space stuff

I am not getting what actually an order of reaction is. What does it mean and what it has to do with the the rates of reaction. I've tried to read from books and I'm not able to understand, its significance, properly and I am also not able to solve the numerical problems related to it (where it is further associated with integrated rate equation and half life ). Please help.

Newton's laws are true for some extent only. I have read in book that these laws don't hold good at subatomic levels and levels of very high speeds. Here (at subatomic and high speeds) Quantum mechanics and Relativistic mechanics hold good. Why? Why, is it that newton's laws fail at these levels ? There are some examples which are confusing. Our physics teacher says, there's no reality in quantum physics, it's only based on prediction, and nothing has been proved till now. He gives the example of the discharge tube experiment, in which the electrons move the light paddle wheel. Isn't it Newton's second law F=ma ? (There are some more examples he gave.) This is what that creates mess in my mind. Is Newton true or Bohr, Heisenberg & Schrodinger (at quantum level)? Anybody who clears this mess and provides a solid reason that I can counter throw on my teacher is appreciated.

Humans are equipped with the best thing, Brain. All other animals do have that but they are not able to use that. Even Humans are not able to utilize it fully, but with time it is gradually increasing. With time science is also developing. There would come a time, soon or later, when human civilization would be able migrate to some other planet in other planet orouter space. There is too much to develop, as we have sufficient time. And this would result in survival.

Without making it complicated, I should tell you that speed of light is 300,000 km per second. Light from Sun should reach Earth in one second if Earth would have been 300,000 km away from Sun. But it's not. We are approx. 150 million Km away. Now, you should calculate on your own that it takes approx. 8 mins (500 seconds), by using- time = distance / speed

I am about to learn programming. Will somebody give me a good online resource or some free eBook for learning "only BASIC" K-12 level C++. Furthermore, "Borland turbo c++ 4.5" should support it. I want to do this so that I can get a head start in my class.

You may learn basic python from Khan academy.

Well, it's simple. You first do the Bracket operation, then Division(although, we don't need it here), multiplication, addition and finally, subtraction [bODMAS rule]. That must work. This one should be solved by enclosing bracket to the pair of numbers undergoing multiplication. And then, some IQ of yours would do good.

Sorry if my explanation is not precise to your satisfaction, but I can try to give you a brief understanding. Firstly, mutation and evolution are two different things Mutation is a change brought about in the genes of a cell of an organism which makes it different from others. It may be right from the birth or may due exposure to some kind of radiation. This happens at individual level. Evolution is a gradual change in a SPECIES, making it better suited to changing environment, so that they can compete among others to survive. Well, this is at a mass scale and not for a given individual. Hope you can understand.

Thank you very much !!!

What do you mean by "letters of recommendation" ? What do these letters contain and how it should be helpful ? Its quite confusing, because here in India, admissions are only through JEE (they won't even consider International Physics olympiad gold medalist if he has not qualified it) and not through these letters; so, never heard of it before.

What type of extracurriculars you would recommend ?

I am an 11th class student from India . I want to get some information about getting into MIT (Massachusetts institute of technology). Are admission criteria for international students different (Is it tougher, than for the US students) ? Presently, I am preparing for Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Exam (IIT-JEE) which is the toughest exam in India, and one of the toughest in the World. What I am doubtful about is that being an international student applicant, are my chances to get into MIT less (also I can't get there without being offered at least 85% scholarship) ? As compared to SAT, the IIT-JEE questions level are very, very tough. Even a student scoring 2400/2400 in SAT may not be able to crack it. In IITJEE 500,000 students compete to get into top 5000 for a seat. I attempted SAT (Maths) questions and was able to solve all questions correctly within 15 mins. But it takes me 15 mins to solve one or two questions of IIT-JEE. When I attempt SAT English section, everything just seems passing over my head. I am not as much good in English as I am in Maths. I am confident for my Maths section for getting perfect score but not for English. Also I can easily solve SAT Subject Test: Physics and Chemistry. Here in India, we prepare only for Phy, Chem and Maths for IIT-JEE (at least 7 hours a day after schools). So, I won't get enough time for learning English, and that is why I feel that my scores would be affected. Also I want to get into MIT for two reasons. First one being, I want to get into Aero-Astro course(which is not good here in India as compared to other courses). Second is that I will be able to do simultaneous course in Physics, which is not possible in India. And finally, how should I prepare or do in my school to get into MIT (Any sort of reputation, extracurricular or so) ? How well should I do to get a Scholarship/Aid ? I hope valuable suggestions will help me out. And sorry for this long post.

Hey, there exists the strong nuclear force. It's the strongest force of the fundamental forces.

We are told in 10th class that electropositive (like alkali metals and alkaline earth metals) elements and electronegative elements (like halogens) form ionic compounds such as sodium chloride. But now in 11th class we are told that lithium and beryllium (which are too alkali and alkaline earth metals respectively) and some more metals do form covalent compounds. Why should lithium form a covalent bond with chlorine if lithium can donate one electron and chlorine can gain one electron easily to form an ionic bond ? Its a bit confusing...

First of all, I will recommend you that you start learning books of advanced grades. For example, if you are in 9th grade you should finish the syllabus and start learning 10th and 11th grade syllabus. This would really help you in advancing your knowledge. You can refer to some online learning sources and also a nearby library for some good books. If you really want to get some advanced material from MIT's OCW(open course ware). http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm I am listing some websites here- For Physics problem practice and learning you may visit- http://www.physicsclassroom.com (also read this book "fundamentals of physics by Halliday, Resnick and Walker) For Chemistry- Well, you may try this I found this on net while surfing-http://www.chem1.com/chem1 For Mathematics- You should try this out-http://mathworld.wolfram.com (this one is very advanced for me, can't tell about you)

Thank you sir !

Yes, I do. It is due to the refraction of starlight by the moving air pockets in the atmosphere. But, what confuses me is that the stars are said be point sized objects.

Stars appear to twinkle whereas, planets do not. Why ? I am a bit confused about it by reading from books. Can somebody explain it clearly ?