How Wind Power Works

Wind is a natural environmental occurrence in which air flows at varying rates throughout isolated areas or on a global scale. Since wind is a force, it can be put to use if harnessed appropriately.

Wind power is not new, and has been used for thousands of years, albeit it is only recently that it has been converted in to electricity for those power companies who are going green. Even today, sail boats use wind as their means of transportation. It was not until 1979 that the wind industry we know today came in to existence. Since then, countries have quickly adopted it, and in recent years, wind power has been the fastest growing source of renewable energy. Denmark is a leading example of how useful wind energy can be, as they generate one-fifth of their national electricity from wind.
Air is a fluid comprised of gaseous particles, and since particles have mass, they exert kinetic energy when in motion. Wind turbines simply convert this energy in to a more useful form. When fast moving air comes in contact with a turbine, it forces it to turn. The device is connected to a generator close by that changes the rotational energy in to stored energy. Being that one wind turbine cannot collect large amounts of energy on its own, wind farms have been established that utilize a multitude of wind apparatuses.

The primary design most people are familiar with is the horizontal axis-wind turbine, which is the three bladed structure shown when referring to wind power. The alternative is the vertical-axis design, although these are much less efficient than their horizontal counterparts, and thus are rarely used.

Saving on College Tuition

While tuition and fees have risen over the last decade at all types of colleges and universities, these costs have gone up the least at two-year schools, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The GAO report also shows certain groups of students shifting toward these lower-tuition two-year schools from four-year schools.

If you’re headed to college, a two-year or in-state option could help you minimize your college costs.

Average Debt From Student Loans up Almost $10,000 Over 10 Years

For the past 10 years, student debt has been persistently on the rise, with student loan debt in particular continuing to steepen. According to a series of reports by the Making Opportunity Affordable project, the average student borrower at a public college or university today owes $17,250 in student loans (http://www.nextstudent.com); 10 years ago, the average borrower attending a public institution graduated owing just $8,000 in student loans, after adjusting for inflation.

If you want to buck the trend and graduate with as little debt as possible, you may be able to minimize your need for student loans by keeping your tuition costs low with a two-year school.

More Students Choosing Affordable College Options

The GAO report reveals that the majority of current college students attend institutions that have the lowest average tuition and fees.

Nearly half of all college students in 2006–07 attended institutions where the average in-state tuition and fees were less than $2,550 a year. Three out of five students attended institutions where annual tuition and fees were less than $5,000.

Only 3% of students attended schools where tuition and fees exceeded $25,000 a year.

Community College: Two Years of Big Savings

By attending a community college for your first two years of school, you could save, on average, anywhere from $3,000 to $19,000 a year in tuition and fees.

What Are Animals?

How many species of animals have been identified to date? The answer is close to two million and they are the most varied living thing on planet Earth. They have struggled to overcome tremendous obstacles, adapting their lifestyles in order to survive. They range from the animals that we all familiar with, big cats and birds of prey to the animals we have never heard of that live on the sea bed.

Animals are usually easy to distinguish from other forms of life because most of them have the ability to move. This rule works very well for most of the animals that live on the land but it is not always the case for those that live in water. Here they live in water and in some cases have trailing arms or tentacles that make them look like plants. A reliable way of identifying animals is by their basic biological features. Their bodies are composed of many cells and they have nerves and muscles that enable them to respond to the world around them. They get the energy that they need by taking in food.

Animals are highly complex and responsive compared to other forms of life. Even the most simplest of animals react quickly to changes around them, shrinking away from potential danger or reaching out for food. The animals that are able to learn from experience and are unique to the animal world, are those animals with well developed nervous systems. The worlds largest living animals, baleen whales can live up to 25 metres long and weigh 120 tons. At the other end of the scale are microscopic organisms and sub microscopic flies and beetles. These animals are so tiny that their weight is negligible but they still possess the body systems that are needed for survival.

Because of their differences in sizes animals can live in different ways. Whales have few natural predators and the same is true of elephants, which is the largest land animal. They are able to process food on a very large scale because of the massive size of their bodies. However they take a long time to reach maturity, which means that they are slow to reproduce. Insects on the other hand are easy prey for many animals and their small size means that their bodies are not as energy efficient as large animals. But because they can breed very quickly when the conditions are in their favour, their numbers can rise at a very fast rate.

Almost all of the world's largest and most familiar animals are vertebrates; these are animals that have backbones. They include the fastest animals on land, sea and air and also the world's most intelligent species (homo sapiens). Vertebrates are all related to each other, sharing a common ancestry that goes back millions of years. However despite the fact that vertebrates lead the animal kingdom in many fields, they only make up a small minority of the animal species known today. Animals without backbones, invertebrates, constitute the vast majority of animal species.