A Ton of Crap (72 page)

E
=
mc
²
From Einstein’s special theory of relativity came one of the most famous mathematical formulas of all time:
E
=
mc
²
. What this means is that energy (represented by
E
), equals mass (represented by
m
) multiplied by the speed of light (represented by
c
) squared. The speed of light, 186,000 miles per second, is a gigantic number when squared. So, a small amount of mass will create a lot of energy. This equation essentially says that mass is another form of energy.

CANTONESE

Writing System
Cantonese literature is more developed than any other Chinese language. Though the writing system uses the same characters as the standard language, it also has additional characters, and some characters even have different meanings. There are also words in Cantonese that do not have any meaning in Mandarin. Instead of a new or different written language, Cantonese is written in the same system as Mandarin, and the words are just pronounced differently.

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

The Summer of 1917
During the summer of 1917, Lenin attempted to overthrow the Provisional Government. The coup failed, and many Bolsheviks were arrested as Lenin fled to Finland. However, when it was feared that the minister of war was trying to create a military dictatorship, the Bolsheviks, who had created a military force, the Red Guard, were needed for support. By the fall, the Bolsheviks were gaining popularity, and Leon Trotsky was elected as president of the Petrograd.

HUMOR

Terry Pratchett
Sir Terry Pratchett was born in 1948. Pratchett’s work combines humor and fantasy, and his first novel,
The Carpet People
, was published in 1971. Pratchett’s most well-known books are from his
Discoworld
series, of which there are currently thirty-six different titles. In 1990, he collaborated with Neil Gaiman on the book
Good Omens
, a parody of the film
The Omen
and the end of the world.

TRIGONOMETRY

Radian Measure
One revolution in a circle is measured as 2π. This means that half of a circle is π, and that every right angle in a circle is π/2. π/4 is half of a right angle, and thus, it equals 45°. So this means that 2π is actually 360°. To find degrees in radians, the equation you have to follow is:

So to convert 90° into radians, you do:

ALBERT EINSTEIN

Total Eclipse
Light photons do not have any mass. They do, however, have energy. And according to Einstein’s formula of
E
=
mc
²
, energy behaves like mass. This means that light from stars is also bent by the Sun’s gravity. On May 29, 1919, there was a total eclipse. British astronomer Arthur Eddington studied the location of the stars during the eclipse. What he found was that Einstein’s theory was in fact true, and that when looking at the stars during the eclipse, it appeared as if the stars had changed positions, and that the Sun’s gravitational field was in fact affecting the light.

CANTONESE

Phonology
The pronunciation of Cantonese is based on the language spoken in the capital of the Guangdong Province, Canton. In the Cantonese syllabary, there are around 630 sounds and 1,760 syllables. The nine different tones have different meanings when combined with syllables. From a phonological standpoint, Cantonese is a much more difficult language to understand than Mandarin.

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

The October Revolution
Lenin planned a coup d’état to overthrow the Provisional Government, which was increasingly more ineffective, and replace them with the Bolsheviks. Lenin met with twelve party leaders to persuade them that revolution was necessary. With only ten backing him, Lenin began plotting the revolution. On October 24, 1917, troops that were loyal to the Bolsheviks began taking over government buildings. On October 26, the Provisional Government was arrested and a new provisional government was created with only Bolshevik members.

HUMOR

Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams was the creator of the immensely popular
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
series. Adams, who was discovered by Graham Chapman of Monty Python fame, started his career writing for BBC radio programs.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
originally began as a radio show on the BBC. The show would eventually turn into a book, and Adams wrote five books in the series. Since its conception,
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
has been immensely popular, and has been turned into a television series, a video game, a major motion picture, and a comic book series.