Erg Chech

The Erg Chech (Arabic: عرق شاش‎), is a large erg in southwestern Algeria and northern Mali.

Geography

It is an almost uninhabited part of the greater Sahara Desert, a inhospitable desert region with long, extremely hot summers and short, very warm winters. The Erg Chech is a vast sandy expanse including compound and complex linear and star dunes. The mean elevation of the Erg Chech is just above 300 m, slightly lower than the neighboring Erg Iguidi stretching to the north. The barren plain of the Tanezrouft is located to the southeast.

One of the localities of the commune of Akabli in Aoulef District, Adrar Province, Algeria, is named 'Erg Chech'.

Meteorites

About 100 kilograms (220 lb) of meteorites were collected in the Chergach strewn field, located in the Erg Chech north of Taoudenni, during the fall and winter 2007. Desert nomads reported that during daytime in July 2007 several detonations were heard over a wide area, a smoke cloud was seen and several stones fell from the sky, however no fireball was reported. Ouled Bleila was the finder of the first meteorites, but he died in October 2007 in a car accident on his way back from the trip to the Chergach strewn field. According to the Tuareg people, the elliptical strewn field stretches for more than 20 kilometres (12 mi).

Erg

The erg is a unit of energy and work equal to 10⁻⁷joules. It originated in the centimetre–gram–second (CGS) system of units. It has the symbol erg. The erg is not an SI unit. Its name is derived from ergon (’έργον) a Greek word meaning work or task.

An erg is the amount of work done by a force of one dyne exerted for a distance of one centimeter. In the CGS base units, it is equal to one gram centimeter-squared per second-squared (g·cm²/s²). It is thus equal to 10⁻⁷joules or 100 nanojoules (nJ) in SI units. An erg is approximately the amount of work done (or energy consumed) by one common house fly performing one "push up", the leg-bending dip that brings its mouth to the surface on which it stands and back up.

1 erg = 10⁻⁷J = 100 nJ

1 erg = 10⁻¹⁰sn·m = 100 psn·m = 100 picosthène-metres

1 erg = 624.15 GeV = 7011624150000000000♠6.2415×10¹¹ eV

1 erg = 1 dyne cm = 1 g·cm²/s²

History

In 1864, Rudolf Clausius proposed the Greek word (ἐργον) ergon for the unit of energy, work and heat. In 1873, a committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, including British physicists James Clerk Maxwell and William Thomson defined the C.G.S. System of Units, and recommended the name erg or ergon for the C.G.S. unit of energy.

Erg (landform)

An erg (also sand sea or dune sea, or sand sheet if it lacks dunes) is a broad, flat area of desert covered with wind-swept sand with little or no vegetative cover. The term takes its name from the Arabic word ʿarq (عرق), meaning "dune field". Strictly speaking, an erg is defined as a desert area that contains more than 125 square kilometres (48 sq mi) of aeolian or wind-blown sand and where sand covers more than 20% of the surface. Smaller areas are known as "dune fields". The largest hot desert in the world, the Sahara, covers 9 million square kilometres (3.5×10^⁶ sq mi) and contains several ergs, such as the Chech Erg (24°34′N 2°35′W / 24.57°N 2.59°W / 24.57; -2.59) and the Issaouane Erg (31°11′N 7°56′E / 31.18°N 7.93°E / 31.18; 7.93) in Algeria. Approximately 85% of all the Earth's mobile sand is found in ergs that are greater than 32,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi). Ergs are also found on other celestial bodies, such as Venus, Mars, and Saturn's moon Titan.

Erg (comics)

Erg is a fictional mutant character in the Marvel Comics Universe.

Publication history

Erg's first appearance was in Power Pack #12 (July 1985), and he was created by Louise Simonson and June Brigman.

The character subsequently appears in The Uncanny X-Men #195 (July 1985), X-Factor #10 (November 1986), Power Pack #27 (December 1986), X-Factor #11-12 (December 1986-January 1987), #15 (April 1987), Decimation: House of M - The Day After #1 (January 2006), X-Men: The 198 #1 (March 2006), X-Men: The 198 Files #1 (March 2006), X-Men #183 (April 2006), X-Men: The 198 #2-5 (April–July 2006), and The Uncanny X-Men #487-491 (August–December 2007).

Erg appeared as part of the "Morlocks" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #9.

Fictional character biography

Erg was a member of the Morlocks, and was one of the few Morlocks to survive the Marauders' attack during the 'Mutant Massacre'. He was also one of the first mutants to seek a safe haven at the Xavier Institute following M-Day, when most mutants lost their powers. Erg, Mammomax, and Peepers were running from members of the murderous Sapien League. They had the institute in sight when they were taken down by a shock grenade and tasers. The Leper Queen orders her men to kill them. The League members set up three St. Andrew's crosses (which are "X" shaped) with braces to keep the crosses upright. Erg is tied to one of the crosses. Gasoline was poured on and a lit match tossed. Erg regains consciousness when the lower legs of the cross were blazing. He would have died if he hadn't been yanked off by Wolverine. The X-Man had been sitting in the Xavier estate woods, letting Colossus sketch him.