QUES: A flood occurs when a river overflows its banks. This might happen because of heavy rains. Floodplains In very flat regions, flood water may spread out on the surface of the land. It then slows down and drops its sediment. If a river floods often, a floodplain develops. A floodplain is an area where a thick layer of rich soil is left behind as the floodwater recedes. Thats why floodplains are usually good places for growing plants. They are very flat areas and they have very rich soils. The Nile River valley is a great example of a floodplain. Each year, the Nile River rises over its banks. This floodwater carries a lot of sediment. This sediment has been eroded off areas of land from upstream. This sediment is dropped as the water slows down after spreading across the land. What is left behind is a very rich soil. Thats why crops can be raised in the middle of a sandy desert. Natural Levees A flooding river often forms natural levees along its banks. A levee is a raised strip of sediments deposited close to the waters edge.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: What two geographic formation can be created from flooding rivers?

QUES: Electric charge is a physical property. It occurs between particles or objects. It causes them to attract or repel each other. They do not even have to touch. This is unlike the typical push or pull you may be familiar with. All electric charge is based on the protons and electrons in atoms. A proton has a positive electric charge. An electron has a negative electric charge. Forces on Charged Objects Most atoms are balanced electrically. They have the same number of positive and negative charges. Therefore, the number of protons equals the number of electrons. Neutrons do not matter as they have no charge. When an object loses some electrons, it becomes positively charged. There are now more protons than electrons inside the atom. The lost electrons may remain free. Or, they may attach to another object. The new object now has more electrons than protons. It then becomes negatively charged.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: What kind of charge does a particle with more protons than electrons have?

QUES: In the rest of the world, China's supreme sage, Kongfuzi (K'ung Fu-tzu), is better known by the romanized name "Confucius." He was born in 551 b.c. in what is now Shandong Province in eastern China. So profound was his influence that eleven Chinese emperors made pilgrimages to the birthplace of the Great Teacher. You, too, can pay your respects at the vast temple raised on the site of his home in the small town of Qufu (Chufu), and at his tomb in the woods just to the north. The classics of Confucius, while seldom addressing spiritual and metaphysical matters, set standards for social and political conduct that still underlie many of the Chinese ways of doing and perceiving. Confucius laid great stress on the proper and harmonious relationships between ruler and subject, parent and child, teacher and student, the individual and the state. These relationships were deemed to be hierarchical and dictatorial. If the order was disturbed, dire consequences inevitably resulted. The son who disobeyed the father would bring disaster upon himself and his family, just as the emperor who defied the "mandate of heaven" or ignored the good of the empire brought ruin upon the nation. Over the centuries Confucius has suffered more changes of fortune than probably any other philosopher. Honored soon after his death as the greatest of scholars, he was later revered as semi-divine; you can still visit temples to Confucius in many Chinese cities. During the Cultural Revolution (19661976), however, he was denounced as a counter-revolutionary force. It was only after the death of Chairman Mao (1976) and the opening of China to the outside world under more progressive reformers that Confucius, too, was "rehabilitated." Unlike Confucius, about whose life many specific and even colorful details are known, the philosopher Laozi (Lao Tse or Lao-Tzu) is an enigma. Estimates of his date of birth vary by well over a century. One legend even says he taught the young Confucius. Laozi is immortalized by his book of thoughts on man, nature, and the universe, Daodejing ("The Way and Its Power"), which became the major text of China's greatest indigenous religion, Daoism (Taoism). With its emphasis on nature, intuition, the individual, paradox ("The knowledge which is not knowledge"), and the cosmic flow known as "The Way," Daoism became the religion of artists and philosophers. After the death of Confucius, the Zhou Dynasty entered a period of strife known as the "Warring States" period (475221 b.c.).
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: Who's influence was so profound that eleven Chinese emperors made pilgrimages to his birthplace?

QUES: A West Tennessee nonprofit organization will use a $300,000 federal grant to hire an attorney and a Spanish-speaking paralegal to help provide legal assistance to domestic violence victims. The U.S. Department of Justice two-year grant will begin Oct. 1, which is the start of domestic violence awareness month. U.S. Rep. John Tanner announced Monday that the grant was awarded to West Tennessee Legal Services of Jackson. The organization provides legal assistance and advocacy in 17 counties. "This award will offer assistance as we look for whatever ways possible to stop domestic violence and help the women, men and children who are victims of abuse," Tanner said in a news statement. The organization doesn't have a staff member who speaks Spanish and the need is increasing with growing Hispanic populations, said the organization's executive director Steven Xanthopoulos. He estimated the money will help handle at least another 180 cases next year. The group closes about 2,500 cases a year. The money was timed well because the legal group had recently lost about $120,000 in grant money due to a decrease in the poverty population in West Tennessee in Census 2000, Xanthopoulos said. "The drop in poverty is a good thing, but there is still a great need out there," he said. "So this was a very good thing." Having legal representation at divorce and child custody hearings is important in helping victims leave abusive and sometimes dangerous situations, said Margaret Cole, executive director of Wo/Men's Resource and Rape Assistance Program in Jackson. Her organization and Northwest Safeline are partners in the grant. Northwest Safeline, based in Dyersburg, is a family violence intervention project that serves Dyer, Obion, Lake and Crockett counties.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION:
How many cases does the West Tennessee Legal Services of Jackson close a year?