BITS Apogee 2013 Sci Tech Quiz prelims answers

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Science & Technology Quiz
Welcome to the Prelims

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1.

The ten Fundamental Duties in the Constitution of India
obligate all citizens to:
1. respect the national symbols of India
2. to cherish its heritage
3. preserve its composite culture
4. assist in its defence
5. to promote the spirit of common brotherhood
6. protect the environment and public property
7. develop _______ _________
8. abjure violence
9. strive towards excellence in all spheres of life
10. every parent/guardian to ensure that their child was
provided opportunities for education
Fill in the blanks

2.

What two-word term, containing the Latin root
“to seek” explains why the riders don’t fly off?

• Centripetal Force (from Latin centrum
“centre" and petere "to seek“), the inward force
that keeps an object moving in a continuous circle.
The main force is the wood pushing back on the
tires of the motorcycles and cars.

3.

The process was devised in 1844 when a
gentleman of Great Harwood, Lancashire, treated
cotton fibres with sodium hydroxide. The treatment
caused the fibres to swell, shrunk the overall fabric
size and made it stronger and easier to dye.

It was improved by H. A. Lowe in 1890. Lowe held
the cotton during treatment to prevent it from
shrinking, and found that the fibre gained a
lustrous appearance.

What process, named after its inventor?

• Mercerisation after John Mercer

4.

Used widely by Jewellers, watchmakers, printers,
photographer, collectors of stamps and coins, and
other professionals, these are small magnification
devices used to see small details more closely.
Unlike a magnifying glass, it does not have an
attached handle, and its focusing lens is contained
in a housing that protects the lenses when not in
use.
What is it called (5-letter term)?
Pic on next slide.

BITS Apogee 2013 Sci Tech Quiz prelims answers

*5.

Book 5 explains proportions of magnitude.
Book 8 deals with proportions in number
theory. Book 9 talks about the infinitude of
prime numbers. Book 10 tries to classify
incommensurable magnitudes by using the
method of exhaustion, a precursor to
integration.
What 13-part treatise are we talking about?

6.

They share their names, one with a purple
anthropomorphic Tyrannosaurus rex, and
another with a non-rigid airship.

For 1 point give either name, and for 1 more
explain how one would associate it with the
profession of Vittorio Storaro (among others).

Picture follows.

• Barneys or Blimps are the casings that
cover a camera, so that the microphones
don’t pick up the sound of the camera
motor

7.

In a _____ lens the portion in the top right is
called the “cap”, a section broken off. They
have two powers, created with curvatures at
different angles.
a. Fill in the blank (1 pt)
b. These lenses are primarily used for
correcting what? (1 pt)

Pic on next slide.

• a. Toric lens – the doughnut is a ‘torus’
• b. Astigmatism

8.

The coiled brass portion is used in a technique
called ‘scratching’ where a fingernail is run up
and down, generating vibrations. Modern ones
are even available as disposable, and
sterilised.

What are these artefacts?

Pic on next slide.

9.

From a museum review article:

“I was able to consult the 1779 edition of Olney
Hymns in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research
Center. Printed in London by W. Oliver, it was in
beautiful condition. The paper was almost as white
and supple as it was when it came off the printing
press.”

What changed in the late nineteenth century
that gives recent books a relatively short life
span?

• Addition of acid to the paper-making
process. Acidity causes the paper to
become brittle and crumble
• The primary source of acid in modern paper
is the alum-rosin sizing agent introduced in
the manufacturing process. Size is added so
that writing and printing inks do not feather.
In the presence of moisture, the alum in the
sizing agent generates sulfuric acid.

*10.

Such fractals composed of ever-shrinking
mutually tangential circles are named for a
Greek mathematician whose work on conic
sections gave us the names of some more
common mathematical objects: the ellipse, the
hyperbola, and the parabola. Name them.

Pictures follow.

• Apollonian Gaskets, after Apollonius of
Perga

11.
Give two words to connect.
The “Foundation” and something The folks with the broad smiles for 2012
they established last year.
Art Levinson Cornellia I. Bargmann
Sergei Brin David Botstein
Anne Wojcicki Lewis Cantley
Mark Zuckerberg Hans Clevers
Priscilla Chan Napoleone Ferrera
Yuri Millner Titia de Lange
Eric Lander
Charles Sawyers
Bert Vogelstein
Robert Weinberg
Shinya Yamanaka

• The Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences,
US$3 million each, recognizing excellence
in research aimed at curing intractable
diseases and extending human life. The
second column are the first 11 recipients.

12.

Following the recent meteorite strike in Siberia
there is renewed interest in figuring out a
solution where the object is blasted out of its
path with nuclear weapons before it even
reaches the earth.

In reality this may not be possible because
of what 1996 General Assembly resolution?

• The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
• The CTBT disallows blasting of nuclear
weapons in space.

13.

South Africa, India, and Brazil have nearly run
out of supplies. The Mountain Pass facility in
California was shut down. China today controls
97% of supply. In 1992, the Chinese president
Deng Xiaoping famously quipped, “There is oil
in the Middle East. There is __ __ in China”.
What bunch of 17 different materials was he
referring to (clue: think 70s classic rock)?

14.
They are an enigmatic group from Manchester, England, with their
name containing the 1909 Nobel winner for physics (an award he
shared with Ferdinand Braun). They were appointed by Brian Eno
to supervise the re-mastering of his back catalogue.

Last year they drummed up 8 min. of aural bliss, after working with
sound therapists to get advice on how to make the most effective
use of harmonies, rhythms and bass lines. It was allegedly proven
to reduce anxiety by 65% and slow heart rates by 35%. So much
that doctors advise one does not listen to it when driving.

Name them (1 point) and either name the song
or what was the Guinness Records sort of tag it
took on (1 point).
Larger pic follows.

• Marconi Union
• Weightless – ‘the world’s most relaxing
song’

*15.

The famous person in the previous question was
awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of
Italy, one of the many recognitions he received for his
stellar service to the land of his birth.

In 1932, he ensured that the person who occupied this
seat (pic 1) was not cut off from contact when enjoying
the warmth of summer at ____ (pic 2).

Who (1 pt.), and what is the blank (1 pt.)?

Pictures follow.

• The Pope
• Castle Gandolfo

16.

A rendition of the logo of which organization
with origins in 1884, whose by-line says
“advancing technology for humanity?”

17.
Though X, created in the mid-1920s, is touted as the
first to include Y, the truth is that the position actually
belongs to Rêve D'Or (Golden Dream) created in
1905 by Armingeat.

Nor is X the first modern one to feature synthetic
components. That honor belongs to Fougère Royale
(Royal Fern) by Paul Parquet for Houbigant in 1882.

Y are organic compounds that smell fruity or floral,
and are present in various natural materials, such as
orange rind, rose oil, pine essence, citronella and
cinnamon bark. What are X and Y? (1 pt. each)

• X – Chanel No. 5
• Y – Aldehydes

18.

In Greek and Latin usage, scrolls were mostly
used for texts, and were stored on open racks. The
scrolls were flat suspended on handles. In a later
Christian era, they became valuable and protected
in leather cases. In general, Christian texts were
kept in Codex form- books with pages.

What two terms related to modern computer
usage would these storage methods evocate?

• Sequential Access and Random Access
• Scrolls were sequential, and a codex was
random-access – could be opened at any page.

19.

A perfume atomiser,
metal plates hooked
to a battery, and a
small quantity of a
viscous fluid, all put
together in such a
contraption was the
basis for what 1909
investigation?

• Millikan’s oil-drop experiment

20.
At Syene (now Aswan), some 800 km southeast of
Alexandria in Egypt, the Sun's rays fall vertically at
noon at the summer solstice.

Eratosthenes, who was born in c. 276 BC, noted that
at Alexandria, at the same date and time, sunlight fell
at an angle of about 7° from the vertical. He correctly
assumed the Sun's distance to be very great; its rays
therefore are practically parallel when they reach the
Earth.

Given estimates of the distance between the two
cities, what was he was able to calculate?

• Circumference of the earth

21.

If the logo shown here appeared on a device
you own, what technology would the device be
capable of ?

• Near Field Communication (NFC)

22.

Give a 6-letter word to connect the marked
portions.

• Pileus, a cap worn in ancient Rome and
Greece, after which the cap-like cloud and
the top of a mushroom are named.

23.

He studied Finance and Information Technology at
the University of Cape Town. In 2001, he moved to
London, and began preparing for the First African
in Space mission, training in Star City and
Kazakhstan. In April 2002, he flew to the
International Space Station as a cosmonaut
member of the crew of Soyuz mission TM34.

Who is this, and what did he found in 2004 with
a vision to create high quality software platforms
that are free to use, share and develop?
(1 pt. each)

• Mark Shuttleworth
• Canonical

24.

By moving a needle across a surface and
monitoring the electric current that flows through it,
scientists can map a surface to the level of single
atoms. It is so precise that it not only looks at
atoms—it also can manipulate them into
structures. Its development earned IBM
researchers Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer a
Nobel Prize and helped launch the emerging era
of nanotechnology.

What invention?

• Scanning Tunnelling Microscope (STM)

*25.

Thomas Nicely, a mathematics professor first noticed
this in 1994 when some inconsistencies appeared in
programming code he had written to enumerate
primes. He isolated the problem to a specific
computer he had added to his group of machines.
The problem was notified to the manufacturer,
verified on the Internet and assumed the name of the
FDIV bug.

What was the problem and who was the
manufacturer? (1 point each)

• Intel, Floating Point Error

26.
The logo of this social networking service is inspired
by Calvin and Hobbes like comic strips where a little
asterisk would appear above a character's head in
funny discovery, refers to a popping noise. Like a pop
of self expression explaining to the world your
opinion. Logo for what?

27.

When Sun Microsystems first released Java,
they promised WORA saying that the language
had cross platform benefits after creating the
program.

What is the full form of WORA – a slogan
that Sun created to sell the key benefit of
Java?

28.

In biology, this word is used for the soft, usually
edible part contained in the shell of a nut or inside a
fruit. It can also be used for seeds or whole grains.
In computer terminology, it is the main component of
operating systems and is the bridge between
applications and actual data processing done by
hardware and the heart/core of the OS that
manages the computer’s resources.

What word, very familiar to Unix users?

29.
This is Willie Fowler – an American astrophysicist. In
1983, if he was one half of a winning duo, who was
the other?

• S Chandrasekhar – Nobel Prize for Physics

*30.

The term is used to denote a person who tries to
of make use of technology to improve his or her
life, only to be stymied by idiotic user manuals,
nonplussed technical support staff or poor design.

Made of two parts, the second part of the term
could mean a crude uncouth ill-bred person
lacking culture or refinement, or an agricultural
labourer.

What’s the good word / term?

31.

As per the World University Rankings 2012-2013,
____ secures first place, followed by Stanford at #2
and Oxford, Harvard and MIT following in 3-5
positions.
Its 124-acre campus predates Hollywood. More than
30 of its students have won Nobel prizes, and one
alumnus – Harrison Schmitt – has walked on the
Moon. Home to Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it
has a faculty of about 300 teaching around 2,000
students.
Which University?

• California Institute of Technology or
Caltech

32.
Wife of Ce’sar Drinklikafix and admirer of Obelix’s
curves, she is a peerless tradeswoman and makes
your mouth water with her freshly caught sea urchins
and scorpion fish. Quite ironically, she is named after
an alternate word for a disease.
Give her name and the disease – no part points

33.
Some recent research to come with a success
formula for what?

34.
It means lineage or
ancestry, or the origin or
history of a person or
thing. The etymology of
the word is from Anglo-
Norman for the foot of a
crane, from the
resemblance of a crane's
foot to the succession
lines in a genealogical
chart. What word?

*35.

Among animals it is used for a number of
unrelated structures. In crustaceans, it is the
forward extension of the carapace in front of the
eyes. Among insects, it is piercing mouthpart,
like those of weevils, as is the beak of a
vertebrate.

What term that is also associated with public
speaking?

• Rostrum, which is a platform raised above
the surrounding level to give prominence to
the person on it

BITS Apogee 2013 Sci Tech Quiz prelims answers

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BITS Apogee 2013 Sci Tech Quiz prelims answers