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Book-Specific Resources / Writer's Almanac /
Science and Engineering

  • Common Units and Constants
  • Temperature Conversion-Celsius/Fahrenheit
  • Classifications of Organisms
  • Earth's Geological Timeline
  • Useful Astronomical Signs, Abbreviations, and Terms
  • Planets and the Solar System
  • Web Sites

    COMMON UNITS AND CONSTANTS

    NAMESYMBOL
    ampereA (or amp)
    British thermal unitsBTU
    calorie Cal
    hertz Hz
    JouleJ
    kelvinK
    ohm_
    unified mass unitU
    voltV
    wattW

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    TEMPERATURE CONVERSION-CELSIUS/FAHRENHEIT

    To convert a Celsius temperature into degrees Fahrenheit:
    multiply by 9/5, then add 32.
    Tf=((9/5)*Tc)+32


    To convert a Fahrenheit temperature into Celsius:
    subtract 32, then multiply by 5/9.
    Tc = (5/9)*(Tf-32)


    The freezing point of water is 0¡C/32¡F. The boiling point is 100¡C/212¡F.

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    CLASSIFICATIONS OF ORGANISMS

    MODERN HUMANS:kingdom =animals
    Phylum =chordates
    Class =mammals
    Order =primates
    Family =hominids
    Genus =Homo
    Species =sapiens

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    EARTH'S GEOLOGICAL TIMELINE

    ERAPERIODBEGAN (millions of years ago)
    Cenozoic (Age of Mammals)Quaternary1.6
    Neogene23.7
    Paleogene66.4
    Mesozoic (Age of Reptiles)Cretaceou144
    Jurassic208
    Triassic245
    PaleozoicPermian286
    Carboniferous360
    Devonian408
    Silurian438
    Ordovician505
    Cambrian570
    Precambrian~4600 (approximate formation of Earth)

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    Useful Astronomical Signs, Abbreviations, and Terms

    c = speed of light = 186,282 miles/second

    ly = light-year = 5.88 trillion miles

    pc = parsec = 3.259 light-years

    AU = astronomical unit (the mean distance between Earth and sun) = 93 million miles

    img = conjunction (same longitude)

    = quadrature (90-degree difference in longitude)

    _ = trine (120-degree difference in longitude)

    = opposition (180-degree difference in longitude)

    _ = ascending node (the node at which the body is passing northerly)

    img = descending node (the node at which the body is moving southwardly)

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    PLANETS AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM

    Body  Sign  Average
    Diameter (miles)    		Surface
    Temperature
    Sunimg865,120+10,000
    Mercuryimg3,030+ 620
    Venusimg7,520+ 900
    Earthimg7,926+ 70
    Marsimg4,217-67
    Jupiterimg88,724-166
    Saturnimg74,560-292
    Uranusimg31,600-360
    Neptuneimg30,600-360
    Plutoimg1,860-369

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    WEBSITES

    AIP PHYSICS INFORMATION
    http://www.aip.org

    BIOSCIENCES INDEX
    http://mcb.harvard.edu/BioLinks.html

    CHEMINFO
    http://www.indiana.edu/~cheminfo/cisdefault.asp

    CONTEMPORARY PHYSICS EDUCATION PROJECT
    http://www.cpepweb.org

    National Institutes of Health
    http://www.nih.gov

    Weill Cornell Medical Library
    http://lib2.med.cornell.edu

    WWW Virtual Library: Astronomy and Astrophysics
    http://www.astroweb.com.ar

    WWW Chemistry Resources
    http://www.chem.ucla.edu/chempointers.html

    WWW Virtual Library: Earth Science
    http://vlib.org/EarthScience.html

    WWW Virtual Library: Engineering
    http://www.eevl.ac.uk/wwwvl.html

    WWW Virtual Library: Physics
    http://vlib.org/Physics.html

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