Lincoln had closely supervised the victorious war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including Ulysses S. Grant. Historians have concluded that he handled the factions of the Republican Party well, bringing leaders of each faction into his cabinet and forcing them to cooperate. Lincoln successfully defused the Trent affair, a war scare with Britain late in 1861. Under his leadership, the Union took control of the border slave states at the start of the war. Additionally, he managed his own reelection in the 1864 presidential election.

Copperheads and other opponents of the war criticized Lincoln for refusing to compromise on the slavery issue. Conversely, the Radical Republicans, an abolitionist faction of the Republican Party, criticized him for moving too slowly in abolishing slavery. Even with these opponents, Lincoln successfully rallied public opinion through his rhetoric and speeches; his Gettysburg Address (1863) became an iconic symbol of the nation’s duty. At the close of the war, Lincoln held a moderate view of Reconstruction, seeking to speedily reunite the nation through a policy of generous reconciliation. Lincoln has consistently been ranked by scholars as one of the greatest of all U.S. Presidents.

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Josiah intended for Benjamin to enter into the clergy. However, Josiah could only afford to send his son to school for one year and clergymen needed years of schooling. But, as young Benjamin loved to read he had him apprenticed to his brother James, who was a printer. After helping James compose pamphlets and set type which was grueling work, 12-year-old Benjamin would sell their products in the streets.

Franklin’s Autobiography

In Order of Time I should have mentioned before, that having in 1742 invented an open Stove, for the better warming of Rooms and at the same time saving Fuel, as the fresh Air admitted was warmed in Entring, I made a Present of the Model to Mr. Robert Grace, one of my early Friends, who having an Iron Furnace, found the Casting of the Plates for these Stoves a profitable Thing, as they were growing in Demand. To promote that Demand I wrote and published a Pamphlet Intitled, An Account of the New-Invented pennsylvania fire places: Wherein their Construction and manner of Operation is particularly explained; their Advantages above every other Method of warming Rooms demonstrated; and all Objections that have been raised against the Use of them answered and obviated. &c. This Pamphlet had a good Effect, Govr. Thomas was so pleas’d with the Construction of this Stove, as describ’d in it that he offer’d to give me a Patent for the sole Vending of them for a Term of Years; but I declin’d it from a Principle which has ever weigh’d with me on such Occasions, viz. That as we enjoy great Advantages from the Inventions of others, we should be glad of an Opportunity to serve others by any Invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously. An Ironmonger in London, however, after assuming a good deal of my Pamphlet, and working it up into his own, and making some small Changes in the Machine, which rather hurt its Operation, got a Patent for it there, and made as I was told a little Fortune by it. And this is not the only Instance of Patents taken out for my Inventions by others, tho’ not always with the same Success: which I never contested, as having no Desire of profiting by Patents my self, and hating Disputes. The Use of these Fireplaces in very many Houses both of this and the neighbouring Colonies, has been and is a great Saving of Wood to the Inhabitants.

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Life and work

Gilbert was educated at St John’s College, Cambridge; after gaining his MD from Cambridge in 1569, and a short spell as bursar of St John’s College, he left to practice medicine in London. In 1600 he was elected President of the College of Physicians (not by that point granted a royal charter). From 1601 until his death in 1603, he was Elizabeth I’s own physician, and James VI and I renewed his appointment.

His primary scientific work was De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure (On the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, and on the Great Magnet the Earth) published in 1600. In this work, he describes many of his experiments with his model earth called the terrella. From these experiments, he concluded that the Earth was itself magnetic and that this was the reason compasses point north (previously, some believed that it was the pole star (Polaris) or a large magnetic island on the north pole that attracted the compass). He was the first to argue, correctly, that the centre of the Earth was iron, and he considered an important and related property of magnets was that they can be cut, each forming a new magnet with north and south poles.

The English word electricity was first used in 1646 by Sir Thomas Browne, derived from Gilbert’s 1600 New Latin electricus, meaning “like amber”. The term had been in use since the 1200s, but Gilbert was the first to use it to mean “like amber in its attractive properties”. He recognized that friction with these objects removed a so-called effluvium, which would cause the attraction effect in returning to the object, though he did not realize that this substance (electric charge) was universal to all materials.

Gilbert died on 30 November 1603. His cause of death is thought to have been the bubonic plague.

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Aristotle attributes the first of what could be called a scientific discussion on magnetism to Thales, who lived from about 625 BC to about 545 BC. Around the same time in ancient India, the Indian surgeon, Sushruta, was the first to make use of the magnet for surgical purposes.

In ancient China, the earliest literary reference to magnetism lies in a 4th century BC book called Book of the Devil Valley Master. “The lodestone makes iron come or it attracts it.The earliest mention of the attraction of a needle appears in a work composed between AD 20 and 100  “A lodestone attracts a needle.” The ancient Chinese scientist Shen Kuo (1031-1095) was the first person to write of the magnetic needle compass and that it improved the accuracy of navigation by employing the astronomical concept of true north (Dream Pool Essays, AD 1088 ), and by the 12th century the Chinese were known to use the lodestone compass for navigation.

Alexander Neckham, by 1187, was the first in Europe to describe the compass and its use for navigation. In 1269, Peter Peregrinus de Maricourt wrote the Epistola de magnete, the first extant treatise describing the properties of magnets. In 1282, the properties of magnets and the dry compass were discussed by Al-Ashraf, a Yemeni physicist, astronomer and geographer.

In 1600, William Gilbert published his De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure (On the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, and on the Great Magnet the Earth). In this work he describes many of his experiments with his model earth called the terrella. From his experiments, he concluded that the Earth was itself magnetic and that this was the reason compasses pointed north (previously, some believed that it was the pole star (Polaris) or a large magnetic island on the north pole that attracted the compass).

An understanding of the relationship between electricity and magnetism began in 1819 with work by Hans Christian Oersted, a professor at the University of Copenhagen, who discovered more or less by accident that an electric current could influence a compass needle. This landmark experiment is known as Oersted’s Experiment. Several other experiments followed, with André-Marie Ampère, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Michael Faraday, and others finding further links between magnetism and electricity. James Clerk Maxwell synthesized and expanded these insights into Maxwell’s equations, unifying electricity, magnetism, and optics into the field of electromagnetism. In 1905, Einstein used these laws in motivating his theory of special relativity, requiring that the laws held true in all inertial reference frames.

Electromagnetism has continued to develop into the twenty-first century, being incorporated into the more fundamental theories of gauge theory, quantum electrodynamics, electroweak theory, and finally the standard model.
Sources of magnetism

There exists a close connection between angular momentum and magnetism, expressed on a macroscopic scale in the Einstein-de Haas effect “rotation by magnetization” and its inverse, the Barnett effect or “magnetization by rotation”.

At the atomic and sub-atomic scales, this connection is expressed by the ratio of magnetic moment to angular momentum, the gyromagnetic ratio.

Magnetism, at its root, arises from two sources:

* Electric currents, or, more generally, moving electric charges, create magnetic fields (see Maxwell’s Equations).
* Many particles have nonzero “intrinsic” (or “spin”) magnetic moments. (Just as each particle, by its nature, has a certain mass and charge, each has a certain magnetic moment, possibly zero.)

In magnetic materials, sources of magnetization are the electrons’ orbital angular motion around the nucleus, and the electrons’ intrinsic magnetic moment  The other potential sources of magnetism are the nuclear magnetic moments of the nuclei in the material which are typically thousands of times smaller than the electrons’ magnetic moments, so they are negligible in the context of the magnetization of materials. (Nuclear magnetic moments are important in other contexts, particularly in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).)

Ordinarily, the countless electrons in a material are arranged such that their magnetic moments (both orbital and intrinsic) cancel out. This is due, to some extent, to electrons combining into pairs with opposite intrinsic magnetic moments (as a result of the Pauli exclusion principle; see Electron configuration), or combining into “filled subshells” with zero net orbital motion; in both cases, the electron arrangement is so as to exactly cancel the magnetic moments from each electron. Moreover, even when the electron configuration is such that there are unpaired electrons and/or non-filled subshells, it is often the case that the various electrons in the solid will contribute magnetic moments that point in different, random directions, so that the material will not be magnetic.

However, sometimes (either spontaneously, or owing to an applied external magnetic field) each of the electron magnetic moments will be, on average, lined up. Then the material can produce a net total magnetic field, which can potentially be quite strong.

The magnetic behavior of a material depends on its structure (particularly its electron configuration, for the reasons mentioned above), and also on the temperature (at high temperatures, random thermal motion makes it more difficult for the electrons to maintain alignment).

Diamagnetism appears in all materials, and is the tendency of a material to oppose an applied magnetic field, and therefore, to be repelled by a magnetic field. However, in a material with paramagnetic properties (that is, with a tendency to enhance an external magnetic field), the paramagnetic behavior dominates. Thus, despite its universal occurrence, diamagnetic behavior is observed only in a purely diamagnetic material. In a diamagnetic material, there are no unpaired electrons, so the intrinsic electron magnetic moments cannot produce any bulk effect. In these cases, the magnetization arises from the electrons’ orbital motions, which can be understood classically as follows:

When a material is put in a magnetic field, the electrons circling the nucleus will experience, in addition to their Coulomb attraction to the nucleus, a Lorentz force from the magnetic field. Depending on which direction the electron is orbiting, this force may increase the centripetal force on the electrons, pulling them in towards the nucleus, or it may decrease the force, pulling them away from the nucleus. This effect systematically increases the orbital magnetic moments that were aligned opposite the field, and decreases the ones aligned parallel to the field (in accordance with Lenz’s law). This results in a small bulk magnetic moment, with an opposite direction to the applied field.

Note that this description is meant only as an heuristic; a proper understanding requires a quantum-mechanical description.

Note that all materials undergo this orbital response. However, in paramagnetic and ferromagnetic substances, the diamagnetic effect is overwhelmed by the much stronger effects caused by the unpaired electrons.
[edit] Paramagnetism
Main article: Paramagnetism

In a paramagnetic material there are unpaired electrons, i.e. atomic or molecular orbitals with exactly one electron in them. While paired electrons are required by the Pauli exclusion principle to have their intrinsic (’spin’) magnetic moments pointing in opposite directions, causing their magnetic fields to cancel out, an unpaired electron is free to align its magnetic moment in any direction. When an external magnetic field is applied, these magnetic moments will tend to align themselves in the same direction as the applied field, thus reinforcing it
Main article: Ferromagnetism

A ferromagnet, like a paramagnetic substance, has unpaired electrons. However, in addition to the electrons’ intrinsic magnetic moments tendency to be parallel to an applied field, there is also in these materials a tendency for these magnetic moments to orient parallel to each other to maintain a lowered energy state. Thus, even when the applied field is removed, the electrons in the material maintain a parallel orientation.

Every ferromagnetic substance has its own individual temperature, called the Curie temperature, or Curie point, above which it loses its ferromagnetic properties. This is because the thermal tendency to disorder overwhelms the energy-lowering due to ferromagnetic order.

Some well-known ferromagnetic materials that exhibit easily detectable magnetic properties (to form magnets) are nickel, iron, cobalt, gadolinium and their alloys.
[edit] Magnetic domains
Magnetic domains in ferromagnetic material.
Main article: Magnetic domains

The magnetic moment of atoms in a ferromagnetic material cause them to behave something like tiny permanent magnets. They stick together and align themselves into small regions of more or less uniform alignment called magnetic domains or Weiss domains. Magnetic domains can be observed with a magnetic force microscope to reveal magnetic domain boundaries that resemble white lines in the sketch.There are many scientific experiments that can physically show magnetic fields.
Effect of a magnet on the domains.

When a domain contains too many molecules, it becomes unstable and divides into two domains aligned in opposite directions so that they stick together more stably as shown at the right.

When exposed to a magnetic field, the domain boundaries move so that the domains aligned with the magnetic field grow and dominate the structure as shown at the left. When the magnetizing field is removed, the domains may not return to an unmagnetized state. This results in the ferromagnetic material’s being magnetized, forming a permanent magnet.

When magnetized strongly enough that the prevailing domain overruns all others to result in only one single domain, the material is magnetically saturated. When a magnetized ferromagnetic material is heated to the Curie point temperature, the molecules are agitated to the point that the magnetic domains lose the organization and the magnetic properties they cause cease. When the material is cooled, this domain alignment structure spontaneously returns, in a manner roughly analogous to how a liquid can freeze into a crystalline solid.
[edit] Antiferromagnetism
Antiferromagnetic ordering
Main article: Antiferromagnetism

In an antiferromagnet, unlike a ferromagnet, there is a tendency for the intrinsic magnetic moments of neighboring valence electrons to point in opposite directions. When all atoms are arranged in a substance so that each neighbor is ‘anti-aligned’, the substance is antiferromagnetic. Antiferromagnets have a zero net magnetic moment, meaning no field is produced by them. Antiferromagnets are less common compared to the other types of behaviors, and are mostly observed at low temperatures. In varying temperatures, antiferromagnets can be seen to exhibit diamagnetic and ferrimagnetic properties.

In some materials, neighboring electrons want to point in opposite directions, but there is no geometrical arrangement in which each pair of neighbors is anti-aligned. This is called a spin glass, and is an example of geometrical frustration.
[edit] Ferrimagnetism
Ferrimagnetic ordering
Main article: Ferrimagnetism

Like ferromagnetism, ferrimagnets retain their magnetization in the absence of a field. However, like antiferromagnets, neighboring pairs of electron spins like to point in opposite directions. These two properties are not contradictory, because in the optimal geometrical arrangement, there is more magnetic moment from the sublattice of electrons that point in one direction, than from the sublattice that points in the opposite direction.

The first discovered magnetic substance, magnetite, was originally believed to be a ferromagnet; Louis Néel disproved this, however, with the discovery of ferrimagnetism.
[edit] Magnetism, electricity, and special relativity
Main article: Classical electromagnetism and special relativity

As a consequence of Einstein’s theory of special relativity, electricity and magnetism are understood to be fundamentally interlinked. Both magnetism lacking electricity, and electricity without magnetism, are inconsistent with special relativity, due to such effects as length contraction, time dilation, and the fact that the magnetic force is velocity-dependent. However, when both electricity and magnetism are taken into account, the resulting theory (electromagnetism) is fully consistent with special relativity[6].[10] In particular, a phenomenon that appears purely electric to one observer may be purely magnetic to another, or more generally the relative contributions of electricity and magnetism are dependent on the frame of reference. Thus, special relativity “mixes” electricity and magnetism into a single, inseparable phenomenon called electromagnetism (analogous to how relativity “mixes” space and time into spacetime).
[edit] Magnetic fields and forces
Magnetic lines of force of a bar magnet shown by iron filings on paper
Main article: Magnetic field

The phenomenon of magnetism is “mediated” by the magnetic field. An electric current or magnetic dipole creates a magnetic field, and that field, in turn, imparts magnetic forces on other particles that are in the fields.

Maxwell’s equations (which simplify to the Biot-Savart law in the case of steady currents) describe the origin and behavior of the fields that govern these forces. Therefore magnetism is seen whenever electrically charged particles are in motion—for example, from movement of electrons in an electric current, or in certain cases from the orbital motion of electrons around an atom’s nucleus. They also arise from “intrinsic” magnetic dipoles arising from quantum-mechanical spin.

The same situations that create magnetic fields (charge moving in a current or in an atom, and intrinsic magnetic dipoles) are also the situations in which a magnetic field has an effect, creating a force. Following is the formula for moving charge; for the forces on an intrinsic dipole, see magnetic dipole.

When a charged particle moves through a magnetic field B, it feels a force F given by the cross product:

\mathbf{F} = q (\mathbf{v} \times \mathbf{B})

where

q is the electric charge of the particle,
v is the velocity vector of the particle, and
B is the magnetic field.

Because this is a cross product, the force is perpendicular to both the motion of the particle and the magnetic field. It follows that the magnetic force does no work on the particle; it may change the direction of the particle’s movement, but it cannot cause it to speed up or slow down. The magnitude of the force is

F=qvB\sin\theta\,

where θ is the angle between v and B.

One tool for determining the direction of the velocity vector of a moving charge, the magnetic field, and the force exerted is labeling the index finger “V”, the middle finger “B”, and the thumb “F” with your right hand. When making a gun-like configuration (with the middle finger crossing under the index finger), the fingers represent the velocity vector, magnetic field vector, and force vector, respectively. See also right hand rule.
[edit] Magnetic dipoles
Main article: Magnetic dipole

A very common source of magnetic field shown in nature is a dipole, with a “South pole” and a “North pole,” terms dating back to the use of magnets as compasses, interacting with the Earth’s magnetic field to indicate North and South on the globe. Since opposite ends of magnets are attracted, the north pole of a magnet is attracted to the south pole of another magnet. The Earth’s North Magnetic Pole (currently in the Arctic Ocean, north of Canada) is physically a south pole, as it attracts the north pole of a compass.

A magnetic field contains energy, and physical systems move toward configurations with lower energy. When diamagnetic material is placed in a magnetic field, a magnetic dipole tends to align itself in opposed polarity to that field, thereby lowering the net field strength. When ferromagnetic material is placed within a magnetic field, the magnetic dipoles align to the applied field, thus expanding the domain walls of the magnetic domains. For instance, two identical bar magnets placed side-to-side normally line up North to South (because the magnetic field lines are aligned), resulting in a much smaller net magnetic field (external to the magnet), and resist any attempts to reorient them to point in the same direction. The energy required to reorient them in that configuration is then stored in the resulting magnetic field, which is double the strength of the field of each individual magnet. (This is, of course, why a magnet used as a compass interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field to indicate North and South).

An alternative, equivalent formulation, which is often easier to apply but perhaps offers less insight, is that a magnetic dipole in a magnetic field experiences a torque and a force that can be expressed in terms of the field and the strength of the dipole (i.e., its magnetic dipole moment). For these equations, see magnetic dipole.
[edit] Magnetic monopoles
Main article: Magnetic monopole

Since a bar magnet gets its ferromagnetism from electrons distributed evenly throughout the bar, when a bar magnet is cut in half, each of the resulting pieces is a smaller bar magnet. Even though a magnet is said to have a north pole and a south pole, these two poles cannot be separated from each other. A monopole — if such a thing exists — would be a new and fundamentally different kind of magnetic object. It would act as an isolated north pole, not attached to a south pole, or vice versa. Monopoles would carry “magnetic charge” analogous to electric charge. Despite systematic searches since 1931, as of 2006[update], they have never been observed, and could very well not exist.[11]

Nevertheless, some theoretical physics models predict the existence of these magnetic monopoles. Paul Dirac observed in 1931 that, because electricity and magnetism show a certain symmetry, just as quantum theory predicts that individual positive or negative electric charges can be observed without the opposing charge, isolated South or North magnetic poles should be observable. Using quantum theory Dirac showed that if magnetic monopoles exist, then one could explain the quantization of electric charge—that is, why the observed elementary particles carry charges that are multiples of the charge of the electron.

Certain grand unified theories predict the existence of monopoles which, unlike elementary particles, are solitons (localized energy packets). The initial results of using these models to estimate the number of monopoles created in the big bang contradicted cosmological observations — the monopoles would have been so plentiful and massive that they would have long since halted the expansion of the universe. However, the idea of inflation (for which this problem served as a partial motivation) was successful in solving this problem, creating models in which monopoles existed but were rare enough to be consistent with current observations.[12]
[edit] Quantum-mechanical origin of magnetism

In principle all kinds of magnetism originate (similar to Superconductivity) from specific quantum-mechanical phenomena which are not easily explained (see e.g. Mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics, in particular the chapters on spin and on the Pauli principle). A successful model was developed already in 1927, by Walter Heitler and Fritz London, who derived quantum-mechanically, how hydrogen molecules are formed from hydrogen atoms, i.e. from the atomic hydrogen orbitals uA and uB centered at the nuclei A and B, see below. That this leads to magnetism, is not at all obvious, but will be explained in the following.

According the Heitler-London theory, so-called two-body molecular σ-orbitals are formed, namely the resulting orbital is:

\psi(\mathbf r_1,\,\,\mathbf r_2)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\,\,\left (u_A(\mathbf r_1)u_B(\mathbf r_2)+u_B(\mathbf r_1)u_A(\mathbf r_2)\right )

Here the last product means that a first electron, r1, is in an atomic hydrogen-orbital centered at the second nucleus, whereas the second electron runs around the first nucleus. This “exchange” phenomenon is an expression for the quantum-mechanical property that particles with identical properties cannot be distinguished. It is specific not only for the formation of chemical bonds, but as we will see, also for magnetism, i.e. in this connection the term exchange interaction arises, a term which is essential for the origin of magnetism, and which is stronger, roughly by factors 100 and even by 1000, than the energies arising from the electrodynamic dipole-dipole interaction.

As for the spin function χ(s1,s2), which is responsible for the magnetism, we have the already mentioned Pauli’s principle, namely that a symmetric orbital (i.e. with the + sign as above) must be multiplied with an antisymmetric spin function (i.e. with a – sign), and vice versa. Thus:

\chi (s_1,\,\,s_2)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\,\,\left (\alpha (s_1)\beta (s_2)-\beta (s_1)\alpha (s_2)\right ),

I.e., not only uA and uB must be substituted by α and β, respectively (the first entity means “spin up”, the second one “spin down”), but also the sign + by the − sign, and finally ri by the discrete values si (= ±½); thereby we have α( + 1 / 2) = β( − 1 / 2) = 1 and α( − 1 / 2) = β( + 1 / 2) = 0. The “singlet state”, i.e. the – sign, means: the spins are antiparallel, i.e. for the solid we have antiferromagnetism, and for two-atomic molecules one has diamagnetism. The tendency to form a (homoeopolar) chemical bond (this means: the formation of a symmetric molecular orbital , i.e. with the + sign) results through the Pauli principle automatically in an
antisymmetric spin state (i.e. with the – sign). In contrast, the Coulomb repulsion of the electrons, i.e. the tendency that they try to avoid each other by this repulsion, would lead to an antisymmetric orbital function (i.e. with the – sign) of these two particles, and complementary to a symmetric spin function (i.e. with the + sign, one of the so-called “triplet functions”). Thus, now the spins would be parallel (ferromagnetism in a solid, paramagnetism in two-atomic gases).

The last-mentioned tendency dominates in the metals Fe, Co and Ni, and in some rare earths, which are ferromagnetic, whereas most of the other metals, where the first-mentioned tendency dominates, are nonmagnetic (as e.g. Na, Al, and Mg) or antiferromagnetic (as e.g. Mn). Also the diatomic gases are almost exclusively diamagnetic, and not paramagnetic (the oxygen molecule, because of the involvement of π-orbitals , makes an exception, which is important for the life-sciences).

The Heitler-London considerations can be generalized to the Heisenberg model of magnetism (Heisenberg 1928).

The explanation of the phenomena is thus essentially based on all subtilities of quantum mechanics, whereas the electrodynamics covers mainly the phenomenology.
[edit] Units of electromagnetism

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Due to all this fairing-baazi (non metallic), the engine block looks comparatively diminutive, but it belies the Performance aspect of this machine. I took it out to the Mulish hairpin bends (50 km away) for a checkout. There were clouds on the horizon but it hadn’t rained yet. So I let go, as much as the traffic would allow. In traffic, this bike cannot do much more than what the 100cc econo-misers could do, but out of town the Karizma could teach these Ph.D.s in Economics a thing or two. On this ride with me were two other bikes: A stock RX100 and a ported and proton-exhausted Shaolin, ridden by 50-kg teenagers. Get-ahead-at-any-cost is the mantra of these teenagers and riding 2-strokers, they kept trying to get the best of me. The road is pretty narrow and in case a bus or truck is oncoming, you have to get off the road. These guys (the 2-stroke teenagers) kept trying to overtake me, yet whenever they came up from behind too close for comfort, all I had to do was downshift and open throttle. No matter how close they were, they never could catch up. Overtaking me was outta question. So they stopped, got off their bikes and took the Karizma from me and said, “Now YOU try to overtake US.” I tried. I couldn’t. Like I said, I touched 121 kph. 125 is very much do-able. Maybe even more. Speedo indicated of course. But true anyway, since in the top speed sweepstakes the RX100 and ported+protoned Shaolin were left far behind=outta sight, could not be seen even in the rear view (RV) mirrors. That brings me to a couple of sore points. The RV mirrors are too small. Their stalks are too short. And the horn is not loud enough. Maybe I don’t hear too well (I’ve got only one EAR, remember?).

The roadholding is excellent on dry tarmac and so it the braking. The 276mm disc up front (largest so far) does an excellent job. So does the 130mm rear drum. The mag wheels give a very un-cluttered look to the rear wheel. I like it. The handling is actually pat, though the huge fairing probably (falsely?) gives the impression of not being nimble. On the ground the bike behaved exactly as directed. 100% obedient to the T. The turning circle is quite large, @ four meters.

I also did braking tests. Sixty to zero. Over ten runs from 60 kph to wheel lock, the best braking distance was 14 meters. (Rider weight 67 kg; height 174cm). This is excellent braking. What is even better is the braking characteristic. The skid line left on the dry tarmac outside the A.R.A.I. was so straight it could very well have been drawn with a foot ruler (scale). My braking test always mimics panic braking, where rider slams both brakes, such as is a natural human reaction to an accident situation.

Apart from the many ‘firsts’ mentioned above, the crowning glory of this bike is the instrumentation. A smallish analog revv counter at LH, a larger analog ‘Speedo only’ in the centre and third DIGITAL dial at RH, which incorporates a fuel gauge, a trip meter, an odometer and for Chris sake, a time clock! If you come across someone riding a Karizma, don’t ask him, “What’s the average?” Ask him, “What’s the time?” He will tell you the time even in a dark tunnel. The dials glow in the dark (radium?) even without the lights on!

One stooped thing that happened during this test was that I lost the keys. Cost me Rs.200/- to get a duplicate made. But I learnt something. The master key maker who made the duplicate (who makes Splendor duplicate in ten minutes) took THREE HOURS to make the duplicate for this bike, and that too separate keys for ignition and tank cap. He said, “This is the most difficult bike lock I ever worked on. It would be almost impossible to steal this bike.” This fact is quite re-assuring for those who are concerned about their bike being stolen, and believe me, this bike is definitely worth stealing!!

I did a few fuel consumption tests as well, on a tank full to tank full basis. First on NH.17 (Bombay-Goa highway) over a distance of 130 km. NH.17 is an excellent road, excellent surface and thin traffic. At speeds between 50 and 60 kph, with very little gear changing, very little braking or stopping, the Karizma returned 41 km per litre. Later I measured fuel consumption in city riding over a distance of 185 km, with countless brakings, gear changings and stoppings, and at speeds up to 80 kph at times (while overtaking). In city traffic it returned 28 km per litre.

So this is the Karizma. I really don’t know what Karizma means though. I know that in Hindi, “KARISHMA” means “something inexplicably magical”. In English, “CHARISMA” (pronounced Karizma) means “the ability to inspire followers with devotion and enthusiasm”. The way this bike has turned out to be, it is probably both.

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Cyclonic-force winds may be encountered all over the
globe, but it is only above the warm seas of the tropics that
a ripple of instability in the air can become a genuine
cyclone, the deepest of all low-pressure weather systems.

What is a Cyclone?

Cyclones are huge revolving storms caused by winds blowing around a central area of low atmospheric pressure. In the northern hemisphere, cyclones are called hurricanes or typhoons and their winds blow in an anti-clockwise circle. In the southern hemisphere, these tropical storms are known as cyclones, whose winds blow in a clockwise circle.

How do Cyclones occur?

Cyclones develop over warm seas near the Equator. Air heated by the sun rises very swiftly, which creates areas of very low pressure. As the warm air rises, it becomes loaded with moisture which condenses into massive thunderclouds. Cool air rushes in to fill the void that is left, but because of the constant turning of the Earth on its axis, the air is bent inwards and then spirals upwards with great force. The swirling winds rotate faster and faster, forming a huge circle which can be up to 2,000 km across. At the centre of the storm is a calm, cloudless area called the eye, where there is no rain, and the winds are fairly light.

As the cyclone builds up it begins to move. It is sustained by a steady flow of warm, moist air. The strongest winds and heaviest rains are found in the towering clouds which merge into a wall about 20-30 km from the storm’s centre. Winds around the eye can reach speeds of up to 200 km/h, and a fully developed cyclone pumps out about two million tonnes of air per second. This results in more rain being released in a day than falls in a year in a city like London.

When and where do Cyclones occur?

Why do Cyclones occur?

When warm air rises from the seas and condenses into clouds, massive amounts of heat are released. The result of this mixture of heat and moisture is often a collection of thunderstorms, from which a tropical storm can develop.

The trigger for most Atlantic hurricanes is an easterly wave, a band of low pressure moving westwards, which may have begun as an African thunderstorm. Vigorous thunderstorms and high winds combine to create a cluster of thunderstorms which can become the seedling for a tropical storm.

Typhoons in the Far East and Cyclones in the Indian Ocean often develop from a thunderstorm in the equatorial trough. During the hurricane season, the Coriolis effect of the Earth’s rotation starts the winds in the thunderstorm spinning in a circular motion.

Cyclone Danger

Cyclones create several dangers for people living around tropical areas. The most destructive force of a cyclone comes from the fierce winds. These winds are strong enough to easily topple fences, sheds, trees, power poles and caravans, while hurling helpless people through the air. Many people are killed when the cyclone’s winds cause buildings to collapse and houses to completely blow away.

A cyclone typically churns up the sea, causing giant waves and surges of water known as storm surges. The water of a storm surge rushes inland with deadly power, flooding low-lying coastal areas. The rains from cyclones are also heavy enough to cause serious flooding, especially along river areas.

Long after a cyclone has passed, road and rail transport can still be blocked by floodwaters. Safe lighting of homes and proper refrigeration of food may be impossible because of failing power supplies. Water often becomes contaminated from dead animals or rotting food, and people are threatened with diseases like gastroenteritis.

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