Word: friction
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Explorer I originally achieved an orbit that ranged from 219 to 1587 miles above the earth's surface. But as a result of friction with the atmosphere--extremely thin at those heights--the spacecraft's altitude slowly dropped. When a satellite's speed decreases from orbit to orbit, it cannot counterbalance the earth's gravitational field and slowly loses altitude...
...nosed through the water, the Highburton intermittently spewed a dilute solution of water and polyethylene oxide through vertical slots near its bow. As the solution washed back, it lubricated the hull, reducing friction between the water and the moving ship by about 20%. Thus less power was needed for driving the ship forward, fuel requirements were reduced, and speed increased...
...polymer because it consists of lengthy strings of linked molecules. In the water near a ship, the molecular chains act much like an array of thin parallel tubes, allowing water to flow smoothly back along the hull but retarding its movement in any other direction. As a result, the friction-building turbulence that is normally generated by a ship slicing through the water is sharply reduced...
...direction of movement that had taken place since the last measurement. Slowdowns & Reversals. At many observation points, along the San Andreas fault, the scientists found that California's coastal strip was moving to the northwest at a rate of two inches per year. In some areas, however, friction between the sliding masses of rock caused the movement to slow and even to stop. "When the fault sticks," Hofmann says, "the movement is transferred to smaller, adjacent faults that can stand only a limited amount of movement. When these smaller faults reach their limit, the forces increase until the main...
Simplistic Judgment. Such friction might be better tolerated if this were not a time of profound frustration for Britain. Continuing sterling crises, the harshest austerity budget ever, constantly shrinking power abroad, combined with an unpopular and unresponsive government at home-all help to create a mood of anxiety. Powell has given the frustrated British a scapegoat for their rage: "the colored." He predicts that within a generation "we shall have succeeded in reproducing 'in England's green and pleasant land' the haunting tragedy of the United States." He offers the simplistic judgment that "the people of England...