KNOW WHY CRUISER BIKES HAVE LONGER WHEELBASE !!

If you look at the motorbikes around you, you will notice the overall length of every motorbike is different. For example, Bajaj Avenger is having more overall length as compared to Yamaha R15. Other motorbikes like Bajaj Avenger for example Royal Enfield Meteor, Honda Revel, etc are also having a higher overall length. These bikes are made for longer route touring and are called cruisers. In this article, we will understand the reason behind the higher overall length of cruiser motorbikes.

One factor which decides the overall length of the motorbikes is the wheelbase. The wheelbase is the center to center distance between the front and rear wheels. Wheelbase plays an important role in the handling of a motorbike. When the wheelbase on the motorbike is long, the motorbike has better stability on the road. Which simply means the motorbike will keep going in a straight line very easily and changing direction easily is a bit tricky. The same is inverse in the case of motorbikes with a shorter wheelbase; the motorbike can be easily maneuvered, but it loses out on the stability of staying on the road. There are chances of the motorbike to wobble easily under extreme speeds which do not happen in the case of longer wheelbases.

Cruiser motorbikes are designed to run straight on highways covering long distances with ease that is why they have a longer wheelbase. Also, a long wheelbase makes a bike less wheelie-prone, and because the rider sits farther from each wheel, he gets a smoother ride. On the other hand, sports motorbike like Yamaha R15, Honda CBR, etc tend to have shorter wheelbase as it makes them compact and light and also makes them very easy to move around and corner at higher speeds. Also, shorter wheelbases tend to be more responsive to steering input.

In short, the longer the wheelbase, the more the stability and less the maneuverability; the smaller the wheelbase, the less the stability and more the maneuverability. We hope you might have got an idea of how wheelbase affects the handling of a motorbike. Thank you for reading this article.

KNOW THE MEANING OF VARIOUS COLOUR CODING USED IN FLOOR MARKING !

You might have seen industrial floors marked with various colored strips. Some of the strips are colored yellow and black, red and white, and so on. In this article, we will discuss the meaning of various colored strips that are used for floor marking. 

Floor marking is the process of using visual indicators such as lines, shapes, and signs on floors to make a space easier for people to navigate. These indicators divide spaces, highlight hazards, outline workstations, and storage locations, direct traffic, and convey important safety or instructional information. These markings are done as per OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standards.

 

These markings are done for Organizational Improvement, Finding First Aid Equipment, Personal Protection Equipment, Navigation Assistance, Placement of Objects, Traffic Direction, etc. In short, these markings are done to keep the working environment safe and organized.

 

Different color coding is used to convey different messages. However, the industry can define its own color-coding. Following are the most commonly used color coding used.

Yellow Floor Tape

Yellow tape (or paint) should be used for all normal foot traffic going through a passage (both indoor and outdoor) as well as vehicle traffic.

White Floor Tape

White tape should be used for anything related to facility equipment, fixtures, racks, carts, and things of this nature. This helps people to alert people about their availability and lets people know where to put them when they're done using them.

Blue, green and/or black

Materials and components, including raw materials, work-in-progress and finished goods.

Orange Floor Tape

Materials in inspection

Red Floor Tape

Locations where defective products, scrap materials, or items in the facility that need to be reworked are stored.

Red & White Floor Tape

Any area that must be kept clear for safety or compliance. Areas around fire extinguishers, emergency eyewash stations, electrical panels, or fire lanes.

Black & White Floor Tape

Areas that need to be kept clear for general operations. Not to be used for emergency areas.

Black & Yellow Floor Tape

Areas that may expose employees to special physical or health hazards.


Floor markings have been proven to improve visual communication within facilities, while also benefiting overall facility safety. So, now you know the meaning of various color coding tapes used in the industry.

Thank you for reading this article.

KNOW WHAT IS SENSEX AND NIFTY !

We daily hear words like "Sensex" and "Nifty" when we watch the news. These words are also related to the market but have you ever imagined what is the meaning of Sensex and Nifty? In this article we will understand the meaning of these two words with respect to the economy. 

There are thousands of listed companies in the stock exchange (Stock exchanges allow investors to buy and sell shares of a company among each other in a regulated and legitimate space.) in India. And, it is not at all easy to track every single stock. Therefore, a smaller sample is calculated which acts as a representative of the whole market. This small sample is called Index (in other words, indicator) and it helps in the measurement of the value of a section of the stock market. The index is computed from the prices of selected stocks. 

Sensex and Nifty are the two important indicators that are used to measure the behavior of the market. These market indices are known as a standard for portfolio performance. SENSEX (Sensitive Index) and NIFTY (Net Index of Fifty) are the benchmark index of India.

SENSEX:

Sensex, also called BSE 30, is the market index consisting of 30 well-established and financially sound companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).BSE can revise this list of 30 with respect to time. So, if Sensex fluctuates, it reflects on the economy as well. For example, if Sensex goes up people become more interested in buying stocks because they think that economy is going to grow. But, if Sensex goes down, people tend to stop investing in the economy.

Let us understand it with an example, it is like trying to determine the ‘intelligence’ of a class of 500 students across various courses by taking the average marks of Top 30 students. The average result might be good but this may not necessarily be so. For better results we need to compare the averages across a period of time, or across classes as it is more helpful rather than looking at the average as a stand-alone factor.

NIFTY:

Nifty, also called NIFTY 50, is the market index consisting of 50 well-established and financially sound companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE). Nifty Index constitutes of 50 companies that are considered to be the nation's economy movers and shakers. Each of the 50 companies contributes some weightage to the Nifty Index and its fall and rise indicate the condition of our economy.

It is just like the fuel indicator of your vehicle. When the fuel Indicator is in the Red zone, you understand that your fuel tank is about to be empty and you need to refill it or else your vehicle will stop running. In the same way, when you are filling up your tank and the Indicator turns full in Green zone, you understand your tank is full and you should stop filling it or else it will spill out of the tank.

WHY DO WE NEED THESE INDICATORS?

The rise and fall of an index would reflect the composite performance of all these companies, and in turn it is the representative of the whole market. It is the barometer of the economy. Indices can be constructed to track the performance of stocks, bonds, currencies, volatility, prices amongst many other things.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SENSEX AND NIFTY:

Thank you for reading the article.

KNOW HOW TO DECODE GRADE OF GRINDING WHEEL !

Grinding is an abrasive machining process that uses a grinding wheel as the cutting tool. A grinding wheel is a precision tool with thousands of cutting points on its surface - abrasive grains that are held in place by a bond matrix (hence these are known as bonded abrasives) and separated by pores. When the wheel is in use, the abrasive grains cut into the material that is being ground, removing the unwanted surface material in small chips.

There are various grades of grinding wheels available in the market and every grinding wheel has its grade written on it. But have we ever thought what these grades mean? We will decode the grade of the grinding wheel in this article.

When selecting the perfect wheel for your project, it is important to know the grade of that grinding wheel. Every grinding wheel is marked by the manufacturer with a stencil or a small tag. The manufacturers have worked out a standard system of markings as shown in the figure below. For example use a wheel marked A36-L5-V23. The A refers to the abrasive which is aluminum oxide. The 36 represents the grain size. The L shows the grade or degree of hardness, which is medium. The 5 refers to the structure of the wheel and the V refers to the bond type.

ABRASIVE TYPE:

There are 4 main types of abrasive grains available for grinding wheels, these are Ceramic Aluminium Oxide, Silicon Carbide, Zirconia Alumina, Aluminium Oxide.

ABRASIVE GRAIN SIZE:

Abrasive grains are selected according to the mesh of a sieve through which they are sorted. For example, grain number 40 indicates that the abrasive grain passes through a sieve having approximately 40 meshes to the linear inch. A grinding wheel is designated coarse, medium, or fine according to the size of the individual abrasive grains making up the wheel.

GRADES OF HARDNESS:

The grade of a grinding wheel designates the hardness of the bonded material. Listed below are examples of those grades:
A soft wheel is one on which the cutting particles break away rapidly while a hard wheel is one on which the bond successfully opposes this breaking away of the abrasive grain.

STRUCTURE:

Bond strength of a grinding wheel is not wholly dependent upon the grade of hardness but depends equally on the structure of the wheel, that is, the spacing of the grain or its density. The structure or spacing is measured in number of grains per cubic inch of wheel volume.

BOND TYPE:

This means how the wheel holds the abrasives; affects finish, coolant, and minimum/maximum wheel speed.

So, now you know how to read the grade of grinding wheel. Thank you for reading this article.

KNOW THE MEANING OF THESE YELLOW AND WHITE LINES ON THE ROAD !

We travel almost daily on roads and see various lines that are drawn on the road. Sometimes we get confused between various patterns and color of the road line. Knowing road marking is very important when it comes to road safety. In this article, we will tell you the meaning of various types of road lines.

Dashed white line

The most basic marking on roads, it means you may change lanes and are allowed to overtake a vehicle when it is safe to do so. A white line separates lanes of traffic moving in the same direction.

Solid white line

Solid white lines separate two lanes going the same direction. Basically seen on areas of strategic importance, when the line is solid it means that you are not allowed to overtake the car in front of you and should drive in a queue. These are also often used in construction areas to discourage drivers from moving around too much.

White lines on both sides of the road

These solid white lines running along the edge of the road indicate the “shoulder” of the road and let you know that — if the line is on your right side — you’re headed in the same direction as traffic.

Single Solid Yellow Line

Used in areas where visibility is low, it implies you are not meant to overtake any vehicle and should drive on your side.

Double Solid Yellow Lines

Usually used on dangerous roads or 2 lane roads, it strictly prohibits anybody from crossing over into the lane with traffic going in the opposite direction. A double yellow line indicates that passing is not allowed from either side of the road. It is mostly used in 2 lane roads.

Combo of one dashed/one yellow line in the center

This means vehicles on the side of the broken line can cross the line to the other side. Vehicles on the side of the unbroken line cannot.

Also, note that these conventions are region-specific. So, now you know the meaning of various color coding of road lines. Thank you for reading this article.

KNOW WHY CANDLE FLAME ALWAYS POINT UPWARDS EVEN IF IT IS TILTED !!

We all have seen that a flame from candlelight always points upwards. It will point upwards even if we tilt the candle. Ever wondered why it is happening? Let us discuss the reason for this in this article.

When you start a fire, the fuel combines with oxygen to release heat, light, carbon dioxide, water vapor, soot, etc. The heat energy generated in this process heats up the air around the flame which in turn reduces its density** (a good analogy is water vapor which is hotter and less dense as against water which is colder and heavier). This hot air around the flame then starts rising up and the surrounding colder heavier air rushes down into its place accelerating the hot air upwards which in turn causes the flame to shoot up.

So, in short, a combination and gravity and gravity-induced buoyancy cause the hot air to rise up causing the flames to point upwards here on earth.

If there were no gravity (space or NASA simulated micro-gravity chambers) there would be no reason for the heavier, colder air to flow downwards & the flame would be just a blob around the wick (or the material that burns)

Just in case you are curious as to why hot air is less dense than cold air in the first place - the heat gives the molecules in the gas higher (kinetic) energy. So these molecules can move faster and further apart because they now have the energy needed to overcome their binding forces. The molecules being farther apart means that the material is less dense.

Thank you for reading the article!

KNOW THE MEANING OF "N95" IN N95 MASKS !!

During the coronavirus pandemic, masks have become a common part of our life. Out of various types of masks N95 masks have become quite famous and are in demand nowadays. But have you ever thought what does "N95" in this mask mean? Let us find out the answer in this article.

N95 respirators and surgical masks (face masks) are examples of personal protective equipment that are used to protect the wearer from airborne particles and from liquid contaminating the face. These are also known as ‘air-purifying respirators’ because they protect by filtering particles out of the air as you breathe. These respirators protect only against particles—not gases or vapors. Since airborne biological agents such as bacteria or viruses are particles, they can be filtered by particulate respirators.”

WHAT DOES "N95" RATING MEAN:

The different ratings in place for respirators indicate how well the mask would protect against oils and are rated as N, R, or P.

N - Not oil resistant
R - Resistant to oil
P - Oil Proof
So, here N means the mask is not oil resistant.

95: Masks ending with 95 have a 95 percent efficiency (Removes 95% of all particles that are at least 0.3 microns in diameter). Masks ending in a 99 have a 99(Removes 99% of particles that are at least 0.3 microns in diameter) percent efficiency. Masks ending in 100 are 99.97 percent efficient and that is the same as a HEPA quality filter.

So, in short, N95 masks are not oil-resistant masks that remove 95% of all particles that are at least 0.3 microns in diameter.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not recommend that the general public wear N95 respirators to protect themselves from respiratory diseases, including coronavirus (COVID-19). The CDC recommends that members of the public use simple cloth face coverings when in a public setting to slow the spread of the virus since this will help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others.