News and views: Million and Billion

We all speak about million and billion. But let us look at these for a moment:

Million = 1,000,000
In other words, a million is one followed by six zeros. In India this figure would be 10 lakhs.

Now a billion is a thousand million. So, billion would be = 1,000,000,000. In India this figure would be
100 crores.

Silver, a precious metal - the annual world production of silver is around 700 million ounces. Around 300 million ounces is obtained by re-cycling. So one can take the annual world availability of silver to be around 1,000 million ounces or one billion ounces. (One ounce = one troy ounce = 31.3 grams). These figures can be checked by anyone by going to google search.

News: Now let me give you the newspaper report from The Hindu of 30.4.2012:

Sujay Mehdudia caught up with Ved Prakash , Director (Marketing), MMTC, and talked about the bullion market, import of gold, demand for the yellow metal and how the PSU plans to deal with the emerging scenario. Excerpts:

What is your estimated target for gold import this financial year as compared to the past two years?

We have planned to achieve an import target of 175 million tonnes of gold and more than 1,100 million tonnes of silver this year.

Views:

(1) The import figure of silver is given as 1,100 million tonnes. Okay let us assume the have mentioned tonnes instead of ounces.

(2) If we take it as 1,100 million ounces. The world production per year is only 1,000 million ounces.
Is MMTC trying to import all and more silver than is produced all over the world in one year?

I am not an expert in this subject. I propose sending a copy of this to MMTC for their feedback. If any among you can throw some light on this it would be welcome. Let us further our knowledge.

An order is an order is an order

These days there are very many models in air-conditioners and at times a particular model required
by a customer may neither be available with us nor with the manufacturer.

But it might be available with another dealer. Most of the dealers are very good friends too and they
often network among themselves and source the model. The transaction would be done on a cost-to-cost
basis with the understanding that the purchaser pay for the transportation of the unit.

A few months back a dealer friend of mine wanted a particular model which was available with me
and that too within one hour! Our vehicle was about to leave to one of our customers elsewhere.
I stopped the vehicle, loaded the machine and told the driver to first deliver the machine required
by me friend.

My friend was wonder-struck. He rang me up and expressed his sentiments. I told him: An order is an order.
A request is a request and we should try to fulfill it as far as is possible.

NOMINAL AND REAL VALUE

There is a nominal value and a real value.

Let us take the American Silver Eagle coin made of 1 ounce of silver. It has a nominal value of 1 USD.

Similarly the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coin made of 1 ounce of silver has a nominal value of 5 Canadian Dollars.

But the real value of these coins is much more than the value marked on them. The value depends upon
the price of silver on any given date (and time!!).

The value of both these coins as on date is around 35 US Dollars (roughly).

The intrinsic value of a coin should be less than the face value. The Canadian government found that the
cost of making a one pence coin was much more than one pence. So they have stopped minting these coins.

The 5 rupee cupro-nickel coin of India had a much more value than Rs.5.    So people melt these coins and make blades and cheap jewelry out of them it is told.

The Indian Government mints 150 rupees commemorative coins. Can't they  make these coins out of
say 10 grams of silver?

FIAT

We all know the Fiat car which was very famous during the sixties and seventies. Later on it came to be known as Premier Padmini. Fiat has made a re-entry in India with Punto and other models.

But recently I came to know about Fiat currency. Fiat is a latin word meaning "let it be done". Fiat currency is the money that Governments print. JUST PRINT!!  This leads to inflationary markets.

Some countries are contemplating going back to the gold standard. If and when it is done, the price of
gold will go up.

Let us convert paper money to Gold and Silver. The real money.

Americans aping India?

Yesterday I dwelt upon the difference between India and America.

But it seems Americans are aping India.

Here are the facts:-

(1) Recently there was a programme of science education through project work in the local library
in Wake county of North Carolina for children. My daughter wanted to enrol my seven year old grand-daughter and she also informed about this programme to her neighbours (who are all Indians). Of course all the children are Americans(citizens by birth). The on-line booking started at 9 am and when my daughter logged in at 9.10 a.m. the programme had got filled up! She missed the bus.

(2) My grand-daughter is interested in art and has won some prizes in state level competitions. An art programme was arranged by Crayola but they rang up and said they could not conduct the programme since my grand-daughter was the ONLY taker!! Children are not interested in Art. (Nor do parents goad them).

(3) My two year old grandson was enrolled in an exercise and sports programme running to six classes along with eight other children. After two classes only two children are attending!!

I am not generalising. Only putting down in writing, what I observed! Mind you, Americans get scores and scores of medals in the Olympics.

India, UK and USA

In 1959, I was in Durgapur.

The Durgapur steel project was built with the aid of many UK companies.

Somebody said that he wished he could visit UK. An elderly gentleman said: What is there in UK?
You have trees here, so also in UK you have trees. You have men and women here, so also there and went on in this fashion. Let that be.

I am in America for the past three months.

There are trees here. Men and women live here.......

Then, what is the difference?

Space and population. America is much bigger than India. There are lesser number of people living here.
Water, electricity and such amenities are no problem at all. The law is above anything else in America.
They are disciplined and time conscious. And that makes all the difference.

I visited the Cedar Fork Elementary School in Morrisville, North Carolina

where the students had put up a science fair. My grand-daughter Gayathri Achar in Garde I, experimented on water and ice. Here is the project:

Water and Ice

By Gayathri Achar

Question

Can water expand when frozen?

Hypothesis

I don’t think water can expand. I think ice will occupy the same space as water before it was frozen. 

Materials needed

Water, bowl

Procedure

1)      Fill a small bowl with water upto the brim.

2)      Keep the bowl inside the freezer.

3)      Wait for 6- 8 hours for the water to turn into ice.

4)      Take the bowl out from the freezer.

5)      Note the changes.

Observation

1)      Water turned into ice. A state change has occurred from liquid to solid.

2)      It has expanded or grown from the amount that we took in the beginning of the experiment.

3)      The ice can be seen above the brim of the bowl even though no water was added 

Inference

Ice took up more space than water. My hypothesis was wrong. 

Explanation

Ice is less dense than water.  This is a very special property of water.

Most substances like to scrunch closer and closer when it is colder

 but water likes to spread out like acrobats or expand when it is cold

 or when it turns to ice.

The "stuff"  in water is more tightly packed than in ice, so

water has greater density than ice. When something takes up more

space for the same amount it is said to be less dense. Ice is lighter than

 water. Even though it is the same amount of water, water will take up

 more space when it turns into ice.

Glossary

Mass = the amount of "stuff"

Density = how tightly packed the "stuff" is

                   It is the mass(amount of stuff) per unit volume(amount of space).

Volume = the area of space the "stuff" takes up