TNPSC Current Affairs January 09, 2020

www.tnpsc.academy – TNPSC Current Affairs January 09, 2020 (09/01/2020)

 

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Topic: General Administration, Profile of States

Northeast gas pipeline grid project

Govt to provide ₹5,559 crore funding to northeast gas grid.

Northeast gas pipeline grid project:

The proposed gas pipeline grid will connect Guwahati to the major Northeast cities and major load centers. It is 1,656 km long. The project is being implemented under ambitious Urja Ganga Gas Pipeline Project.

Besides connecting all the state capitals in the region, the pipeline will also connect with the National Gas Grid through Barauni-Guwahati Gas Pipeline, which is being laid by GAIL.

The pipeline will enable the supply of piped cooking gas to households and CNG to automobiles, besides fuel to industry.

About the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga project:

The gas pipeline project aims to provide piped cooking gas to residents of Varanasi and later to millions of people in states like Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha.

The objectives of the National Gas Grid are:

To remove regional imbalance within the country with regard to access for natural gas and provide clean and green fuel throughout the country.

To connect gas sources to major demand centres and ensure availability of gas to consumers in various sectors.

Development of City Gas Distribution Networks in various cities for the supply of CNG and PNG.

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Topic: Latest inventions on Science and Technology, Latest Diary of Events

World’s most efficient lithium sulphur battery developed in Australia

Researchers at the University of Monash in Australia have managed to create a super-capacity prototype by re-engineering a Lithium Sulphur (Li-S) battery.

Key facts:

Li-S batteries are not new. But they had an intrinsic problem with the sulphur electrode, which would break after repeated charge cycles, making its superior capacity redundant. The sulphur cathode would break because of expansion and contraction during cycles.

How was this problem overcome?

To overcome this problem, the researchers gave the electrodes more space to expand and contract. The electrodes are bound inside the battery using polymers. The research team used lesser quantity of these adhesives so that the electrodes had more spaceout structures inside them.

These structures behaved more like bridges between the sulphur particles rather than a dense network, which stopped the electrodes from disintegrating.

How it works?

The lithium-sulphur batteries operate in the same way as regular lithium-ion work- lithium ions flow between electrodes producing power while not being chemically changed. Charging a battery involves those ions being returned to their starting positions for the process to begin anew.

Significance:

This battery that has five times the capacity of a traditional lithium ion battery. It can retain 99 per cent of its charge even after 200 charge cycles. Li-S batteries are also many times cheaper than lithium ion batteries that could bring down the cost of electric mobility.

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Topic: Geographical Landmarks, International Events

Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) project

An international team led by LIGO-Virgo scientists has identified another event of gravitational ripples from a collision of two neutron stars, making it the second time this type of occurrence has ever been observed in gravitational waves.

Background:

In August 2017, the first observation of gravitational ripples from a neutron star collision made history for being the first time that both gravitational waves and light were detected from the same cosmic occurrence.

What is LIGO?

It is a massive observatory for detecting cosmic gravitational waves and for carrying out experiments. The objective is to use gravitational-wave observations in astronomical studies.

The project operates three gravitational-wave (GW) detectors. Two are at Hanford, Washington, north-western US, and one is at Livingston in Louisiana, south-eastern US. The proposed LIGO India project aims to move one advanced LIGO detector from Hanford to India.

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Topic: Awareness in Space, Geographical Landmarks, Latest Diary of Events

Earth-size planet, named TOI 700 d

NASA reported the discovery of an Earth-size planet, named TOI 700 d, orbiting its star in the “habitable zone”.

What is the habitable zone?

The habitable zone (or “Goldilocks zone”) is the range of orbital distances from a star at which liquid water can exist on the surface of a planet. It is the area around a star where it is not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface of surrounding planets.

This range of distances changes depending on the size and temperature of the star. Earth is in the habitable zone of the sun – one of the reasons our planet has liquid water like oceans and lakes.

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Topic: Profile of States, Latest Diary of Events

Epiphany festival

On 6th January, the Epiphany festival was celebrated in parts of India, such as Goa and Kerala. In Goa, the celebration is known by its Portuguese name ‘Festa dos Reis’, and in parts of Kerala by its Syriac name ‘Denha’.

What is it?

Epiphany is a feast day, or a day of commemoration, which in Christianity marks the visit of the Magi (meaning the Three Wise Men or Three Kings) to the Infant Jesus (Christ from his nativity until age 12).

According to Christian belief, the Magi — Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar (or Casper), the kings of Arabia, Persia, and India, respectively — followed a miraculous guiding star to Bethlehem, where they paid homage to the Infant Jesus.

The three are said to have brought gifts for Jesus: gold by Melchior, myrrh by Balthasar, and incense by Gaspar. The visit is believed to signify Jesus’ physical manifestation to the Gentiles (non-Jewish people).

The day also commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.

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Topic: Indian Navy and Defense Activities

Milan 2020

Indian Navy will be hosting military drill called ‘Milan 2020’ at Visakhapatnam, The City of Destiny. MILAN stands for ‘Multilateral Naval Exercise’.

The Event will witness the participation of several countries. Apart from a large number of ships, senior dignitaries are also expected to take part in various functions and visit naval facilities during MILAN 2020.

The theme of the exercise is: “Synergy Across the Seas”.