The goblins on the prowl

QUESTION Where do goblins come from?

Goblins are one of the many instances of little folk — including fairies, elves, pixies and gnomes — i n medieval European literature.

A goblin is a mischievous, vengeful and greedy creature whose primary purpose is to cause trouble to humankind.

The word goblin is derived via latin and French from the Greek word kobalos, which was also the root of the word kobold, a small malicious sprite common in German folklore.

in Greek legend, kobaloi were small mischievous creatures or spirits who lived in the wild and stole food and shiny trinkets. They were associated with the Kerkopes — a pair of monkey-like t hi eves t hat plagued Anatolia (modern- day Turkey). They were transformed into real monkeys by an angry Zeus.

The name goblin is thought to come from the French gobelin, itself derived from the medieval latin gobelinus, a spirit haunting the region of Evreux recorded i n the early 12th century chronicle of orderic Vitalis.

it is first recorded in English in a late 14th- century edition of the Wycliffe bible: ‘Thou schalt not drede of an arowe fliynge in the dai, of a gobelyn goynge in derknessis’ (Psalms 91:5).

Tom Forester, Monmouth.

QUESTION Has Spain built a submarine that’s too heavy to resurface?

ThE spanish navy is in the process of rectifying a buoyancy issue with its s-80 fleet of submarines caused by a basic mathematical miscalculation.

in the 1980s, spain began working with French shipbuilder DCn international to build the s-80 subs. They would boast exceptional range, land-attack cruise missiles and facilities to deploy naval special forces. original designs were based on the French scorpion-class submarine, which uses a steam turbine.

The partnership was dissolved for political reasons and because the spanish wanted a larger, longer-range design.

spanish shipbuilder navantia proposed a 300-kilowatt system using bioethanol fuel cells. in theory, it could allow the

Naughty: Goblins Sly (left) and Gobbo played tricks on Noddy in Toyland s-80 to cruise for four weeks underwater at a cruising speed of four knots with a maximum range of 12,500 nautical miles.

The s-80 project was proceeding on schedule, aiming to launch the first vessel in 2013 and the rest by 2015. in January 2012, names were announced honouring three submarine engineers and the first commander of spain’s submarine force: isaac Peral (s-81), narciso Monturiol (s-82), Cosme Garcia (s-83) and Mateo Garcia de los Reyes (s-84).

however, in 2013, navantia uncovered a potentially fatal design flaw. The addition of more than 100 tons during development had thrown off the buoyancy, meaning it might not be able to resurface.

An official told Associated Press that a ‘misplaced decimal point’ had caused the designers to overshoot the submarine’s planned 2,300-ton displacement.

This was possibly due to a failure to account for the weight of the lockheedbuilt submarine integrated Combat system, which enables torpedoes to target multiple targets simultaneously.

The U.s. company General Dynamics Electric boat was asked to overcome this problem. it concluded that the easiest fix was to lengthen the s-80s from 71 metres to 81 metres, which also increased the weight f rom 2,300 to 3,300 tons submerged. These were designated s-80 Plus. This caused an additional problem. The longer subs wouldn’t fit in the 78-metre pens at Cartagena naval dock, necessitating a £15 million expansion project. s-81 isaac Peral is scheduled to enter service in 2022, with the other subs rolling out between 2024 and 2027. The original budget of €1.75 billion has soared to €4 billion.

Nathan Rice, Hull.

QUESTION How do astronauts clean their teeth in space?

AsTRonAUTs are issued with standard dental kits. The oral hygiene kits carried on Apollo 11 contained toothbrushes, toothpaste and a spool of dental floss.

Cleaning teeth in zero gravity in orbit is not easy. surface tension shapes water into floating spheres. sticky molecules on the water’s surface cause it to behave like an elastic skin. To clean their teeth, an astronaut will squeeze a small bead of water from a water pouch. They will then pass their toothbrush along it — the sphere will be readily absorbed onto the surface of the bristles.

The astronaut repeats the process with the toothpaste. They brush their teeth in the normal manner, but have to swallow the toothpaste.

Simon Witt, Staines, Middlesex.

QUESTION Has anyone run the London marathon backwards?

FURThER to Karl Twomey’s achievement of running the london Marathon backwards, i’d like to mention sandy Mackie, who walked the 68 miles backwards from his home in Kilmarnock to Edinburgh in the early 1920s — harnessed to a pram.

sandy was a superb athlete who also walked the 422 miles from Kilmarnock to london and back again in what was then considered to be a record time.

he was born in a village on the outskirts of the town in 1867 and worked in a local coalmine. Athletics was his passion and he won many medals as a walker and runner.

Alex Milligan, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

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