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Sharpen Your General Knowledge
Shamim Ansary:
Why Is Human Blood Blue In the Body and Red When It Comes Out Through a Cut or Wound?
Human blood is always red, even blood in the body that is oxygen-deprived and heading back toward the lungs to refuel.
Veins close to the skin show through as purply blue or greyish blue because that’s their color.
The term blue blood as it’s used regarding royalty comes from the fact that royalty didn’t get outside much. Peasants and regular workers were browned by the sun, so their blue veins were less likely to show.
The white skin of European nobles showed off their blue veins, and people assumed their blood was blue as well.
Shamim Ansary:
Why does Earth seem to stand still while the Sun moves across the sky?
Earth is moving around the Sun at about 1,100 miles (1,800 kilometers) a minute, but there isn’t anything close by to show us how fast we’re moving.
Traveling in a car, you see nearby bushes and buildings rushing by, but mountains in the distance don’t seem to move at all. If we had other satellites (objects orbiting Earth) close by along the route of Earth’s orbit, we’d see how fast we were going. But the stars are like the mountains, too far away to help us judge our speed.
While Earth revolves around the Sun, it also rotates on its own axis, one rotation every 24 hours. We don’t feel either of these movements because we move right along with Earth.
On the average, you take a breath every 6 seconds. With every breath, you—and Earth have gone approximately 100 miles (180 kilometers).
Shamim Ansary:
What is the Russian Federation and When Did the Soviet Union Collapse and Form 15 Independent Republics?
The Russian Federation is Russia’s offical name.
The Russian Federation, which occupies about three-fourths of the land that once was the Soviet Union, is made up of 21 autonomous republics, 50 oblasts (or regions), 6 krays (or provinces), 2 federal cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg), 1 autonomous oblast, and 10 autonomous okrugs (or autonomous territories).
Russia is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects.
An unsuccessful military coup directed against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in August 1991 led to the collapse of the Soviet Union which resulted in the formation of the Russian Federation.
The USSR officially dissolved in December 1991 and Boris Yeltsin was elected the President of Russia.
Shamim Ansary:
Where Did the Term “Blueblood†For the Aristocrats Come From and What Does the Word Mean?
The name bluebloods refers to the pallor of the Spanish ruling classes after the conquest of the darker skinned Moors.
After the blood in them loses oxygen while flowing back to the heart, the veins of fair or untanned people whose skin is never exposed to the sun appear blue.
The veins of those with darker complexions, however, like the Moors, are less obvious.
Their blue blood distinguished true Spanish aristocracy from the conquering Moors.
Shamim Ansary:
Why Aren’t Sunrises as Colorful as Sunsets?
Well, don’t underestimate the time-of-day factor: for most humans, nearly everything looks better at 8:00 P.M. than at 5:30 A.M.
However, in this case you’re righton most days, sunsets are much more brilliantly colored than sunrises. It doesn’t make sense, since most of the same conditions are in place for eacha sun in a low sky sending rays careening through Earth’s atmosphere. So what gives?
Credit humanity. Or rather, blame us. During the day we generate the bulk of our traffic exhaust and factory smoke, which lingers long enough to give brilliance to our sunsets.
During the night, much of the pollution gets blown away from population centers, so less of the blue light gets scattered, resulting in less intense reds and yellows in sunrises than in sunsets.
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