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Fire-walking
Firewalking is the act of walking barefoot over a bed of hot embers or stones. It has been practiced by many people and cultures in many parts of the world, with the earliest known reference dating from Iron Age India . It is often used as a rite of passage, as a test of strength and courage, and in religion as a test of faith. Modern physics has explained the phenomenon, concluding that the foot does not touch the hot surface long enough to burn and that embers are poor conductors of heat. History Walking on fire has existed for several thousand years, with records dating back to 1200 BCE. (livescience.com) Cultures across the globe use firewalking for rites of healing, initiation, and faith. Firewalking is also practiced by: * The Sawau clan on the island of Beqa, to the south of Viti Levu in the Fijian Islands. The phenomenon was examined in 1902 when it was already a tourist attraction, with a "Probable Explanation of the Mystery" arrived at. * San Pedro Manrique, a vil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anastenaria
The Anastenaria ( el, Αναστενάρια, bg, Нестинарство, translit=Nestinarstvo), is a traditional barefoot fire-walking ritual with ecstatic dance performed in some villages in Northern Greece and Southern Bulgaria. The communities which celebrate this ritual are descended from refugees who entered Greece from Eastern Thrace following the Balkan Wars of 1911–12 and the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923. Ritual cycle The Bulgarian and Greek villages perform a unique annual ritual cycle, which begins on May 21 and ends on May 23 every year. The central figures of the tradition are Saint Constantine and Saint Helen, but all the significant days in this cycle coincide with important days in the Greek Orthodox calendar and are related to various Christian saints. The two major events in this cycle are two big festivals, one in January and particularly one in May, dedicated to these two saints. Each of the festivals lasts for 3 days and invo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nestinarstvo
The Anastenaria ( el, Αναστενάρια, bg, Нестинарство, translit=Nestinarstvo), is a traditional barefoot fire-walking ritual with ecstatic dance performed in some villages in Northern Greece and Southern Bulgaria. The communities which celebrate this ritual are descended from refugees who entered Greece from Eastern Thrace following the Balkan Wars of 1911–12 and the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923. Ritual cycle The Bulgarian and Greek villages perform a unique annual ritual cycle, which begins on May 21 and ends on May 23 every year. The central figures of the tradition are Saint Constantine and Saint Helen, but all the significant days in this cycle coincide with important days in the Greek Orthodox calendar and are related to various Christian saints. The two major events in this cycle are two big festivals, one in January and particularly one in May, dedicated to these two saints. Each of the festivals lasts for 3 days and invo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Pedro Manrique
San Pedro Manrique is a municipality in the province of Soria, Castile and León, Spain. , it had 626 inhabitants. Since the mid-nineteenth century this municipality has aggregated smaller villages. There is a deposit of lead in the municipality. Villages * Acrijos * Armejún * Buimanco * Fuentebella * Vea * Peñazcurna * Valdemoro de San Pedro Manrique * Villarijo * Matasejún * Valdelavilla *Santiago * Valdenegrillos * El Vallejo * Taniñe * Las Fuentes de San Pedro * Ventosa de San Pedro * Palacios Gallery File:SAN PEDRO MANRIQUE-01.jpg, San Pedro Manrique File:SAN PEDRO MANRIQUE-09-San Miguel (sXIII).jpg, Ruins of the Romanesque church of San Miguel (13th century) File:SAN PEDRO MANRIQUE-02-San Martín de Tours (sXII).jpg, The Romanesque church of San Martín de Tours (12th century) File:SAN PEDRO MANRIQUE-08.jpg, Ermita de la Virgen de la Peña (13th century) File:SAN PEDRO MANRIQUE-06.jpg, Rural architecture of the area File:SAN PEDRO MANRIQUE-03.jpg, The town cente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beqa
Beqa (pronounced ) is an island in Fiji, an outlier to the main island of Viti Levu, to the south. The island has a land area of and reaches a maximum elevation of . Beqa has 9 villages broken into 2 Tikinas or Districts: Sawau and Raviravi. The villages of Dakuibeqa (the chiefly village of the Sawau people), Dakuni, Soliyaga, Naceva and Naseuseu are part of the Tikina (District) of Sawau. The villages of Nawaisomo, Raviravi, Lalati and Rukua are part of the Tikina (District) of Raviravi. Tradition Of the 9 villages on the island, Dakuibeqa Dakuni, Soliyaga, Naceva and Rukua are noted for the tradition of fire-walking. The phenomenon was examined in 1902 when it was already a tourist attraction, with a "Probable Explanation of the Mystery" arrived at. Energy The ''Fiji Times'' reported on 25 February 2006 that over 3000 inhabitants of six villages and five resorts were exploring ways to find a reliable source of power for Beqa. Wind and solar power were being conside ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fire Walking (1234969885)
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames are produced. The ''flame'' is the visible portion of the fire. Flames consist primarily of carbon dioxide, water vapor, oxygen and nitrogen. If hot enough, the gases may become ionized to produce plasma. Depending on the substances alight, and any impurities outside, the color of the flame and the fire's intensity will be different. Fire in its most common form can result in conflagration, which has the potential to cause physical damage through burning. Fire is an important process that affects ecological systems around the globe. The positive effects of fire include stimulating growth and maintaining various ecological systems. Its negative effects include hazard to life and property, atmospheric pollution, and water contamination. If fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Willey (physicist)
David G. Willey (born 4 November 1947), known as the Mad Scientist, is a former physics instructor at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Physics has been a major interest in his life since he attended The Coleshill School and the John Port School in Etwall, Derbyshire. He has been presenting physics shows since the early 1980s. Willey is a scientific consultant for the skeptics group, C.S.I. (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry). He also designs physics apparatus/equipment for the Science Kit Boreal Labs. In his spare time he enjoys hunting, woodworking, working with stained glass, and playing golf. Education and career Willey studied at Aston University and Birmingham University from 1966 to 1971. Then he taught at Saltley Grammar School, in Birmingham from 1971 to 1972. Next, Willey moved from his home country of England to the United States and enrolled at the Ohio State University. He was in Columbus, Ohio until he obtained his masters in p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermal Effusivity
In thermodynamics, a material's thermal effusivity, thermal inertia or thermal responsivity is a measure of its ability to exchange thermal energy with its surroundings. It is defined as the square root of the product of the material's thermal conductivity (\lambda) and its volumetric heat capacity (\rho c_p). :e = \sqrt The SI units for thermal effusivity are \sqrt / (), or, equivalently, / ( \sqrt). Thermal effusivity is a parameter that emerges upon applying solutions of the heat equation to heat flow through a thin surface-like region. It becomes particularly useful when the region is selected adjacent to a material's actual surface. Knowing the effusivity and equilibrium temperature of each of two material bodies then enables an estimate of their interface temperature T_m when placed into thermal contact. :T_m = \frac Specialty sensors have also been developed based on this relationship to measure effusivity. Thermal effusivity and thermal diffusivity are related quant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermal Conductivity
The thermal conductivity of a material is a measure of its ability to conduct heat. It is commonly denoted by k, \lambda, or \kappa. Heat transfer occurs at a lower rate in materials of low thermal conductivity than in materials of high thermal conductivity. For instance, metals typically have high thermal conductivity and are very efficient at conducting heat, while the opposite is true for insulating materials like Rockwool or Styrofoam. Correspondingly, materials of high thermal conductivity are widely used in heat sink applications, and materials of low thermal conductivity are used as thermal insulation. The reciprocal of thermal conductivity is called thermal resistivity. The defining equation for thermal conductivity is \mathbf = - k \nabla T, where \mathbf is the heat flux, k is the thermal conductivity, and \nabla T is the temperature gradient. This is known as Fourier's Law for heat conduction. Although commonly expressed as a scalar, the most general form of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Specific Heat Capacity
In thermodynamics, the specific heat capacity (symbol ) of a substance is the heat capacity of a sample of the substance divided by the mass of the sample, also sometimes referred to as massic heat capacity. Informally, it is the amount of heat that must be added to one unit of mass of the substance in order to cause an increase of one unit in temperature. The SI unit of specific heat capacity is joule per kelvin per kilogram, J⋅kg−1⋅K−1. For example, the heat required to raise the temperature of of water by is , so the specific heat capacity of water is . Specific heat capacity often varies with temperature, and is different for each state of matter. Liquid water has one of the highest specific heat capacities among common substances, about at 20 °C; but that of ice, just below 0 °C, is only . The specific heat capacities of iron, granite, and hydrogen gas are about 449 J⋅kg−1⋅K−1, 790 J⋅kg−1⋅K−1, and 14300 J⋅kg−1⋅K−1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Density
Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematically, density is defined as mass divided by volume: : \rho = \frac where ''ρ'' is the density, ''m'' is the mass, and ''V'' is the volume. In some cases (for instance, in the United States oil and gas industry), density is loosely defined as its weight per unit volume, although this is scientifically inaccurate – this quantity is more specifically called specific weight. For a pure substance the density has the same numerical value as its mass concentration. Different materials usually have different densities, and density may be relevant to buoyancy, purity and packaging. Osmium and iridium are the densest known elements at standard conditions for temperature and pressure. To simplify comparisons of density across different s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Temperature
Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied on various reference points and thermometric substances for definition. The most common scales are the Celsius scale with the unit symbol °C (formerly called ''centigrade''), the Fahrenheit scale (°F), and the Kelvin scale (K), the latter being used predominantly for scientific purposes. The kelvin is one of the seven base units in the International System of Units (SI). Absolute zero, i.e., zero kelvin or −273.15 °C, is the lowest point in the thermodynamic temperature scale. Experimentally, it can be approached very closely but not actually reached, as recognized in the third law of thermodynamics. It would be impossible to extract energy as heat from a body at that temperature. Temperature is important in all fields of natur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Straight Dope
"The Straight Dope" was a question-and-answer newspaper column written under the pseudonym Cecil Adams. Contributions were made by multiple authors, and it was illustrated (also pseudonymously) by Slug Signorino. It was first published in 1973 in the ''Chicago Reader'' as well as in print syndication nationally in the United States, and on a website with the same name. On more than one occasion, the authors (i.e. Cecil Adams) were forced to retract or modify an answer when confronted by the readers. Following the column of June 27, 2018, the "Straight Dope" column was placed on hiatus, with no decision made regarding its future. The website and associated forum continue to be active. Chicago's public radio station, WBEZ, has purchased Sun-Times Media (STM), which owns the Straight Dope, including the SDMB. Name and tagline The column derives its name from the American idiom meaning roughly "the true information; the full story" and covers many subjects, including history, scien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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