Rbk- I Am What I Am

The era of late 18th and early 19th century assumes tremendous importance in history. And there are no prizes for guessing why. For it was during this period that the great Industrial Revolution kicked off in North America and Europe, especially Britain. It all started with James Watt inventing the famous Steam Engine in 1781. The manual-labor-driven economy gradually started making way to a machinery-automation-driven one. The change was not very fast but was effectual nevertheless. A few prominent inventions in this era include the Electric generator by Michael Faraday, Steel Plough by John Deere, Lead Acid Battery by Gaston Plante, Cathode Ray Tube by William Crookes, Wireless Telecommunication by Nicolas Tesla and many more. What makes it interesting to observe that these inventions were the results of improvisation of scientists and engineers on various new discoveries of effects and properties. Engineers then designed methods for large-scale manufacture of products and the upshot of this was the emerging of new factories and industries and thus, business companies.

And to introduce you all into this, this is something about the advent of a shoe industry. The first known shoes date back to 7000 to 8000 years before this. But it was not before the year 1895, a new industry called Mercury Sports was found by Joseph William Foster. 63 years thereafter, it was renamed as Reebok by siblings Joe and Jesse Foster, derived from the word (which Joe found in a dictionary won in a race), 'rhebok', an African word for an antelope. Later, it took special efforts from Paul Fireman to procure distribution rights in North America.

It was in the year 1982, when people started taking interests in fitness and aerobics. As a popular American actress and political activist, Jane Fonda, in her set of well known fitness videos, of the Workout Series and in the much-famed Workout Book, released in 1982, acknowledges that fitness craze was in the air and it was the same force which resulted in a record sale of more than 17 million copies of her book. Jobs became more sedentary and there was an increasing awareness to catch up with the missing fitness. Games like Baseball and Basketball started garnering enthusiasm among the stay-fit-folk and their rapid accretion appeared imminent. Throngs of people crowded gymnasiums and fitness centers to keep themselves in good shape. Who doesn't want to have a supple and flexible body, after all?

Reebok grew famous in this generation, especially with its Free-Style Athletic series, designed for women. Being a prominent player in the industry of its kind, Reebok dishes out several sport accessories, apparel and athletic footwear. Another particular series of footwear was The Reebok 'Pump' Series which was designed for comfort of ankle. It was incorporated with a special air bladder, capable of being inflated using an internal mechanism. And the tag line was more interesting, "Pump Up, Air Out". Initially used by basketball players, this brand grew more in demand and it wasn't long before 'Pump' hit the tennis and soccer arena. Some zealots used it to flaunt and at the same time, improve their gait. And few others displayed a penchant to wear wrist-bands with the famous vector logo on them.

In as many as 14 countries, we can find Reebok's factories. It's China which tops the list with 51% of the Reebok products being manufactured, followed by US, Indonesia and Vietnam. The workforce employed is close to 76000. The assessment of production, marketing and operating costs have been carefully carried out and set-up accordingly. Customers and users from Asia and Europe have welcomed Reebok products well, looking at the consumers statistics displayed on a geographical basis.

One can see that Reebok covers many international sportsmen from a host of games when it came to endorsements. Talking of cricket, Indian skipper MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Gautham Gambhir and many other players like Shoaib Malik and Chris Gayle have been roped in. Come to soccer, French striker Thierry Henry and Ukraine champ Andriy Shevchenko have been great ambassadors. As many as 5 teams in the Australian Football League have been sponsored of late. This apart, Reebok has sponsored many singers, Rapper Jay-Z and 50 Cent to name a few. Not to forget the "Lost in Translation" beauty and Golden Globe Award winning American actress Scarlett Johannson.

Reebok is what Reebok is. Much in reflection with its special unique selling proposition "I Am What I Am"....

The Wonder Metal

Spanish- TITANIO.
Croatian- TITANIJ.
French- TITANE.
German- TITAN-R.



Wondering what all these are? These are the different ways how folks name the 'Wonder Metal'-TITANIUM.

Let's jump back to the year 1791. In the nether regions of Ural Mountains in Russia, is situated Ilmen lake, encompassed by Ilmen Mountain Range. Concentrated into layers by "Magmatic Segregation", Ilmenite forms a primary mineral in mafic igneous rocks. Ilmenite also occurs in pegmatites, sedimentary rocks and metamorphic rocks. William Gregor, a British mineralogist, came across Ilmenite deposits at the Manaccan Valley. After several studies and processes, scientists came upon a greyish metal which was found to be light, strong, lustrous and corrosion-resistant. Later, it was Martin Kaproth who isolated the same metal from a mineral called Rutile. Paying respect to the great Titans of the Greek Mythology, Kaproth christened the new metal as Titanium.

Titanium occurs in many ores namely anatase, brookite, ilmenite, perovskite, sphene and many iron ores. Of these, rutile and ilmenite are considered as two primary ores. Rich ilmenite deposits are found in India, Norway, New Zealand, Ukraine, Canada and Australia. In the American continents, North and South, a very good quantity of Rutile is found, and traces in South Africa together add up to 90000 tonnes of Titanium extracted every year. The estimated amount of Titanium is about 600 million tonnes, thereby making it the seventh most abundant metal accounting for 0.63% of earth's crust by mass. It has been observed that Titanium was found in the rocks obtained from moon and in trace quantites from meteorites. Reports suggest the presence of traces of the metal in the sun's crust too. Now that is something which throws light on the universal existence of transition metals.

Kroll's Process and FFC Cambridge Process are the most important processes involved in the production of Titanium, though there are several other by-processes. The reason why it cannot be obtained by reduction of its dioxides is that the metal reacts with oxygen at higher temperatures.

A striking speciality observed in this new metal is that it possessed an excellent strength-to-weight ratio. The density of Titanium when compared with that of other metals of similar strength was found to be much low. When it was seen that pure titanium metal gave a strength of 434 MPa, which is equal to some of the other steel alloys, the weight was seen to be 45% less. Now that is a marked advantage waiting to get improvised upon. Add to that the high melting point of 1900K, we have a metal here which can also be used as a refractory material. Another interesting feature of Titanium is that it has a good resistance to corrosion. One would find it difficult to believe that Titanium has got similar resistance properties as that of Platinum. Acids, moist chlorine and salt water solutions have negligible effect on Titanium. This said, it is found to dissolve in concentrated acid solutions. However, Titanium is thermodynamically, a very reactive metal. It forms a passive oxide coating when exposed to elevated temperatures in air. Found to be paramagnetic, it possesses good electrical and thermal conductivity.

What crowns Titanium over its transition counterparts is the variety of application involved. Titanium dioxide is used as a permanent white pigment in paper, toothpaste, paints, enamel, laquer and plastic. However, the metal is seen to be used almost anywhere and everywhere. It is used in propeller shafts in jet engines, aircrafts, armour plating, naval ships, spacecrafts, missiles, helicopter exhaust ducts, hydraulic systems, shafts and rigging of heat exchangers of desalination plants, heat chillers for salt water aquariums, fishing lines, diver knives, human implants, bone supports, matrix composites, thin wall condenser tubing, topside water management systems, flue gas desulphurization for pollution control, PTA plants for polyester production, pressure vessels, hydrometallurgical autoclaves, substrate for hard-disk drives, lacrosse stick shafts, spectacles frames, anodes, cell-covers, surgical instruments, bicycles, clocks, tennis racquet and many more.

Interestingly, it is seen that Titanium is also used in modern designer jewellery. Titanium rings- including engagement rings and wedding bands are the fastest growing segments in titanium jewellery segment, because of its ability to withstand strength even after grooving and carving. Some jewellery also include diamonds with titanium, especially of the bezel type.

The golf industry has found that the lightweight titanium club heads can be bigger than those made of steel, enlarging the "sweet spot" of the club and thus increasing distance and accuracy. That would be a golfer's delight.

It's not surprising to know that Titanium is famously known as the 'Wonder Metal'। A marvel of a metal indeed.

A celestial ladle....!!!

December 15th, 1997. It was a calm, quiet evening. The sun had made his way well beyond the horizon and the birds were returning to their nests, after a long day in search of food.
Not far away, at my home, the mood was frenzy, as it was my birthday and me and my brother were into preparations. My friends Satish, Subramaniam, Avinash and Vijay (my cousin brother, best pal and alter ego) were to come to my place and I was mentally occupied with the things to do to make the evening more colourful. Cake, Candles and Coke were ready and waiting to get in action. The stage was set and the ambience was refreshing. My parents gifted with a brand new Hercules MTB that day, which made me all the more cheerful.

From my verandah, I could descry some bicycles heading towards my path. And within minutes, I was surrounded by my pals, with each of them dressed up sprucely and eager to flaunt. I took them up to the first floor to my home. You can imagine how incessantly we were chatting with each other and having fun. We just had finished with our mid-term exams and were in a lighter mood. The mood to enjoy was not light though, it was filled with lots of enthusiasm and charm.

I lit off the lights and cut the cakes, followed by them singing the birthday wish and soon enough, we were munching cakes and sweets, with lots of chocolates and spicy mixture. "Fizzzzz........!!!" sounded the coke jar when I opened it and poured it out to glasses. We finished having them and now it was time for us to go to the terrace. It was a sky which was clear and surprisingly enough, there wasn't even a bit of haze, so usual to find on a December evening. The light breeze only made the visit more inviting and lively.

We cast our sight in to the illimitable sky and kept watching. The view was magnificent and made us more longing towards a stroll in the space. We had just learnt about different constellations and stars-clusters at the school and here we were with the sky showing up all its splendor and pulchritude. Satish and Vijay came along to spot Andromeda and we managed to catch "The Hunter" or more specifically, "The Orion". Rigel, a prominent star in this bunch, was shining in its full glitter and the other seven tried to overcome her flair, but in vain.

As we looked on, we reminded ourselves about the much-famed "Big Dipper" or "The Plough" as they call it in UK, "Sapta Rishi" (seven stars) in India or "The Casserole" (saucepan) in France. We were eager beavers when it came to explore and find things rather than rote-learning. Having said that, we continued to gaze but found it difficult to find the "Big" Dipper. One of us pointed out to the tiny kite-resembling cluster and mistook it to be the one. Our efforts notwithstanding, we never were able to spot it. Perhaps the fact that we never had any realistic clue of its size made it more difficult to find it. Riding on our bent to find it, we stood there thinking when one of us spotted two stars, far from each other though, joined by a thin trail which seemingly resembled a line. And when we were able to find another one and ultimately the entire bunch of them. How lovely it was to find one such beautiful constellation. It wasn't a small cluster, which is what made it all the more tough to spot. But once found, it was easily to be noticed again. Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar and Alkaid really combine well to form one of the most resplendent of the myriad clusters dazzling out there.

"The Big Dipper" is an asterism formed within a constellation called Ursa Major, one of the 88 officially recognized constellations. Being circumpolar, that is to mean never setting below the horizon, it is always visible in the northern skies. There are lots of different mythological stories and beliefs related to this constellation. And Greeks are the first people who come to mind when we think of myths. They have a strange story of Zeus swirling and throwing two bears, one big and one small into the sky to make them immortal and safe. The bigger and the smaller bears today are the parts of the constellations, Big and Small Dipper respectively. Some native Americans associated the colors of autumn leaves, poured out by the fall with the bowl upside down.

Keeping myths apart, Sapta Rishi has also been of tremendous help when it came to the concerns of sailors and navigators. Some of them were exact enough to predict the time of the night by watching the positions of Sapta Rishi. The charming constellation has also made things much simpler to those who search the star Polaris, or more commonly known as The Pole Star. It has been observed that the two stars of the constellation, the ones situated far away from the tail end of the dipper point towards the Polaris. Polaris being a fainter star is situated much farther (at about approximately five times the distance between the pointers themselves). And more surprisingly, North is more accurately marked by Polaris than the usual magnetic compass....

Alaska's provincial flag is more diaphanous to the above fact। And in Ireland, this constellation is known to be the political symbol. Hmm, the choosers of the symbol were pretty innovative and novel in that aspect. Of the seven stars, Mizar is the most closest to earth, at 78 light years and Dubhe is the most farthest at 124 light years. "The Big Dipper" has lent a cherubic presence to the night sky, it has been beautiful, helpful and charismatic. I had a splendid time on my birthday, and we all had the actual look at the stars and groups about which we learnt in the text-books. It was as if as we had been taken on a space ride. The experience was simply, fascinating...!!!!