Chalk Out of Eggshells

Chalk- is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores. It is common to find chert or flint nodules embedded in chalk. Chalk can also refer to other compounds including magnesium silicate and calcium sulfate. Chalk has greater resistance to weathering and slumping than the clays with which it is usually associated, thus forming tall steep cliffs where chalk ridges meet the sea. Chalk hills, known as chalk down land, usually form where bands of chalk reach the surface at an angle, so forming a scarp slope. Because chalk is porous it can hold a large volume of ground water, providing a natural reservoir that releases water slowly through dry seasons. Chalk is composed mostly of calcium carbonate with minor amounts of silt and clay. It is normally formed underwater, commonly on the sea bed, then consolidated and compressed during diagenesis into the form commonly seen today. During diagenesis silica accumulates to form chert or flint nodules within the carbonate rock Uses:

* Blackboard chalk is a substance used for drawing on rough surfaces, as it readily crumbles leaving particles that stick loosely to these surfaces. Although traditionally composed of natural chalk, modern blackboard chalk is generally made from the mineral gypsum, often supplied in sticks of compressed powder about 4 in (10 cm) long. * Sidewalk chalk is similar to blackboard chalk, except that it is formed into larger sticks and often colored. It is used to draw on sidewalks, streets, and driveways, mostly by children, but also by adult artists. * In agriculture chalk is used for raising pH in soils with high acidity. The most common forms are CaCO3 and CaO. * Tailor’s chalk is traditionally a hard chalk used to make temporary markings on cloth, mainly by tailors. Nowadays it is usually made from talc. * Chalk is a source of quicklime by thermal decomposition, or slaked lime following quenching with water. * Polishing chalk is chalk prepared with a carefully controlled grain size, for very fine polishing of metals * Woodworking joints may be fitted by chalking one of the mating surfaces. A trial fit will leave a chalk mark on the high spots of the corresponding surface. Chalk transferring to cover the complete surface indicates a good fit.

A seashell or sea shell, also known simply as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer created by an animal that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are often found washed up on beaches by beachcombers. The shells are empty because the animal has died and the soft parts have been eaten by another animal or have rotted out. The term seashell usually refers to the exoskeleton of an invertebrate. Most shells that are found on beaches are the shells of marine mollusks, partly because many of these shells endure better than other seashells. Apart from mollusk shells, other shells that can be found on beaches are those of barnacles, horseshoe crabs and brachiopods. Marine annelid worms in the family Serpulidae create shells made of calcareous tubes cemented onto other surfaces. The shells of sea urchins are called tests, and the moulted shells of crabs and lobsters are called exuviae. While most seashells are external, some cephalopods have internal shells. Seashells have been used by humans for many different purposes throughout history and pre-history. However, seashells are not the only kind of shells; in various habitats it is possible to find shells from freshwater animals such as freshwater mussels and freshwater snails, and it is also possible to find the shells of land snails.

When the word “seashells” is used to refer only to the shells of marine mollusks then studying seashells is part of conchology. Conchologists or serious collectors who have a scientific bias are in general careful not to disturb living populations and habitats: even though they may collect a few live animals, most responsible collectors do not often over-collect or otherwise disturb ecosystems. When studying the whole molluscan animal is included as well as studying the shell, then the study is known as malacology; a person who studies mollusks is known as a malacologist.

Seashells are commonly found in beach drift, which is natural detritus deposited along strandlines on beaches by the waves and the tides. Shells are very often washed up onto a beach empty and clean, the animal having already died, and the soft parts having rotted away or having been eaten by either predators or scavengers. Empty seashells are often picked up by beachcombers. However, the majority of seashells which are offered for sale commercially have been collected alive (often in bulk) and then killed and cleaned, specifically for the commercial trade. This type of large-scale exploitation can sometimes have a strong negative impact on local ecosystems, and sometimes can significantly reduce the distribution of rare species.

The word seashell is often used to mean only the shell of a marine mollusk. Marine mollusk shells that are familiar to beachcombers and thus most likely to be called “seashells” are the shells of marine species of bivalves (or clams), gastropods (or snails), scaphopods (or tusk shells), polyplacophorans, and cephalopod. These shells are very often the most commonly encountered, both in the wild, and for sale as decorative objects. Marine species of gastropods and bivalves are more numerous than land and freshwater species, and the shells are often larger and more robust. The shells of marine species also often have more sculpture and more color, although this is by no means always the case. In the tropical and sub-tropical areas of the planet, there are far more species of colorful, large, shallow water shelled marine mollusks than there are in the temperate zones and the regions closer to the poles. Although there are a number of species of shelled mollusks that are quite large, there are vast numbers of extremely small species too, see micro mollusks. Not all mollusks are marine however, there are numerous land and freshwater mollusks, see for example snail and freshwater bivalves. And not all mollusks have an external shell: some mollusks such as some cephalopods (squid and octopuses) have an internal shell, and many mollusks have no shell, see for example slug and nudibranch.

Bivalves are often the most common seashells that wash up on large sandy beaches or in sheltered lagoons. They can sometimes be extremely numerous. Very often the two valves become separated. There are more than 15,000 species of bivalves that live in both marine and freshwater. Examples of bivalves are clams, scallops, mussels, and oysters. The majority of bivalves consist of two identical shells that are held together by a flexible hinge. Inside the shells holds the animal’s body. Bivalves that do not have two shells either have one shell or they lack a shell all together. The shells are made of calcium bicarbonate and are secreted by the mantle. Bivalves, also known as pelecypods, are mostly filter feeders; they draw in water through their gills which then traps tiny food particles. Some bivalves have eyes and even an open circulatory system. Bivalves are used all over the world as types of food and as a way of getting pearls. But in the water, the larvae of some freshwater mussels can be dangerous to fish and can even bore through wood. Shell Beach, Western Australia is a beach which is entirely made up of the shells of the cockle Fragum erugatum as shown here.

Certain species of gastropod seashells (the shells of sea snails) can sometimes be common, washed up on sandy beaches, and also on beaches that are surrounded by rocky marine habitat.

Only a few species of cephalopods have shells (either internal or external) that are sometimes found washed up on beaches. Some cephalopods such as Sepia, the cuttlefish, have a large internal shell, the cuttlefish bone, and this often washes up on beaches in parts of the world where cuttlefish are common. Spirula spirula is a deep water squid-like cephalopod. It has an internal shell which is small (about 1 in or 24 mm) but very light and buoyant. This chambered shell floats very well and therefore washes up easily and is familiar to beachcombers in the tropics. Nautilus is the only genus of cephalopod that has a well-developed external shell. Females of the cephalopod genus Argonauta create a papery egg case which sometimes washes up on tropical beaches and is referred to as a “paper nautilus”. The largest group of shelled cephalopods, the ammonites, is extinct, but their shells are very common in certain areas as fossils.

There are numerous popular books and field guides on the subject of shell-collecting. Although there are a number of books about land and
freshwater mollusks, the majority of popular books emphasizes, or focuses exclusively on, the shells of marine mollusks. Both the science of studying mollusk shells and the hobby of collecting and classifying them are known as conchology. The line between professionals and amateur enthusiasts is often not well defined in this subject, because many amateurs have contributed to, and continue to contribute to, conchology and the larger science of malacology. Many shell collectors belong to “shell clubs” where they can meet others who share their interests. A large number of amateurs collect the shells of marine mollusks, and this is partly because many shells wash up empty on beaches, or live in the intertidal or sub-tidal zones, and are therefore easily found and preserved without much in the way of specialized equipment or expensive supplies.

Some shell collectors find their own material and keep careful records, or buy only “specimen shells”, which means shells which have full collectingdata: information including how, when, where, in what habitat, and by whom, the shells were collected. On the other hand, some collectors buy the more widely available commercially-imported exotic shells, the majority of which have very little data, or none at all. To museum scientists, having full collecting data (when, where, and by whom it was collected) with a specimen is far more important than having the shell correctly identified. Some owners of shell collections hope to be able to donate their collection to a major natural history or zoology museum at some point, however, shells with little or no collecting data are usually of no value to science, and are likely not to be accepted by a major museum. Apart from any damage to the shell that may have happened before it was collected, shells can also suffer damage when they are stored or displayed.

For an example of one rather serious kind of damage see Byne’s disease. Cassava, also called yuca, mogo, manioc, mandioca, tapioca and kamoteng kahoy, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy, tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates. It differs from the similarly-spelled yucca, an unrelated fruit-bearing shrub in the Asparagaceae family. Cassava, when dried to a starchy, powdery (or pearly) extract is called tapioca, while its fermented, flaky version is named garri. Cassava is the third-largest source of food carbohydrates in the tropics. Cassava is a major staple food in the developing world, providing a basic diet for around 500 million people.

Cassava is one of the most drought-tolerant crops, capable of growing on marginal soils. Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava. Cassava root is a good source of carbohydrates, but a poor source of protein. A predominantly cassava root diet can cause protein-energy malnutrition. Cassava is classified as sweet or bitter. Like other roots and tubers, Cassava contains anti-nutrition factors and toxins. It must be properly prepared before consumption. Improper preparation of cassava can leave enough residual cyanide to cause acute cyanide intoxication and goiters, and may even cause ataxia or partial paralysis. Nevertheless, farmers often prefer the bitter varieties because they deter pests, animals, and thieves. The more-toxic varieties of Cassava are a fall-back resource in times of famine in some places

Wild populations of M. esculenta subspecies flabellifolia, shown to be the progenitor of domesticated cassava, are centered in west-central Brazil, where it was likely first domesticated more than 10,000 years BP. By 6,600 BC, manioc pollen appears in the Gulf of Mexico lowlands, at the San Andrés archaeological site. The oldest direct evidence of cassava cultivation comes from a 1,400-year-old Maya site, Joya de Cerén, in El Salvador,[12] but the species Manihot esculenta likely originated further south in Brazil and Paraguay. With its high food potential, it had become a staple food of the native populations of northern South America, southern Mesoamerica, and the Caribbean by the time of the Spanish conquest, and its cultivation was continued by the colonial Portuguese and Spanish. Forms of the modern domesticated species can be found growing in the wild in the south of Brazil.

While several Manihot species are wild, all varieties of M. esculenta are cultigens. Cassava was a staple food for pre-Columbian peoples in the Americas and is often portrayed in indigenous art. The Moche people often depicted yuca in their ceramics. Since being introduced by Portuguese traders from Brazil in the 16th century, maize and cassava have replaced traditional African crops as the continent’s most important staple food crops. Cassava is sometimes described as the ‘bread of the tropics’ but should not to be confused with the tropical and equatorial b World production of cassava root was estimated to be 184 million tones in 2002, rising to 230 million tonnes in 2008 (FAO). The majority of production in 2002 was in Africa, where 99.1 million tons were grown; 51.5 million tons were grown in Asia and 33.2 million tons in Latin America and the Caribbean. Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava. However, based on the statistics from the FAO of the United Nations, Thailand is the largest exporting country of dried cassava, with a total of 77% of world export in 2005. The second-largest exporting country is Vietnam, with 13.6%, followed by Indonesia (5.8%) and Costa Rica (2.1%).

Worldwide cassava production increased by 12.5% between 1988 and 1990. In 2010, the average yield of cassava crops worldwide was 12.5 tons per hectare. The most productive cassava farms in the world were in India, with a nationwide average yield of 34.8 tons per hectare in 2010. Cassava, yams and sweet potatoes are important sources of food in the tropics. The cassava plant gives the highest yield of carbohydrates per cultivated area among crop plants, except for sugarcane and sugar beets. Cassava plays a particularly important role in agriculture in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, because it does well on poor soils and with low rainfall, and because it is a perennial that can be harvested as required. Its wide harvesting window allows it to act as a famine reserve and is invaluable in managing labor schedules. It also offers flexibility to resource-poor farmers because it serves as either subsistence or a cash crop. No continent depends as much on root and tuber crops in feeding its population as does Africa.

In the humid and subhumid areas of tropical Africa, it is either a primary staple food or a secondary costaple. In Ghana, for example, cassava and yams occupy an important position the agricultural economy, and contribute about 46% of the agricultural gross domestic product. Cassava accounts for a daily caloric intake of 30% in Ghana, and is grown by nearly every farming family. The importance of cassava to many Africans is epitomized in the Ewe (a language spoken in Ghana, Togo and Benin) name for the plant, agbeli, meaning “there is life”. The price of cassava has risen significantly in the last half decade, and lower-income people have turned to other carbohydrate-rich foods, such as rice In Tamil Nadu, India, the National Highway 68 between Thalaivasal and Attur has many cassava-processing factories alongside it—indicating an abundance of it locally. Cassava is widely cultivated and eaten as a staple food in Andhra Pradesh and in Kerala. In the subtropical region of southern China, cassava is the fifth-largest crop in term of production, after rice, sweet potato, sugar cane and maize. China is also the largest export market for cassava produced in Vietnam and Thailand. Over 60% of cassava production in China is concentrated in a single province, Guangxi, averaging over seven million tons annually. read tree, the breadfruit or the African breadfruit.

Cassava-based dishes are widely consumed wherever the plant is cultivated; some have regional, national, or ethnic importance. Cassava must be cooked properly to detoxify it before it is eaten. Cassava can be cooked in various ways. The soft-boiled root has a delicate flavor and can replace boiled potatoes in many uses: as an accompaniment for meat dishes, or made into purées, dumplings, soups, stews, gravies, etc. This plant is used in cholent, in some households, as well. Deep fried, it can replace fried potatoes, with a distinctive flavor. In Brazil, detoxified manioc is ground and cooked to a dry, often hard or crunchy meal which is used as a condiment, toasted in butter, or eaten alone as a side dish.

Cassava root is essentially a carbohydrate source. Its composition shows 60–65 percent moisture, 20–31 percent carbohydrate, 1–2 percent crude protein and a comparatively low content of vitamins and minerals. However, the roots are rich in calcium and vitamin C and contain a nutritionally significant quantity of thiamine, riboflavin and nicotinic acid. Cassava starch contains 70 percent amylopectin and 20 percent amylose. Cooked cassava starch has a digestibility of over 75 percent. Cassava root is a poor source of protein. Despite the very low quantity, the quality of cassava root protein is fairly good in terms of essential amino acids. Methionine, cysteine and cystine are, however, limiting amino acids in cassava root. Cassava is attractive as nutrition source in certain ecosystems because cassava is one of the most drought-tolerant crops, can be successfully grown on marginal soils, and gives reasonable yields where many other crops do not grow well.

Cassava is well adapted within latitudes 30° north and south of the equator, at elevations between sea level and 2000 meters above sea level, in equatorial temperatures, with rainfalls of 50 millimeters to five meters annually, and to poor soils with a pH ranging from acidic to alkaline. These conditions are common in certain parts of Africa and South America. Cassava is a highly productive crop in terms of food calories produced per unit land area per unit of time, significantly higher than other staple crops. Cassava can produce food calories at rates exceeding 250,000 cal/hectare/day compared with 176,000 for rice, 110,000 for wheat, and 200,000 for maize (corn). Cassava, like other foods, also has ant nutritional and toxic factors. Of particular concern are the cyanogenic glucosides of cassava (linamarin and lotaustralin). These, on hydrolysis, release hydrocyanic acid (HCN). The presence of cyanide in cassava is of concern for human and for animal consumption. The concentration of these ant nutritional and unsafe glycosides varies considerably between varieties and also with climatic and cultural conditions. Selection of cassava species to be grown, therefore, is quite important. Once harvested, cassava must be treated and prepared properly prior to human or animal consumption.