IGNOU FST CHAPTER 6 Q1

Q)Compare the state of science and technology during renaissance with that of post renaissance period in Europe.
Ans)DURING RENAISSANCE
The phase of renaissance was one of description and criticism. First came the exploration of ancient knowledge, mainly the Greeks. The scholars encountered the thoughts of Plato and Aristotle in the original, as well as those of Democritus and Archimedes. Then came the challenge to old authority.At the same time the arts and techniques flourished and provided the material means for the growth of science.
Art
The visual arts, such as painting and sculpture, came to occupy and important place in the society. These  had a profound influence on the development of science.The professions of artists, architects and engineers were not separated in the Renaissance. Artists were also the civil and military engineers.They could cast a statue, build a cathedral drain a swamp or even besiege a town.
Medicine and Technology
The faculties of medicine, especially in Italy, were the first ones to break out of the general obscurantism. The doctors mingled freely with artists, mathematicians, astronomers and engineers. The new anatomy, physiology and pathology were sounded on direct observation and experiment. Thus the hold of humors and elements, began to be broken..
In technology the greatest advances of Renaissance were in the fields of mining, metallurgy and chemistry.
The smelting of metals like iron, copper, bismuth, cobalt etc, their handling and separation led to a general theory of chemistry involving oxidation and reduction, distillation and amalgamation. Metallic compounds were introduced into medicine. Other chemical substances such as alum and clay were studied to improve cloth and leather industries to make fine poetry.
Navigation and Astronomy
By the end of the middle ages, trade on land and over the seas was being taken up on a big scale. Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese sailor reached India 1497 via the Cape of Good hope in Africa. Columbus took a great and a adventurous journey westward on the Atlantic ocean in the hope of reaching India. He reached the continent, later named as America, in 1492 thinking that he ahd reached India.
POST-RENAISSANCE
In science, this period from from the mid-sixteenth century to mid-eighteenth century includes the first great triumphs if the new observational and experimental approach. This new approach, together with the development eith the development in science and technology during renaissance, amounted to a Scientific Revolution. European science grew to maturity. The first institute of teaching science, the Gresham college, was opened in 1579. The revolutionary Copernican model of the solar system helped in improving astronomical tables. What the theory lacked was an accurate description of the orbits of the planets.This was done by two remarkable men. Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) and Johannes Kepler(1571-1630). Brahe collected a series of exact observations on the positions of stars and planets with specially made apparatus.Kepler's laws of planetary motion struck a mortal blow to the Greek thought of perfect circular motion.
The telescope invented around this time, proved to be the greatest scientific instrument of this period. In the hands of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), a professor of physics and military engineering at Padua, it became a means of revolution in science.
Galileo's more  detailed work, entitled Dialogue concerning the two Chief Systems of the World, the Ptolemaic and the Copernican was published in 1632 and was indeed dedicated to the pope. In this he criticized and ridiculed the ancient Ptolemaic cosmology. The challenge put down by pope could not  be ignored. It immediately led to conflict with the church which led to Galileo's trail. He was condemned and forced to go back on his words.
The year Galileo died Newton was born. New ton continued Galileo's scientific tradition.He provided a complete scientific theory of motion of all objects, whether planes in the heavens or bodies in the earth.It was not easy for any more for church to suppress the scientific tradition. Earlier, Giordano Bruno (1548--1600) was burnt to death and Campanella (1568-1639) was imprisoned for years for opposing the Aristotelian world view and supporting the Copernican theory.

Galileo and Kepler could formulate mathematical descriptions of the bodies because they were masters of the new mathematics that had grown during renaissance. Algebra, geometry and the decimal system, taken from the ancients and the Arabs as well as the introduction of logarithm by Napier (1550-1617), greatly simplified astronomical calculatons. Forty years later, the observational laws of Kepler were combined with the explanations of Galileo in Newton's theory of universal gravitation.
Magnetism was experimentally studied for the first time. William Harvey's (1578-1657) discovery of blood in the human body.It led to a complete break from Galen's ideas. A totally new approach was formulated and the human body was analysed on the principle of pumps and valves like the ones seen in machinery. As a result, a new kind of experimental anatomy and physiology emerged.The first well-established scientific societies, the Royal Society of London(1662) and the French Royal Academy (1666) were formed. These societies set themselves the task of concentrating on the pressing technical problem of those times, those of pumping and hydraulics, of gunnery and navigation. Astronomy was an essential need of ocean navigation. The developments in astronomy led to the new mathematical explanation of the universe, finally arrived at by Newton. This was a major triumph of science.
The greatest triumph of the seventeenth century was a general system of mechanics. This system could explain the motion of heavenly bodies as well as the motion of matter on earth in terms of universal laws and theories.
There were other developments too. such as in optics and the theory of light, closely linked to astronomy by the telescope and to biology by the microscope. Seventeenth century grew from attempts to understand refraction. Theories about nature of light were also given.Another development was pneumatic, the science of mechanical properties of gasses. The question of vacuum was also important.The actual production of vacuum and the use of air pump for this led Robert boyle to study the behavior of air. The world of biology also saw great developments with the coming of the microscope.

IGNOU FST CHAPTER 17 Q2(Assignment 2018)

Q)Describe the modern methods employed for the exploration of natural resources.
Ans)Exploration of resources involves complex techniques which depend upon the physical chemical and biological properties of a resources. Now-a-days, in our country, much of the exploration is done by analysis of photographs taken from aircraft or spacecraft(satellites) and other data supplied by the sensors mounted on these vehicles called 'remote sensing'. Some of the methods used for the exploration of resources are
Conventional Methods
In olden days, discovery of minerals or of petroleum was purely accidental. People used to know about to know about the hidden treasures of the earth, when they used to dig out land for water or for construction of houses. Sometimes, while tiling land , farmers struck luck and discovered precious metals and minerals. However in this way they could only hit upon mineral wealth which lay close to the surface. Now, many techniques techniques are used for systematic exploration of hidden resources, and drilling or digging when preliminary services have clearly indicated what is underneath and how much is likely to be found.
Remote Sensing Method
Principle
Remote sensing is a method of collecting information like soil, water, vegetation and minerals , from a remote place such as an aircraft or a satellite. This technique not only enables us to locate various resources, but also helps us to know about their quantity and quality.The simplest device could be a camera carried out by an aeroplane to photograph large areas of land systematically. Television cameras could be mounted on satellites and they could take pictures showing details of clouds, water,forests, or buildings on the earth.Both these are optical methods of remote sensing because visible light is used by cameras. But one could send out radio waves from satellites and observe how they are reflected or observed from the surface of the earth. Usually radio-waves of wavelengths as small as few centimeters called microwaves are used for such studies, because these waves penetrate through the clouds  and their reflections also go through the clouds to reach the satellite. Similarly, infra-red signals can be sent from the satellite and reflections studied to reveal the nature of reflecting surface.
Remote Sensing of water resources
Radio waves of shortest wavelengths are called 'gamma rays'. These are given off by atoms of several elements. As a result, the ground soil sends out gamma rays which can be picked by the detectors in the aeroplanes or in the satellites.This emission is  affected by the presence of moisture of water in the soil and hence it can be easily detected whether the soil holds water.Moreover, in the pictures taken from space, the wet soil will have all together different appearance as compared to dry or water less soil. Due to presence of moisture, the water rich soil will not only show day time (diurnal) variation in temperature on its surface, but also have a cover of vegetation. Analysis of type, density and the pattern of the vegetation growing on the wet soil helps us in locating the areas of potential ground water. Similarly,  the belts of hot springs may be identified and will show up in thermal or infra-red detectors.
Survey of the vegetation cover
Forests of deciduous trees which shed leaves in a certain season can be can be easily identified with the help of pictures taken from the spacecraft specially during autumn when the deciduous trees  and there is no snowfall as yet to conceal the vegetation. Vegetation cover can be surveyed by measuring and analyzing infrared reflection, or with the help of photographs. The density of vegetation, shape and size of plants and even size, orientation and health of the leaves can be studied from afar. The pattern of seasonal growth of deciduous trees is different from those of coniferous trees like pine and deodar  and thus difference can be detected in the photos taken by the spacecraft.
Plants absorb solar energy to make carbohydrates. A part of the absorbed energy is given out and therefore the leaf temperature remains 10-15 degree C higher than the surrounding air temperature during the sunniest part of the day, and about  5 degree below the air temperature at the cooles thour of the night. So, by measuring ground temperature from a distance, the presence or absence of vegetation can be detected.
Search for mineral deposits
Aerial photos and satellite pictures show very clearly if there is a break in the continuity of layers of the rock, or other unusual features of the surface of the earth. The distinctive linear features  are found to be very common centers where mineral deposits and ground water are accumulated. Radio waves and magnetic measurements also provide information about minerals and oil under the surface.
 Types of Resource Maps
Based on the types of resources several maps are prepared.
Soil Maps show the type of soil, their composition and biological productivity.
Mineral Maps showing location of various kinds of mineral deposits in relation to settings of the earth's crust.
Hydro logical Maps show presence of underground water aquifers, i.e. , rock formation containing water in recoverable quantity , in terms depth of water.
Snow Cover Maps demarcate the extent of snow packs on high mountains.
Resource mapping 
Using various techniques, Resource mapping is done to locate various techniques like water, minerals, forests, vegetation, as well as the types of land. Mapping of resources makes it possible to visualize how land use could be could be managed to best advantage. The rural land use map use tells us about the health of forests and the state of deforestation, about pastures and agricultural crops.It also tells us how much land and of what kind is underutilized. The urban land use map show housing, commercial building, sports facilities, essential services such as roads, water supply and disposal of waste etc.Likewise the preparation of land use maps will focus upon the broader aspects of development such as land use for agriculture, industrialization and urbanization, for obtaining natural resources (forestry, mining etc), water resource development(dams,reservoirs and canals), transportation network,(rails, roads etc.) also the zones prone to natural hazards like flood, cyclones earthquakes landslides avalanches etc,

IGNOU FST CHAPTER 11 Q3(Assignment 2018)

Q)Discuss the salient aspects of structure of sun and the various activities going on in it.
Ans)The Sun is the most important star from  our point of view. It is the only star close enough to be studied in considerable detail. The grandeur of the Sun is partly because of its size. Its diameter is almost 110 times the size of the Earth.
Although the Sun appears to be unchanging, it rotates about its axis every 25 days.From time to time dark patches appear on the surface of the Sun, usually in pairs or in groups.These dark patches are called sunspots.Their movement is an indication of the sun's rotation. A sunspot is a region on the surface of the Sun that consists of gasses almost thousand degrees cooler than those surrounding the area. The number of sunspots increases and decreases in a cycle every 11 years. In the long term, there are period of low number of sunspots and high number of sunspots.
Layers of the Sun
The Sun's body is made up of several layers.The layer that forms the visible surface of the sun is called the photo sphere - it is the surface that demarcates the body of the sun and its atmosphere. When we talk of the diameter of the sun, we are referring to the diameter of the photo-sphere.The temperature of the photo-sphere is about 6000 Celsius. The innermost layer of the sun is its core where its energy is produced through nuclear reactions. Like the sun's body, the solar atmosphere too has several layers.The outermost later of the sun's atmosphere is called corona. Normally the corona cannot be seen due to the brilliance of the photo-sphere.However if it is seen during a total solar eclipse, it is visible in its full glory.The corona extends all the way up to the Earth's orbit and beyond.

Solar Wind and Solar Flare
Most of the sun's family is continually bathed in an outflow of sun's material from it's atmosphere. Streams of electrons and protons flow out from the Sun's atmosphere and travel across the solar system.This rapidly moving stream of charged particles is called the Solar Wind. About one million ton material is removed every second from the sun in the form of the solar wind. These charged particles react with the earth's particles to produce northern lights, 'aurora borealis' at the North Pole  and southern lights, 'aurora australis' at south pole. This display of lights in nature is truly spectacular.
The solar flare represents the most dynamic activity associated with the sun's surface and atmosphere. It represents a tremendous release of energy in a very short time.Usually it occurs in the neighborhood. of a sunspot. There is a sudden brightening  accompanied by a violent in the form of light, radiowaves, X-rays, and solar materials like electrons and protons.   

IGNOU FST CHAPTER 2 Q4(Assignment 2018)

Q)Write a detailed account on the origin of agriculture and civilization.
Ans)There is no historical evidence to tell us how agriculture exactly arose. We can only imagine what may have happened. Cultivation of grain may have arisen without any violent break from food gathering. In regions well stocked with wild grains, enough seeds would get scattered around to produce crops worth reaping. Agriculture probably resulted from the fact that plant could be grown from seeds and that the crops had some relation to the seasons.And probably the availability of water helped in the process.Cultivation however marked a break from the primitive era, as human beings stopped being dependent on nature and started to control their livelihood and destiny.
Cultivation necessarily meant permanent or semi-permanent settlements around regions that were climatically and soil wise suitable for crop production. These settlements grew into villages, with some community life and leisure.It is but natural that these settlements established in regions most suitable for cultivation, developed the fastest. Thus we see that in this period, from about 4000 B.C.  to 1500 B.C., the four greatest civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China came into existence in the wide river valleys of the Nile, The Tigris and the Euphrates, the Indus, and the Hwang Ho  respectively.The Indus Valley Civilization of which we are the descendants is dated between 2700 B.C. to 1750B.C.

Growth of cities
The people of those times came to understand very well the advantage afforded by the river for food production. They came to realize that if the river could be systematically used through natural and artificial irrigation, food production could be increased manifold.
However, this could be achieved best, not by one village alone but by several villages getting together.Further barter trade led to some places being identified as meeting places for the exchanges.Convenient sites were chosen for displaying goods and exchanging grain for cloth or spices, or shopping for better tools and implements made by expert artisans. Some evidence suggests that cities were founded by bringing together population of several villages.The growth of cities led to the rise of an administrative class who could organize and coordinate production and exchange, but did not take part in it directly.
We find that the growth of cities was helped by another feature of this new mode of production.Man started producing much more than he could consume locally.Therefore,all people in agricultural societies did not have to be agriculturists.They could produce other useful goods and even excel in music or dance. The surplus could be used to support craftsmen and who made the agricultural implementations and storage vessels, masons who built shelters, wheel-wrights who made pottery, and others who made carts.There were still who worked as administrators and priests, and who were not directly involved in the process of production. These groups of people came to live in the cities.

The population of cities used to be supported, as today, by agriculture in the neighboring as well as distant villages.This resulted in a division between villages and cities, between those who produced and those who supported production through works of other kinds; those who worked with their hands, and administrators or priests who mainly used their mental skills. This division had a very definite effect on the development of techniques and science.For the first time, specialization of occupations and professions had taken place.As there was enough food available, society could even support who did not produce.Such people had the leisure to think, to improve their crafts, to create art and beauty, and to develop abilities to lead society through institutions of religion and administration.

The surplus also had to be transported by land, river and sea in exchange for other necessities of life and even luxury goods.This provided tremendous impetus for the development of transport, such as rafts, boats and small ships, which brought about new dimensions of trade cultural contact and exchange of techniques and science among different societies.

Changes in social Organization
Above trend on social organization led to a tendency in which eventually stifled the progress of these civilizations and led to their decay. The surplus, or whatever was left or whatever was left of food production after the consumption needs of the society were met, came to be appropriated by a small group of administrators. They eventually became priests and kings and formed an exclusive group. The successors of the original administrators lost touch with agricultural techniques, as well as with knowledge and techniques related to production other articles of consumption and trade.They gave their time and attention to building monuments, temples and palaces of leisure to impress the rest of the society or to emphasize their exclusiveness. They raised armies to take over more and more productive land. Their priestly influence also grew. They cultivated the idea that they had divine powers and were created by god to show the way to the common people and be their natural leaders. Thus society got divided into exclusive classes of producers and appropriaters.
The tragedy of this process was that those who used knowledge and technique in the beginning to increase production became isolated from the basic production techniques and knowledge which had given them power.Recourse was taken increasingly to magic and spreading of false beliefs instead of scientific observation and use of technology to solve material problems. The farmers and the craftsmen who use the techniques to produce goods were weight down with the daily problem of existence.They had very little resource for innovations. Thus the practitioners could not improve the techniques to solve the problem they faced; and the appropriators who had the time and, resources and power to do so were no longer interested in these things. As a result of these developments, the progress of techniques was thwarted and science stagnated.       

IGNOU FST CHAPTER 5 Q2(Assignment 2018)

Q)What have been the impediments of growth of science in India?
Ans)By the end of Eighteenth century Indian science was at the same level as science anywhere in the world. In particular it was at the same level as European science, upto about the middle of the sixteenth century. But, then European science took big strides forward and left the Indian science way behind in the period that followed.In fact, the British were able to subjugate this country and make it their colony on the basis of science and technology that had developed there.
There is and old saying that necessity is the mother of all invention. In spite of  periodic wars between the rulers of various regions and states in the country, there was a considerable stability in the Indian society. Population was small, the land was fertile and even from small land holdings Indian peasants were able to meet the requirements of subsistence. They could feed and cloth themselves.Although there were poor people, poverty and hunger of the kind that we see today did not exist. The deprivation that we see today is largely a result of British policies imposed on us. The hold of religion, particularly in rural areas, and the existence of the caste system, contributed both to a certain reconciliation with fate, and an acceptance of a social hierarchy. There was a fascination with the idea of an infinitely old universe condemned to an endless cycles of deaths and rebirths, in which nothing fundamentally new could ever happen.What can be called a peculiar kind of satisfaction prevailed, which did not allow pressures to build up for either enhancing production through technological innovation , or to change the society.
Another reason was that those who worked with their hands did not contribute to the stock of knowledge. An those who possessed even out-dated knowledge never had to test it on the touchstone of practice. Either the kingdoms fought wars or settled down to long period of piece.It seems natural to think that in such a society there was no clamor to develop new products or new processes. Social stability and stagnation can easily go hand in hand. The rich had no need for change, the poor had no power to bring about a change.
When Islamic influence entered India in successive waves it intended not to disturb the life of the common people who lived in rural communities. It did not interfere with the prevailing religious ethos, which remained predominantly Hindu with its ideology tolerant of great variations, but at the same time protecting the caste system which was well established in India. At the level of administering the country, and in the armed forces there was mutual support there was mutual support between the higher strata of people in the two communities . Muslim kings with Hindu commanders-in-chief and Hindu rajas with Muslims at the head of their armies are known to have fought and defended each other. Naturally there was give and take and intermingling of cultures. What we call Indian culture today is a result of centuries of interaction between our people and those who came and settled down here in different periods. 
At the level of religion, there was coexistence between Islam and Hinduism, perhaps out of necessity, since the Muslims were in a small minority. They could certainly not afford a confrontation with the vast majority if their rule was to last in India and was to be extended in the centuries to come.This was also because priests had a great hold over people  and any interference in each other's affair's would have had serious political consequences.It could have led to turmoil.So, each steered clear of the other. Further the priests of the two communities were well off, and satisfied with their economic condition. Within the two religious systems too, there were no active controversies  and no strong movements of reform. The bhakti and the sufi movements did arise in the medieval period. These movements did preached religious tolerance and were highly critical of the caste system. However they did not make a wide impact as their word did not reach far.
This was perhaps due to the absence of printing.Typically when  a printed book was presented to Jahangir, he is said to have thrown it away,saying that it was unaesthetic as compared to the beautiful calligraphy in which they prided.He little realized or was perhaps little interested in the possibility of enriching people's life on a large scale through the availability of cheaper books. This was in contrast to the sixteenth century Europe where the availability of printed word greatly helped the spread of knowledge that created a wider and deeper impact for bringing about social change.
In India education was, by and large, limited to religious teaching and the intellectual atmosphere was not in favor of challenging the established ways of thinking, or of propounding new theories. In such an atmosphere few would venture to propose freedom of thought. It was still more difficult to accept such new things as a sun centered universe demonstrated by Galileo.For, the new theory changed the order which was believed to have been established by God to give the abode of man a central position in the entire creation. Indeed, astrology was, perhaps esteemed enough to let astronomy go on!Alchemy still held some promise of converting base metals to gold, howsoever mysteriously or irrationally, to allow dabbing in chemical techniques! The reign of the orthodoxy with its belief in eternal or revealed truths never allowed free thinking and imaginative adventure of ideas. To put it in another way, the learned had fixed ideas which they did not need to change. And those whose social status was low and who were exploited by the feudal had no access to learning.
If it was not for these factors, we had a tremendous advantage over Europe in the sense that the strong streams of Arab and Indian science coexisted here and we should have been miles ahead of Europe.In Europe comprehensive books of Arab authors like Compendium of Astronomy by al-Fargani, Howi Liber Continens by al-razi, the Canon of Ibn Sina tha the Colliget of Averroes(all medical treatises) were used as text-books in the seventeenth century.All these books were available in India  and could have been used, but they were not. The exciting advances made in science during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe, such as works of Copernicus , Galileo and even Newton  did not attract widespread attention, since they were not close to the hearts of the scholarships in India that existed in India at that time.Due to this indifference and neglect and the other factors mentioned earlier, we lost the race. 

IGNOU FST CHAPTER 11 Q2

Q)What is the big bang theory of the origin of the universe?List three evidences in support of this theory.
Ans)The formation of the solar system is based on the assumption that sun and all the planets were formed a huge rotating cloud of huge rotating interstellar gas and dust.For some reasons the clouds started contracting.The contraction was hastened by its gravitational pull. The cloud continued to contract.It also rotating faster and become disc shaped. More and more clouds contracted towards the center of the disc forming the star-to be the new sun.The temperature of this star rose due to contraction until it started generating its own energy. Revolving around the sun was a disc of gas and dust from which the planets condensed. In this revolving disc, the lighter elements were thrown towards the periphery and the heavier elements were concentrated inwards.As the sun's energy increased the gas shells around the inner planets were driven off and only the cores of heavier elements in the cloud remained.The outer planets were less affected. Finally the bright star's radiation removed the last of the system's free gases and a mixed array of planets remained.

IGNOU FST CHAPTER 22 Q3

Q)What is vaccination? How does it protect us from infections? Name any four diseases that are prevented by vaccination.
Ans)The w.b.cs produce anti-bodies which neutralize the toxins by the invaders. The w.b.cs are of different kinds and each kind consists of millions of cells which recognize and combat a specific foreign invader. Once a class of WBC's has encountered a particular kind of invader, it develops memory and is trained to ward off future attacks. In this way the body becomes immune to that infection and that process is called immunization.
Our body regularly develops natural immunity as a variety of fighting cells are produced by actual attacks of infectious agents.Artificial immunization is a clever idea. It is done by vaccination that is by artificial introduction into the body of a weak infection, which triggers a defense mechanism and produces wbc's trained to combat that particular infection.
Tetanus, hepatitis-b,polio and measles are the four diseases that can be prevented by vaccination.

IGNOU CHAPTER 1 Q14

Q)Distinguish between theory and hypothesis. Give an example in support of your answer
Ans)Theory
A theory is a set of few general statement that can correctly describe or explain all experimental observation about the properties  and behavior of a large number of varied objects, phenomena, situation or systems.
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a statement put forward on the basis of reasoning about the things that are studied. It is an attempt to answer and question the attempts that are posted.
e.g..
(a)Questions arising from observations based on previous knowledge.
      Why are bees attracted to flowers.
     
(b)Framing Hypothesis
      (i)bees are attracted to flowers by nectar in the flower
      (ii)bees are attracted by color of  the flowers
      (iii)bees are attracted by both
(c)Setting up an experiment to test the hypothesis
      (i)bees are let inside a chamber containing artificial flowers
      (ii)bees are let inside a chamber containing real flowers.
(d)Taking further observations
      (i)bees are attracted to the artificial flowers, sit on them but fly away in a few seconds
      (ii)bees sit on real flowers and remain there for long
(e)Framing laws and theories on the basis of results
       bees are attracted to flowers due to color and nectar.    

IGNOU FST CHAPTER 19 Q1

Q1)What is mixed cropping?Give an example. State three advantages of this agrotechnique.
Ans)Since cultivable land is limited the only way to meet our growing food needs is by growing two or more crops in a year from the same piece of land. Such multiple cropping practices would generate more employment in rural areas and also fulfill our food needs. In mixed cropping compatible crops like chickpea and mustard are sown in parallel rows with wheat pigeon pea mung bean, groundnut soybean and cow pea can be grown in between rows of rows of sorghum of maize or sugarcane or cotton. Such inter-cropping system generate additional employment opportunities.