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In 1855, limited self-government was granted by London to New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. A new secret ballot was introduced in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia in 1856, allowing people to vote in private. This system was copied around the world. In 1855, the right to vote was given to all men over 21 in South Australia. The other colonies soon followed. Women were given the vote in the Parliament of South Australia in 1895 and they became the first women in the world allowed to stand in elections. In 1897, Catherine Helen Spence became the first female political candidate.
Australians had started parliamentary democracies all across the continent. But voices were getting louder for all of them to come together as one country with a national parliament.
History of Spain
Spain is a country in Europe.
People have lived on the Iberian Peninsula for about 500,000 years. Neanderthal man came about 200,000 years ago. Modern humans first came about 40,000 years. Thousands of years ago Iberians and Celts lived there, and the Phoenicians made a few cities there to get tin and silver to trade.
The Roman Empire controlled Spain for three hundred years; then people from Eastern Europe called Visigoths fought for Spain, won it from the Romans, and controlled Spain for over two hundred years.
The Visigoths converted from Arian Christianity to Roman Catholics. The land was won after a war by Muslims who were Arab and Berber. Roman Catholics from Europe eventually decided to fight to take Spain from the Muslims. They fought wars for many hundreds of years, some of which were Crusades against other Christians like the Cathars. These were very cruel wars.
In the year 1492, they took the last part of Spain that had belonged to the Moors. Boabdil, the last Moorish Leader of Granada, gave the city to King Ferdinand of Aragon on 2 January 1492, and Christians now ruled all of Spain.
Before this, several different kings had ruled different countries in what is now called Spain. Two of these countries, Castile and Aragon, came together when the king of Aragon, Ferdinand II, married the queen of Castile, Isabella.
In the same year, 1492, they decided to send Christopher Columbus to explore the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus found a land there that the people of Europe did not yet know. These were the islands of the Caribbean Sea.
Columbus and other sailors explored more and found that there were two continents there - North America and South America. Spain sent many soldiers and businessmen to North and South America, and they took over very large parts of those two continents. Owning this empire made Spain very rich. But when they conquered that empire, they killed millions of the Native Americans who had lived there before. Spain owned this empire for more than three hundred years.
Meanwhile, at home, the Muslim manuscripts had been either burnt or spread to other countries. Jews had been expelled from Spain. The multicultural society was destroyed, and so was the learning. Among the few things kept and respected in Spain were in music: harmony and stringed instruments, and of course the buildings, many of which became churches, by adding crosses.
The Spanish Empire was the strongest in the world through most of the next two centuries, thanks to gold from the Americas. This new gold made rulers and colonial governors rich. Meanwhile, others' savings became worth less due to inflation. Spain became a society of very rich and very poor. Some of the poorest went to the new colonies in the Caribbean, Central America and South America, mostly to find gold.
Native American peoples were killed by diseases brought by the Spaniards, but most Spaniards did not know this. They found damaged and dying societies with people who had lost some of their most important leaders and thinkers. The Spaniards thought this meant they were inferior, and used this as an excuse to enslave the natives. Millions of natives died mining gold for the Spanish.
The Spanish Empire also at this time funded the Spanish Inquisition which tortured and killed anyone who disagreed with the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation which created Protestant sects in Europe was not allowed into Spain, it was kept out and, as with Jews or Muslims, its believers were killed.
The nobles of Spain no longer had to fight anyone since the internal feuds were over. No one could challenge their power. In many ways it was held together as a reign of terror. People who challenged them were often called heretics, so that the Inquisition could torture them, and then nobles take the property.
For ordinary people on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, life got worse. A few rulers got rich. Today we would say that these people were guilty of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Many Church people who had the power to speak out at that time, did so, and they said many of the same things as we would say today. But none of this mattered much to the rulers.
The great satire Don Quixote was written about this time.
In the 18th century, there was doubt over who should become king of Spain; this doubt led many of the kings of Europe to fight to become king of Spain. This was called the War of the Spanish Succession.
France occupied Spain for a long time. This made Spain very weak. It also made Spain lose its empire in North and South America; all of the parts of that empire became their own countries, or were taken over by other countries such as the United States of America.
There was not much peace in Spain during the first part of the 20th century. Some Spaniards tried to set up a government chosen by the people (a democracy), and they made the King of Spain leave the country. However, in 1936, two different groups of Spaniards went to war over whether the government should be a democracy, or take orders from one person. In 1939, those who wanted democracy were defeated, and a dictator named Francisco Franco took over the government.
Franco died in 1975. He had decided that Spain should have a king again, and he chose Juan Carlos, the grandson of the king who had been forced to leave the country, to be king. But the king did not rule as a dictator; instead, he chose to set up a democracy. Also since Franco's death, Spain appointed Adolfo Suárez to became Spain's first democratically elected prime minister. Now Spain is a modern democratic country, and does business with many countries around the world. It is a part of the European Union.
Height
Height is the distance between the lowest end and highest end of an object.
For example, people consider the bottom of the foot a person's lowest end, and the top of the head a person's highest end. If the distance between the bottom of a person's foot and the top of that person's head is 64 inches, then that person's height is 64 inches.
Historian
A historian is someone who studies history. Historian use written sources to understand past events and societies.
Human body
The human body is the body of a person. It is the physical structure of a person.
The body is a thing that can be hurt or killed. Its functions are stopped by death. You need your muscles and your joints to move.
Some people study the human body. They look at where it is different from or the same as other animals' bodies. These animals can be alive today. Or they can be extinct animals like other hominids. (Hominids are primates that are close to humans. Neanderthals and "Homo erectus" were hominids.) Some people study how the human body works and lives in its environment. Some people study what people think about their body. Artists study how to draw or paint the human body.
Many different fields of study look at the human:
Various organ systems give the body the ability to live and do things.
The human body is like other animals. The skeleton, muscles and other parts are very much like those of other primates. Our body is also like other mammals, and somewhat like other vertebrates. DNA differences follow a similar pattern. The human genome is closer to that of other primates than to other vertebrates, and closest to chimpanzee.
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is a chemical element. It has the symbol H and atomic number 1. It has a standard atomic weight of 1.008, meaning it is the lightest element in the periodic table.
Hydrogen is the most common chemical element in the Universe, making up 75% of all normal (baryonic) matter (by mass). Most stars are mostly hydrogen. Hydrogen's most common isotope has one proton with one electron orbiting around it.
Hydrogen is classed as a reactive nonmetal, unlike the other elements appearing in the first column of the periodic table, which are classed alkali metals. The solid form of hydrogen is expected to behave like a metal, however.
When alone, hydrogen usually binds with itself to make dihydrogen (H) which is very stable, due to its high bond dissociation energy of 435.7 kJ/mol. At standard temperature and pressure, this hydrogen gas (H) has no colour, smell or taste. It is not toxic. It is a nonmetal and burns very easily.
Molecular hydrogen is flammable and reacts with oxygen:
2 H(g) + O(g) → 2 HO(l) + 572 kJ (286 kJ/mol)
At temperatures above 500 degrees Celsius, hydrogen spontaneously ignites in air.
While hydrogen gas in its pure form is not reactive, it does form compounds with many elements, particularly halogens, which are very electronegative. Hydrogen also forms vast arrays with carbon atoms, forming hydrocarbons. The study of the properties of hydrocarbons are known as organic chemistry.
The H anion (negatively charged atom) is called a hydride, although the term is not widely used. An example of a hydride is lithium hydride (LiH), which is used as a "spark plug" in nuclear weapons.
Acids dissolved in water typically contain high levels of hydrogen ions, in other words, free protons. The level of them is usually used to determine its pH, which basically means the content of hydrogen ions in a particular volume. For example, hydrochloric acid, found in people's stomachs, can dissociate into a chloride anion and a free proton, and the property of the free proton is how it can digest food by corroding it.
Although rare on Earth, the H cation is one of the most common ions in the universe.
Hydrogen has 7 known isotopes, two of which are stable (H and H), which are commonly referred to protium and deuterium. The isotope H is known as tritium and has a half life of 12.33 years, and is produced in small amounts by cosmic rays. The remaining 4 isotopes have half lives on the scale of yoctoseconds.
In its pure form on Earth, hydrogen is usually a gas. Hydrogen is also one of the parts that make up a water molecule. Hydrogen is important because it is the fuel that powers the Sun and other stars.
Hydrogen makes up about 74% of the entire universe. Hydrogen's symbol on the Periodic Table of Elements is H.
Pure hydrogen is normally made of two hydrogen atoms connected together. Scientists call these diatomic molecules. Hydrogen will have a chemical reaction when mixed with most other elements. It has no color or smell.
Pure hydrogen is very uncommon in the Earth's atmosphere, because nearly all primordial hydrogen would have escaped into space due to its weight. In nature, it is usually in water. Hydrogen is also in all living things, as a part of the organic compounds that living things are made of. In addition, hydrogen atoms can combine with carbon atoms to form hydrocarbons. Petroleum and other fossil fuels are made of these hydrocarbons and commonly used to create energy for human use.
Some other facts about hydrogen:
Hydrogen was first separated in 1671 by Robert Boyle. Henry Cavendish in 1776 identified it as a distinct element and discovered that burning it made water.
Antoine Lavoisier gave Hydrogen its name, from the Greek word for water, 'υδορ (pronounced /HEEW-dor/) and gennen meaning to "generate" as it forms water in a chemical reaction with oxygen.
The main uses are in the petroleum industry and in making ammonia by the Haber process. Some is used elsewhere in the chemical industry. A little of it is used as fuel, for example in rockets for spacecraft. Most of the hydrogen that people use comes from a chemical reaction between natural gas and steam.
Nuclear fusion is a very powerful source of energy. It relies on forcing atoms together to make helium and energy, exactly as happens in a star like the Sun, or in a hydrogen bomb. This needs a large amount of energy to get started, and is not easy to do yet. A big advantage over nuclear fission, which is used in today's nuclear power stations, is that it makes less nuclear waste and does not use a toxic and rare fuel like uranium. More than 600 million tons of hydrogen undergo fusion every second on the Sun.
Hydrogen is mostly used in the petroleum industry, to change heavy petroleum fractions into lighter, more useful ones. It is also used to make ammonia. Smaller amounts are burned as fuel. Most hydrogen is made by a reaction between natural gas and steam.
The electrolysis of water breaks water into hydrogen and oxygen, using electricity. Burning hydrogen combines with oxygen molecules to make steam (pure water vapor). A fuel cell combines hydrogen with an oxygen molecule, releasing an electron as electricity. For these reasons, many people believe hydrogen power will eventually replace other synthetic fuels.
Hydrogen can also be burned to make heat for steam turbines or internal combustion engines. Like other synthetic fuels, hydrogen can be created from natural fuels such as coal or natural gas, or from electricity, and therefore represents a valuable addition to the power grid; in the same role as natural gas. Such a grid and infrastructure with is now planned by a number of countries including Japan, Korea and many European countries. This allows these countries to buy less petroleum, which is an economic advantage. The other advantage is that used in a fuel cell or burned in a combustion engine as in a hydrogen car, the motor does not make pollution. Only water, and a small amount of nitrogen oxides, forms.
Helium
Helium is a chemical element. It has the chemical symbol He, atomic number 2, and atomic weight of about 4.002602. There are 9 isotopes of helium, only two of which are stable. These are He and He. He is by far the most common isotope.
Helium is called a noble gas, because it does not regularly mix with other chemicals and form new compounds. It has the lowest boiling point of all the elements. It is the second most common element in the universe, after hydrogen, and has no color or smell. However, helium has a red-orange glow when placed in an electric field. Helium does not usually react with anything else. Astronomers detected the presence of helium in 1868, when its spectrum was identified in light from the Sun. This was before its discovery on Earth.
Helium is used to fill balloons and airships because its density is lighter than air. It does not burn, so is safe for that kind of use. It is also used in some kinds of light bulbs. People can breathe in helium: it makes their voices sound higher than it normally does. This is a joke, but is dangerous as if they breathe in too much, hypoxia can injure or kill them as they are not breathing normal air. Breathing too much helium can also cause long-term effects to vocal cords.
Helium is created through the process of nuclear fusion in the Sun, and in similar stars. During this process, four hydrogen atoms are fused together to form one helium atom. On Earth it is made by the natural radioactive decay of heavy radioactive elements like thorium and uranium, although there are other examples. The alpha particles emitted by such decays consist of helium-4 nuclei.
Helium was discovered by the French astronomer pierre Janssen on August 18, 1868, as a bright yellow line in the spectrum of the chromosphere of the Sun. The line was thought to be sodium. On the same year, English astronomer, Norman Lockyer, also observed it and found that it was caused by a new element. Lockyer and English chemist Edward Frankland named the element helium, from the Greek word for the Sun, ἥλιος ("helios").
Helium is the second least reactive noble gas after neon. It is the second least reactive of all elements. It is chemically inert and monatomic in all standard conditions. Helium is the least water-soluble monatomic gas.
Helium is used as a shielding gas in growing silicon and germanium crystals, in making titanium and zirconium, and in gas chromatography, because it is inert. Helium is used as a shielding gas in arc welding.
Helium is mixed with oxygen and other gases for deep underwater diving because it does not cause nitrogen narcosis.
Helium is also used to condense hydrogen and oxygen to make rocket fuel. It is used to remove the fuel and oxidizer from ground support equipment before the rocket launches. It is used to cool liquid hydrogen in space vehicles before the rocket launches.
Helium is used as a heat-transfer medium in some nuclear reactors that are cooled down by gas. Helium is also used in some hard disk drives. Helium at low temperatures is used in cryogenics.
Helium has become rare on Earth. If it gets free into the air it leaves the planet. Unlike hydrogen, which reacts with oxygen to form water, helium is not reactive. It stays as a gas. For many years after the 1925 Helium Act, the USA collected helium in a National Helium Reserve. American helium comes from wells in the Great Plains area. At present, more helium is supplied by Qatar than by the USA.
Several research organisations have released statements on the scarcity and conservation of helium. These organisations released policy recommendations as early as 1995 and as late as 2016 urging the United States government to store and conserve helium because of the natural limits to the helium supply and the unique nature of the element. For researchers, helium is irreplaceable because it is essential for producing very low temperatures. Helium at low temperatures is used in cryogenics, and in certain cryogenics applications. Liquid helium is used to cool certain metals to the extremely low temperatures required for superconductivity, such as in superconducting magnets for magnetic resonance imaging.
Home page
The home page of a web site is the document that a web server sends to another computer's web browser application when it has been contacted without a request for specific information. That is, when one enters only a domain name in the Address box without specifying a directory or a file, the "home page" is usually the first part of the web site one would be taken to. The Home Page is also called the Main Page.
A properly written home page will tell a user about the information available in the web site, and how to view different parts of the web site.
The home page of "simple.wikipedia.org" can be found at this link.
Home Page was a popular computer application used for composing web pages.
In Linux-based servers, the homepage is default.html, default.php, etc. This is a problem for website administrators to install website applications like MediaWiki. Mainly because most website applications are created with the homepage as index.php for PHP applications.
However, in Windows-based servers, the homepage is default.html, default.php, etc. This is a problem for website administrators to install website applications like MediaWiki. Mainly because most website applications are created with the homepage as index.php (for PHP applications).
Hair
Humans and some other animals have lost much of their hair through evolution, and some other mammals, such as the elephant and the whale, have almost none at all.
Hair can have different functions:
Some animals, for example certain insects and spiders also have "hairs". However, these are not hair in the biological sense, but are actually bristles. The "hairs" found on certain plants are also not true hair, but trichomes.
In humans, hair grows mostly on the head, and the amount of body hair is different from race to race. Asians and native North Americans have the least amount of body hair, while Caucasians tend to have the most.
Hair color is passed down by parents only. Natural hair color can be given only by genes. It is impossible to have a hair color that is not passed down genetically by both mother and father. This relies on dominant and recessive genes carried by a parent. These genes may not be the color of their hair, however, many people carry genes that are recessive and do not show in their traits or features.
Dyeing hair is to change the color of hair. It consists of a chemical mixture which can change the color of hair by a chemical reaction. Many people dye their hair to hide gray or white hairs. This is because most people gain white or gray hairs as they grow older.
Two types of melanin pigment give hair its color: "eumelanin" and "pheomelanin". Pheomelanin colors hair red. Eumelanin determines the darkness of the hair color. A low concentration of brown eumelanin results in blond hair, but more brown eumelanin will color the hair brown. High amounts of black eumelanin result in black hair, while low concentrations give gray hair. All humans have some pheomelanin in their hair.
The genetics of hair colors are not yet firmly established. According to one theory, at least two gene pairs control human hair color.
One phenotype (brown/blond) has a dominant brown allele and a recessive blond allele. A person with a brown allele will have brown hair; a person with no brown alleles will be blond. This explains why two brown-haired parents can produce a blond-haired child.
The other gene pair is a non-red/red pair, where the not-red allele is dominant and the allele for red hair is recessive. A person with two copies of the red-haired allele will have red hair, but it will be either auburn or bright reddish orange depending on whether the first gene pair gives brown or blond hair, respectively.
The two-gene model does not account for all possible shades of brown, blond, or red (for example, platinum blond versus dark blonde/light brown), nor does it explain why hair color sometimes darkens as a person ages. Several other gene pairs control the light versus dark hair color in a cumulative effect (quantitative genetics).
Hair texture is also inherited genetically. The thickness of hair, its color and its tendency to curl are all inherited. There are also genetic differences between men and women. Body hair is limited in women, and thicker in men.
People have about 100,000 hairs on their head. About 100 fall out each day, but they usually grow back. Some men are bald but girls and women may become bald if they lose their hair from a disease called alopecia.
Men often lose some of their hair as they grow older. This is known as "baldness". Doctors call it "male pattern baldness" because hairs often fall out in similar places. It often begins by hair falling out first from the front of the head, and then from the top of the head. After a while, all that may be left is a some hair running above the ears and around the lower back of the head. Even though it is unusual for women to go bald, many women suffer from thinning hair over the top of their head as they grow old.
People have tried to find cures for hair loss for thousands of years. In an effort to get their hair back, men have tried "cures" like applying strange lotions or even having their heads packed in chicken manure. Many unproven "cures" are still marketed today. It is only in the last decade or so that treatments have been developed which do sometimes work. Some doctors do hair transplants, where they take tiny plugs of hair from areas like the back of the neck and plant them in the bald spots on the head. Some drugs have been tested and approved for sale as hair loss treatments. They encourage hair regrowth and thickening, but work better if applied before hair loss turns to baldness.
People have been interested in hair on their heads for hundreds of thousands of years. For both men and women, styling and coloring hair have been ways to look good, and get attention. Sometimes society makes rules about hair, for example by not allowing people to cut their hair or beards, like in Sikhism (it is also good to do this in Islam, but not a requirement).
Ireland
Ireland (; ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic. It is about 486 kilometres (302 miles) long and about 288 kilometres (179 miles) wide. To the west of Ireland is the Atlantic Ocean; to the east of Ireland, across the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain. Over 6.4 million people lived on the island in 2016.
Today, the island of Ireland is made up of two countries: the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland:
From 1801 to 1921, all of Ireland was part of the same country, called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1919, a war broke out, the Irish War of Independence, and on December 6 1921, the Irish Free State became independent. After a new constitution came into effect in 1937, the state became a republic. Northern Ireland stayed with the UK, and this would lead to The Troubles beginning in the 1960s and ending with the Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998.