This document contains the rules and questions for a science quiz. It begins with some introductory information and rules for the quiz. The questions cover a wide range of science topics, including physics, astronomy, biology, and mathematics. Participants are asked to identify terms, theories, people, and solve other science-related problems. Diagrams and photos provide additional context for some of the questions.
3. Rules
1. 42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything. But this
is just a quiz.
2. No cheating in any form is allowed. Please keep your phones
on the table. Anyone spotted cheating by the QMs will be
disqualified immediately.
3. Some questions are star-marked. They will serve as a
tiebreaker. In case of a tie even in these questions, sudden
death from the first question onwards will resolve the tie.
4. Points are specified on the slides.
4. Question 1
A uniform rod of mass m and length l performs,
small oscillations about the horizontal axis passing
through its upper end. Find the mean kinetic
energy of the rod averaged over one oscillation
period if at the initial moment it was deflected
from the vertical by an angle x and then imparted
an angular velocity y. (10)
6. Q 1 _________ is a mirror that can show
ourselves from an extraordinary
perspective and can help trivialize the
differences among us
- Jill Tarter
_______ is probably the most important
quest of our time, and it amazes me that
governments and corporations are not
supporting it sufficiently.
- Arthur C. Clarke
_______has so far only proved that no
matter what you beam up, the Pythagorean
theorem, pictures of attractive nude people
etc, the big 800 number in the sky does not
return calls.
- Barbara Ehrenreich
- FITB (1)
8. Q3
“I have discovered a truly remarkable proof which
this margin is too small to contain.”
This line proved to be a major headache for
mathematicians all around the world for almost 4
centuries until it was finally proved in 1995.
1) Name the problem being talked about. (1)
2) Who proved it? (1)
(part points)
12. Q7*
“The first concept of X first came to me as far back as 1910, when considering
the map of the world, under the direct impression produced by the
congruence of the coast lines on either side of the Atlantic. At first I did not
pay attention to the ideas because I regarded it as improbable. In the fall of
1911, I came quite accidentally upon a synoptic report in which I learned for
the first time of paleontological evidence for a former land bridge between
Brazil and Africa. As a result I undertook a cursory examination of relevant
research in the fields of geology and palaeontology, and this provided
immediately such weighty corroboration that a conviction of the fundamental
soundness of the idea took root in my mind.”
Given above is a description of the groundbreaking theory of X, which
completely shook the world of science, given by its proponent Y.
ID X and Y.
(1 point each, part points)
13. Q8
Falcon Heavy is the most powerful rocket in the world,
engineered by SpaceX.
The Falcon had a special payload- Elon Musk’s personal
Tesla Roadster with a dummy behind the wheel. The
dummy was named X after Y’s famous song.
(1) ID X and Y (1+1)
(2) Connect the given
image to the previous
part. (1)
18. Q13
• X is a problem solving principle that when presented with
competing hypothetical answers to a problem, one should select the
one that makes the fewest assumptions.
• Y is a counterargument to the use of X in the medical profession.
While X suggests that the simplest explanation is the most likely,
implying in medicine that diagnostician should assume a single cause
for multiple symptoms, one form of Y states: "A man can have as many
diseases as he damn well pleases.”
• Z is an aphorism expressed in various ways including "Never attribute
to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.“ It
recommends a way of eliminating unlikely explanations for a
phenomenon.
ID X,Y,Z
19. Q14*
•This is a naturally occurring
phenomenon in some tree
species where the upper most
branches in a forest canopy
avoid touching one another.
• The visual effect is striking as
it creates clearly defined
borders akin to cracks or rivers
in the sky when viewed from
below.
•It might simply be caused by
the trees rubbing against one
another, or more active causes
such as optimizing light
exposure for photosynthesis or
even as a deterrent for the
spread of harmful insects.
ID the phenomenon (1)
20. Q15
“Look again at that dot. That's
here. That's home. That's us. On
it everyone you love, everyone
you know, everyone you ever
heard of, every human being
who ever was, lived out their
lives. The aggregate of our joy
and suffering, thousands of
confident religions,
ideologies……every saint and
sinner in the history of our
species lived there--on a mote
of dust suspended in a
sunbeam.”
ID the photo and the
author.(1+1)
21. Q16
•This structure, made by
male Pufferfish is made
to attract females.
•It acts as a receptacle for
the female’s eggs after
mating is complete.
•Once it is completed, the
male ceases his upkeep
of the structure , and
after the eggs hatch, he
abandons the nest
altogether.
What is the name given
to this structure, inspired
by something similar on
land? (1)
22. Q17
In 1930, particle physicists noticed a problem. A type of
radioactivity called beta decay, in which a radioactive nucleus A
decays into a lighter nucleus B by emitting an electron, had been
studied extensively in the lab. It was discovered that, from
experiment to experiment, the energy of the emitted electron
varied enormously even in cases where the energies of the
parent nucleus A and daughter nucleus B were held constant.
1)Why did this pose a problem to physicists of the day? (1)
2)How was the problem eventually resolved? (1)
23. Q18*
Exhaustive list of what?
• Yang –Mils and Mass gap
• Hodge conjecture
• Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture
• Riemann hypothesis
• P vs NP problem
• Navier Stokes equation
• Poincare conjecture
(1)
24. Q19
• Andrew Jeremy
Wakefield is a disgraced
British former
gastroenterologist and
medical researcher who
was struck off the UK
medical register.
• His work has been
described as "perhaps, the
most damaging medical
hoax of the last 100
years.“
What did he do to gain such
infamy? (1)
25. Q20
• X is a natural display in the Earth’s sky, predominantly seen in
the high latitude regions of the Antarctic. It is produced when
the magnetosphere is sufficiently disturbed by the solar wind
such that the trajectories of the charged particles in both solar
winds and magnetosphere plasma, mainly in the form of
electrons and protons, precipitate them into the upper
atmosphere due to Earth’s magnetic field.
• ID X? (1)
26. Q21
• X is 200 times stronger than steel,
1000 times more conductive than
copper, and almost half the density
of aluminium . According to the
inventors of X, Surrey
Nanosystems, when light interacts
with this incredibly low density
material it "is rapidly absorbed as it
'bounces' from tube to tube and
simply cannot escape as the tubes
are so long in relation to their
diameter and the space between
them. The near total lack of
reflectance creates an almost
perfect black surface.“
• ID X (1)
27. Q22
Popularly dubbed “The most intelligent picture ever taken”,
identify the occasion where this iconic image was clicked. (1)
28. Q23*
Inset is photo of X, a chess-
playing
computer developed
by IBM. It is known for
being the first computer
chess-playing system to
win both a chess game and
a chess match against a
reigning world champion
under regular time
controls.
Shortly afterwards, AI scored an even more sensational success when
Google’s Y software taught itself to play Go, an ancient Chinese strategy
board game significantly more complex than chess. In March 2016 Y
defeated the Go champion, Lee Sedol.
ID X and Y. (1+1)
29. Q24
• The three primary points Ham focused on were 1) the definitions of
terms; 2) interpretation of the evidence; and 3) the age of the
universe is not observational science. Regarding the first, Ham noted
that science means knowledge and so X cannot claim to be doing
science. Regarding the second, he argued that both Y and X observe
the same evidence; they simply interpret that evidence differently.
Regarding the third, Ham observed that “We weren’t there” at the
beginning of the Earth and so we can’t know through observational
science what happened. Nye also turned to evidence from ice cores,
which would require 170 winter/summer cycles per year for at least
a thousand years to generate the current amount of ice built up. In
California, there are trees which are extremely ancient, and some
trees are even older, possibly as old as 9000 or more years old.
• What were Bill Nye and Ken Ham debating/ID X and Y.
32. Q 1 _________ is a mirror that can show
ourselves from an extraordinary
perspective and can help trivialize the
differences among us
- Jill Tarter
_______ is probably the most important
quest of our time, and it amazes me that
governments and corporations are not
supporting it sufficiently.
- Arthur C. Clarke
_______has so far only proved that no
matter what you beam up, the Pythagorean
theorem, pictures of attractive nude people
etc, the big 800 number in the sky does not
return calls.
- Barbara Ehrenreich
- FITB (1)
36. Q3
“I have discovered a truly remarkable proof which
this margin is too small to contain.”
This line proved to be a major headache for
mathematicians all around the world for almost 4
centuries until it was finally proved in 1995.
1) Name the problem being talked about. (1)
2) Who proved it? (1)
(part points)
44. Q7*
“The first concept of X first came to me as far back as 1910, when considering
the map of the world, under the direct impression produced by the
congruence of the coast lines on either side of the Atlantic. At first I did not
pay attention to the ideas because I regarded it as improbable. In the fall of
1911, I came quite accidentally upon a synoptic report in which I learned for
the first time of paleontological evidence for a former land bridge between
Brazil and Africa. As a result I undertook a cursory examination of relevant
research in the fields of geology and palaeontology, and this provided
immediately such weighty corroboration that a conviction of the fundamental
soundness of the idea took root in my mind.”
Given above is a description of the groundbreaking theory of X, which
completely shook the world of science, given by its proponent Y.
ID X and Y.
(1 point each, part points)
46. Q8
Falcon Heavy is the most powerful rocket in the world,
engineered by SpaceX.
The Falcon had a special payload- Elon Musk’s personal
Tesla Roadster with a dummy behind the wheel. The
dummy was named X after Y’s famous song.
(1) ID X and Y (1+1)
(2) Connect the given
image to the previous
part. (1)
47. A8
• 1) X- Starman
Y- David Bowie
• 2) “DON’T PANIC!” from the “Hitchhiker’s Guide
to the Galaxy’ is written on the dashboard of the
car.
56. Q13
X is a problem solving principle that when presented with
competing hypothetical answers to a problem, one should select the
one that makes the fewest assumptions.
Y is a counterargument to the use of X in the medical profession. While
X suggests that the simplest explanation is the most likely, implying in
medicine that diagnostician should assume a single cause for multiple
symptoms, one form of Y states: "A man can have as many diseases as
he damn well pleases.”
Z is an aphorism expressed in various ways including "Never attribute
to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.“ It
recommends a way of eliminating unlikely explanations for a
phenomenon.
ID X,Y,Z
58. Q14*
•This is a naturally occurring
phenomenon in some tree
species where the upper most
branches in a forest canopy
avoid touching one another.
• The visual effect is striking as
it creates clearly defined
borders akin to cracks or rivers
in the sky when viewed from
below.
•It might simply be caused by
the trees rubbing against one
another, or more active causes
such as optimizing light
exposure for photosynthesis or
even as a deterrent for the
spread of harmful insects.
ID the phenomenon (1)
60. Q15
“Look again at that dot. That's
here. That's home. That's us. On
it everyone you love, everyone
you know, everyone you ever
heard of, every human being
who ever was, lived out their
lives. The aggregate of our joy
and suffering, thousands of
confident religions,
ideologies……every saint and
sinner in the history of our
species lived there--on a mote
of dust suspended in a
sunbeam.”
ID the photo and the
author.(1+1)
62. Q16
•This structure, made by
male Pufferfish is made
to attract females.
•It acts as a receptacle for
the female’s eggs after
mating is complete.
•Once it is completed, the
male ceases his upkeep
of the structure , and
after the eggs hatch, he
abandons the nest
altogether.
What is the name given
to this structure, inspired
by something similar on
land? (1)
64. Q17
In 1930, particle physicists noticed a problem. A type of
radioactivity called beta decay, in which a radioactive nucleus A
decays into a lighter nucleus B by emitting an electron, had been
studied extensively in the lab. It was discovered that, from
experiment to experiment, the energy of the emitted electron
varied enormously even in cases where the energies of the
parent nucleus A and daughter nucleus B were held constant.
1)Why did this pose a problem to physicists of the day? (1)
2)How was the problem eventually resolved? (1)
65. A17
1) Apparently violated the law of Conservation of
energy.
2) A Neutrino is also released in this reaction
which accounts for the varying energies of the
electron.
66. Q18*
Exhaustive list of what?
• Yang –Mils and Mass gap
• Hodge conjecture
• Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture
• Riemann hypothesis
• P vs NP problem
• Navier Stokes equation
• Poincare conjecture
(1)
68. Q19
• Andrew Jeremy
Wakefield is a disgraced
British former
gastroenterologist and
medical researcher who
was struck off the UK
medical register.
• His work has been
described as "perhaps, the
most damaging medical
hoax of the last 100
years.“
What did he do to gain such
infamy? (1)
70. Q20
• X is a natural display in the Earth’s sky, predominantly seen in
the high latitude regions of the Antarctic. It is produced when
the magnetosphere is sufficiently disturbed by the solar wind
such that the trajectories of the charged particles in both solar
winds and magnetosphere plasma, mainly in the form of
electrons and protons, precipitate them into the upper
atmosphere due to Earth’s magnetic field.
• ID X? (1)
72. Q21
• X is 200 times stronger than steel,
1000 times more conductive than
copper, and almost half the density
of aluminium . According to the
inventors of X, Surrey
Nanosystems, when light interacts
with this incredibly low density
material it "is rapidly absorbed as it
'bounces' from tube to tube and
simply cannot escape as the tubes
are so long in relation to their
diameter and the space between
them. The near total lack of
reflectance creates an almost
perfect black surface.“
• ID X (1)
76. Q23*
Inset is photo of X, a chess-
playing
computer developed
by IBM. It is known for
being the first computer
chess-playing system to
win both a chess game and
a chess match against a
reigning world champion
under regular time
controls.
Shortly afterwards, AI scored an even more sensational success when
Google’s Y software taught itself to play Go, an ancient Chinese strategy
board game significantly more complex than chess. In March 2016 Y
defeated the Go champion, Lee Sedol.
ID X and Y. (1+1)
78. Q24
• The three primary points Ham focused on were 1) the definitions of
terms; 2) interpretation of the evidence; and 3) the age of the
universe is not observational science. Regarding the first, Ham noted
that science means knowledge and so X cannot claim to be doing
science. Regarding the second, he argued that both Y and X observe
the same evidence; they simply interpret that evidence differently.
Regarding the third, Ham observed that “We weren’t there” at the
beginning of the Earth and so we can’t know through observational
science what happened. Nye also turned to evidence from ice cores,
which would require 170 winter/summer cycles per year for at least
a thousand years to generate the current amount of ice built up. In
California, there are trees which are extremely ancient, and some
trees are even older, possibly as old as 9000 or more years old.
• What were Bill Nye and Ken Ham debating/ID X and Y.
