Wednesday, March 18, 2020

V-1 Flying Bomb in World War II

V-1 Flying Bomb in World War II The V-1 flying bomb was developed by Germany during World War II (1939-1945) as a vengeance weapon and was an early unguided cruise missile. Tested at Peenemà ¼nde-West facility, the V-1 was the only production aircraft to utilize a pulsejet for its power plant.The first of the V-weapons to become operational, the V-1 flying bomb entered service in June 1944 and was used to strike London and southeastern England from launch facilities in northern France and the Low Countries. When these facilities were overrun, V-1s were fired at Allied port facilities around Antwerp, Belgium. Due to its high speed, few Allied fighters were capable of intercepting a V-1 in flight. Fast Facts: V-1 Flying Bomb User: Nazi GermanyManufacturer: FieselerIntroduced: 1944Length: 27 ft., 3 in.Wingspan: 17 ft. 6 in.Loaded Weight: 4,750 lbs. Performance Power Plant: Argus As 109-014 pulse jet engineRange: 150 milesMax Speed: 393 mphGuidance System: Gyrocompass based autopilot Armament Warhead: 1,870 lbs. Amatol Design The idea of a flying bomb was first proposed to the Luftwaffe in 1939. Turned down, a second proposal was also declined in 1941. With German losses increasing, the Luftwaffe revisited the concept in June 1942 and approved the development of an inexpensive flying bomb that possessed a range of around 150 miles. To protect the project from Allied spies, it was designated Flak Ziel Geraet (anti-aircraft target apparatus). Design of the weapon was overseen by Robert Lusser of Fieseler and Fritz Gosslau of the Argus engine works. Refining the earlier work of Paul Schmidt, Gosslau designed a pulse jet engine for the weapon. Consisting of few moving parts, the pulse jet operated by air entering into the intake where it was mixed with fuel and ignited by spark plugs. The combustion of the mixture forced sets of intake shutters closed, producing a burst of thrust out the exhaust. The shutters then opened again in the airflow to repeat the process. This occurred around fifty times a second and gave the engine its distinctive buzz sound. A further advantage to the pulse jet design was that it could operate on low-grade fuel. Cutaway drawing of V-1. US Air Force Gosslaus engine was mounted above a simple fuselage which possessed short, stubby wings. Designed by Lusser, the airframe was originally constructed entirely of welded sheet steel. In production, plywood was substituted for constructing the wings. The flying bomb was directed to its target through the use of a simple guidance system which relied on gyroscopes for stability, a magnetic compass for heading, and a barometric altimeter for altitude control. A vane anemometer on the nose drove a counter which determined when the target area was reached and triggered a mechanism to cause the bomb to dive. Development Development of the flying bomb progressed at the Peenemà ¼nde, where the V-2 rocket was being tested. The first glide test of the weapon occurred in early December 1942, with the first powered flight on Christmas Eve. Work continued through the spring of 1943, and on May 26, Nazi officials decided to place the weapon into production. Designated the Fiesler Fi-103, it was more commonly referred to as V-1, for Vergeltungswaffe Einz (Vengeance Weapon 1). With this approval, work accelerated at Peenemà ¼nde while operational units were formed and launch sites constructed. A German crew prepares a V-1, 1944. Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1975-117-26 / Lysiak / CC-BY-SA 3.0 While many of the V-1s early test flights had commenced from German aircraft, the weapon was intended to be launched from ground sites through the use of ramps fitted with steam or chemical catapults. These sites were quickly constructed in northern France in the Pas-de-Calais region. While many early sites were destroyed by Allied aircraft as part of Operation Crossbow before becoming operational, new, concealed locations were built to replace them. While V-1 production was spread across Germany, many were built by slave labor at the notorious underground Mittelwerk plant near Nordhausen. Operational History The first V-1 attacks occurred on June 13, 1944, when around ten of the missiles were fired towards London. V-1 attacks began in earnest two days later, inaugurating the flying bomb blitz. Due to the odd sound of the V-1s engine, the British public dubbed the new weapon the buzz bomb and doodlebug. Like the V-2, the V-1 was unable to strike specific targets and was intended to be an area weapon that inspired terror in the British population. Those on the ground quickly learned that the end of a V-1s buzz signaled that it was diving to the ground. Early Allied efforts to counter the new weapon were haphazard as fighter patrols often lacked aircraft that could catch the V-1 at its cruising altitude of 2,000-3,000 feet and anti-aircraft guns could not traverse quickly enough to hit it. To combat the threat, anti-aircraft guns were redeployed across southeastern England and over 2,000 barrage balloons were also deployed. The only aircraft suitable for defensive duties in mid-1944 was the new Hawker Tempest which was only available in limited numbers. This was soon joined by modified P-51 Mustangs and Spitfire Mark XIVs. Seen in silhouette, a Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfire manoeuvres alongside a German V-1 flying bomb in an attempt to deflect it from its target. Public Domain At night, the De Havilland Mosquito was used as an effective interceptor. While the Allies made improvements in aerial interception, new tools aided the fight from the ground. In addition to faster-traversing guns, the arrival of gun-laying radars (such as the SCR-584) and proximity fuses made ground fire the most effective way of defeating the V-1. By late August 1944, 70% of V-1s were destroyed by guns on the coast. While these home defense techniques were becoming effective, the threat was only ended when Allied troops overran German launch positions in France and the Low Countries. With the loss of these launch sites, the Germans were forced to rely on air-launched V-1s for striking at Britain. These were fired from modified Heinkel He-111s flying over the North Sea. A total of 1,176 V-1s were launched in this manner until the Luftwaffe suspended the approach due to bomber losses in January 1945. Though no longer able to hit targets in Britain, the Germans continued to use the V-1 to strike at Antwerp and other key sites in the Low Countries that had been liberated by the Allies. A German Luftwaffe Heinkel He 111 H-22 with a V-1 mounted. US Air Force Over 30,000 V-1s were produced during the war with around 10,000 fired at targets in Britain. Of these, only 2,419 reached London, killing 6,184 people and injuring 17,981. Antwerp, a popular target, was hit by 2,448 between October 1944 and March 1945. A total of around 9,000 were fired at targets in Continental Europe. Though V-1s only struck their target 25% of the time, they proved more economical than the Luftwaffes bombing campaign of 1940/41. Regardless, the V-1 was largely a terror weapon and had little overall impact on the outcome of the war. During the war, both the United States and the Soviet Union reverse engineered the V-1 and produced their versions. Though neither saw combat service, the American JB-2 was intended for use during the proposed invasion of Japan. Retained by the US Air Force, the JB-2 was used as a test platform into the 1950s.

Monday, March 2, 2020

How to Make Blueprint Paper

How to Make Blueprint Paper Blueprint paper is a specially-coated paper that turns blue where it is exposed to light, while areas kept in the dark remain white. Blueprints were one of the first ways to make copies of plans or drawings. Heres how to make blueprint paper yourself. Blueprint Paper Materials 15 mL of 10% potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) (potassium ferricyanide)15 mL of 10% iron(III) ammonium citrate solutionPetri dishWhitepaperTongs or small paintbrushSmall opaque object (e.g., coin, leaf, key) Make Blueprint Paper In a very dim room or in the dark: pour the potassium ferricyanide and iron(III) ammonium citrate solutions together into a petri dish. Stir the solution to mix it.Use tongs to drag a sheet of paper across the top of the mixture or else paint the solution onto the paper using a paintbrush.Allow the sheet of blueprint paper to dry, coated side up, in the dark. To keep the paper from being exposed to light and to keep it flat as it dries, it may help to set the wet sheet of paper on a larger piece of cardboard and cover it with another piece of cardboard.When you are ready to capture the image, uncover the top of the paper and overlay an ink drawing on clear plastic or tracing paper or else simply set an opaque object on the blueprint paper, such as a coin or key.Now expose the blueprint paper to direct sunlight. Remember: for this to work the paper must have remained in the dark until this point! If its windy you may need to weigh down the paper to keep the object in place.Allow the p aper to develop in the sunlight for about 20 minutes, then cover the paper and return to the darkened room. Thoroughly rinse the blueprint paper under cold running water. Its fine to have the lights on. If you do not rinse away any unreacted chemicals, the paper will darken over time and ruin the image. However, if all the excess chemicals are rinsed away, youll be left with a permanent colorfast image of your object or design.Allow the paper to dry. Cleanup and Safety The materials for making a blueprint (cyanotype) paper are safe to work with, but its a good idea to wear gloves since youll be working in the dark and might otherwise cyanotype your hands (turn them temporarily blue). Also, dont drink the chemicals. They are not particularly toxic, but they are not food. Wash your hands when you are done with this project.

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Allstate Insurance Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Allstate Insurance Company - Essay Example At the time, the initial public offering of Allstate was the largest in U.S. history. On June 30, 1995, it became a totally independent company after Sears divested its remaining shares to Sears stockholders. For more than 75 years, Allstate leaders, employees and agency owners have been passionate about leading positive change in this country. Serving as a consumer advocate - and an advocate for the American economy - is an integral part of Allstate's heritage. In the 1930s, Allstate was one of the first companies to create a sophisticated rate classification system, giving better rates to safe drivers; in the 1950s Allstate opened its first drive-in claim office, revolutionizing the way automobile claims are handled; in the 1960s the company helped convince the government to make seat belt use mandatory; in the 1970s and 1980s Allstate played an instrumental role in advocating the safety benefits of air bags; and in the 1990s and 2000s Allstate has continued to take a public stand on issues that are important to consumers. In 2007, Allstate reported $17.7 billion in total property-liability insurance claims and claims expense. The Allstate Foundation donated nearly $20.1 million to nonprofit organizations including $400,000 in scholarships. The Allstate Corporation, its employees and agents donated nearly $6.1 million through the Giving Campaign to nonprofit organizations.

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Doctrine of the Supremacy of Parliament in the Modern United Kingdom Essay

Doctrine of the Supremacy of Parliament in the Modern United Kingdom - Essay Example Though, the judiciary was not isolated institutionally from the Parliament, but, the judiciary was and is considered as having been employing or employed a sizeable magnitude of independence from that of Parliament. When the Bill of Rights introduced in 1689, it attempted to regulate the association between the Parliament and the Queen in a legitimate dominion, and it has been custom of the court to give due recognition to the pre-eminence of an Act enacted by the Parliament1. By the enactment of Bill of Rights, in 1689 can be said that it recognised the customary view that the supremacy of the Parliament as it stated that in Chapter 02-1, that the â€Å"pretended authority to enact or annul laws by so-called regal authority without approval of the parliament is not legally valid, and this had made the Parliament’s law enacting authority above that of monarchy. Before the passing of the Bill of Rights, it could be claimed by the judiciary that the common law ( judge made laws or verdicts given by judges) regulated statutes thereby making them invalid if an Act is said to be against common reason or right or not possible to be implemented as held in Dr Bonham’s case2. As per Wade3, the concept that the Parliament is independent since the judge recognises Parliament’s political and legal supremacy. ... However, Dicey’s5 strict elucidation that the parliamentary sovereignty is the supreme is not free from criticism as in recent times, there has been judicial rejuvenation as corroborated by judicial verdicts that the courts in UK consider themselves as preserving some residual privileges to refute the authority of legislation. Lord Woolf6 viewed that "â€Å"finally there are even restrictions on the domination of parliament which it is the UK’s court absolute power to recognise and endorse7. In Jackson v Attorney General8, Lord Steyn, viewed scepticism whether the Diceyan view that parliament sovereignty was still holds good9: â€Å"The typical description made by Dicey on the â€Å"doctrine of dominance of the Parliament is absolute and pure, as it had been, can now be regarded as gone out of practice in the modern era of UK. Nonetheless, the domination of Parliament is yet regarded as the general principle of UK’s constitution. It is a notion that has been b uilt upon the common law. Judicial rejuvenation can be explained as judge made laws. In such scenarios, it is not preposterous that scenarios could occur where the courts may have to hold good a principle formulated on a varied theory of constitutionalism10.† While finding the proposition of the HRA (Human Rights Act) for parliamentary sovereignty , Alison Young11 was of the view that the courts should interpret and offer impact to the laws so that it becomes in line with the rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights , 1950(ECHR). In case , if it is impossible to locate a convention well-matched with elucidation of a statue , then some courts are toothed with the authority to hold non-binding Declarations of Incompatibility

Friday, January 24, 2020

Rates of Reaction - Magnesium and HCL :: GCSE Chemistry Coursework Investigation

Rate of reaction of Magnesium and HCL In order to find a good set of results for this experiment I need to decide what molars i am going to use, and also how i will make them. Once i have found which molars i would like to use i will give evidence of why i have chosen them, i will also decide which variables are important to considerm e.g The Values of Mg, Volume of acid. I also need to think about how i am going to measure the speed of the reaction in order to get a table of reliable results. Plan  · Equipment needed for experiment:  · Bowl  · Hcl  · 2 Measuring cylinders (1 big/1 small)  · Mg strips  · Flask  · Beaker  · Tube  · Stop clock  · Goggles  · Beehive shell Step One All of the above equipment must be gathered. Step Two The Beehive shell sould be placed in the centre inside the bowl, then the bowl is to be filled up with water until the beehive shell is covered.Then the big measuring cylinder is to be filled to the top with water and then turned upside down onto the beehive shell. Step Three The tube should be placed directly over the hole in the beehive shell, where the tube(which goes through the hole in the beehive shell and is connected to the flask) is placed into the cylinder. Step Four Then the flask needs to be filled with 20 cm3 Hcl acid, the acid is measured in a measuring tube and then poured in, once the flask is filled the magnesium strip is to be placed inside. In order to get the Magnesium strip as accurate as possible it is to be measured with a ruler to the size in which desired. Step 5 As soon as the magnesium strip touches the acid it starts to react, so the plastic plug should be put on to the flask quickly, then start the stopclock and record the amount of gas every 10 seconds. One person should read the results at eye level to the tube, so they can get an accurate reading, and another person should note down the times whereas one keeps there eye on the time. Things that will effect the rate of reaction  · Concentration of Hcl  · Surface area of Magnesium  · Temperature of reaction  · Catalyst  · Length of Magnesium  · Volume of Hcl The concentration can be increased or decreased to effect the rate of reaction. The higher the concentration, the more particles, therefore a higher rate of reaction. The surface area of magnesium can effect the rate of reaction. The larger the surface area, the faster the reaction will be as the

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Behaviourist Theory for Atypical Behaviour

Behaviourist Theory (10 marks) First of all, behaviourists are psychologists that believe that behaviours are learnt instead of them being natural. Behaviourist theory believes that people learn to be phobic rather than are born phobic. Reason being, many people link their fear of an object or situation to something bad they have experienced. For instance, if someone is scared of needles, it may have been because they had a bad experience with it as a child, thus causing a phobia. This I known as classical conditioning – learning by association; learn to associate a certain response with a certain stimulus.However, even behaviourists do take into account that some behaviour are not learnt, but are instinctive instead. This is called unconditioned response. This contains of instinctive responses such as sexual arousal and anxiety. Unconditioned responses are triggered by unconditioned stimulus. They can be objects or events that naturally cause the reaction such as stimulating genitals might cause arousal or a threat may cause us to be anxious. Yet, sometimes these responses happen in the presence of a neutral stimulus. Neutral stimuli don’t cause a reaction.However we assume it does when we experience something good or bad. For example if a person ate chips and got sick -vomited, they may assume chips cause a bad reaction every single time. This is known as classical conditioning. Therefore each of the neutral stimuli is then described as a conditioned stimulus because they trigger a learnt response. A reaction to a conditioned stimulus is called a conditioned response. Also operant conditioning is a term used by the behaviourist to describe learning by consequences. If the consequences of an action are worthwhile we learn to do them again.Yet if the consequences are not good, we are likely not to do it again. Atypical behaviours are learnt in the same manner as typical behaviours. Atypical behaviours are just more uncommon cases of classical cond itioning. One of the criticisms of this theory is that it ignores the mind and the thinking behind it. For example if we two people got robbed at night, one is likely to think of it as one time incident and forget about it- rational. Whereas the other will think it will happen many times again – irrational. Thus causes to develop a phobia of dark. Different people have different outlook to the event.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Why Deflation Doesnt Happen During a Recession

When there is economic expansion, demand seems to outpace supply, particularly for goods and services that take time and major capital to increase supply. As a result, prices generally rise (or there is at least price pressure), particularly for goods and services that cannot rapidly meet the increased demand, such as housing in urban centers (relatively fixed supply), and advanced education (takes time to expand/build new schools). This doesnt apply to cars because automotive plants can gear up pretty quickly. Conversely, when there is an economic contraction (i.e. recession), supply initially outpaces demand. This would suggest that there would be downward pressure on prices, but prices for most goods and services dont go down and neither do wages.  Why do prices and wages appear to be sticky in a downward direction? For wages, corporate/human culture offer up a simple explanation: people do not like to give pay cuts... managers tend to lay off before they give pay cuts (though there exist some exceptions). That said, this doesnt explain why prices dont go down for most goods and services. In  Why Does Money Have Value, we saw that changes in the level of prices (inflation) were due to a combination of the following four factors: The supply of money goes up.The supply of goods goes down.Demand for money goes down.Demand for goods goes up. In a boom, we would expect that the demand for goods to rise faster than the supply. All else being equal, we would expect factor 4 to outweigh factor 2 and the level of prices to rise. Since deflation is the opposite of inflation, deflation is due to a combination of the following four factors: The supply of money goes down.The supply of goods goes up.Demand for money goes up.Demand for goods goes down. We would expect the demand for goods to decline faster than the supply, so factor 4 should outweigh factor 2, so all else being equal we should expect the level of prices to fall. In  A Beginners Guide to Economic Indicators we saw that measures of inflation such as the Implicit Price Deflator for GDP are pro-cyclical coincident economic indicators, so the inflation rate is high during booms and low during recessions. The information above shows that the inflation rate should be higher in booms than in bursts, but why is the inflation rate still positive in recessions? Different Situations, Different Results The answer is that all else is not equal. The money supply is constantly expanding, so the economy has a consistent inflationary pressure given by factor 1. The Federal Reserve has a table listing the M1, M2, and M3 money supply. From Recession? Depression? we saw that during the worst recession America has experienced since World War II, from November 1973 to March 1975, real GDP fell by 4.9 percent. This would have caused deflation, except that the money supply rose rapidly during this period, with the seasonally adjusted M2 rising 16.5% and the seasonally adjusted M3 rising 24.4%. Data from Economagic shows that the Consumer Price Index rose 14.68% during this severe recession. A recessionary period with a high inflation rate is known as stagflation, a concept made famous by Milton Friedman. While inflation rates are generally lower during recessions, we can still experience high levels of inflation through the growth of the money supply. So the key point here is that while the inflation rate rises during a boom and falls during a recession, it generally does not go below zero due to a consistently increasing money supply.   In addition, there may be consumer psychology-related factors that prevent prices from decreasing during a recession- more specifically, firms may be reluctant to decrease prices if they feel like customers will get upset when they increase prices back to their original levels at a later point in time.