Tuesday, October 2, 2012

How to write a check

Hi there!

In this section we will learn how to write a check. In today's world writing a check is almost an art in itself, if you have never written one you can learn how to in 5 minutes.

Image source: www.wikipedia.org

1. Start by writing in the date using any format, as long as it's legible. I recommend using only current date, a post-dated check will likely get you in trouble if there aren't sufficient funds to cover the transaction.

2. Write the name of the person or company receiving your check on the line that starts with "Pay to the Order of" or "Payable to."

3. Write the numerical dollar amount of the check in the small space that starts with a dollar sign ($) so that it reads like this: $25.63.

4. Write the same amount using words for whole dollar amounts, a fractional figure for amounts less than a dollar, and a straight line to fill up the remaining space on the line ending with the word "Dollars," like this: Twenty-five and 63/100 ------------- Dollars.

5. Sign the signature line at the lower right.

6. For your records note the check number, date, payee and amount on the check stub or in the check ledger at the front of your checkbook. If your checkbook comes with a carbon copy you may not need to do this step, writing the check will do it for you while pressing the information on the original.

7. Subtract the amount of the check so that you will know how much you have left in your account. If it important to have sufficient funds in your account before writing a check.

If for any reason you end up with voided or unused checks be sure to completely destroy them along with the corresponding deposit slips, that way no one can copy the tiny micro codes and steal from you. I use a shredder or scissors.

Image source: www.onemilliondollarsonly.com

Now you know how to write a check. Thank you for reading!

Monday, September 3, 2012

What is the Higgs Boson?

In quantum physics, the Higgs Boson is a particle originally proposed by Peter Higgs, a British theoretical physicist and emeritus professor at the University of Edinburgh. In 1964 Higgs proposed a mechanism for the breaking of electroweak symmetry (the Higgs mechanism) and the means by which elementary particles acquire mass. The leading explanation is that a field exists that has non-zero strength everywhere, even in otherwise empty space, and that particles acquire mass when interacting with this field; the higgs field. In other words the Higgs field gives mass to elementary particles by way of interaction. According to this theory, the Higgs field permeates all space. 

Recently the media has referred to the Higgs boson as the "God particle", however scientists dislike this idea because it has nothing to do with God or any mystical associations. There's nothing special about this particle or field other than to just explain the properties proposed by Peter Higgs and prove whether the theory is right or wrong.

The Higgs particle is a boson, which is a particle that allows other particles to exist in the same place and in the same quantum state. The reason for this is because the proposed Higgs boson would have no spin, electric charge or color charge. It is however very unstable, decaying into other particles almost immediately. All of this is consistent with the Standard Model, a model that has been proposed to explain everything that happens in the universe.

On July 4, 2012 the CMS and ATLAS experimental teams at the Large Hadron Collider independently announced that they each confirmed the formal discovery of a type of particle that so far has been consisted with a Higgs boson. More research may be needed in the future to determine if there are more particles of this type and to further increase our understanding of the universe.




Wednesday, August 22, 2012

What color is our DNA

Well, DNA is not something you can see with the naked eye. However if you could grab a sizable chunk and pick it out with the naked eye it would certainly be a transparent to white color and viscous in nature. This is mainly due to the long chains of polymers and bonds that together make up the macromolecule.

 A few interesting facts about DNA:

1. Because of the inherent limitations in the DNA mechanisms, if humans lived long enough, they would eventually develop cancer.
2. Hydrogen peroxide (in concentrated amounts) can damage the DNA structure so badly that it can erase the code structure by unwinding the double helix. But worry not, the concentrations of your household hydrogen peroxide are so minute that won't cause anything other than erasing bacteria around your mouth.
3. DNA occurs as linear Chromosomes in Eukaryotes and circular Chromosomes in Prokaryotes.
4. DNA was fully embraced as the macromolecule of life in 1853 when Watson and Crick  suggested the double-helix model in the journal Nature.