Engineering and Technology
The Army wants a cheap additive which will transform sur¬face soil into hard pavement. It would be used to solidify byroads, bridge approaches, sandy beaches and missile launch¬ing sites, where rocket blasts cause temporary dust storms. This discovery must be easy to mix and apply to wet or dry soils without complicated, heavy equipment. Also, another branch of the Army wants an invention to soften hard ground. The government urgently needs: a silencer for rocket propulsion; a nonmagnetic hand compass; a universal light-aircraft landing gear, good for land, water and snow; an aspirin-size pill usable as fuel for a long haul. The armed services want a device for spotting mines from airplanes. The detector should be responsive to the explosive itself and not solely to metals, since mines have also been en¬cased in plastic, wood and other materials.
Enumerate some of the advantages of multifuel diesel engines. Why is it necessary to make the pistons in the front wheel cylinders of an automobile larger than those in the rear wheels? A new device for testing fibers is the ballistic test. How does it work and what is its purpose? In what fields of industry have rare earth alloys proved useful? What other uses might be developed? Explore the use of radioisotopes in manufacturing processes. How might internal air conditioning and illumination be affected by the new air wall construction? Dielectric heating is a new method of using high voltage through nonconductive surfaces to produce heat. This new use of high voltage is fast but too costly for commercial use as yet. Research has been undertaken on the production of syn¬thetic quartz by a process known as hydrothermal crystal¬lization.Since the synthetic stones produced are of excellent quality, it is possible that large-scale domestic production of a synthetic quartz may end this country’s dependence on Brazil for a supply of natural quartz.
An antimetabolite compound has been discovered which promises lifelong immunity for fabrics against textile-de¬stroying insects. It can be used to impregnate fabrics during the dye-vat process or be applied in an aqueous solution to existing fabrics in the home. A system known as APT (Automatically Programed Tool) has been developed for computers to give orders to automatic machines. A human operator can communicate descriptions of required parts and how they should be cut directly to an electronic computer. Improvement and expansion of the sys¬tem will be under the direction of the Aircraft Industries Association. Fires and flashovers may be prevented in electrical sys¬tems by application of a coat of a new greaselike silicone compound. This same compound, when mixed with graphite, almost eliminates dirt and corrosion from 300-volt direct crane rails and trolleys.
Geography and Geology
What are the four main types of fossils? Which might you expect to find in your area? Where? How do caves originate? What valuable investigations do speleologists carry out? Describe the difference in formation of continental and oceanic islands. Study four different kinds of rocks and discuss differences between them. Why is the sea becoming more salty?
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