll

The just concluded Assembly elections in Arunachal went without much notice in the rest of India. The large-scale participation of the electorate in the Assembly polls there is an apt response to China’s bogus claim on the state. The Government of India needs to be more diplomatic in dealing with the annoyance created by China.

Arunachal Pradesh is five times bigger than the Kashmir Valley. It is a very rich state with profuse natural resources and China’s eagle eye is on this reserve. Patriotism is embedded in the blood of every person of Arunachal Pradesh and there is no need to rekindle it. Itshould be our effort to take action to make every person of Arunachal Pradesh to feel as Indian Citizen with valid identity proof. Lobbying within the country for China by some political outfits should be seriously viewed and checked.

K A Solaman, Kerala. The Assam Tribune 24 Oct 2009

Abandon NCERT Physics text books for Plus 2

I am a retired Physics Professor (?) of an affiliated college under University of Kerala and lecturer for many years in graduate classes and erstwhile pre-degree course and still keep some interest in the subject physics. I had already shaped half a dozen First Ranks in B Sc Physics (main) of University of Kerala and hence I believe that I have a few credentials to speak about Physics. My present apprehension is about the prescription of NCERT text books for plus two classes in State Higher Secondary and CBSE schools. The present form of NCERT text books in Physcis would certainly bring hatred among students towards the much lively subject-the physics. Presumably the writers of the present text have no class room experience otherwise they have not presented the subject matter in form of ‘water flood’. What the students get from these text books is little and that is why most teachers use credible text books instead of referring the NCET text book waste. The teachers ask students to buy NCERT books and never refer to these books while teaching. The teachers have little time to squander by reading all the rubbish in the NCERT books. I sincerely believe those writers of the text book never had been so if they had been asked to follow these text books in their school classes. Though the NCERT claim that their text books are written in conformity international standards, the presentation in foreign books are not so dreary.

The NCERT text book committee may also claim that their books would generate independent thinking among students. This sort of argument is applicable to elite classes. How can a low profile student from a poor family, unable to spell his name correctly in English even in Plus 2, without knowing the basics of Physics, think independently about new rules and ideas in Physics? The government should, therefore, reduce its control on what text book to be followed in schools and teachers and students should be given freedom in following text books.

My suggestion to the Union Human Resource Development Ministry is, ask NCERT to prescribe syllabus and not to write text books or rather compel students community to follow their text books. They can of course supply sample question paper packets and answers to students to augment their studies. The NCERT could, of course, recommend any other suitable text books to school children and if the contents are found to be prejudicial to the integrity of India or the security of the state, the books can be withdrawn. Though the present NCERT text book in Physics does not defame any community, it invites hatred to the subject Physics. Let the students learn Physics pleasantly and lively.

K A Solaman

Moment of inertia tensor is symmetric.

Moment of inertia tensor is symmetric. Why?
Ans: In linear algebra, a symmetric matrix is a square matrix A, that is equal to its transpose
i.e., A=AT
The entries of a symmetric matrix are symmetric with respect to the main diagonal (top left to bottom right). So if the entries are written as A = (aij), then aij =aji for all indices i and j. The moment of inertia tensor satisfies this condition and hence it is symmetric. (Need more details?)

K A Solaman

Einstein and his blind friend-story

This story shows how complex Einstein could be. Not long after his arrival in Princeton he was invited, by the wife of one of the professors of mathematics at Princeton, to be guest of honor at a tea.-Reluctantly, Einstein consented. After the tea had progressed for a time, the excited hostess, thrilled to have such an eminent guest of honor, fluttered out into the center of activity and with raised arms silenced the group. Bubbling out some words expressing her thrill and pleasure, she turned to Einstein and said: "I wonder, Dr. Einstein, if you would be so kind as to explain to my guests in a few words, just what is relativity theory ? "
Without any hesitation Einstein rose to his feet and told a story. He said he was reminded of a walk he one day had with his blind friend. The day was hot and he turned to the blind friend and said, "I wish I had a glass of milk." "Glass," replied the blind friend, "I know what that is. But what do you mean by milk?""Why, milk is a white fluid," explained Einstein.
"Now fluid, I know what that is," said the blind man. "but what is white ? "" Oh, white is the color of a swan's feathers." " Feathers, now I know what they are, but what is a swan ? ""A swan is a bird with a crooked neck."" Neck, I know what that is, but what do you mean by crooked ? "
At this point Einstein said he lost his patience. He seized his blind friend's arm and pulled it straight. "There, now your arm is straight," he said. Then he bent the blind friend's arm at the elbow. "Now it is crooked.""Ah," said the blind friend. "Now I know what milk is."And Einstein, at the tea, sat down.

Kerala PSC Recruitment farce

This letter relates to recruitment to fill up the vacancies of Lecturers in Physics in Government Arts and Science College of Kerala by the Kerala Public Service Commission. The Commission conducted a test in June 09 and for which all the M Sc, M Phil and Ph D qualified candidates attended. The interesting side of the test is though the qualification needed for candidates is M Sc with NET/JRF all the post graduates in Physics who are not qualified in NET are permitted to write the Examination.

In the recruitment notification, PSC had declared the syllabus and that was indicated in the Hall Ticket too. However, the candidates who appeared for test were thunder stricken by seeing the pattern of the OMR question paper. Nearly half the paper contained questions from General Knowledge section. The questions from Physics portion contained some with many answers and some other with no answers. A clear ploy could not be ruled out in incorporating GK questions in the paper.

None could ever argue that Physics Lecturers need not require General Knowledge. Nevertheless it should be informed in advance when the candidates are preparing for the test. Leaking off questions papers and canceling certain questions at valuation are the usual practice of the P S C, it is alleged. All corruption in Kerala University test for recruitment of Assistant grade post three years back, is still under investigation by the HC of Kerala. Is the distortion in question paper by the P SC for Physics Lecturer post intended to protect a few privileged ones related to higher ups in the society?

I understood that many candidates have grievance in the act of PSC. The PSC, therefore, should notify the exact number of questions that are going to be valued and the exact requirement in educational qualification for the post. Are the candidates without NET eligible for the post? The PSC recruitment should be a competitive examination and not a mere circus for candidates for getting experience in similar exercises.

K A Solaman

Cocoon Ministers.

The famous story of a butter fly cocoon is read as under:
“A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it had and it could go no further. Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly”

The man in the story may be Mr Kapil Sibal, the Union Human Resource Minister or his counter part in Kerala Cabinet, the Education Minister Mr M A Baby. Both of them are removing obstacles or rather stress faced by the students appearing for school final examinations. When the former thinks of abandoning examinations the latter has already slackened it with his cocoon backing. They seems not accepting of the fact good stress keeps one alert to things he need to be concerned about.

K A Solaman, S L Puram

ISC Sample Physics Project

TOPIC : VOLTAGE STABILIZER USING ZENER DIODE

INTRODUCTION :

Normally we use voltage stabilizers to provide a constant voltage from a d.c source across a load. Zener diode can be used as a voltage regulator.
A properly doped crystal diode, which has a sharp break down voltage, is known as zener diode. It is operated always under reverse bias condition in the breakdown region.
Zener breakdown takes place in very thin junctions. When both P and n regions are heavily doped, the depletion layer becomes very narrow. In a very thin depletion layer, the electric field across the depletion layer becomes as high as 107 Vm-1 with only small applied voltage. An electric field of such a high magnitude exerts a large force on the valence electrons of the atoms in the depletion layer. Consequently, covalent bonds are broken and as large number of electron-hole pairs are produced. These carriers are then accelerated by the applied voltage. Hence the reverse current increases rapidly. This process by which covalent bonds in the depletion region are directly broken by the strong electric field is called zener breakdown and the reverse voltage at which breakdown takes place is called zener voltage (Vz).


By the careful adjustment of the doping, the characteristic beyond the breakdown voltage is obtained almost vertical. In other words, in this region the reverse voltage across the diode remains almost constant for a large variation of reverse current. So the zener diode can be used as a voltage stabilizer. Therefore it is interesting to find the variation of output voltage on different input voltage in a voltage stabilizer.

AIM
To construct a voltage stabilizer and to study its characteristics.

METHOD OF STUDY
Connections are made as shown in figure.

Refer B L Theraja

R is the current limiting resistor, which keeps the current through zener diode within the permissible limit and RL is the load across which we get the regulated output. To make this connection, an external d.c source, a Rheostat, two voltmeters, a Zener diode, a Resistor and a key are needed.
The input (dc) voltage is applied to the zener diode.So that the diode is reverse biased.The voltage across RL will be always Vz, the zener voltage of the diode provided, the input voltage does not go below Vz, the zener voltage. Measurement of output voltage for different input voltages across the zener diode is taken.

COLLETED DATA
The output voltages across the zener diode for different input voltages are given below:
Zener voltage = 6 V
Resistance of the resistor= 330 ?

Table-1

From the above observation we could understand that the voltage across RL(Load) will be always Vz (here ˜6V) the zener voltage of the diode provided the input voltage does not go below Vz,the zener voltage. If input voltage is less than that of zener voltage, the output shows same voltage as in the input. But if input voltage is greater than that of Zener voltage, the output gives only zener voltage. So zener diode can be used as a voltage regulator to provide a constant voltage from a d.c source across a load RL.

* Suppose the input voltage Vi increases beyond Vz. Since the zener is in the breakdown region. The voltage across the zener diode and hence the output voltage across the load remains constant as Vz. The excess voltage, Vi-Vz. is dropped across the current limiting resistor R. if I is the current from the sources.
Vi- Vz = IR
To put it in another way, as Vi increases beyond Vz, I = IL + IZ increases. The zener will conduct the increase of current in I while the load current IL remains constant. Hence the output voltage across RL= I L X RL remains constant irrespective of the change in the input voltage Vi.

* Suppose the load resistance RL changes.then also the output voltage remains constant at Vz.

In the case if the load Rl increases, there is a decrease in the source current I at constant VI
It can be shown that the load current. IL decreases and the decreases is due to the decrease in the total current I and the increase in the zener current Iz. Thus the voltage across the load remains constant as VZ.

CONCLUSION

Voltage stabilizers (zener diodes) can be used as a voltage regulator to provide a constant voltage from a d..c source across a load RL.
By using voltage stabilizers, we can save our electrical equipments to a large extent. Because whenever the input voltage in the circuit increases, by thundering, short circuiting or by any other way, zener diode give only its zener voltage to the appliance as output voltage. Otherwise the appliances will burn out due to high voltage.

SUGGESTIONS

• Zener diode must be reverse biased.
• The depletion layer must be kept very thin.
• Zener diode must connect parallel to the load.
• By using voltage stabilizers in electrical appliances, we can save them to a large extent from thundering, short circuiting etc;-

REFERENCES

Fundamentals of PHYSICS CLASS XII BY Vas Publication.
Practical Physics class XI & XII by sunil A Pillai – An Anamika Publication.
NCERT Text of class XII.
Plus two physics S Chand and Co
Physics by Goyal
V K Mehta

Protect our educated youths.

Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac in a statement said that the apprehensions being aired over the unification of retirement date for government employees were baseless.
I could not agree with him. Whatever be the minister’s claim there would be losses of increments and promotions to some sections of the employees. The pertinent point is Minister’s proposal of unification of retirement age to March 31 is a weird suggestion harming the prospects of the educated unemployed youths. The youths are being lost their opportunity for entry into service because of non-retirement in Government departments. It is a recurring complaint from the KPSC that many of the department vacancies are not reported in time by the Department heads and this approach will continue even after the fresh order from the Government for immediate report of vacancies.

Yet again extending service and all benefits at a higher rate to the existing senior employees will bring large financial burden to the State in the long run. A marginal gain of Rs 1000 crore in the current financial year by withholding pension payment of the employees would bring huge debt in years to come. . This would shake the financial stability of the State.

The youth organizations which are bound to oppose the unwarranted move of the Finance Minister are busy with other ridiculous matters such as shielding Mammootty in his shooting location elsewhere. It is now the duty of the media to put on focus that the youths get their due share in employment and in most cases it is only media that comes as a universal remedy for the affected.

For me it appears as a wonder that none in Kerala Cabinet care the educated youths. If pension payment is a colossal problem for the Government, then why can’t it issue ‘shoot at sight order’ on pensioners. Many of the decisions of the Finance Minster are bizarre and not in the true spirit of the progress of the State. My request is the Kerala government should collect opinions from wide cross-sections of the people in the State before implementing bizarre decisions of self proclaimed intellects.

K A Solaman

Parent-teacher counseling could avoid the worst.

Teachers are human, and sometimes will not be in the vein of certain students without a valid reason. This is same as love at first sight. Some teachers see the face of their students as their own children’s and some others see faces of their enemies in students. There may be psychological enlightenment in this phenomenon and in most cases students are the worst losers. However, occasionally the loss of the teacher is also heavy as that is what happened in the Delhi school where not only the teacher but the Headmaster also was suspended. The mental agony brought to them if they are true teachers who always delight in the progress of their student, is beyond any reckon. But ironically all are seen happy in criticizing the teacher. The sad demise of the student would have been averted if the teacher was given sufficient prior information about the health condition of the student. And in that case the responsibility of the parents cannot be ruled out.

Here in Kerala too punishment such as standing on sunlight or continuous running a kilometer was imposed, of course, not for class room lessons but for NCC. While I was a student in Pre-degree classes I noticed that if cadet did not turn out in time for parade he was asked to run a km with a heavy rifle in his hand. No one was spared from this punishment but none was seen annoyed as it was a part of that education.

Present day parents are very much concerned about their children. If a teacher in LP school asks a student to clean his teeth using mango tree leaf, as did in schools 30-40 years back, the parents will not tolerate the teacher. Time has changed and teachers’ job has become a dicey one. I could not blame that hapless teacher who imposed a past and crude punishment on her student taking her to death. The teacher might have been trying to pick up the child to progress but it ended in despair. The Delhi school incident is not an isolated case. To avoid replication parent-teacher counseling could be thought of in such situations. As practiced in NAAC accredited colleges health club can be formed in schools under the supervision of a teacher with skill in first aid treatment to avoid casualties.

K A Solaman

PET (Position Emission Tomography)

PET (Position Emission Tomography)

A brain imaging technique that maps active brain areas via an injection of 2-deoxyglucose, which emits positrons when taken up by actively metabolizing cells. During the test, the tracer liquid is put into a vein (intravenous, or IV) in your arm. The tracer moves through your body, where much of it collects in the specific organ or tissue. The tracer gives off tiny positively charged particles (positrons). The camera records the positrons and turns the recording into pictures on a computer.

PET scan pictures do not show as much detail as computed tomography (CT) scans or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) because the pictures show only the location of the tracer. The PET picture may be matched with those from a CT scan to get more detailed information about where the tracer is located.

A PET scan is often used to find cancer, to check blood flow, or to see how organs are working.

www.ualberta.ca/~neuro/OnlineIntro/glossary.htm

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
Positron emission tomography (PET) is a test that uses a special type of camera and a tracer (radioactive chemical) to look at organs in the body.

www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/positron-emission-tomography

K A Solaman
Saturday, March 28, 2009

Laughable coalition

Veteran CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu has rightly expressed his doubts regarding the viability of a ‘Third Front’ Government at the Centre. The ‘Third Front’ is not a viable alternative to the Congress or the BJP because such a rag-tag coalition can collapse at any given time. So far the ‘Third Front’ has not projected anyone as its prime ministerial candidate, and will not do so until the general election is over. This delay only reflects the indecisiveness of the coalition, which is enough to discourage the electorate from voting it to power.

K A Solaman

KAS PHYSICS

Our distinguished teachers

Prof K A Solaman, M Sc, M Phil, M A(Dist Edcn), M A(Public Admin)
Former Head of the Department of Physics, St Michael's College, Cherthala and Faculty Member, College of Engineering, Cherthala

Prof K V Stella, Former Head of the Department of Physics, St Michael's College, Cherthala and Advocate, Cherthala

Mr K S Sibi M Sc and SRF

Ms K S Mary Linsa, II MSc

KASInstitute Plus 2 Physics Classes start on April 6, 2009

Ph 0478 2863483
Principal

Prof K A Solaman
(Former Head of the Deaprtment of PhysicsSt Michael's College, Cherthala )

PLUS II PHYSICS CLASSES START ON APRIL 6, 2009

Wednesday, March 04, 2009
KAS Physics and Electronics
KASInstitute of Advanced Learning
Near St Michael’s College, Cherthala
Mayithara PO
Alappuzha Dt,
Kerala, IndiaPin Code 688539,

Ph 0478 2863483
E mail kasolaman@gmail.com

PLUS II PHYSICS CLASSES START ON APRIL 6, 2009
Classes
Plus Two(CBSE, HSC and ISC0Physics
B Sc Physics(Main and Sub)
BSc Electronics9Main and Sub)
B Tech Physics, Mechanics and Electronics and EM theory

Career Options
UGC-CSIR-NET
Principal

Prof K A Solaman
(Former Head of the Deaprtment of PhysicsSt Michael's College, Cherthala )
Posted by K A Solaman at 10:27 PM 0 comments

KAS Physics and Electronics

KASInstitute of Advanced Learning
Near Sty Michael’s College, Cherthala
Mayithara PO
Alappuzha Dt,
Kerala, IndiaPin Code 688539,

Ph 0478 2863483
E mail kasolaman@gmail.com

PLUS II PHYSICS CLASSES START ON APRIL 6, 2009
Classes
Plus Two(CBSE, HSC and ISC0Physics
B Sc Physics(Main and Sub)
BSc Electronics9Main and Sub)
B Tech Physics, Mechanics and Electronics and EM theory

Career Options
UGC-CSIR-NET
Principal

Prof K A Solaman
(Former Head of the Deaprtment of PhysicsSt Michael's College, Cherthala )

The shuttling decisions

The Sonia Gandhi headed AICC decided that Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee would decide the choice of its candidate to Rajya Sabha seat from Kerala and proposed two names-one is K Karaunakaran and other is Remesh Chennithala. What the octogenarian Karaunakaran is going to do other than to sleep all the time on the cushion seats in the house, is yet another question, the Kerala unit of the Congress, unable to take decision returned to the choice to Sonia herself. They authorised madam Sonia to nominate a candidate for the lone seat that the UDF can hope to win on the basis of its combined strength in the Assembly.

The KPCC is nowadays seen a little bigheaded as they have already confirmed that they would be the rulers of the State next time. The present ruling front headed by CPM has done enough harm to the state and they are in a desperate attempt to escape from the present muddle created by its leaders. The Marxist cadres are busy with smearing the posters of top leaders of the party with cow dung paints and almost lost in darkness. The Left Front sees no safe escape in the next election
Seeing this KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala decided to opt out from the Rajya Sabha race.. Last time Oommen Chandy was the CM and now being the President of the KPCC Chennithala sees a better prospect here. It is not always easy to bring back a Rajya Sabha member and ask him to become the CM of the state.