Monday 29 December 2008
trade and financial activities in Hong Kong
Trade is the buying and selling of goods and services between different countries or places. Parties involved can obtain goods or services that they need.
Import -- Buying and Importing from foreign countries→local consumption or re-export.
Export -- Selling and exporting of domestic good to foreign for profit.
Re-export -- Import from foreign, and sell it to another country without processing. Processed imported goods are treated as import and export but not re-export.
Visible (merchandise) trade -- It’s the buying and selling of physical commodities.
The situation of merchandise trade
Import -- Hong Kong lacks on natural resources but the demand on food, fuel and other consumer good is huge because the rapid growth of population and industries. Hong Kong mainly import raw materials, semi-finished good, machines, food, fuel and other consumer goods. They mainly imported from mainland, Japan, Taiwan and US.
Domestic export -- Since 1980s, Hong Kong’s manufacturing industry is declining due to the high production cost, immature high-tech. industries and the structural change of economy in Hong Kong. Hong Kong mainly export clothes, electrical machinery, jewellery, clock and watches and they will be exported to the mainland, US, UK and Germany.
Re-export -- Since the open door policy was adopted by China and joined the WTO in 2001, the demand of import and export increase while Hong Kong located at the main passage of water and land to and from the mainland with good transport facilities. Thus the value of re-export in Hong Kong is very high. There are various goods for re-exporting and mainly electrical machinery and toys. They mainly imported from neighbor countries and re-export ti mainland and US.
Merchandise trade balance = total value of (domestic exports - re-export-import)
It it’s positive, we have a merchandise trade surplus, if it’s zero, we have a balance of merchandise trade and if it’s negative, we suffers a merchandise trade deficit. We suffer a merchandise trade deficit since 1990s.
Invisible trade refers to the buying and selling of services.
The invisible income is the exporting of service locally providing to foreign countries.
The invisible expenditure is the importing of service from foreign countries to local people.
Note that service provide locally to local people isn’t any kind of invisible trade.
Invisible trade balance = Invisible income - Invisible expenditure while we also have the invisible trade balance, surplus and deficit. We have a invisible trade surplus these years.
The invisible trade is so important:
1) Invisible trade is the main source of foreign exchange.
2) The invisible trade surplus is huge that it can offset the merchandise trade deficit and have a trade surplus in total.
3) The service sector provides lots of job opportunities (mainly tourism and transport) since the declining of manufacturing industries.
The present situation --- The Invisible trade is booming now in Hong Kong. After China joined the WTO in 2001, China further open up it’s Markey and strengthen the role of Hong Kong as a two-way platform between the mainland and the world.
The Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership arrangement, CEPA, was signed in June, 2003 which benefits Hong Kong’s service industries:
1) 18 services sector is permitted to access into mainland market earlier, and
2) Residents from some provinces and cities can visit Hong Kong individually, and provides Hong Kong’s tourism and related industry more business opportunities.
Financial activities -- They refers to debt and credit, exchange and circulation of capital funds. Hong Kong is an international financial centre with some characteristics. For example, there’re lots of financial institutions→active financial activities. Free capital flow, free and fast information flow and no restrictions on identity of investors.
Hong Kong is developed into international financial centre and it has some favourable factors:
1) Stable investment environment -- good legal system and lox tax rate(political stability)
2) No foreign exchange control, free capital flow, and free trade policy. (Trade activities promotes financial activities)
3) The government has set up HKMA to regulate local banking services and SFC to supervise local financial activities.
4) Hong Kong bridges time gap between N America and Europe→24-hr financial activities.
5) Free of information flow and advanced telecommunication tech., facilities and services.
6) Pros on financial industry were provided (e.g. banking personnel, IT talents and lawyers)
7) Hong Kong has a close link to mainland which have a rapid economic growth. This attracts foreign investors to invest and raise fund in Hong Kong
The major financial activities in Hong Kong
1) Bank -- Hong Kong has a high concentration of bank institutions providing deposit taking, gold, silver trading and provision of loans. The key functions is that the banks accepts savings and provide interest to depositors, provide loans to borrowers and get interest.
2) Stock exchange -- Companies satisfying some requirements can be listed in Hong Kong, raise funds by issuing shares(open to public), register with Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.
3) Gold trade-- HK is the largest gold market in Asia and people can trade gold at the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society or in the Loco-London Gold Market.
There are certain improvements now, including enhance financial infrastructure by utilizing information technology, reform market regulatory framework for sufficient protection, enhance quality of personnel in financial industry and promote cooperation in the financial industry and strengthen the security of electronic services. After China joined WTO, Hong Kong had more business opportunities on services industries. For example, the financial industry enjoys earlier access to mainland than foreign companies, and allowed to provide four aspects of renmenbin services -- deposit taking, currency exchange, remittance and credit-card services.
Sunday 28 December 2008
Cold War
*The compare between communism and capitalism which is in table form will not appear here. Please download the doc. version.
The begin of Cold War
“Cold” means no direct military conflict between two superpowers, Unites States (US) and Soviet Union (USSR). Their ideological differences between US (capitalism) and USSR(communism).
As they were superpowers, they had large land area, strong industry, large population, nuclear weapon, wealth, stable political system, natural resources, well foreign trade, strong armed forces and worldwide influence.
The two bloc -- capitalist bloc included US, western Europe and some other country. Communist bloc included USSR, eastern Europe, China and some other country. They fear attack, thought, nuclear weapon and mistrust intentions each others → Cold War started.
1) Soviet expansion -- After the end of WWII, UUSR started to control countries in eastern Europe that librated from Nazis and become it’s satellites. As a result, “Iron Curtain” had descended across Europe and separated the communist countries and the western democratic nations.
2) Truman Doctrine -- The president that time, Truman, thought that any communist revolution threatens US, and providing financial aid prevent those revolution. In Mar 1947, he stated that US could help all countries that felt threatened by communism. Meanwhile in the same year, Marshall Plan was going to offer financial aid to European nations. Then, USSR also proposed the Molotov Plan the help eastern Europe nation’s finance.
3) Berlin Crisis -- Germany was settled into four part after WWII to USSR, British, French and American zone. Berlin is divided Into four part also but Berlin is under Soviet’s zone. USSR wants to control the whole Berlin, so that in 1948, USSR stopped all land traffic from Berlin to western zones and the western provide supplies western Berlin by air everyday (successfully). At last USSR lifted the blockade in 1949. E and W Germany and Berlin were created and lots of East Germany people went into west Berlin. Berlin wall was built up in 1961 and block communication between them.
4) Capitalist countries formed a military alliance Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization”(NATO) in 1949 while USSR and it’s satellites set up Warsaw Treaty Organization in 1955.
5) Korean War (1950 - 1953), after WWII, Korean was divided into N and S Korea.
Capitalist representatives: H.Truman (US) and Rhee Synman (S Korea)
Communist representatives: Kim Il Sung (N Korea), Mao Zedong (PRC), .J.Stalin (USSR).
After the WWII, N Korea “believed in communism” and S Korea “believed in capitalism”. Both country wanted to control the whole Korea.
N Korea stacked S Korea in 1950, then US helped S Korea and over US troops went over the 38N line, PRC helps N Korea and attacks back. After sometime, those representatives were affected by various reason(fear of NATO, change of president, not enough troops) and a truce was signed in 1953 but the war has not end until now.
6) The Cuban Missile Crisis(1962), between US, Cuba and USSR.
Capitalist representatives: John Kennedy (US president) and communist representatives Nikita Khrushchev(First secretary of USSR), Fidel Castro (Cuba president)
US claimed that Cuba is a communist country. USSR wanted to help Cuba and gave some
nuclear missile without fuel to Cuba and US was afraid of it because Cuba is near to US.
US put troops in Florida, and USSR required US to respect Cuba. After some days, both of them don’t want to fight and USSR agreed to remove missile in Cuba.
7) Vietnam War (1961 - 1975) -- the only event that US “lost”
Just like Korea, it was torn into two part, N and S Vietnam and they also want to unify their countries. At that time, the “capitalist” (in fact, people there believed in communist) government had a problem of serious corruption. People in S Vietnam became anti-government. Ho Chi Minh, the president of N Vietnam, attacked S Vietnam. US helped S Vietnam but it’s useless. N Vietnam attacks Saigon underground or via other countries. At last US people didn’t want to fight and in 1975, US retreated troops. The communist controlled the whole Vietnam.
After the “lost” of USSR in Cuban Missile Crisis and US in Vietnam War, the relation between the two bloc started to ease. In 1963, an emergency communication line(hot line) from Washington to Moscow was set up. Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was set up between Soviet Union, US and Britain. In 1985, M.Gorbachev became the general secretary of USSR and he worked to improve relations with US. He signed treaties to destroy nuclear weapons with President Reagan and bigger Bush. He relaxed control to the satellites reduced armed forces in eastern Europe and refused to intervene the democratic movements in 1989-1991. He was remarkable for the end of Cold War.
As a result, 1989, the communist eastern Europe nations overthrown their communist government. Berlin wall was torn down. In 1990, the two Germany became one. In 1991, communist state under USSR declared their independence and formed Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). This marked the end of cold war.
The impacts of Cold War
1) Cold War is a chance for US and USSR to extend their influence within their bloc and they tried to gain influence over the developing countries.
2) The European nations realized that cooperation is important in 1951. They set up European Economic Community(EEC,1957), European Community (EC,1993) and developed into European Union now.
3) During the Cold War, US and USSR competed in developing nuclear and chemical weapons and created tension in the international relation until the end of Cold War.
4) After the Cold War, nation started to solve problem through communication more than military conflict and improve way of cooperation. For example, in the Persian Gulf, 1990-1991, USSR cooperated with US to force Iraq to remove troops from Kuwait. US called for the end of Cold War during the presidency of George Bush.
Friday 26 December 2008
Physics- light, reflection and refraction
Before you reading it, here’s the instruction:
This note may contains something out of the textbook but useful, and most inside the bracket. If you’re not interested, just skip them. Necessary information in bracket will be bold in the doc. verision. Also, the table about "light and shadow" and "lens" will not be shown here. Please download the doc. version.
Physics - Light, reflection and refraction
Sight and light
1) We can an object because the light beams from luminous object or reflected from non-luminous object strike into our eyes, and the messages send to the brain.
2) Luminous object emits light but non-luminous object can’t. Note that those object emit light under some conditions are not a good example of luminous object. For example, “candle” is not a good example of luminous object. “Burning candle” is better.
Properties of light -- there are 4 properties
1) Light is a form of energy. (We can found this through the converting of energy in light bulb.)
2) Light can travel in empty space. (No medium, ether, is necessary.)
3) Light travels in a very high speed, 3*105 kms-1 or 3*108ms-1 (the highest speed available, by the theory of relativity.)
4) Light travels in straight lines. (At least, in a normal condition, e.g. normal gravity field)
Application on shadows Sundial in ancient China and shadow puppet..
Law of reflection
They refer to 2 rules:
AD- incident ray; BD- normal which is a imaginary line perpendicular to the plane mirror, CD; reflected ray Angle ABD is the angle of incident, ai, and the angle of reflection, ar as angle BDC.
1) Incident ray, reflected ray and normal all lies on the same plane.
2) ai,= ar
Regular reflection occurs in smooth surface and the image is clear.
Diffuse reflection occurs in a rough surface and the image is not clear (we can see it in some different direction)
The 4 properties of image that formed by plane mirror is having the same distance to mirror, same size, erect and laterally inverted.
There are various application on plane mirrors, for example, the use of plane mirror in interior design increases the spatial feel, and periscopes.
The refraction
The name and arrangement of light rays are the reflection. FE is the refracted ray, and angle DFE is the angle of refraction, af.
(The relation between ai and af is that refers the refractive index of the 2 material, n1 and n2, we have n1sinai=n2sinaf.)
This explains why if the density of original material is bigger than the new material, refracted ray bent away from the normal while in opposite, it’ll bent towards the normal.
Tuesday 23 December 2008
More about food and digestion
The natural and processed food
Hong Kong has a lot of ready-to-eat processed food, some of the food additives is being added. Natural food contains no food additives and keep their nutrient. Conversely, the processed food lost most of their nutrients. The 4 major additives are:
1) Preservatives prevent food going bad, example are slat, sugar, vinegar and nitrites.
2) Falvouring gives a better flavour. MSG (monosodium glutamate) is commonly used.
3) Colourings makes food more attractive, some of them are man-made while some are made from natural sources.
4) Sweeteners give food sweetness.
Meanwhile, some food additives may harm our health. Generally the food additives allowed by law are safe for most people, but some may have allergic on certain food substances, for example, some people may have diarrhea, vomiting, abdommal cramps after taking MSG.
In conventional farming, pesticides and chemical fertilizers are added to their crops. If the product isn’t washed through, they’re harmful to our body.
Organic farming avoids the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. They use organic fertilizers (e.g. animal manure), use crop rotation, to avoid pests and diseases and control pests biologically by introducing pest-eater in the field. Food produced by organic farming is called organic food, free from toxic chemicals, and safer to eat.
GM food -- the nuclei of body contains genes, if we change some part which holding a characteristics by some virus, it becomes genetically modified organisms(GMO). The food or ingredients of GMO are GM food, and they’re available in whole or processed food in the market. They’re supposed to be safe to eat, there’s no scientific evidence showing that they aren’t safe. However, people are still worrying these years.GM foods should be labeled.
Health foods are popular in these years. However, we should consider it’s function and effect, and a balanced diet, enough exercise and rest and far more important than eating those food.
Our digestive system
The digestion take place in our digestion system which consist alimentary canal and also some organs that secrete digestive juice.
Alimentary canal -- In order, the major parts are mouth cavity, oesophagus, stomach, small intestines, large intestine, and anus.
Glands including pancreas, liver, gall bladder. There’s also an appendix-- useless in digestion.
In our mouth cavity (which is for chewing/ingestion, tearing the food into smaller pieces), we have 4 kind of teeth, incisors, canines, premolars and molars. Generally an adult has 32 teeth.
Incisors are in chisel-shape and sharp, used for biting and cutting food, canine are pointed and used for tearing food. Premolar and molars are board top(but not flat-topped) and molars are bigger. Used for grinding food.
The inside of teeth divide into several parts, enamel -- white, shiny, hard, non-living substance, protecting our teeth; dentine, under enamel, bone-like living tissue; and pulp cavity which contains nerve (temperture &pain) and blood vessel.
Tooth decay -- the food debris and bacteria in the mouth forma a layer of plaque and it’s sticky and invisible. The bacteria act on sugar in the debris and produce acid, dissolving the enamel and make a hole on the teeth. The acid then destroy dentine, and pulp cavity, finally to the gum and forms a abscess for the most serious case.
Periodontal disease -- There’s a layer periodontal membrane. Toxins from the plaque destroy those membrane and form a periodontal pockets. At Last the teeth become loose and swollen gum appeared, bleeding is also easy to occur.
Biology note -- Food and diet
Health is defined as physical fitness, mental health and social well-being. We should have appropriate food, enough exercise and rest in order to keep healthy.
The important of food is that energy used for activities and keeping warm, raw materials for growth and repair and substances for maintaining health. Diet is what the person eat and drink each day.
There are two types of nutrients: primary food nutrients and protective food nutrients.
primary food nutrients means that without those nutrients, we will die. They include: carbohydrates, fats, proteins and water.
Carbohydrates = C + H2O
It is use for give out energy through respiration in cells. It’s the main energy source. In our body, they appears all places where any cells are found. We can get carbohydrates from cereal which contains starch. Starch is a large form of carbohydrates. It is not sweet but in the mouth, they will be broken down as maltose which is sweet. That’s why the food will become sweet after some time in the mouth. Maltose will be further broken down as glucose.
Glucose will be used at once or turned into fat or glycogen which is a large chain of glucose for further use. Glycogen is also called animal starch that it’s usually found in animal’s body. They will be stored in liver and muscles.
Fats is the energy reserves and it will only be used when carbohydrates is not enough. Fat gives double of carbohydrate’s energy supplies. It’s also use for transportation because some nutrients are only fat soluble and fat is used to transfer them. It’s also used for keeping our body warm. Fat also act as a solvent of nutrients which only fat soluble but not water soluble.
Protein helps body to growth and repair. It’s also known as amino acid. There are 20 types of amino acid where 8 of them can be produced in our body. The left 12 types are called essential amino acid. Children needs a lot of protein because they grow rapidly. The deficiency disease is kwashiorkor. They will have swollen abdomens, weak muscles and poor mental development. Excess protein will be put into urine which passed out and fat stored.
Water make up 70% of our body. It the most important component of diet that we can live even a week without water. Although it has no energy value, it has some important use.
1) Water act as medium of chemical reaction in our body;
2) Act as solvent of waste(urine) for us to take them out the body;
3) It’s use for transporting substances in the body, and
4) Helps regulating body temperature through sweating
We lost water through many ways such as passing out urine, sweat and breathe out so we have to drink lots of water per day (6-8 glasses)
We only need a small amount of protective food nutrients which includes vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre.
Vitamins
1) Vitamin A -- Come from carrot, fish liver oil, fresh green veg.. It helps maintaining good vision because it helps forming pigment in the rod cells in our eyes. The deficiency disease is night blindness.
2) Vitamin C which also known as ascorbic acid. It is good for healthy gums, skin and teeth, helps healing wounds and resist diseases. The deficiency disease is scurvy -- bleeding easily occurs (usually in gums)
3) Vitamin D comes from diary products and fish liver oil, and our skin under sunlight.
Minerals help us in different purposes. We mainly focus on Iron, calcium and iodine here.
1) Iron come from meat, yeast and green veg.. It’s used for making haemoglobin which is a pigment responsible for taking oxygen in the red blood cells. It’s deficiency disease is anaemia which no. of red blood cell is lower than normal, easily faint.
2) Calcium comes from milk, cheese and green veg.. It helps building up strong bones and teeth so that it’s deficiency disease is rickets which the bone become soft and bent.
3) Iodine comes from the product from sea(sea fish, seaweed, etc.), it help regulate body growth. It’s deficiency disease is simple goitre.
Dietary fibre come from the roughage that there’s plant cell wall which called cellulose, and it cen’t be digested. It make the the muscles in intestinal wall to contract to make peristalsis and push the food forward. It prevent the food becomes bad inside our body and form constipation, piles and even colon cancer.
We have various test to test the presence of nutrients.
1) Starch -- Iodine solution (Yellow brown → Blue black)
2) Glucose -- Clinistix paper, originally test for diabetes pink → purple
3) Protein -- Albustix paper, originally test for function of liver, yellow to green.
4) Fat -- Leave a translucent spot on a filter paper (spot test)
We must have a balanced diet for those 7 food substances in right amount and proportions and refer to the food pyramid, and eat less of that in the higher level.
We can measure the energy value by kilojoules (kJ) or kilocalories (kcal). Carbohydrates, fat and proteins have energy value of 17.1 38.9 and 18.2 kJ/g.
People’s daily need of energy vary with sex, age, body size, occupation and physical activity.
Over-eating(intake>need) will cause overweight, the more serious one is called obesity, they will have high blood pressure, and high risk of heart disease.
Under-eating will cause malnutriention, thin, and various deficiency disease will occur. The more serious problem is the anorexia which is a mental health, which don’t want to eat, always thinks that they’re too fat.
The food pyramid has the top of fat, salts and sweets, then diary product, vegetable and fruit,, grain and cereals at the bottom.
Monday 22 December 2008
Note on The rainforests
*The tabled layered structure will not be shown here. Pls download the doc. file.
Rainforests are dense vegetation covers in the hot and wet regions. There are certain characteristics of being a rainforests:
1) Many species -- over half of world’s species.
2) Layered structure
3) Equatorial climate, the temperature is high (25C or above), small temperature range (1~5C), averagely and large rainfall (2000mm) which means no dry season. Because of this reason, rainforest is found along the equator and within the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. The 3 biggest rainforest in the world is Amazon Basin in Brazil (1/3 of rainforest in the world), Congo Basin in Africa, and in Malaysia.
It’s hot and wet climate favours the continuous growth of plants all year (evergreen) and various species of trees, insects and birds there. However, the rainforests are disappearing which called deforestation due to some reason.
1) Commercial logging -- Some tree are valuable to be logged. Those timber can be used for furniture and construction which have a large demand of wood. Modern machines used now increase the rate of deforestation.
2) Shifting cultivation -- the natives cut down the trees and burn to clear the area for farming which is called slash-and-burn cultivation. During their farming, they won’t irrigation and add fertilizer. Then after some time the fertility dropped. They will abandon the land and find a new plot. The abandoned land will be used after some time. The period is not enough for it to restore and allows trees to grow again.
3) Cattle ranching -- The land are also suitable for cattle ranching. Some American companies open extensive rainforest area as grassland for beef cattle.
4) Plantation agriculture -- The climate in rainforest are also favourable for planting cash crop which the product is valuable.
5) Population pressure -- the society development keeps on. This will increase the demand on land, transportation. Also, the government is in pressure for making economic growth. One of their way is to develop in rainforest. Thus some land is cleared for other uses.
The deforestation affect serious to the local people, livings and us.
1) Deforestation increase the daily range of temperature, wind speed, decrease the humidity in the air and increase the rate of soil erosion.
2) The native people relies on the resources from the rainforests such as food and home. Deforestation will destroy their home, they have to migrate to other places and their culture destroyed.
3) Deforestation destroys the habitats and led to extinction on animals.
4) Leaves stops rainwater fall into the ground directly while the root bind the soil together and absorb water. Without them, soil and nutrients washed away to the river and forms alluvium. Then silting and flooding may occur.
5) Deforestation also decrease the rate of photosynthesis which takes in CO2 and output O2. CO2 is a kind of greenhouse gas that will reflects heat going out the atmosphere. This will amplifies the greenhouse effect and enhance the effect of global warming. Furthermore, flooding(the ice melts and rise of sea level), droughts in inland area(high evaporating rate) and extinction of wildlife occur more frequently.
6) It’ll also cause the loss of timber resources and valuable medicine.
It’s hard to solve the problem because different people have different aim and view.
1) The government have to monitor plans for rainforest development and solve the conflicts.
2) Land developers, logging and mining companies only aim at profits, although they can provide jobs and funds, they show a little concern for the environment only.
3) The native people rely on the rainforest a lot so they totally oppose deforestation.
4) Those environmentalists mostly concerning about the rainforest environment so they press the development projects. Friends of the Earth and the World Wide Fund for Nature help building up natural reserves in the rainforests.
To solve this problem , sustainable development is needed.
1) Afforestation project can be used for those area seriously affected by deforestation. Tree will be replanted for an extensive piece of area.
2) Selective logging is encouraged. The companies have to obtain a license before they exploit the timber in the rainforest and some tree can’t be cut.
3) Native people are encouraged to plant cover crops on abandoned land. Cover crop can protect the soil from heavy rain and help recovering the fertility of soil.
4) Eco-tourism is a kind of tourism that to respect and protect the nature and ecosystem. Some area is designed as protected areas, set up national parks or natural reserves in the rainforests where deforestation is not allowed there.
We can also do something for the rainforest such as don’t but product made from endangered species, better use the rainforest products, support eco-tourisms and environmental organizations such as World Wide Fund of Nature, Green Power and the Friends of the Earth.
The periodic table and metals on Earth
*Note that the table about group I, II and VII will not appear here. Please check the doc. . It is avaiable now in the Chemistry, "introductino to metals..." one.*
Thanks.
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1) Atomic no.(Z) = no. of protons while Mass no.(A) = no. of protons+ neutrons. In some other ways of expression, Mass no. = no. of electrons+ neutrons, no. of neutrons = Mass no.- Atomic no. The notation: AZX.
2) Isotopes -- same elements with different no. of neutrons. In another way, they have the same atomic no. but different mass no. For example the 3 isotopes of hydrogen, 1H(Protium), 2h (Deuterium) and 3H (Tritium) have 0,1 and 2 neutron(s) and 1 proton.
3) Relative abundance of isotope = % of existence of isotope in nature.
4) Those isotopes have similar chemical properties(same elements) but different physical properties (different mass).
5) Relative mass of 12C (by definition), = 12 while relative mass (roughly) = mass no. It’s also called relative isotopic mass.
6) Relative atomic mass = SUM of (isotopic mass of isotopes*relative abundance) and it’s the weighted average of isotopic mass of its natural isotopes on 12C scale.
7) The electrons fill the shells from the innermost shell. Nth shell can mostly hold 2n2 electrons. Unless one shell has been full, the electrons will keep filling in except potassium and calcium has only 8 electrons on the 3rd shell.
8) Electronic configuration -- (x1,x2,x3,x4…) represent xn electrons on the nth shell.
9) In the periodic table, Group no. = no. of electrons of the outermost shell and period no. = no. of occupied electron shells. There are 8 group (I, II…. VII and group 0) while the other elements which don’t belong to any group is called the transition metals.
10) Group 0/8 -- noble(inert) gases, fully filled outermost shell(octet structure)-- unreactive. The Octet rule-- elements with 8 outermost electrons is stable.
11) Group VII reacts with most metals to form salt so it’s also called salt-formers.
The metals in Earth’s crust and ore mining
1) 24% of Earth’s crust are metals(by mass). The most abundant metal is Al while the most abundant elements are O(48%) and Si(28%).
2) The metals found in natural are usually metal ores in form of compounds. There are 3 common types of compound -- Metal oxide (M+O), sulphide (M+S) and carbonate (M+C+O). They can be extracted with carbon reduction.
3) Carbon reduction -- Metal oxide+ C →(heat)→ Metal + CO2. This is useful for PbO and CuO but useless for FeO unless the heating is hot enough (>1300C)
4) Gold and silver can be found in elements because it’s unreactive. The other metal ores include Haemetite --iron oxides; Bauxite -- Aluminium oxides; Galena -- Lead sulphides, Chalcopyrite -- Copper sulphides and iron sulphides and calcite for calcium carbonate.
5) There was ore mining industry in Hong Kong in the past. For example, galena in Tai Mo Shan and Haemetite in Ma On Shan. However, the ores weren’t pure enough (and, Hong Kong aren’t suitable for ore mining industry, from past to now). Thus they were closed now.
6) China is one of the most important source of ore mining. Quarter of the iron is being output from China.
7) There are two method for extracting the metals. The first one is physical method -- crush the rocks (with pure metal mixed with other matter) to small pieces and wash away the rocks. Gold is one of the metal that can be extracted by this gold panning method. The chemical method is carbon reduction.
8) Chemical change means there’s new matter forms while physical change will not produce anything new. Note that change of state is physical change.
Thursday 11 December 2008
The power problems in China
* The alternative power resources and transportating coal and oil which are in table form will not appear here. Please refer to the doc. version. You can download it near the bottom of this page.
The energy problem in China
1) Coal and oil are main energy sources of China but the they’re not evenly distributed.
2) Coal -- N, NE, NW part of China, Oil -- NE and NW part of China.
3) Industry consumes most energy in China but those industrial zone aren’t matched with the coalfield and oilfield → energy shortage in some industrial zone of Chine (South China).
4) The total power consumption is increasing faster than total power production because of the rapid improvement of industrial industry, living standard and quality.
5) Coal and oil are non-renewable resources and reserves are decreasing by exploitation.
6) There are three problem by burning Coal and oil.
Air pollution -- SO2, CO2, NO and ash. They reduce visibility and rise health risk.
Acid rain -- Burning poor quality of coal(↑S) may emit SO2 and NO which cause acid rain.
7) Global warming -- Burning those fuels may emit lots of CO2 which is a type of greenhouse gas and the rising concentration of CO2 enhance the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere and led to global warming.
8) West-East gas transmission project pipes gas from Tarim Pendi(Xinjiang) to Shanghai and lower course in Chang Jiang.
9) We can also set up new industrial zone to match those distribution but we need to consider the power, labour supply, transportation, market and raw material supply, etc.
Monday 8 December 2008
The Second World War
The Second World War - “Great War”
Causes
1) Treaty of Versailles pleased no one──Harsh terms on Germany and fail for territorial gains of Italy(Italy fought for Britain and France for that promise) .
2) Great Depression──The economic environment that time was that USA sell good to Europe and lends money to Germany; Germany use it to return money that on the Treaty of Versailles back to Europe. Crash of Wall Street stock market causes the downturn of USA’s economy which came with an domino effect and cause global depression (1929-1933). Base on the downturn of countries, they have no time to look after other’s action and helps the rise of totalitarianism in Germany and Italy.
3) Totalitarianism is that a dictator or political party rules the state with absolute power.
Fascism(Italy) ── Postwar Italy had ↑unemployment rate, inflation and taxation. The government is unable to improve life so people looks for a new leader ── Benito Mussolini in Fascist Party (1921). On the next year he got power and call himself Il Duce(the leader). He was unable to improve effectively so that he decided to fight.
Nazism in Germany ──The case of Germany was similar to Italy but he was successful to improve the economy by develop infrastructure. Through the book “Mein Kampf”, he was the hope of Germans and he got power in 1933. On the next year he became the führer/ fuehrer (The leader). He also want to revenge. Those expansionist policies led to outbreak of WWII.
4) Aggression of the Axis Powers
Japan──Korea, NE and coastal China, SE Asia,
Italy──Abyssinia and Ethiopia
Germany──Rhineland, NE Europe and Eastern Russia.
5) Appeasement policy of Britain and France means that to give the demands of Axis powers preventing war→Axis power become stronger, stopped in 1939.
Anti-Jewish policy
Nazis believed in racial theory which Jewish are only ‘subhuman’.
Nuremberg Laws passed in 1935 - boycott Jewish shop and no marriage between Germans and Jews. Crystal night in 1938 broke down all glass of Jewish shop. 1942, “final solution to Jewish problem” ── concentration camps/death camps(such as Auschwitz). They were put in poison gas room.
6 million Jews were killed ── the genocide of the Jews.──Nuremburg trial.
How the war was fought
Germany invaded Poland marked the start, 1939.
Attack Pearl Harbor , Hawaii which is naval base of USA. USA declare war on Germany then, 1941-1942. Italy surrendered, 1943. 6th June 1944, invaded Normandy. May 1945, Germany surrendered. Two atomic bomb on Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki), 2nd Sept, 1945, Japan Surrendered.
Impact
1) Casualties ── 55 millions people killed + 6 million Jews from genocide. Cities & towns destroyed → hard lifetime postwar and huge economic losses.
2) The use of atomic bomb marked the beginning of age of nuclear weapons.
3) End of League of Nations and the start of United Nations.
4) European empires(such as Britain and France) were heavily damaged → the fall of Europeans supremacy and US, USSR rose as superpowers.
5) As the empires fell, decolonization in Asia and Africa started in 1960s.
6) After WWII, US and USSR lost the common enemy (Germany) and gradually they became 2 bloc (capitalist & communist) → start of cold war.
Sunday 7 December 2008
Saturday 6 December 2008
The causes of WWII
1) Treaty of Versailles pleased no one──Harsh terms on Germany and fail for territorial gains of Italy(Italy fought for Britain and France for that promise) .
2) Great Depression──The economic environment that time was that USA sell good to Europe and lends money to Germany; Germany use it to return money that on the Treaty of Versailles back to Europe. Crash of Wall Street stock market causes the downturn of USA’s economy which came with an domino effect and cause global depression (1929-1933). Base on the downturn of countries, they have no time to look after other’s action and helps the rise of totalitarianism in Germany and Italy.
3) Totalitarianism is that a dictator or political party rules the state with absolute power.
Fascism(Italy) ── Postwar Italy had ↑unemployment rate, inflation and taxation. The government is unable to improve life so people looks for a new leader ── Benito Mussolini in Fascist Party (1921). On the next year he got power and call himself Il Duce(the leader). He was unable to improve effectively so that he decided to fight.
Nazism in Germany ──The case of Germany was similar to Italy but he was successful to improve the economy by develop infrastructure. Through the book “Mein Kampf”, he was the hope of Germans and he got power in 1933. On the next year he became the führer/ fuehrer (The leader). He also want to revenge. Those expansionist policy led to outbreak of WWII.
4) Aggression of the Axis Powers
Japan──Korea, NE and coastal China, SE Asia,
Italy──Abyssinia and Ethiopia
Germany──Rhineland, NE Europe and Eastern Russia.
5) Appeasement policy of Britain and France means that to give the demands of Axis powers preventing war→Axis power become stronger, stopped in 1939.
Thursday 4 December 2008
4-12.2008...?
動筆啦……
竟然連楔子都2000字!
要加油呀~
不過俾人串話成日爛尾……其實對於一個beginner好正常……
諗下其實Carol都係。(笑)
參考左好多唔同sector ge書
Improbable ge賭局同principle
天使街的活潑
陣地書系的詭計
小說村2位人兄的結構
Seba的毒嘴(麒:笑)
仲有facebook俾左我practice Texas hold'em的平台=]
真係唔易玩……
*struggle* 持A Q 外面係 A 8 5 J 2 上手落720,我有50,All in?
Well... 呢D唔好提啦 好難玩
F.3的Probability明顯地唔夠皮apply on my calculation
expected value 比較好用
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World War beta會?
佢2.5%/ half hour, D人一日賺3倍,屈機
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15-12-2008 不宜考試!
唔好考啦 \(_ _)/
中英數都...
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