Should Pluto be considered as a Planet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Should Pluto be considered as a Planet - Essay Example In the end around 2700 astronomers agreed that the solar system be divided into two categories called 'Planet' and 'Dwarf Planet'. Pluto being put in the category of 'Dwarf Planet' that means it will no longer be placed in the company of eight planets viz. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. A new distinct class of objects called 'Dwarf planets was decided with Ceres, Pluto and 2003 UB313 (temporary name) being the first three members of this club. When Pluto was discovered, in 1930 astronomers assumed that it had a mass comparable to Earth's. Only gradually, in the ensuing decades, did celestial mechanicals come to realize that this grossly overestimated. Pluto turned out to be less than 1% of Earth's size. With the advent of powerful new telescopes on the ground and in space, planetary astronomy has gone though an exciting development over the past decade and we are bound to find many more dwarf planets in future, if we continue placing them all in the list of 'Planets', in the company of Earth moon then we'll doing injustice to this elite club members having such distinctive features as life, air, water, atmosphere etc. Astronomy, the branch of physics studying celestial bodies, gives room for improvements and evolutions with newer discoveries. Since the time in 1930 when Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto, many similar objects were discovered in the outer solar system, most notably the Trans-Neptunian object Eris which is slightly larger than Pluto. If we continue to treat Pluto as a Planet, it is bound to give room for more debates for including some more names in the list. Pluto is very unlike its inner neighbors, the gas giants Uranus and Neptune. This thought led to the exclusion of Pluto from the refurbished Hayden Planetarium in New York City when it unveiled its spiral planet walk. This goes on to prove that Pluto's place in the list was being doubted for long. We now know of thousands of small icy bodies in a zone called the Kuiper Belt and at least 100 of them are like Pluto. Studies are still on to look for many more. The article states that 'there are two fundamentally different ways to define planets. One is to treat the planets as dynamically interacting ensemble with bodies that perturb each other gravitationally. This approach is what led to Pluto originally being considered as massive as the Earth-to account for the perturbations on Neptune and Uranus that were supposedly the basis of Percival Lowell's prediction of a trans-Neptunian planet. But as the decade rolled by, astronomers realized that apparent irregularities in the motions of the outer planets were attribution to an erroneous mass assigned to Neptune. Pluto, discovered by coincidence roughly where Lowell said it should be, is actually an irrelevant lightweight compared to the main family of planets.' Pluto, Eris and others require to be studied and analyzed further, before we arrive

Carol Tavris In Groups We Shrink From Loner’s Heroics :: Sociology Groups Shring Tavris Essays

Carol Tavris' In Groups We Shrink From Loner’s Heroics â€Å"In Groups We Shrink From Loner’s Heroics† is an essay about how people in groups behave together. The author of this essay believes that when people are in groups they will do nothing to help a person in distress and that they cannot think for themselves. â€Å"In Groups We Shrink From Loner’s Heroics†, by Carol Tavris was ineffective because it used logical fallacies, overused pathos, had weak references to logos, and used inductive arguments. The author of the essay, Carol Tavris, seems to be very passionate about what she is writing. She has her doctorate in Psychology and has had her articles published in many well-known magazines. The intended audience of her essay is the general public. The purpose of this article is to inform the public that they need to stand out and use their own minds in a group setting instead of hiding in the comfort of their fellow friends and colleagues. The essay is written to be very informal. It uses a lot of connotative language as well as a subjective point of view. The author tries to use facts to support her way of thinking, and also uses some examples and descriptions. The largest downfall to the article is her use of inductive arguments. The author uses true stories and a few case studies, at the beginning of the essay, to show how some people have acted when they are with a group of people. But, the rest of her argument is based on these few studies. She tries to argue that all groups behave as these few examples, in the essay, did. These few, rare occurrences cannot be the basis for an entire argument about how groups behave. They paint too broad of a picture. The author mainly appeales to pathos. She tells a story of a woman being stabbed while her neighbors look on and also, of a man, named Rodney King, who was beaten by a few police offices while ten other officers looked on. These are good examples for her argument but, she uses these infrequent instances to try and sway her audience into thinking that they are common occurrences.

Macbeth- the Weyward Sisters

English| Macbeth- The Weyward Sisters | Discuss the nature of the three witches who foretell Macbeth’s future. The Three Witches in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth (1603-1607) add an element of supernatural and prophecy to the play. These three witches represent the personification of evil, conflict and chaos in an already hectic story. The predominant witch, Hecate- the Greek goddess of the moon and later witchcraft- and her two following witches- Graymalkin and Paddock- predict General Macbeth’s rise to the throne.The witches are described as having beards but appearing human. Also known as the ‘weyward sisters’- as quoted in Macbeth- these old, decrepit prophetesses recite â€Å"Fair is foul and foul is fair; Hover through the fog and filthy air†( 1;1;12-13). This line sets up the play with suspicion and confusion as the line suggests that tables will turn. â€Å"Double, double toil and trouble† (4;1;10-11) the three witches chant - making it clear that these witches seek trouble, what is unclear is whether they are changing and controlling fate or if they are merely ensuring its success.What do these prophecies represent, what clues does Shakespeare provide and what conclusion (if any) does he allow his audience to come to? â€Å"All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor; All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King hereafter! † (1;3;11-12) â€Å"The power of man; For none of woman born; Shall harm Macbeth† (4;1;88-89) The witches’ prophecies imply Macbeth will reign and that no man of natural birth will cause his downfall. The prophecies foreshadow the development of the plot, they hint to the audience the likely direction of the story and they give legitimacy to the final outcome of the plot.They give righteousness to the outcome; because its destiny. Shakespeare hints throughout the play of the expected downfall of the murderous King Macbeth. The second prophecy â€Å"For none of wom an born; Shall harm Macbeth† hints that an unnatural birthed man can kill or overthrow Macbeth. Macbeth is later be-headed in a duel against Macduff- retribution for the killing of his family including King Duncan. The audience come to a conclusion that good is returned- that fair is no longer foul. The wayward sisters and the death of Macbeth illustrates the need to follow good rather than choose the path to evil.The audience has seen the effects of Macbeth’s tortured soul- the death of his beloved wife and even his own- emphasizing the need to rid a guilty conscience. Was the ambiguity of the witches’ prophecies necessary to the development of the play’s plot and key themes? Hecate, Graymalkin and Paddock foretell the uprising of Macbeth and inform him of his future and what he must do in order to pursue his destiny as king. The Three Witches never tell Macbeth to kill King Duncan, they merely imply that Kind Duncan must die for Macbeth to become king.Th e witches set a path for him that only he may choose to follow should he wish. Through temptation of sure success he kills King Duncan and follows the path to destruction. Macbeth is not psychologically capable of living with the guilt of murder, however the Three Witches prophecies have given Macbeth the assurance that he will succeed- blanketing his guilt and giving him the confidence he needs to commit the crime. Had the witches kept their prophecies to themselves, Macbeth would not have enough confidence, or encouragement from Lady Macbeth, to kill King Duncan.However there would be a lack of supernatural and excitement in the play. Macbeth is unique because of its treacherous witches, unreal fascinations of King Duncan’s and Banquo’s ghosts and Lady Macbeth’s ‘blood’ on her hand- individualising this play to numerous regicide stories. Word Count- 711 Bibliography Stewart, M. Ancestry. com –The Three Witches. Published 1998 by Zimmerman. Accessed 14/11/11 At: http://homepages. rootsweb. ancestry. com/~maggieoh/Macbeth/witches. htm PotW Org. Poem of the Week- Macbeth. Unknown publisher or author. Accessed 17/11/11 At: http://www. potw. org/archive/potw283. html

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