Colorful Antarctic Icebergs

Colorful Antarctic Icebergs
Icebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have stripes, formed by layers of snow that react to different conditions. Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with meltwater and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form. When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a green stripe. Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the sea.

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Carry the Torch Vancouver 2010


You Could be a 2010 Olympic Torchbearer

Be part of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay by making a personal pledge to do something in your daily life to make Canada an even better place to live.

For over 100 days leading up to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, 12,000 Canadians will be helping the Olympic Flame make its way across Canada. And you could be one of them.

Carry the Torch Vancouver 2010

Europe’s Largest Water Bridge

Europe's Largest Water Bridge

Have you ever seen a WATER bridge over a river? Even after you see it, it is still hard to believe! This is the Water Bridge in Germany … What a feat! Six years, 500 million euros, 918 meters long… now this is engineering! This is a channel-bridge over the River Elbe and joins the former East and West Germany , as part of the unification project. It is located in the city of Magdeburg, near Berlin . The photo was taken on the day of inauguration.

To those who appreciate engineering projects, here’s a puzzle for you armchair engineers and physicists. Did that bridge have to be designed to withstand the additional weight of ship and barge traffic, or just the weight of the water?
Answer: It only needs to be designed to withstand the weight of the water!
Why? A ship always displaces an amount of water that weighs the same as the ship, regardless of how heavily a ship may be loaded.