Presentation of the elimination round of Torquest ’13 conducted at MindSpark '13, College of Engineering Pune. By- Omkar Yarguddi

1. Torquest ’13
The science and technology quiz
Conducted by- Omkar Yarguddi
Qualifier round answers

2. Special thanks...
• Mohit Karve
• Vibhav Bhave
• Payas Awadhutkar
• Rohan Danait
• Amit Patil

3. Lets get started!

4. Q. 1
• This peninsula on the western coast of Mexico lends its name
to an intercollegiate competition run by the Society of
Automotive Engineers (SAE). Which competition?

5. Answer
• BAJA SAE

6. Q. 2
• XY is a term used to refer to a group of celestial objects, which
are similar in size to the gas giants in our solar system but
instead lie very close to their parent star. One of these XY has
recently come into limelight. This planet is a deep azure blue
gas giant orbiting a star 63 light years away with a daytime
temperature of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit where it possibly
rains liquid glass sideways amid 4,500 mph winds. What are
we talking about?

8. Answer
• Hot Jupiters

9. Q. 3
• Chuck Hull is the inventor of the solid imaging process known
as stereolithography - the first commercial rapid prototyping
technology which is a form of additive manufacturing, and the
STL file format . What is this technology better known as?

10. Answer
• 3D Printing

11. Q. 4
Funda:
• Acid-base
• Gas phase
• Complexometric
• Redox
• Zeta potential
• Assay

12. Answer
• Types of titrations

13. Q. 5
• Which term connects:
1. a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or
gradual decay.
2. a video game series by Valve
3. a 2008 independent film by Jennifer Phang

14. Answer
• Half life

15. Q. 6
• ____________ was a German-speaking Silesian scientist and
Augustinian friar who demonstrated that the inheritance of
certain traits in plants of Pisum sativum follows particular
patterns. His experiments led him to make two
generalizations, the Law of Segregation and the Law of
Independent Assortment, which are now referred to
collectively as laws named after him. He is knows as the
"father of modern genetics" for his pioneering work in
genetics and plant hybridization. Who are we talking about?

16. Answer
• Gregor Johann Mendel

17. Q. 7
• What does the following general reaction stand for?
2n CO2 + 2n DH2 + energy packets → 2(CH2O)n + 2n DO
where D stands for an electron donor.

18. Answer
• Photosynthesis

19. Q. 8
• X is the world’s smallest movie and was made by moving
actual Ys, frame by frame. Its creators used a 2-ton scanning-
tunnelling microscope that operates at minus 258 degrees
Celsius to shoot the entire film. Y is also the name of a chrome
coloured sparring bot starring in a 2011 American science
fiction sports drama film. X and Y?

20. Answer
• A boy and his Atom

21. Q. 9
• One word Connect:
1. The generic name for a bird of prey
2. Informal name for members of the family Dromaeosauridae
3. A United States Air Force stealth fighter aircraft
4. A protein threading software used for protein structure
prediction
5. A series of high-performance hard disk drives from Western
Digital
6. the NBA basketball team representing Toronto (called
Toronto _____s, the blank being the connect)

22. Answer
• Raptor

23. ** Q. 10 **
• In mathematics, and more specifically in Y theory, a Y is a
representation of a set of objects where some pairs of objects
are connected by links.
X (the word) is the "alkene form" of Y. In 2010, Andre Geim
and Konstantin Novoselov were jointly awarded the Nobel
Prize in Physics for groundbreaking experiments regarding the
two-dimensional material "X" which is an allotrope of a light
weight p-block element,the fourth most abundant chemical
element in the universe by mass. The atoms are linked by sp2
bonds to form a repeating hexagonal pattern; giving X high
strength, light weight & high conductivity .
Gimme Y and X.

24. Answer
• Y- Graph
• X- Graphene

25. ** Q. 11 **
• 1,3,7-Trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6(3H,7H)-dione 3,7-Dihydro-
1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6-dione is a bitter, white
crystalline xanthine alkaloid and a stimulant drug. It is found
in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves, and fruit of some
plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and
kills certain insects feeding on the plants, & enhances the
reward memory of pollinators. It is used as a central nervous
system stimulant and is the world's most widely consumed
psychoactive drug. It is classified by the Food and Drug
Administration as “generally recognized as safe” because toxic
doses (over 10 grams) are much higher than typically used
doses (less than 500 milligrams). What?

27. Answer
• Caffeine

28. ** Q. 12 **
• X are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed on either
side of the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, 926 km west of
continental Ecuador, of which they are a part. They form an
Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a biological marine
reserve. The islands are famed for their vast number of
endemic species and played a formative part in Z
understanding Y. X? Y? Z?

29. Answer
• X- Galapagos islands
• Y – Natural Selection
• Z- Charles Darwin

30. ** Q. 13 **
• 'For birds Centre of Gravity does not coincide with ____' was
noted by Leonardo da Vinci. This has tremendous impact
anywhere fluid dynamics is involved. e.g. Engineers try and
put ___ on the sail to counter total aerodynamic force on the
ship. This is simply to balance our physics in terms of Force &
moment due to the pressure field. FITB.

31. Answer
• Centre of Pressure

32. ** Q. 14 **
• Y X was a social networking, microblogging and messaging
tool that was developed by Y and integrated into their web-
based email program. Users could share
links, photos, videos, status messages and comments
organized in "conversations" and visible in the user's inbox. It
was believed that X would help bridge the gap between work
and leisure, but the service and its rollout were strongly
criticized at the time for taking insufficient account of privacy
concerns. It was discontinued on December 15, 2011 in order
to focus on YZ instead.
X, Y, Z?

33. Answer
• X – Buzz
• Y – Google
• Z - +

34. ** Q. 15 **
• Connect / Funda:
1.00, 4.00, 6.94, 9.01, 10.81, 12.01, 14.00, 15.99, 18.99, 20.18,
...
(Non-exhaustive)

35. Answer
• List of atomic masses of elements in the
ascending order starting from hydrogen

36. Q. 16
• ___________ was a British
mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist.
He was highly influential in the development of computer
science, giving a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm"
and "computation" with a model of a general purpose
computer. He is widely considered to be the father of
computer science and artificial intelligence. He assisted in the
development of the Manchester computers and wrote a
paper on the chemical basis of morphogenesis, and predicted
oscillating chemical reactions such as the Belousov–
Zhabotinsky reaction, which were first observed in the 1960s.
Who?

37. Answer
• Alan Turing

38. Q. 17
• The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES)
was introduced in 1990 by the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) in order to enable prompt communication of
safety-significant information in case of nuclear accidents. The
Chernobyl disaster is widely considered to have been the
worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and is one of
only two classified as a level 7 event on the International
Nuclear Event Scale. The other one?

39. Answer
• The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

40. Q.18
• The ________ is a geologic period and system that extends
from 201.3± 0.6 Ma (million years ago) to 145± 4 Ma and
constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic Era. It is named
after the Jura Mountains within the European Alps, where
limestone strata from the period was first identified. The
supercontinent Pangaea had begun rifting into two
landmasses, Laurasia to the north and Gondwana to the
south. Other major events include the appearance of the
earliest lizards and the first birds, and the evolution of therian
mammals, including primitive placentals.
Blank?

41. Answer
• Jurassic

42. Q. 19
• The service, shortly to be launched, offers three options.
These include a free broadband internet option, a 1 Gbps
internet option for $70 per month and a version that includes
television service for $120 per month. The internet service
includes 1 terabyte of cloud storage service and the television
service includes a 2 terabyte DVR recorder in addition to the
cloud storage service. This service was recently in limelight
due to a clause in its Terms of Service, which contains a broad
prohibition against customers attaching “servers” to its
network.
What service?

44. Answer
• Google Fiber

45. Q. 20
• Connect:
1. A 2002 science fiction TV program created by Joss Whedon
which is based on the arrival of humans in a new star
system, and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of
"Serenity" spaceship.
2. A bioluminescent beetle in the Lampyridae family
3. A Batman villain from the DC Comics universe, as well as a
villain from the G.I. Joe franchise and an ally of Cobra
4. A song by Owl City from the 2009 album Ocean Eyes (uses
the plural form of the connecting keyword)

46. Answer
• Firefly

47. Q. 21
• This element is the most abundant element in the earth’s
crust. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς
("acid", literally "sharp", referring to the sour taste of acids)
and -γόνος ("producer", literally "begetter"), because at the
time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids
required it in their composition. It is a strong oxidizing
agent and only fluorine has greater electronegativity. By
mass, it is the third-most abundant element in the
universe, after hydrogen and helium. Which element?

48. Answer
• Oxygen

49. Q. 22
• The mascot was designed by Andrew McGown, to support the
effort to save the Tasmanian devil species from extinction due
to the devil facial tumour disease. It is a variation of which
other famous mascot?

50. Visual

52. Answer
• Tux

53. Q. 23
• X and Y are homophones. While X is a traditional unit of
pressure, now defined as exactly 1/760 of a standard
atmosphere named after Evangelista Torricelli, an Italian
physicist and mathematician, best known for his invention of
the barometer, Y is a is free software for enabling online
anonymity. X & Y?

54. Answer
• X - Torr
• Y - Tor

55. Q. 24
• ______________ is the generic name for a family of strong
fast-acting adhesives with industrial, medical and household
uses.These adhesives are sometimes known generically as
instant glues or superglues. A member of this class is known
by the IUPAC name Methyl 2-cyanopropenoate (C5H5NO2)
with the structure shown in the next slide. They are generally
available in liquid form. What class of compounds?

57. Answer
• Cyanoacrylates

58. Q. 25
• Though al-Khwārizmī's ________ referred to the rules of
performing arithmetic using Hindu-Arabic numerals and the
systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations, a partial
formalization of what would become the modern _________
began with attempts to solve the Entscheidungsproblem (the
"decision problem") posed by David Hilbert in 1928.
Subsequent formalizations were framed as attempts to define
"effective calculability"; those formalizations included the
Gödel–Herbrand–Kleene recursive functions of 1930, 1934
and 1935, Alonzo Church's lambda calculus of 1936, Emil
Post's "Formulation 1" of 1936, and Alan Turing's Turing
machines of 1936–7 and 1939.
What are we talking about?

59. Answer
• Algorithm

60. Q. 26
• Shown here is a comic drawn by the Oatmeal to
commemorate the recent discovery of something. What?

61. Visual

62. Answer
• Olinguito , the newly discovered mammal
species

63. Q. 27
• An early form of Z was described by Thomas Edison in an 1879
patent application, although he he did not use it in his power
system. Its purpose was to protect lighting circuit wiring from
accidental short-circuits and overloads. A modern Z similar to
the ones now in use was patented by Brown, Boveri & Cie in
1924. Z?

64. Answer
• Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)

65. Q. 28
• I bought a can of X 4.5 billion years ago. Today I opened it and
it was half empty (with respect to what it contained
initially, not to be taken literally). “Little boys” shouldn't use X
as it can induce increased mutagenicity and induction of
tumours. Gimme X

66. Answer
• Uranium

67. Q. 29
• The image is actually a diagram for a patent titled as 'The
cathode ray tube amusement device' patented by Thomas T.
Goldsmith, Jr. and Estle Ray Mann. While this device was
never sold due to the manufacturing cost being too high, its
successors enjoy tremendous success today. We know it
better as ____

68. Visual

69. Answer
• The first video game

70. Q. 30
• In the image on the following slide, what comes in place of
the topmost blank space?

72. Visual

73. Answer
• UNICS which stood for “UNiplexed
Information and Computing Service”

74. Torquest ’13
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