BEND ME, SHAPE ME, ANYWAY YOU WANT ME. .

Plastic is a wonder material It is versatile, highly useful and is everywhere. We cannot think of modern life without plastic.

It is easy to dismiss plastic as cheap and nasty material that wreck the planet. But if you look around, the reality is different. If you want cars, toys, replacement body parts, medical adhesives, paints, computers, water pipes, fiber-optic cables, and a million other things, You will need plastics as well. You cannot wish away the plastic. We have to smartly live with it.

What is plastic? Consider one ethane molecule. It is just made up of 2 carbon atoms and 4 hydrogen atoms. We can call it as a 'Monomer'. Suppose, we join number of ethane molecules as a chain, we get a big molecule of 'polythene'. It is a polymer and the process is polymerization. If a number of chained molecules are combined together, we get 'plastic'. Polymer is like a train of many wagons of carbon. Polymer is based on hydro-carbons which are derived from things like petroleum, natural gas, coal etc,.

Plastic means flexibility. When plastic is heated, it melts. That is , molecular chains are easily broken. Once it becomes liquid, it is injected into mold, cools down, molecular chains are reformed; solidifies and remains strong.

There are huge variety of plastics. Some are soft. Some are hard like rock.
To name a few: cellulose, nylon, polyesters, polythene, polystyrene, pvc, poly carbonate , pet, fiberglass Teflon .....

Living with plastic
1. Educate about plastic. All of us must think twice before littering the environment.
2. Recycling: It takes about 25 plastic bottles to produce one new jacket. Recycling just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60 w light bulb for six hours.
3. Develop bio-plastics or bio-degradable plastics that can break down more quickly into the environment.

Today, even money is plastic. Plastic bank notes; plastic credit cards. Plastic is deform-able, malleable; mold-able, colorful. It comes in all shapes and sizes, from overhead water tank to safety pin. Let us learn to live with the plastic.
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LISSAJOUS FIGURES

Definition: "When a particle is subjected to two sine wave motion or two oscillatory motion at right angles, the particle describes lissajous figures". We know sine wave motion and circular motion is basically same. Hence we draw two circles A and B perpendicular to each other. The circle B rotates twice faster than circle A. That is, frequency of circle B is two times than that of A. A particle at the intersection of two circles is subjected to two sine wave motion A and B at 90 degree simultaneously. The particle will describe figures depending on the frequency and phase of A and B . In our case, the ratio of frequency is 1:2 and the two waves are in phase. To draw lissajous figures : A moving point in both the circles are chosen. Here we should remember; during the time taken by the circle A to complete one rotation, circle B completes two. Hence the points are marked on the circles according to their speed. Then straight lines

THE PARABOLA

A jet of water shooting from a hose pipe will follow a parabolic path. What is the so special about parabola. Y= x^2 Draw a graph for the above equation. It will result in a parabola. This parabola is also called unit parabola. Any equation involving square will yield a parabola. Example: Y = 2x^2 +3x+3 (also called quadratic equation) X= 2 and -2, both satisfies the equation 4 = X^2. Parabolic equations always have two solutions. Any motion taking place freely under gravity follows parabolic path. Examples: An object dropped from a moving train, A bomb dropped from flying plane, A ball kicked upwards. If a beam of light rays fall on the parabolic shaped mirror, they will be reflected and brought to focus on a point. This fact is made use of in Dish Antenna, Telescope mirrors, etc. Inverted parabola shape is used in the construction of buildings and bridges. Because the shape is able to bear more weight. A plane

CASINO'S GAME

Let us find out how the casino survives with mathematics. Say, your friend invite you for a game of dice. You must bet (wager) 2 dollars. If you roll 'six' you will get back 8 dollars. The game will go on for 30 rounds. All sounds good. The probability of rolling 'six' is 1/6. Since the game will be played for 30 times, the 'expected win' is 30*1/6 = 5. That is, you are expected to win 5 rounds out of 30. Hence your gain will be 5 * 8 =40 dollars. ok. This also implies that you will loose 25 rounds. Hence your loss will be 25*2 =50 dollars. Your net gain will be gain-less = 40-50 = -10 dollars. For 30 rounds, the loss is -10 dollars, Hence, for one round =-10/30 = -1/3 dollars. There will be a loss of -1/3 or 0.33 dollars per round. It is not a fair game. Let us make a simple formula to calculate 'Pay out per round\. The probability for a win = p The pay-out in case of win = V No. of rounds = n The expect

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