2. Ashwan
Rajagopal
Avinash

3. Rules
• 35 questions in the prelims
• +1 for every correct answer; some questions
have 2 parts, so +1 for getting each right
• Stake +1 if you have the right answer; -1 if you
are wrong

4. 1.
The Dharwar kraton is made up of the 4th
oldest known rocks, and underlies most of the
Deccan plateau.
At which prominent landmark can you see
these rocks in Bangalore city?

5. Answer…

6. The Lalbagh Hillock

7. 2.
The first episode of James Burke’s landmark
television show Connections was called The
Trigger Effect, and starts with the New York
power blackout of 1965. Burkes then asks us to
imagine what we’d do if we have to ‘reboot
civilization’ after a similar apocalypse. With this
thought experiment, he traces the growth of all
of human history, culture & technology to one
key invention.
What invention?

8. Answer…

9. The Plough

10. 3.
It might stand for ‘power’ or ‘potency’, being
derived from either the German ‘potenz’, the
French ‘puissance’, or the Latin ‘pondus’. That
Soren Sorenson used platinum electrodes in his
experiments might also explain its origin.
In fact, it stands for nothing at all and comes
from just the convention of using letters for
notation.
Urban legends for the origin of what term?

11. Answer…

12. The ‘p’ in pH

13. 4.
Instead of hardwood growing outwards, they just
have a jumble of scattered spongy tissue. The
lack of a conventional structure is what makes
them so flexible & supremely adapted to adverse
weather events that usually destroy other trees.
Identify this plant, that for many people evokes a
lovely tropical holiday.

14. Answer…

15. Palm trees
Will accept coconut tree/coconut palm also

16. 5.
It summarizes everything we know about matter &
energy, providing a detailed picture of the building
blocks from which everything is made. It surpasses in
precision, universality & range of applicability every
theory that has ever existed. Yet in physics news, it
always plays the role of the whipping boy. Successful
tests have an air of disappointment, and every hint of
inadequacy is greeted with glee.
There was no 'lone genius’ behind it, that it is a
“tapestry woven by many hands” and that it doesn’t
have a ‘sexy name’ might explain why this might be
so.
What unsung triumph of modern physics?

17. Answer…

19. 6.
2008 anthology of
biographical essays on
famous Indian
scientists.
What apt title does it
have?

20. Answer…

21. Lilavati’s Daughters

22. 7. Conservationist/photographer Paul Nicklen on
his experience late last summer on Somerset
Island in the Canadian Arctic –
"We stood there crying – filming with tears rolling
down our cheeks. Some criticized us for not doing
more…but we were too far away, we didn’t have a
weapon….to approach a predator would be
madness.
In the end, we did the only thing we could: used
my camera to make sure we would be able to
share this tragedy with the world. This is what
climate change looks like.”
What is he talking about?

23. Answer…

24. Starving Polar Bear
Nicken’s photograph of an emaciated bear desperate for
food and struggling to walk went viral last year, and
elicited a “oh how sad!” response for about 10 seconds.

25. 8. His theories treated atoms & molecules as real
objects. Supposedly hanged himself as leading
scientists ridiculed & opposed him.
Who?

26. Answer…

27. Ludwig Boltzman

28. 9. What 2-word phrase is used to collectively
describe these?
[not an exhaustive list, just most widely used]

29. Answer…

30. Model Organism

31. 10. Chladini figures are made by resonating a
rigid surface lightly covered with sand; the sand
concentrates on lines where there is no vibration.
Shown here are some patterns that form when a
tabla is struck.
From whose landmark study of the acoustics
of Indian instruments?

33. Answer…

34. C V Raman

35. 11.
They are the most widely used insecticides in
the world, and are far less toxic to birds &
mammals when compared to the older
generation of insecticides.
They get their name from this, and the fact that
they bind to receptors in muscle tissue, just like
a well known toxic alkaloid produced by the
nightshade family of plants.
What class of chemicals?

36. Answer…

37. Neonicotinoids

38. 12.
Complete the title of
this book with a two
word pun.

39. Answer…

41. 13. Comic making fun of which philosopher, a
major influence on modern science.

42. Answer…

43. Karl Popper

44. 14. What project did frustrated graduate student
Alexandra Elbakyan start on 5th September 2011?
Despite being despised by certain industries, she
is seen as a ‘science hero’ by many.

45. Answer…

46. Sci-Hub
(accept anything describing free access to
published research)

47. 15. Odile Speed was primarily known for her nudes
& still life watercolours. However, none matched the
fame (?) of her most famous work, a small B&W
illustration. What iconic image?

49. Answer…

51. 16. Photo from a recent multi-stage rocket launch.
What explains the ‘gap’ seen in its trail?
?

52. Answer…

53. Twilight Shadow
or
Earth Shadow
or
Shadow due to Earth’s curvature

54. 17. The crustacean Artemia
salina endures adverse
environmental conditions by
entering an ametabolic
state, or by producing
dormant eggs, and so is
widely used as fish-feed.
It endures in popular culture
through a name once
heavily marketed,
especially in comic books.
What name?

55. Answer…

57. 18. For ~40 years he has been turning household
items & trash into toys, all in an effort to educate &
popularise science.
Identify this recent Padmashree laureate.

58. Answer…

59. Arvind Gupta

60. 19.
Studies in the 1970s showed that children chewing
_______-flavoured gum had fewer cavities &
missing teeth when compared with traditional
sucrose-sweetened gum.
Extracted from hardwood, it is arguably the world’s
first health-promoting additive, and is now a staple
in chewing gums & also as a sweetener.
Name the molecule.

61. Answer…

62. Xylitol

63. 20. Routes showing how a crop was brought to the
Old World much before the Columbian Exchange.
Which crop/vegetable/food item?

64. Answer…

65. Sweet Potato

66. 21.
One was an 18th-19th century polymath & physician,
with major contributions in physics, mathematics,
medicine, music, linguistics & history.
The other straddled the ages of classical & modern
physics, equally at ease with both theory &
experiment.
Identify both.

68. Answer…

69. Thomas Young
Enrico Fermi

70. 22. They were classmates as doctoral students, but
solved only one problem together.
“I received Martin Hairer’s medal, who received X’s,
who received Arthur Avila’s, who received mine. An
unlikely scenario, even if the medals were
randomly. After the ceremony there was little chance
for all four of us, or even say three of us, to be in the
same place simultaneously. Due to constant photo
shoots, we each needed a medal with us at all times
so that we could fulfil our duties and pose with one
when asked.”
Identify both mathematicians who solved this
thorny problem in 2014.

71. Answer…

72. Manjul Bhargava
Maryam Mirzakhani

73. 23.
The name for these porous alumino-silicate
minerals comes from the Greek for “to boil” and
“stone” – when heated they would produce
from the water they had adsorbed.
They find varied commercial uses – you might
have come across them in cat litter and laundry
detergent.
What’s the good word?

74. Answer…

75. Zeolites

76. 24.
A recent paper in the British Medical Journal
titled “Does X really ____ ______ _ Y?
Longitudinal Analysis of Older English Adults”
seems to contradict an old adage.
The paper notes that “…physical
manifestations of X may also make people with
high levels of X less likely to Y – for example,
having a more upright and confident posture,
walking with the head raised high giving better
sight of oncoming obstacles, and walking with a
purposeful gait.”
What old adage?

77. Answer…

78. Pride comes before a Fall

79. 25.
Patent drawing of a device once used by
animators to add effects to live action, or to
create a matte for animated images. Famously
the light sabers in the original Star Wars were
created in this way.
Although now largely replaced by computers,
the process is still called by the name of the
device.
What’s the device called?

81. Answer…

82. Rotoscope

83. 26.
Edwin Hubble took the picture on the bottom
right in 1923, and went on use the picture (and a
few others of the same object(s)) to revolutionize
astronomy. Recently the Hubble telescope was
turned towards the same area and images were
captured as a tribute to Hubble’s original photo.
What did Hubble find in his photos? How did it
revolutionize astronomy?

85. Answer…

86. Variable Star / Cepheid Variable
Helps in calculation of distance to
stellar objects

87. 27.
When this Nobel Prize winner was conferred the
Order of the Elephant in his country by King
Frederick IX, he designed the coat of arms shown
below. He was fascinated with the yin-yang,
which he felt represented his chief non-Nobel
prize claim to fame. He also added this idea as a
motto to the coat of arms. The yin-yang symbol
can also be seen in a bust of his placed in the
university he worked most of his life.
Who? What idea are the symbol & motto hinting
at?

89. Answer…

90. Niels Bohr
Complementarity (principle)

91. 28.
The term X first appeared in print in 1873 in an
examination question set by James Thomson, the
brother of Lord Kelvin. However this angular
measure was used in all but name by Roger
Cotes in 1714. Till 1995 it was part of SI
Supplementary Units, but this category was
abolished and ever since X is considered to be a
SI Derived Unit.
What unit?

92. Answer…

93. Radian

94. 29. This particular variation of an apparatus
named for a scientist was designed so that
whatever gave its name could be both stood up or
laid flat through mechanical means. The
scientist may have chosen this particular design
because it sounds like his name in some
languages.
What is this apparatus called? Which scientist
first used it?

95. Answer…

96. Maltese Cross (Crookes) Tube
William Crookes

97. 30.
With the coming changes in definitions of SI
units, specifically unit of mass, accurate
measurement of this will be important. To
demystify this definition, the table-top
measurement device has been developed from
building blocks that may be found in many
homes, or that can be purchased inexpensively.
What is the device called, OR what is it made
from?
What constant, which is the smallest expressed
SI unit?

99. Answer…

100. Lego Bricks (Lego Watt Balance)
Planck’s Constant

101. 31.
In 2001, Pier Paolo Pandolfi of the Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, gave
the name X to the new member of a family of
oncogenes. He explained it came from POZ
Krupel erythroid myeloid ontogenic.
However, the trademark holders to the name X
didn’t buy it, saying “We don't want our image
undermined by associating Pokémon with
cancer.”
What is X?

102. Answer…

103. Pokemon

104. 32.
Encountered by sea creatures or during
underwater photography, it is a circular area of
light with everything outside it being dark.
Sometimes called an optical manhole, it’s
common name is a reference to a 17th century
Dutch scientist whose principle explains why it
occurs it occurs.
What are these called?

106. Answer…

107. Snell’s window

108. 33.
Ads for the Kent Micronite cigarettes, one of the
first popular filter cigarettes, with filters made
by the Hollingsworth & Vose Company, said that
these Crocidolite filters offered “the greatest
health protection” in history, supposedly filtering
30% extra tar. 12 Billion of these cigarettes were
sold. Smokers hated the filter as it was too
effective and the cigarettes lacked flavour.
Thankfully for them, the filter was more
carcinogenic than the tobacco smoke.
What was the filter made from?

109. Answer…

110. Asbestos

111. 34.
The top of the Washington Monument in D.C.
was truncated and a separately made pyramid
was to be put on top of it in 1884 as part of a
lightning rod. This 9 inch tall pyramidal block
was the largest block of that material up to that
point. Priced similarly to silver, its maker
arranged for it to be displayed in the window of
Tiffany’s.
In 1934, Edgar Dix, chief metallurgist of a
company that made the material declared "the
crown jewel of the -------- industry is the cap of
the Washington Monument."
What material?

112. Answer…

113. Aluminum/Aluminium

114. 35.
Andy Cheng, of the Long-Range Reconnaissance
Image (LORRI), said that the idea has been
discussed for many years, and will be carried out
some time in January 2019, 28 years after the
original one. It will be a risky attempt, as LORRI
will have to pointed close to sun, but not so close
to be destroyed by it.
What are plans being made for, OR what will the
outcome be if successful?
Where is LORRI located?

115. Answer…

116. Pale Blue Dot photo update
New Horizons