What is a patent? A patent is a government grant of the exclusive right to make, use, or sell an invention, usually for a limited period. Patents are granted to new and useful machines, manufactured products, industrial processes and to important improvements of existing ones. Patents are also granted to new chemical compounds, foods and medicinal products, as well as to the processes for producing them. Patents can even be granted to new plant or animal forms developed through genetic engineering.
The first recorded patent for an industrial invention was the one granted in 1421 in Florence, Italy to an architect and engineer, Filippo Brunelleschi for a barge with hoisting gear to transport marble.
An invention must be considered novel and useful in order to receive a patent. A patent is recognised as a kind of property. Its duration varies, ranging from 16 to 20 years.
How does the ozone layer in the Earth's upper atmosphere protect us from radiation? Ozone is an unstable molecule made up of three oxygen atoms. When ultraviolet light hits an ozone molecule, it easily splits up into an oxygen molecule of two atoms (the form of oxygen found in the air we breath) and a single oxygen atom. These will recombine again to form ozone molecules.
It is because ozone reacts so readily with ultraviolet light that it is able to absorb it.
The Earth's ozone layer stops a lot of the ultraviolet radiation from the sun from reaching the Earth's surface. Heavy exposure to ultraviolet light is believed to cause some types of cancers. Some aircraft exhaust gases like nitrogen oxide and the by-products of aerosol sprays will combine readily with oxygen atoms in the atmosphere. This means the oxygen atoms cannot recombine with oxygen molecules to form ozone again and the ozone layer becomes depleted.
Is it possible to catch germs from a computer keyboard? There are many types of viruses which can cause colds and flu. Some of the most common ones are the various rhinoviruses, adenoviruses and respiratory syncytial viruses.