Why is there a small gap between two railway lines?

The gaps you are referring to the small gaps that are left between section of the rail that form each side of the parallel railways for over which railway engines, coaches, trains and trams run.

These gaps which are of the order of a few millimeters, are provided to allow room for the rails to expand the rise in temperature due to the atmospheric temperature as well as the friction caused by running of train. All materials expand when heated and contract when cooled. the extent of expansion and contraction is quite low to be noticed by people or make much difference in most situations. However, since each section of the rail is very long, the expansion due to heating is significant, and unless space is provided for expansion of rails, the rails will bend to accommodate the increased length. This will make the railway unfit for running of trains.

What are some examples of figurative language and/or imagery in By the Waters of Babylon? How are they effectively used?

An issue that is inextricably interwined with imagery is the mode of narration in this story. Part of the secret of this story's greatness is the fact that it is told to us using the first person point of view, which means we are not given the setting of the story straight away, but rather have to work it out from the tantalising clues we are provided with. The imagery used in this story supports this narrative function of presenting us with a naive, young narrator who is overwhelmed with awe at what he witnesses and is not able to comprehend the truth of what he sees because of his primitive background and his lack of understanding of science.

There are many examples to pick on but this paragraph gives us a perfect example that identifies this lack of understanding:

All the same, when I came to the Place of the Gods, I was afraid, afraid. The current of the great river is very strong - it gripped my raft with its hands. That was magic, for the river itself is wide and calm. I could feel evil spirits about me, in the bright morning; I could feel their breath on my neck as I was swept down the stream. Never have I been so much alone - I tried to think of my knowledge, but it was a squirrel's heap of winter nuts. There was no strength in my knowledge anymore and I felt small and naked as a new-hatched bird - alone upon the great river, the servant of the gods.

Here we see the narrator misinterpreting the current of the river as "magic" - he feels "demons" surrounding him to partly explain this mystery, and he uses a very important metaphor that he uses to describe his lack of knowledge applied to this new situation. Note the nature imagery that is used to make it very appropriate - for this is the setting of the narrator and his only knowledge. This is followed by another nature simile, describing his innocence and inability to process and understand what is happening around him. These, like other examples, serve to highlight the tone of the story - that of mystery and awe.

What is the central conflict of Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues"? How is the conflict a result of colliding worldviews?

In James Baldwin's powerful short story, the narrator of "Sonny's Blues," the older brother, wonders if the differences between his brother and him can ever be bridged.  Because there is a seven-year difference between the brothers, they have never been close or communicated well.  So, when Sonny was arrested for heroin, the older brother did not understand why and also felt that there was nothing that he could do for his brother.

However, after his little daughter Grace dies, the narrator, in his own suffering thinks of his suffering brother, Sonny:  "My trouble made his real." In his reflections, the narrator recalls his promise to their mother that he would look out for Sonny as, being family, they are important to each other.  So, he meets with Sonny after his release from prison; they drive around the elegant part of New York before returning to the "vivid killing streets" of their childhood Harlem.  Then, as they watch a religious revival across the street, there is a spiritual revival in the heart of the narrator as he realizes that Sonny is speaking of something of great import:

'When she was singing before,' said Sonny, abruptly, 'her voice reminded me for a minute of what heroin feels like sometimes...It makes you feel--in control.  Sometimes you've got to have that feeling...in order to stand it, to be able to make it at all.  On any level.

The brothers discuss how one must suffer.  As they talk, the narrator experiences an epiphany:

I realized, with his mocking look, that there stood between us, forever, beyond the power of time or forgiveness, the fact that I had held silence...when he had needed human speech to help him.

Knowing that his older brother is now truly listening, Sonny confesses that he has

 'been something I didn't recognize, didn't know I could be....I was all by myself at the bottom of something...I was just locking me in with it....I had to try to tell you.'

Having suffered himself, the narrator tells his brother that he understands, and the bridge is made between them.  Later, as the narrator sits in the dark listening to Sonny play, he feels in communion with him.  Through the bridge of music, the narrator hears their

tale of how we suffer,...it always must be heard.  There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only light we've got in all this darkness.

As the musicians gather around Sonny and Sonny plays, the leader

seemed to be saying, listen.  Now these are Sonny's blues....Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did.

The narrator has learned the moral truth that meaning in one's life depends upon sharing with those we love.  When the narrator truly listens to his younger brother, a strong bond grows between them, a bridge is forged through the "blues."  Before connecting with Sonny, the narrator has looked outside himself for solutions to his problems of living in Harlem, the death of his child, etc.  Now, he knows that Sonny is right:  He must look inward into the hearts of those he loves.

In King Lear, what are examples of King Lear's language changing from ornate/sophisticated to simple/monosyllabic; what does this change...

This is a great question!  Yes, Lear's language changes as his character undergoes changes.  The language reflects internal changes as you suggest, and these internal changes are also reinforced the physical changes Lear also undergoes.

As Lear moves from the courtly life of pomp and circumstance that he has known his whole life, to living at the pleasure of his daughters, to actually being abandoned on the heath in the midst of a violent storm, his speech does indeed change.

The most basic change he makes is from verse to prose.  In the first Act of the play, Lear is the King in every sense of the word and his language reflects his exalted state:

Know that we have divided

In three our kingdom; and 'tis our fast intent

To shake all cares and business from our age;

Conferring them on younger strengths, while we

Unburthen'd crawl toward death.

Lear, in the above text from Scene i, gives out his plan, but does so in the most formal of royal ways, by referring to himself in the plural as "we" rather than "I."  Kings spoke in the "royal we" because they weren't just speaking for themselves but for their countries.  Lear is certainly in his full-on royalty in this opening scene.

Later, in Act IV, Scene vi, he speaks in prose, language reserved in Shakespeare's plays for low-born characters, casual conversation and characters not in their right minds.

Look with thine ears.  See how yond justice rails upon yond simple thief.  Hark, in thine ear.  Change places, and handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief?

Even in these "mad" scenes, when Lear speaks in verse, it is jumbled, unconnected thoughts:

Now, now, now, now,

Pull off my boots.  Harder, harder.  So.

This speech is definitely meant to reflect his confused and "mad" state of mind.

At the end of the play, the verse he speaks to Cordelia is less pomp and circumstance and more lyrical imagery.  This is a nice reflection of the feeling for life that he has gained:

We two alone will sing like birds i'the cage.

When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,

And ask of thee forgiveness.

Shakespeare definitely uses the rhythm of the verse and the addition of prose text to give the audience (and the actor performing the role) clues about Lear's state of mind throughout the play.

In the novel "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte, what is Lockwood's first reaction to Heathcliff?

"Wuthering Heights" opens with the new tenant, Mr. Lockwood, arriving on a tempestuous night at the home Heathcliff.  The location, Lockwood states, is

a perfect misanthopist's Heaven:  and Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us.

However, when Lockwood meets Heathcliff, he is stung by the hostility of the landlord.  Nonetheless, he is intrigued by this "more exaggeratedly reserved" man.  In accord with the owner, Lockwood finds the name "Wuthering"

being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather.

Insighfully, Lockwood observes his landlord,

a dark-skinned gipsy in aspect, ... rather slovenly, a handsome figure; and rather morose.

But, Lockwood comments that he know by instinct that Heathcliff's reserve springs from "an aversion to showy display of feeling."  Heathcliff is not naturally sociable; he "loves and hates equally under cover" and displays only an antisocial attitude.  Yet, Lockwood remarks that he may be hasty in his evaluation, wanting to attribute to Heathcliff some of his own characteristics.  In fact, as his stay continues, Mr. Lockwood is nearly bitten by Heathcliff's dogs, and, instead of apologizing for the "ruffianly" dogs, Heathcliff tells Lockwood that the dogs bother no one who does not "meddle" with things.  He even grins at Mr. Lockwood.  As they converse, Mr. Lockwood does find Heathcliff intelligent and he does venture to "volunteer" a visit the next day, but Heathcliff does not encourage this visit.  Surprised, the somewhat reclusive Lockwood concludes that he is much "more sociable" than Heathcliff.

These first mixed reactions of Mr. Lockwood regarding Heathcliff correspond well to the gothic elements of Bronte's novel.  For, there is a preternatural atmosphere to the home with "villianous old guns, primitive structures, ....and grotesque carvings." of a man of "underbred pride" who is surly and even cruel--a grotesque man in a grotesque setting.

I got this question in my advanced functions class for the trig unit and don't understand it. Please help! A circular dining room at the top of...

We assume three possiblities. (i) the window is attached to the rotating room itself. (ii) window is outside the dyning room and not a rotating part and the rotating room could be crossed in any direction and (iii)  the window is out side and you can't cross the rotating room. You have to go out and reach the window by the nearest path along and outside of the circumference of the room.

The given details indicate that the when t = 0, window coordinates =(20, 0) suggests the radius of the rotating room is 20 meter.

When t = 18 minutes, the coordinates ( x,y)= {20 cos (7.5*18),20 sin(7.5*18) }. This indicates that the room has rotated by  7.5*18 dgerees = 135 degrees or 135/360 = 0.375 of a rotation.

Case(i): She need not walk any distance.

case (ii): The  coordinates of the window ledge (20 sin 7.5*0 , 20 cos 7*5*0) = (20sin0, 20 cos0) = (20*0, 20*1) = (0 , 20). The the coordinates of the woman after 18 minutes = { 20cos(7.5*18), 20sin(7.5*18) } = (20cos 135, 20 sin135) = {(-20/(2^0.5) , 20/(2^0.5)}

Therefore the chord distance between the points of widow ledge and the lady  =  { square of the diifference of x coordintes of the window ledge and that of the lady+square of the diiference of the y cordinates of the window ledge and that of the lady}^(0.5)

= sqrt{[20+20/(2^0.5)]^2+ [0-20/(2^05]^2 }

=20*(2+sqrt2) = 36.9552 m

Case (iii):

You can reach the window ledge coming out of the rotating room and walk along the circumferece of 135 degree clock wise or another way (360 -135)= 225 degree anti clockwise.

Going about 135 degree clockwise the possible nearest.That is (135/360)(2*pi*r), where r = 20 meter, the radius of the dining room.So, (135/360)(2*pi*r) = (135/360)(2*pi*20) =  47.1234 meter but not less.

Who invented the steam engine?

The first person to harness the power of steam was the Greek scientist Heron of Alexandria in the first century A.D. He developed several devices that were operated by water, steam, or compressed air, including a fountain, a fire engine, and the steam engine. The steam engine was significantly improved in 1711 by Englishman Thomas Newcomen (1663–1729), who created a machine that used steam to pump water. The Scottish inventor James Watt (1736–1819) substantially improved on Newcomen's model and patented (received exclusive rights to make, use, and sell) his own steam engine in 1769. Steam engines had previously depended on atmospheric pressure to push a piston (a sliding piece of metal moved by pressure) into a cylinder (a hollow tube) and create a vacuum by the cooling steam. Watt's invention was the first to employ a separate device, called a condenser, which performed this function. The condenser resulted in a 75-percent saving in fuel. It also allowed for the use of steam pressure to move the piston in both directions, giving the machine greater flexibility. Watt's advances paved the way for the Industrial Revolution (a period of technological development; c. 1750–c. 1850), which relied heavily on this machine to move from reliance on agriculture to an industrial-based economy. Watt's legacy also includes the terminology "horsepower" and "watts" as units for measuring the energy produced by an engine.

Further Information: Hills, Richard L. Power from Steam: A History of the Stationary Steam Engine. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993; "Steam Engine." MSN Encarta. [Online] Available http://www.encarta.msn.com/find/search.asp?search=steam+engine, November 8, 2000.