Archives: Articles

Ready for take off

(Part #9) Meghnath is eager to learn the secrets behind Lord Vishnu’s weapons and, as it turns out, it’s all Science again!

Meghnath starts to pray to Vishnu to gain the knowledge behind his weapons Agni Astra and Narayana Astra.

After months of focused prayer, Meghnath enters Vaikunta Loka where Lord Vishnu lives and is spellbound by its beauty. Goddess Lakshmi, Lord Vishnu’s wife welcomes him and grants him a boon that gives him knowledge of Maths and Science. He then proceeds to meet Lord Vishnu.

(Illustration: Sahil Upalekar)

Lord Vishnu: Welcome, Meghnath. I am glad that you were able to focus your mind enough to be able to reach Vaikunta Loka; that too at such a young age!

Meghnath: Thank you, Lord Vishnu. But am I really here or am I dreaming?

Lord Vishnu: It may seem like a dream but it is not. Your brain is like an antenna, which created an electromagnetic wave matching the frequency of Vaikunta Loka. Because of this, you were able to travel at a speed of light and reach my home, which is located in the Capricon Constellation, about 337.318502 crore kilometres from Earth.

Meghnath: Oh! According to Albert Einstein’s time dilation theory, when I travel at the speed of light, my fourth dimension — Time — is slowed down.

Lord Vishnu: That’s right, Meghnath. Your ‘Earth time’ is almost frozen. So, when you go back, you would not have lost any time. Now, tell me, what do you want from me?

Meghnath: My dad asked me to learn about the Agni astra and Narayana astra from you.

Lord Vishnu: Hmmm … before you can learn the technology behind guns and missiles, you will need to learn the basics.

Meghnath: You mean “rocket technology”?

Lord Vishnu: Yes. Solid propellant rockets are like a gun’s bullets and missiles are a type of rockets whose size and applications are different.

Lord Vishnu summons Lord Agni and Lord Vaayu.

Lord Vishnu: A basic rocket requires the three of us to function: Agni (fire/ignition), Vishnu (propellant), and Vaayu (high-velocity gas exit via the nozzle)

Megnath: I can understand the ignition to start the fire and the fast-moving gas exit to create the push from the ground, but what is a propellant? Don’t you mean fuel?

Lord Vishnu: No. Fuel is different from a propellant. Fuel needs oxygen to burn. But when you mix oxygen with fuel, it becomes a propellant.

Meghnath: I don’t understand…

Lord Vishnu: Remember the candle experiment? When you cover the candle with a glass, the flame dies. Why does that happen?

Meghnath: Because the flame requires oxygen. And once it is covered, there is no way for new oxygen to enter to keep the flame burning.

Lord Vishnu: Exactly! Without oxygen, we cannot ignite or burn fuel. Now tell me, at what height can a rocket fly?

Meghnath: Up to several hundred kilometres above the ground.

Lord Vishnu: That’s right. But is it possible to find abundant oxygen above the Stratosphere or the Ozone Layer?

Meghnath: No…Oh! So, to enable the rockets to continue to burn the fuel beyond these layers, they need mixed oxygen!

Lord Vishnu: Correct. When both the oxidiser and fuel are in solid state, we call it a solid propellant. When both are in liquid state, we call it liquid propellant. But when the fuel is solid and the oxygen is liquid, we call it a hybrid propellant. For Agni astra, we usually use solid propellants. For Narayana astra, we use both solid and liquid propellants.

Meghnath: Who is the first person who came up with this technology on Earth?

Lord Vishnu: In Kaliyuga, King Tipu Sultan built the modern version of Narayana astra, the technology of which then travelled all over the world. Kings in today’s era — Satya Yuga — time travelled to the future to learn it.

Meghnath: Then why is no one sharing this technology?

Lord Vishnu: That is because I felt it would be too dangerous if the technology was in everyone’s hands. So, I started to restrict the knowledge transfer and share it only with those who deserve it and will use it for a specific purpose.

Meghnath (surprised): So I have a purpose?!

Lord Vishnu: Yes, but I cannot reveal the future to you. Let’s get back to our topic.

Meghnath (disappointed): Okay…

Lord Vishnu: The Agni astra uses a mini version of the missile. It can incinerate a single enemy at a time. Narayana astra is the bigger version, which can incinerate a whole army and needs launchers.

Just then, Goddess Mahalakshmi hands over a glass of water to Meghnath. After he drinks it, he realises that she has “fed” him the details about the technology.

Meghnath: Thank you.

Lord Vishnu: Meghanth, you have learnt all that you wanted to. Now, you can go back to Earth. Start praying to Lord Brahma.

Meghanth vanishes from Vaikunda. Lord Vishnu smiles at Goddess Mahalakshmi.

Lord Vishnu: It is ironic that I have taught Meghnath the secret to a weapon that he is going to use against me in the future…

Meghnath wakes up and runs to his father’s workshop, where he starts building a toy rocket.

The author is the founder and CEO of Vaayusastra Aerospace, an IIT-Madras incubated ed-tech startup that offers Air Science workshops for children between five and 14 years.

Word Search

Find these words from the story in this letter grid.

Add some drama

Dramatic times are here! Play this crossword to know more.

Theatre will always be alive and will continue to entertain us for a long time. How well do you know about theater? Let’s play a game!

Family fitness

Stay active as a family with these fitness ideas. In the meantime, try your hand at this spot the difference game too.

Spending time indoors for long periods of time can be exhausting not just mentally but physically as well. A good way to get your body moving is by doing some fun exercises that the whole family can join in with. Here are a few suggestions that you can get your parents and siblings involved in from time to time.

Make it a game: You can make ‘fitness exercise cards’ with a regular set of playing cards. Let each shape be equivalent to an exercise, for example, hearts are push-ups, clubs for crunches, diamonds for jumping jacks and spades for squats – or you could assign your own! Each member picks a card in turn and has to do the exercise as per the number on that card, for instance, if you pick an five of hearts, you would do five push-ups; if you pick a jack of diamond, you have to do 11 jumping jacks and so on. Keep a tally to see who does the most at the end of the deck.

Dance it out: The family could try to keep up with dance exercises like Zumba, by following instructions from online videos, or following the choreography of an existing dance. It’s both fun and a great workout.

All together: You could each take turns doing different exercises and then swap them among yourselves for a certain period of time, five minutes of skipping, five minutes of stretches, five minutes of cardio and so on for at least 30 minutes. But do it all together so you can continue to have company and don’t get bored quickly.

If you can go outdoors, perhaps, around your complex, go for a walk, run or bicycling together. The idea is to also spend time with one another too. However, remember to mask up if you do step outside.

Here’s a fun littler activity to pass your time in the meantime while you wait for the family fitness session. Can you compare the two images below and spot all the differences?

Money makes the world go around

There are logos and there are taglines. Can you guess the name of the bank based on its tagline?

A bank is a place where money can be saved or borrowed from. Banks also invest money to build up their reserve of money. We place our money in the bank for safe keeping. Banks may give loans to customers for an agreement to pay the bank back at a later time, with interest. All banks have logos and taglines. Although it is easier to recognise a bank with its logo, today let us see if we know their taglines.

Super bad

Every hero needs a villain! Can you find the correct pair from our favourite stories?

Imagine what our favourite stories would read like without the main character – no, not the hero – the villain!

Heroes become one because they have a villain to stand up to, fight and defeat. Without them, our heroes would just be regular people going about their day. Moreover, it is usually the bad guys that have the most colourful personalities, adding excitement to the stories.

Below are a few protagonists of famous stories. Match them with their antagonists, and guess the stories they belong to.

An ocean of wilderness

Learn more about the extraordinary and unique life forms that have managed to adapt to life in the South Pacific Ocean.

From tropical coral reefs to the cooler temperate waters, the South Pacific Ocean and its isolated islands are rich in life. The challenges of surviving on these isolated and remote islands of the Pacific Ocean have pushed animals to evolve in the most surprising and remarkable manner. Here are three such creatures: read about them and see if you can solve the puzzle.

Sperm Whales

An epic voyager in search of food. Young whales leave their family groups in the tropics and head to the temperate seas across thousands of kilometres to reach one of the greatest feeding grounds in the South Pacific: New Zealand. Sperm Whales are drawn here by the fabulous wealth of deep-sea creatures. To dive down and feed on these creatures, whales need to remain underwater for over an hour. To do this, they spend around 10 minutes filling their lungs and blood with oxygen. They spend around 15 years bulking up in these nutrient-rich seas. Once they reach the weight of 30 tonnes, the Sperm Whales return to the tropics.

Seabirds

Guided by the sun, stars and the Earth’s magnetic field, seabirds navigate thousands of kilometres of featureless ocean in search of food. The Albatross is the largest seabird and perhaps the greatest ocean wanderer. With a two-metre wingspan, the Albatross travels more than 10,000km looking for hotspots of squid and fish to feed its oversized offspring. These birds nest on the tiny Hawaiian atoll of French Frigate Shoals. Just around a kilometre long, the atoll provides a base of around 300,000 seabirds. Frigate birds wait for weeks on the breeding grounds for a chance to feed on newly hatched sooty terns.

Sea Butterflies

All life in the Pacific is dependent on the tiniest of creatures: the plankton that floats freely in the currents. One of the most plentiful is the Sea Butterfly, a tiny marine snail that uses its enlarged foot to fly through the water. Known as the ‘potato chips of the ocean’, Sea Butterfly is an important food item for many marine animals. But they are under threat due to the increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. When carbon dioxide dissolves in ocean water, it makes the water acidic, which in turn makes it harder for Sea Butterflies to build their calcium shells. The loss of these swimming “potato chips” have repercussions all the way up the food chain in the oceans.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons, Pixabay, Flickr

Space monkey

Brighten up your day and get creative with a fun colouring sheet. Download now…

A game of numbers

Do you have an affinity for number games? If yes, try your hand at this puzzle.

Are you a number lover? Then, try your hand at this popular game and see if you can ace it. A Sudoku is a 6 x 6 grid consisting of columns, rows and blocks.

Instructions on how to play

The objective of the game is to fill the missing digits into the grid, using digits 1 to 6. In each column, row and block, you can use a digit only once. Drag and drop the numbers (1-6), given beside the grid, in their right places.

Rules

1. Each row will, upon completion, contain all of the digits from 1 to 6.

2. Each column will, upon completion, contain all of the digits from 1 to 6.

3. Each coloured block will, upon completion, contain all of the digits from 1 to 6.

Quiz Whizz – July 3, 2021

A quiz to up your general knowledge quotient.

How can you keep your mind active while staying indoors? Try out this interactive quiz.

Catch that ball!

How clued in are you to sports? Well, this fun video quiz will reveal more…

Did you know that the world record for the number of tennis balls held in a dog’s mouth is five? Also, the world’s first diamond cricket ball was made in Sri Lanka with 2,704 diamonds and 18 carat (75%) gold for the seam. The Wiffle® ball has been enshrined into the permanent collection of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown….

There is so much more you can discover about the different sports balls that exist. Watch this video, take the quiz, and find out more…