Current Affair 1:

What is upward Lightning?

 

Does lightning go up or down?

There are two ways that flashes can strike ground: naturally downward (those that occur because of normal electrification in the environment), and artificially initiated or triggered upward. Artificially initiated lightning is associated with things like very tall structures, rockets, and towers.

Triggered lightning starts at the “ground,” which in this case may mean the top of a tower, and travels upward into the cloud, while “natural” lightning starts in the cloud and travels to ground. Upward triggered lightning usually occurs in response to a natural lightning flash, but on rare occasions can be “self-triggered”—usually in winter storms with strong winds.

Lightning can also be triggered by aircraft flying through strong electric fields. If the plane is below the cloud, then a cloud-to-ground lightning (CG) flash could result.

The most important finding about upward lightning is that it primarily occurs when there is a nearby positive cloud-to-ground flash. The electric field change caused by the preceding flash causes an upward positive leader to initiate from a tall object such as a building, tower or wind turbine.

Current Affair 2:

Piezoelectric Effect in Liquids

 

News:

For the first time, scientists have reported evidence of the piezoelectric effect in liquids. The effect has been known for 143 years and in this time has been observed only in solids.

The effect was found in pure 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium bis(trifluoromethyl-sulfonyl)imide and 1-hexyl-3-methyl imidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide – both ionic liquids (i.e. liquids made of ions instead of molecules) at room temperature.

What is the piezoelectric effect?

In the piezoelectric effect, a body develops an electric current when it is squeezed. Quartz is the most famous piezoelectric crystal: it is used in this capacity in analog wristwatches and clocks. Such crystals are also used in cigarette lighters, electric guitars, TV remote controls, audio transducers, and other instruments where converting mechanical stress to a current is useful.

Quartz is silicon dioxide (SiO2). The quartz crystal consists of silicon and oxygen atoms at the four vertices of a three-sided pyramid; each oxygen atom is shared by two pyramids. These pyramids repeat themselves to form the crystal.

The effective charge of each pyramid is located slightly away from the centre. When a mechanical stress is applied – i.e., when the crystal is squeezed – the position of the charge is pushed further from the centre, giving rise to a small voltage. This is the source of the effect.

Why the effect in liquids surprising?

The reason the piezoelectric effect has only been expected in solids thus far is that the body being squeezed needs to have an organised structure, like the pyramids of quartz. Liquids don’t have such structure; instead, they take the shape of their container.

Physicists explain the effect using a combination of Hooke’s law – that the force required to squeeze an object is linearly (i.e., non-exponentially) proportional to the amount of squeezing – and the properties of dielectric materials. These are materials that do not conduct electricity but whose electrons are still mildly affected by an electric field.

Hooke’s law is not clear when the body isn’t very compressible.

 

Current Affair 3:

Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022

 

The Bill seeks to amend the Competition Act of 2002 to regulate mergers and acquisitions based on the value of transactions.

Major changes:

Just read once.

The amendment empowers the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to penalise entities found engaging in anti-competitive behaviour based on their global turnover. (Till now it was based on domestic turnover. Turnover means total sales in a year). It will be applicable for all companies but will have major impact on global tech companies like FB, Google, Amazon etc.

Earlier if an entity is merging with other or getting acquired then they had to seek approval from CCI based on 'Assets' and 'Turnover' of the companies. But with the recent amendment, all mergers and acquisitions will require CCI approval based on 'value of transactions' also.

The Bill proposes to reduce the timeline for the CCI to pass an order on such transactions from 210 days to 150 days.

Current Affair 4:

International Conference on Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence

 

The FIRST International Conference on Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence took place from 30 March to 1 April 2023 in Oxford, UK.

The conference is organised in collaboration with the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and several more organisations.

The conference brought together participants from non-profit, government, academic, and donor backgrounds from around the world, providing a forum for the exchange of knowledge and interdisciplinary discussions.

 

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