Quiz Sci tech Rendezvous 2018 Finals

Sci-Tech Quiz
Rendezvous 2018
FINALS
Jyotesh Singh

Acknowledgements
GP: Pratyush Goel (and for lending 2 questions)
GP: Abhishek Kapoor
Ravi Mundoli for 1 stolen question
Rendezvous team
Sponsors
SCI-TECH QUIZ | JYOTESH SINGH

Rules
47 Questions total
Round 1: 20 clockwise infinite pounce & bounce
Round 2: 6 question Themed Written Round
Round 3: 21 anti-clockwise infinite pounce &
bounce
+10/-5 for all pounce
+10/0 for all bounce

Clockwise
20 Questions
Infinite Pounce and Bounce
+10/-5 Pounce
+10/0 Bounce
No Pounce on own questions
No part points on Pounce

Q1
Cambridge University researchers looked at 225
climbing species of insects, frogs, lizards etc. to
look at the relationship between their footpads and
their body weight.
In an indication of evolutionary limitation, they
found that while unrelated species solved the
problem of being bigger by having larger footpads,
more closely related ones instead went with stickier
footpads to help them climb.
The press release accompanying this however,
chose to focus on a different species and
individual, indicating the need for size 145 shoes to
accomplish the same. Which individual?

A1
Spiderman (to climb)

Q2
In 1956, Charles Seim published an article analysing the
forces experienced by this object such that “it appears
as if it will fall at any moment and yet actually stays up
with some small factor of safety”
In most cases, the requisite vertical forces are provided
by friction, pectoral strength and reduced diameter at
vital points.
Given the gradual disappearance of the rear part of the
object, the risks are increasing, requiring the use of light
and inconspicuous bone and wire frameworks.
What specific, visibly support-free object was subjected
to this analysis?

A2
A Stress Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown,"

Q3
A group of physics students from Leicester Uni
calculated the mass of this item and estimated that
it would have a radius of about 6m. They examined
a footage from 1996 and calculated its height to be
5.7m. Performing several other calculations, they
determined that it would require 4,890,579 newtons
of force to lift and as a result more than 2,400,000
of a particular species and not 501 as earlier
quoted.
What item from the world of Literature am I talking
about?

A3
James and the Giant Peach

Q4
Rayleigh scattering says that the intensity of scattered
light is inversely proportional to wavelength to the
fourth power. This is usually used in science textbooks
to explain that since shorter wavelengths are scattered
more, the sky appears blue.
Glenn Smith, in a 2005 American Journal of Physics
paper did some follow up research on this. Daylight is
dominated by light between 400nm (violet) and 450nm
(blue). Human eye cones, on the other hand, are
classified into three types, each of which respond
differently to different light spectra, with peak responses
at 570nm (yellow), 543nm (green) and 442nm(violet-
blue).
What "gotcha" follow-up question that kids asked when
they first learn “why the sky is blue” was hence
answered?

A4
Why is the sky not violet?

Q5
What appropriate piece of jazz music (famously
covered by a swing legend and Count Basie) did
Buzz Aldrin take with him on a cassette on the
Apollo 11 mission and the subsequently play on the
moon?

A5
Fly me to the moon

Q6
This John F. Kennedy speech is significant not so
much for its words as it is for the manner in which it
was delivered. It was reconstructed by AI and poses
dystopian questions about veracity in a post-truth
society. How is this speech otherwise historically
important?

A6
JFK was supposed to deliver this speech the day he
was shot. This was an AI recreation (by the Times
of London and ad agency Rothco) and was never
actually spoken by him

Q7
A topologist is said to be a person who cannot
distinguish a donut from a mug because they are
both one hole objects. Counting holes is hence a
way to establish topological classifications.
Using this way, another object is popularly thought
of as being identical to a donut. However, it can be
proven that this object is actually a 5 or 6 hole
object (depending on the variant of the object in
question).
Other schools of thought believe that since this
object is frequently permeable at microscopic
levels, it would actually be a billion+ hole object.
What object is this?

A7
Human Body

Q8 (Larger Image Next)
Medieval European maps of the world called "Mappa
mundi" were usually tripartite as they split the known
world into three parts, contained the world in a circle.
This can be seen in the Ebstorf mappa mundi shown
with Christ’s head in the East, at the top of the map, the
direction of Paradise. His hands mark the northern and
southern limits of the known world, and his feet are at
Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic. In
the middle of the map we see Jerusalem, the spiritual
center of Christendom, located at Christ’s navel. Europe
is in the bottom left quadrant of the map, Africa in the
bottom right, and Asia dominates the upper half.
What etymology (now more familiar to 1st year students
and corporate newbies alike) does this (unlike modern
maps) direct us towards?

A8
Orientation used to indicate the correct direction
from Orient or East

Q9
These items initially used to be made of ivory. This was
because of certain desirable physical properties such as
a particular density and the ability to rebound properly
A perceived shortage in Ivory meant that in 1869,
celluloid was substituted instead. Unfortunately,
celluloid was unstable and tended to explode when two
such items bumped together. Given the manner of their
use, such collisions were inevitable. For example, a
saloon owner in Colorado complained that the
explosion meant “every man in the room pulled his
gun”.
What items, whose explosions would cause a scorching
of the “green”? HINT: Nowadays, a solid resin is used
instead

A9
Billiard balls

Q10
Normal procedure in radio broadcasting in the 80s
involved transmitting the contents of an audio cassette
that people could listen to and enjoy.
In 1983, the Datarama show on Radio West in the UK,
on the other hand would broadcast strange and
incomprehensible metallic squawks and crackles.
These incomprehensible broadcasts were copied by
hobbyists back onto audio cassettes – and then used
by them for an entirely different, non-audio reason.
What were they broadcasting?
HINT: The ubiquitous use of audio cassettes in an
unrelated field helped

A10
Computer code/digital data

Q11
Zoologist Desmond Morris made many unverifiable
and controversial claims in his 1960s book, the
Naked Ape. One of the most fanciful claims
involved an explanation indicating that since human
babies need a family, pair bonding and hence face-
to-face copulation is evolutionary selected for.
As a result, humans evolved to replace a certain
sexual characteristic that our primate cousins such
as baboons still prominently display.
What was the primate characteristic and what is the
debunked human replacement?

A11
Prominent buttocks and prominent breasts

Q12
The Western world frequently makes use of
Daylight Savings Time in order to extend the
number of hours of daylight available to people
after work. Although it is claimed to reduce energy
consumption and encourage better sleeping habits,
one of the primary beneficiaries from DST are
retailers due to increased shopping by Americans in
the extra hour of sunlight after work.
In 2005, US President Bush signed an extension of
DST, pushing it into the first few days of November,
instead of its previous ending time of October.
What was one of the cited reasons for this, lobbied
for in 1986 by placing little pumpkins on committee
members’ chairs?

A12
To allow for an extra hour of Trick-or-treating (for
both children’s safety and increased candy sales)

Q13
One of the less believed theories behind this historical event
is the incendiary paint theory. It says that the fabric in
question contained iron oxide and aluminium-impregnated
cellulose acetate butyrate, which remain potentially reactive
even after fully setting.
This was because iron oxide and aluminium undergo a highly
exothermic redox reaction occurs as:
Fe2O3 + 2 Al → 2 Fe + Al2O3
This combination is frequently used in both solid rocket fuel
and for welding cracks in train tracks. In that combination it is
given a particular name and can also be used in the military
as anti-materiel hand grenades, incendiary bombs and to
destroy sensitive equipment/records quickly as a safety
feature.
What historical event and what name is given to this
combination of rust and Aluminium?

A13
Hindenburg disaster and Thermite

Q14
In the electronics industry, a famous truism by Intel’s
founder states that “the cost of transistors in an
integrated circuit halves every 18-24 months”.
The opposite however, was seen in the pharmaceutical
industry. This problem is mostly due to lower
incremental increases, inherent inefficiencies in doing
the basic research and cost overruns.
In a joking fashion, the pharmaceutical industry, hence
has its own truism “the cost of drug development
doubles every 9 years”.
What is the truism named after Intel’s founder called?
What jokingly related name is given to the other truism?

A14
Moore’s law and Eroom’s law

Q15
Idiopathic craniofacial erythema is a rare condition
in which sufferers indulge in unprovoked and
uncontrollable demonstration of an otherwise
harmless, cute phenomenon.
Sufferers claim that it can be triggered by almost
any social interaction. Given how the normal
variety is teased and treated in most films, it is not
surprising to learn that sufferers can become
anxious and sociopathic.
What do these patients suffer from an excess of?

A15
Blushing

Q16
In 2016, a University of North Carolina Team presented
a paper at the Usenix Security Symposium about using
social media mining to generate virtual models that
were able to defeat liveness detectors. This was
frequently cited in the follow-up to a much better
attended 2017 event.
A similar feat had been shown by Jan Krissler at the
Chaos Communication Congress in 2014, when he used
a few high definition photographs of German defense
minister Ursula von der Leyen to reverse-engineer
something that should have people worried about
imitating a ubiquitous something from Facebook in real-
life.
Both these instances were targeted at what two specific
technologies from the same company?

A16
FaceId and TouchId

Q17 (Larger Image Next)
The Planckian locus or black body locus is the path
that the colour of an incandescent black body
would take in a given chromaticity space as the
blackbody temperature changes.
This can be seen in the diagram below where the
chromaticity space is the perceived colour by
humans and the black line is the Planckian locus.
What astronomical observation that one might
make does this explain?

A17
Why are there no green stars?

Q18
When treated by a certain class of fluids, cellular
proteins can be fixed or denature. In this process, a
primary protein amine group is irreversibly
connected to another nearby proteinaceous
nitrogen, or to a DNA molecule via a -CH2- bond.
As a result, the cellular proteins no longer act as a
food source for bacteria, or indeed any other
organism.
What class of fluids are these, whose first historical
use might have been in 4000 BC as a plant oil
mixed with an aromatic plant extract, gum or sugar
and imported Mediterranean resin? OR For what
purpose are these fluids used?

A18
Embalming fluid. (Egypt, mummies)

Q19 (Image on Next)
This is a diagram of how DNA replication happens.
As can be seen, for individual nucleotides to be
read, an enzyme known as Helicase acts to unwind
the DNA so that another enzyme known as
Polymerase can reduplicate the corresponding base
pair.
Look carefully in the image, and the location and
action of Helicase and tell me what verb from an
unrelated field is used to describe the unwinding
action of Helicase.
HINT: A corny pick-up line used by Molecular
biologists goes “Let me be your Helicase and _____
your genes”.

A19
Unzipping

Q20
Since August 2017, US diplomats in Cuba began
reporting various health problems such as hearing loss,
memory loss, nausea etc. They ascribed the symptoms
beginning with a sensation comparable to driving a car
with the window partly down.
Upon investigation, various results were hypothesized.
Some, of the more sceptical kind, claimed that the case
was one of mass psychogenic illness – where the
diplomats convinced themselves of their symptoms after
telling each other about it.
Others wondered instead that this was due to a
microwave auditory effect known as the Frey effect,
which could be caused by persistent exposure to
directed, high-intensity microwaves.
The most popular hypothesis, however, is something
completely different. What?

A20
Sonic attacks

SCORES!

Written Round
• 6 questions
• +5 each
• There is a common theme (elements of which
can be anywhere in the question or the answer)
• +10 bonus for getting all parts right
• +10 bonus for getting the theme (no negs, so
attempt at the end)
• So +50 points available

W1
It is known as the 'Vulcan Nerve Pinch' or the 'three
finger salute' and was first implemented by David
Bradley. It has come to stand for "dump," or "do
away with." The alternative salute often preferred by
geeks is remembered by the mnemonic 'Raising
Elephants Is So Utterly Boring'. What is being
talked about?

W2
The temperature of this particular place was
estimated by looking at textual evidence which
stated that the place has moonlight equivalent to
sunlight and sunlight 7x as strong.
Using the Boltzmann equation for blackbodies, this
meant that its temperature estimates were on the
order of 525OC.
Since its counterpoint is supposed to feature liquid
brimstone (sulphur), the counterpoint would have a
temperature less than the boiling point of S at
444OC. What place, which is hence ironically hotter
than the other place?

W3
Trailer for what?

W4
_____ __ _____ is the name of an anglophone
music supergroup of Thom Yorke, RHCP’s Flea and
REM’s Waronker among others.
The name comes from a 1953 Eisenhower speech
to the UN in which the nuclear aspirations and
fears of the world were brought out and discussed
in the open, saying“To the making of these fateful
decisions, the United States pledges before you—
and therefore before the world its determination to
help solve the fearful atomic dilemma—to devote
its entire heart and mind to find the way by which
the miraculous inventiveness of man shall not be
dedicated to his death, but consecrated to his life”.
FITB

W5
Superman is frequently uses his powers to make
Santa’s gifts for naughty children more palatable to
humans.
Scientists analysing this concluded that given his
heat-ray vision and super strength, he can recreate
a HPHT (high-pressure high-temperature) process
currently in use in industry. However, they do add
that while the industry prefers to use graphite as a
starting point because of its purity, Superman
deliberately chooses a much more impure raw
material.
What action of Supes is hence analysed?

W6 (Variant Image on Next)
This image shows the ceiling of the tomb of Ancient
Egyptian Senmut (Hatsheput’s architect). It is
believed to be one of the oldest representations of
what?

EXCHANGE!

A W1
Ctrl-Alt-Del

A W2
Heaven

A W3
Cosmos (2014)

A W4
Atoms for Peace

A W5

A W6
Night sky / sky map / star map

THEME?
-Salute
-Heaven
-Cosmos
-Peace
-Diamond
-Sky

THEME!
-Salute (Salyut)
-Heaven (Tiangong)
-Cosmos (Kosmos)
-Peace (Mir) (also World)
-Diamond (Almaz)
-Sky (Skylab)

Anti-Clockwise
20 Questions
Infinite Pounce and Bounce
+10/-5 Pounce
+10/0 Bounce
No Pounce on own questions
No part points on Pounce

Q27
Lake Superior State University publishes this list of
regulations for people wishing to “hunt” a particular
creature, enforced by the Wildebeastle (Mythical)
Division. What creature?
HUNTING AREAS: Earth, Moon (unexplored areas only),
Milky Way (SE Rim is closed odd years)
BAG LIMITS: 1 per month. Females may not be taken,
since no one has ever sighted one, it is believed that
males reproduce asexually.
APPROVED DEVICES: Hunters can use Serious Intent,
Iambic Pentameter, General levity and Sweet talk.
BAIT: The only recognized legal bait is a virgin. While it
is not illegal to use simulated virgins, such practice is
definitely not cricket

A27
Unicorns

Q28
The USNS Trenton is a fast-transport vessel that
was supposed to be the test bed for a special new
technology. Although that technology has not yet
been mounted, despite supposedly impressive
land-based tests, it is expected to revolutionize
naval warfare. What technology, whose
technological challenges include issues of ablation,
bending, arcing and heat dissipation?

A28
Railguns

Q29
In 2009, a staff member at South African firm Unlimited
IT complained about the extremely slow internet speeds
experienced by the firm, saying that it would be faster to
send the data by another, rather dated, method.
The company, sensing a media opportunity, put the
theory to the test, using a 4Gb data stick for use by the
dated method versus an ADSL connection by South
African giant Telkom. The data was transmitted 60 miles
and, including read time, the older method had finished
in 2hours when the Internet had only completed 4.7%.
What ancient technique was used, which would not be
out of place in WWI, but due to its unidirectionality and
low latency, is probably not the way to go to challenge
the Airtel girl?

A29
Carrier Pigeon

Q30
Although most people visit the Victoria falls in
daytime, on full moon days visitors are permitted at
night.
The influx of such tourists increases in high water
season (April-July) when the moon is high and the
skies are clear.
The resulting interaction with the spray during early
hours after moonrise is the prime attraction. What
is it called / what phenomenon attracts these
people?

A30
Moonbow

Q31
Although the common phrase involving these
creatures suggests that their characteristic
behaviour is voluntary, it is in fact completely
reflexive.
The creatures brain induces a state of comatose
shock, during which it can drool and the beginning
stages of rigor mortise appear to set in. The anal
glands release a special decaying scent and its feet
will ball up into immobility
What creature?

A31
Opossums playing dead

Q32
Scientists in the 17th Century would communicate to
each other in anagrams as a form of intellectual
snobbery and primitive proof-of-discovery. In 1610,
Galileo sent out an anagram
SMAISMRMILMEPOETALEUMIBUNENUGTTAUIRAS.
This was re-assembled by Kepler as “Salve, umbistineum
geminatum Martia proles". Unfortunately for Kepler,
what Galileo wished to communicate was "Altissimum
planetam tergeminum observavi". In a miraculous
coincidence, Kepler's interpretation was actually
astronomical fact - however, this fact was only
established in 1877, long after his death. What are the
two discoveries, respectively about the planets Mars
and Saturn, being hailed here?

A32
Mars’ twin moons and Saturns’ rings

Q33
In the early 1960s, the only reliable producer of
Titanium ore in the world was the Soviet Union. Since
Titanium was valuable in military projects given its great
strength to weight ratio and high temperature/heat
resilience, it was highly valuable to other nations.
The US military hence set up shell companies to route
Titanium for its uses from the USSR via developing
nations.
For what specific 1960s project was the majority of such
ore ear-marked? HINT: look at the relevant properties

A33
SR-71 Blackbird

Q34
This particular species should be a prime candidate for
CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) due to their
working conditions being similar to NFL players.
Nevertheless, Dr. Ivan Schwab won the IgNobel in 2006
for showing that the animal in question avoids any kind
of head injury, despite its constant head-butting.
This is apparently due to having their brains packed
more tightly into the skulls, with a smoother brain
surface to maximize impact area (and hence lessen the
force) and by having minimal lateral motion of the head,
which avoided shear forces.
What animal?

A34
Woodpecker

Q35
Apocryphally, this company was started when its
co-founder was fined $40 for failing to return a
product he had rented from what would become his
companies future rival.
He and his partner then tested sending out their
product via the US postal mail service, and upon
discovering that it reached intact, they started the
company in 1997.
As technology improved, the company moved into
becoming the fully online behemoth it is today.
Which company?

A35
Netflix

Q36
Saturn’s moon Titan has a gravity of 0.14g and an
atmospheric density 1.45x that of Earth.
As a result, scientists have concluded that humans
would be able to propel themselves in Titan’s sky
with one mighty push against the air with their legs
and arms.
What ubiquitous video game trope would hence be
possible on Titan, which otherwise fails due to
conservation of momentum and lack of sufficient
air resistance?

A36
Double and Triple jumping

Q37
“Teaching with Games” was a study by Sandford et
al in which various schools were encouraged to
teach their students via video games for 1 year.
One game in particular garnered praise for its
ability to teach physics (in analysing the various
forces involved), the availability of statistics to aid
mathematics and the incorporation of design
philosophies and strategic management along with
the ability to manage and run a business empire
with clear goals.
Given that the original game was created by one
man and written entirely in assembly code, such
praise clearly highlights its enduring legacy. What
game, first seen in 1999?

A37

Q38
While investigating this phenomenon, scientists
concluded that the characteristic sound didn’t come
from wall rupture but instead when water vapour from
the inside was released, the drop in pressure excited
cavities in the interior like an acoustic resonator.
They used high speed cameras to record the
phenomenon, concluding that while only 34% of the
process was completed by 170OC, 96% completion was
achieved by 180OC
What process/phenomenon?

A38
Popping popcorn

Q39
While trying to come up with the optimal time for which
this thing needs to be immersed in liquid, physicist Len
Fisher came up with a variant of the Washburn equation,
assuming that the thing in question was made up of one
long pore through which the liquid flows under surface
tension.
He concluded that to achieve the best balance between
soggy taste and rigid crunchiness would be achieved if
the item in question was dipped horizontally or at a
slant, instead of the normal practice of doing so
vertically.
What long standing culinary practice was being
investigated?

A39
Dunking biscuits in tea/milk/coffee

Q40 (Image on Next)
At the Department of Geology in the University of
Maryland, researchers Adams, Zimmerman, Lathrop
et al have built a 12-ton experiment of nested 3m
spheres with liquid sodium between them. For their
experiments, they spin up the model and look at
the various states and flows achieved by the
device.
They hope that the flow of the conducting fluid in a
weak, initial applied magnetic field would generate
an electrical current, which in turn would reinforce
the magnetic field and generate more current until
a self-sustaining dynamo field could be created.
What are they trying to study with these scaled
down spherical models?

A40
The (origin of the) Earth’s magnetic field

Q41
A 2002 study by Farkas et al concludes that the
individual units in this action act like an excitable media
(i.e. can be activated by an external stimulus), usually
used to describe forest fire propagation or action of the
cardiac muscle.
The phenomenon propagated on average at 12m/s, in a
width of 6-12m and generally rolls clockwise. It needs
an initial critical mass (20-25 people) to begin
propagating, after which the individual units can be in
three sequential states: resting (excitable), active and
refractory (passive).
The possibility of excitation was concluded to depend
on social interactions, behaviour and supporting
environmental conditions (jubiliation or stressful
moments).
What frequently seen on television activity?

A41
Mexican Wave

Q42
Which author had this to say about the way he
treats libraries and bookshops in his work?
“The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power =
energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a
genteel Black Hole that knows how to read.”

A42
Terry Pratchett

Q43
In 1978, Paul Krugman tried to work out laws and
theorems regarding arbitrage and interest rates in an
hitherto under-analysed economic sector. Although his
work couldn’t be experimentally validated, it can assume
to be relevant in a future consideration.
He established that in a common inertial frame, given
the impossibility of simultaneity, it would be essential for
interest rates in two different locations to equalize due
to competition, and that any calculations of profit
should be made in the common inertial frame and not
the relativistic transit frame.
What so far non-existent economic activity was he
considering?

A43
Interstellar trade

Q44
When Hypochlorous acid reacts with ammonia,
three kinds of chloramines are formed
6𝐻𝑂𝐶𝑙 + 3𝑁𝐻3 𝑁𝐻2 𝐶𝑙 + 𝑁𝐻𝐶𝑙2 + 𝑁𝐶𝑙3 + 6𝐻2 𝑂
Specifically Dichloramine and Trichloramine have a
distinct smell that we associate with Hypochlorous
acid
How is ammonia introduced in this environment /
what mundane activity or smell is this equation
describing?

A44
Peeing/sweating in swimming pools gives the
“chlorine” smell

Q45
Given the frequent use of such items as improvised
weapons in drunken brawls, Dr. Bolliger and team
decided to investigate whether or not such items
could break the human skull, and hence how
dangerous they were.
They concluded that full variants of these would
break at 30J of impact energy, while 40J were
needed for empty ones. Both these values
exceeded the energy needed to break the human
skull, hence they concluded “therefore <these
items> serve as dangerous instruments in a
physical dispute.”
What items?

A45
Beer bottles

Q46
According to most engineers in the field, the cut-off
point is 96kHz at 24 bits, whereupon all the hisses
and distortions become imperceptible.
The actual debate is usually meaningless because
people do not compare the same mastering
techniques or in identical settings.
Indeed, the conclusion usually is that it is the
process which is more enjoyable to one group over
the other that has lead to this debate.
What debate?

A46
Does vinyl sound better than digital audio?

Q47
In 1971, Scottish linguist James McCawley, published
the paper “English Sentences without Overt Grammatical
Subject” in which he pondered over the existence of
certain quasi-verbs most notably used in epithets.
For example, he states that a hypothesis that the
sentence “Damn (something)!” has an underlying
omitted subject – namely God.
However, this hypothesis fails as it proposal is untenable
since it would exclude the completely acceptable
sentence “Damn God.” Thus, such sentences are weird
and do not follow the normal rules, leading him to
comment in a footnote: “An earlier version of this paper
was read at a meeting of the Hanoi Linguistic Circle
under the title ‘Why I can’t tell you to ____ ___’”.
What common epithet that fills these blanks was the
prime example used by McCawley in his paper?

A47
Fuck You

Quiz Sci tech Rendezvous 2018 Finals

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