King Edward offered Scotland a deal which allowed them to have a Scottish king so long as King Edward was still in charge. This required the Scottish nobles to kneel, and swear allegiance to his sovereignty. Wallace refused, and led the resistance which followed. A series of battles were fought:
Wallace evaded capture by the English until 5 August 1305 when John de Menteith, a Scottish knight loyal to Edward, turned Wallace over to English soldiers at Robroyston near Glasgow. Wallace was taken to London at Westminster Hall, where he was tried for treason. He replied to the charge, "I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject". Wallace was however found guilty.
After the trial, on 23 August 1305, Wallace was taken from the hall, stripped naked and dragged through the city at the heels of a horse to the Elms at Smithfield. He was hanged, drawn and quartered–the most terrible execution in English law. It meant he was strangled by hanging but released while he was still alive, his body cut open, and his bowels burnt before him. Then he was beheaded, and his body cut into four parts. His preserved head (dipped in tar) was placed on a pike atop London Bridge. It was later joined by the heads of the brothers John and Simon Fraser, who had been colleagues of Wallace. Wallace's limbs were displayed, separately, in Newcastle upon Tyne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Stirling, and Aberdeen.
A book called "The Acts and Deeds of Sir William Wallace, Knight of Elderslie" was written by a minstrel named Blind Harry in the 15th century. The book is written more like a story than a true version of his life, and has led to much of the legends around William Wallace. The film Braveheart is based on the novel.
A plaque stands in a wall of St Bartholomew's Hospital near the site of Wallace's execution at Smithfield. In 2002 William Wallace was ranked as number 48 of the "100 Greatest Britons" in an extensive UK poll conducted by the BBC.
Æsir
The Æsir (Old Norse: singular "ǫ́ss" or "áss"; feminine "ásynja", plural "ásynjur") are the principal group or tribe of deities in Norse mythology. Including Odin, Frigg, Thor, and Baldr, the Æsir reside in the realm of Asgard, situated at the top of Yggdrasil's highest branch. Alongside the Æsir exists a second family of gods known as the Vanir, who joined with the Æsir to form a single, unified pantheon after the devastating war between the two tribes of deities. The Vanir were native to Vanaheimr, the god Njörðr and his children, Freyr and Freyja chief among them. The Æsir gods were usually connected with power and war, while the Vanir were associated with fertility and nature.
The things that happened between the Æsir and the Vanir are an interesting part of Norse mythology. While other cultures have had "elder" and "younger" generations of gods, as with the Titans and the Olympians of ancient Greece, the Æsir and Vanir were portrayed as contemporaries. The two tribes fought battles, concluded treaties, and exchanged hostages; Freyr and Freyja were said to be hostages. Some believe that events that occurred between the Æsir and Vanir were a reflection of events common between different Norse clans at the time.
The Æsir did not grow old, instead remaining young by eating the apples of Iðunn. While they did not age, they could be killed. It was said that most of them will die at Ragnarök.
Braveheart
Braveheart is an American historical war drama movie starring Mel Gibson and Sophie Marceau. It is loosely based around the life of 13th century Scottish warrior William Wallace, who fought against the English when they occupied Scotland.
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material that in some cases will conduct electricity but not in others. Good electrical conductors, like copper or silver, easily allow electricity to flow through them. Materials that block the flow of electricity, like rubber or plastic, are called insulators. Insulators are often used to protect people from electric shock. As the name implies, a semiconductor does not conduct as well as a conductor. Silicon is the most used semiconductor, but gallium arsenide is also used.
By the addition of different atoms into the crystal lattice (grid) of the semiconductor it changes its conductivity by making n-type and p-type semiconductors. Silicon is the most important commercial semiconductor, though many others are used. They can be made into transistors, which are small amplifiers. Transistors are used in computers, mobile phones, digital audio players and many other electronic devices.
Like other solids, the electrons in semiconductors can have energies only within certain bands (i.e. ranges of energy levels) between the energy of the ground state, corresponding to electrons tightly bound to the atomic nuclei of the material, and the free electron energy, which is the energy required for an electron to escape entirely from the material.
Semiconductors were being studied in laboratories as early as the 1830s. In 1833 Michael Faraday was experimenting with silver sulfide. He discovered that as the material was heated it conducted electricity better. This was the opposite of how copper acted. When copper is heated it conducts less electricity. A number of other early experimenters discovered other properties of semiconductors. In 1947 at Bell Labs in New Jersey, the transistor was invented. This led to the development of integrated circuits, which power almost all electronic devices today.
Doping is the process of adding a small impurity to a pure semiconductor to change its electrical properties. Lightly and moderately doped semiconductors are called extrinsic. A semiconductor doped to such high levels that it acts more like a conductor than a semiconductor is referred to as degenerate. Most semiconductors are made out of silicon crystals. Pure silicon has little use but doped silicon is the basis for most semiconductors. Silicon Valley was named for the large number of semiconductor startup companies that were located there.
Today, semiconductors are used far and wide. Semiconductors can be found in nearly every electronic device. Desktop computers, the Internet, tablet devices, smartphones all would not be possible without semiconductors.
Semiconductors can be made into very precise switches with a small amount of voltage. The voltage that the semiconductor doesn’t need can be sent to other electrical components in the device. Semiconductors can also be made very tiny and many of them can fit into a rather small circuit. Since they can be made so small, electrical devices today can be made thin and lightweight without compromising processing power.
Some of the dominating companies in the semiconductor business are Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics, TSMC, Qualcomm and Micron Technology.
Curium
Curium is a chemical element. It is a radioactive metal. It has the chemical symbol Cm. It has the atomic number 96. In chemistry it is placed in a group of metal elements named the actinides. Curium is a transuranic element. It is a radioactive element that does not exist in nature. Curium has to be made in a lab. Curium has a silver color and it is made by bombarding a plutonium target with alpha particles (helium ions). Curium was named after Marie Curie and her husband Pierre.
Lanark
Lanark is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is close to Carluke and Biggar. Lanark is approximately 40 miles from Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. William Wallace once lived there. There is a statue of Wallace on the town church. A plaque remembers where he "first drew sword to free his native land" in 1296, when he killed Heselrig, the English sheriff of Lanark. This event forms the start of the Mel Gibson film, "Braveheart".