We notice this phenomenon through the life of individuals as also the whole groups of peoples through the history of civilisations. We observe Eskimos, Bedouins, Incas and many other examples to be reinventing themselves and surviving heavy odds like the tundra, desert and the ever-creeping forest cover (respectively), yet overpowering them without blinking.

On the contrary, single people in our observation quite frequently succumb to similar impediments in life. Nations do too. Moenjodaro, Egyptians of Thebes and the vainglorious Mughals are among those that lost out and left no trace except for the glorious cities they built.

But we should keep in mind the heavy odds that some other men and women confronted and defeated them, to their ultimate glory, and for posterity. People like Florence Nightingale, Helen Keller, Newton, Galilee, our own Quaid-i-Azam, Edison and, above all, the greatest of them all by far, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Valiantly these men and women fought against conventional wisdom and turned the world upside down for us to benefit from.

Such is the story of mankind, which despite remarkable collective effort of uncounted centuries held firmly to various beliefs that have undone them in no small measure. But for the time being let us get back to astronomical parlance from where we left off the last time around.

Fossil fuels: All fossil fuels tell the history of life on the planet. The fuels include oil, gas, coal and shale. Most of these have been created from the bones and cadavers of dead animals over tens or hundreds of millions of years. Coal is a product of fallen trees and forests. All fossil fuels produce carbon dioxide when burned, adding to air pollution and consequently the greenhouse effect.

Challenge, whether to a society or an individual, ensures a defiant response often leading to their ultimate survival through the ensuing struggle.— Arnold J. Toynbee, rephrased

Fossils: Petrified remains of dead animals which have yet to turn into fuel of one kind or another. These are bones large and small and also teeth. Often found embedded in stone. The word fossil comes from the Latin word meaning “to dig”, since they lie buried in layers called strata and have to be dug up to be found. As the lower strata are much older than the upper strata, the bones found here are much older than upper strata and palaeontologist have been able to construct the story of evolution on the planet on the basis of findings from various strata.

Freezing point: This is the temperature at which a substance passes, or converts from liquid to a solid state by the loss of heat present inside that body. Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit or zero degree Celsius and 273 degrees on Kelvin scale.

Freon: Trade name for nearly all CFCs. They are environmentally harmful gasses, used as refrigerants, aerosol sprays, cleaning agents and in the manufacture of foam plastics the world over. Freon is damaging to the ozone layer. But they are being used without regard to their lethal affect on the planet and its contents.

Friction: It is the resistance of an object to air or water, or any other medium. Or, the rubbing of one surface against another as in a machine.

Friction/resistance is a major cause for loss of energy in a system involving conversion of one type of energy into another. For example, the amount of the energy packed in one litre of petrol/gasoline used in an automobile (or any such machine) results in friction and exhaust into producing a warmer car, air or road, up to 80 per cent energy, in the form of rejected heat.

Nuclear fusion: It is atomic interaction in which nucleons are fused together, creating new atomic nuclei, in the process releasing tremendous energy. In it, the light nuclei of hydrogen atoms are joined together at very high temperature to form a single heavier helium ejecting high speed neutrons.

The atoms resulting from the joining weigh slightly less than the one that fuelled the process. It is this difference in weight that is converted into energy.

Fusion is the process that makes the Sun and other stars burn — and it powers the hydrogen bomb. This technology is very vital to the countries involved in the race to exploit it for peaceful as well as military use.

We will proceed to the next letter of alphabet in the next issue. Till then it is a warm good-bye and God bless.

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 18th, 2016