This document summarizes the rules and questions from the UTSUK '14 quiz competition. The rules state that questions can be answered by the team asked or opposing teams who "pounce". Pounces must be answered within 30 seconds. Correct answers receive 10 points, wrong answers receive -5 points. The questions cover topics in meteorology, astronomy, history of science and technology, chemistry, and geology. Sample questions ask about rain shadows, sunspots, the limelight, vanishing spray, eye color determination, columnar basalt, and the synthesis of paracetamol. The document provides a high-level overview of the format and content of the quiz competition.

1. UTSUK ‘14

2. 1. Rules remain the same for all the rounds.
2. No passing of the questions.
3. Pounces are allowed for all the questions.
4. Pounce closes in 30 seconds.
5. The team to which the question is directly
asked should answer only after the pounce is
closed or they receive negative points.
6. They get 10 points for each correct answer. No
negative points for them.
7. The pouncing teams get 10 points for each
correct answer and -5 points for each wrong
answer.

3. I. Keep it Simple, Silly !

4. Q1. The size distribution of the elements of this
process is given by the Marshall-Palmer law, and
the Z-R relation is used to correlate the severity
of this phenomenon with radar reflectivity. This
phenomenon can be caused by adiabatic cooling
of anabatic wind to below its dew point.
Mountains create a “shadow” in which this
phenomenon doesn’t occur.
Name this phenomenon.

6. Rain

7. Q2. They are caused by intense magnetic activity,
which inhibits convection by an effect comparable
to the eddy current brake. They usually appear as
pairs, with each _______ having the opposite
magnetic pole to the other. The first clear mention
of a _______ in Western literature, around 300 BC,
was by the ancient Greek scholar Theophrastus,
student of Plato.
It can be divided into two parts: the central umbra,
and the surrounding penumbra.
What is it?

9. Sunspot

10. Q3. In 1820s, Goldsworthy Gurney observed that
an intense illumination was created when an
oxy-hydrogen flame is directed at a piece of
calcium oxide. The theaters at that time were
quick to use this effect to illuminate
performances where they wanted audience
attention focused on a single actor. It became a
common usage in English language since its
invention.
What am I talking about?

12. Limelight

13. Q4. The mixture contains water (~80%), butane gas
(~17%), surfactant (~1%), and other ingredients
including vegetable oil (~2%).The liquefied butane
expands when the mixture is ejected. The butane
evaporates instantly, forming bubbles of gas in the
water/surfactant mixture. The surfactant(s) cause
the bubbles to have stability and hence a gas-in-
liquid colloid (foam) forms. It was named ‘spuny’
when it was invented. The mentioned mixture
acquired great popularity recently!
What am I talking about?

15. The vanishing spray

16. Q5. John Wood Campbell, Jr. was an influential
figure in American science fiction. As editor of
‘Astounding Science Fiction’, from late 1937 until
his death, he is generally credited with shaping the
so-called Golden Age of Science Fiction.
He once described the ‘most dangerous’ chemical
in the world as –“…a single exposure to this
substance cause life long addiction, withdrawal for
more than a few minutes can be fatal there is no
cure and prognosis is death”.
What was he referring to ?

19. Q6. Brown -- The high concentration of
C18H10N2O4 and low amount of scattering.
Blue -- The low concentration of C18H10N2O4
and Rayleigh/Tyndall scattering.
Green -- The moderate concentration of
C18H10N2O4, lipochrome and Rayleigh scattering.
Gray -- The low concentration of C18H10N2O4
and Mie scattering.
What is it that I describe?

21. Eye color in humans.

22. Q7. During the cooling of a thick lava flow, contractional
joints or fractures form. If a flow cools relatively rapidly,
significant contraction forces build up. The extensive fracture
network that develops results in the formation of columns.
The topology of the lateral shapes of these columns can broadly
be classed as a random cellular network. These structures are
predominantly hexagonal in cross-section, but polygons with
three to twelve or more sides can be observed. The size of the
columns depends loosely on the rate of cooling; very rapid
cooling may result in very small (<1 cm diameter) columns,
while slow cooling is more likely to produce large columns.
What am I talking about?

24. Columnar Basalt

26. Q1. Identify what the diagram
describes!

28. Honey Bee dance

29. Q2. What is so special about this
strange sculpture?

31. Impossible Triangle, Perth
Based on a mathematical formula discovered by
Lionel Penrose (British geneticist) and his son,
Sir Roger Penrose (Mathematician)

32. Q3. This photograph shows a RepRap.
What is the RepRap ?

34. The RepRap is a 3D printer that can
print most of its own parts, thus
enabling self-replication!

35. Q4. Identify the object in the UV image.
(Hint can be given as per request)

37. The image of the Earth
in Ultraviolet, taken from the moon.
The half of the earth exposed to the sun glows
bright in ultra violet. Band like structures
extending into the darker half of the earth are
caused by aurorae.

38. Q5. Identify this famous Prize in Science.

40. Fields Medal
(The Ultimate prize in Mathematics)

41. Q6. Why is this note book page so
important?

43. The first computer bug being found !

44. Q7. Identify these naturally occurring
fractals.

46. Snow-flakes

47. Q8. Identify the process.

49. Synthesis of Paracetamol.

50. Q9. Google celebrated an occasion
recently with this doodle.
Identify the occasion.

52. Dr. Jonas Salk’s Birthday
on 28th October 2014
(Inventor of Polio vaccine)

53. Partial marks allowed

54. Q1. X received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in
1918 for Y. Notoriously, X is also remembered to
history as the "father of chemical warfare" for
his years of pioneering work developing and
weaponizing chlorine and other poisonous
gases during World War I.
Identify X and Y.

56. X - Fritz Haber
Y - Haber’s process (Synthesising Ammonia)

57. Q2.When X was offered a toast during the Nobel
function, X responded:
“Sir, you have seen the X effect on Y; please do
not try to see the Y effect on X”
Identify X and Y.

59. X- Raman
Y- Alcohol

60. Q3. X experimented with Parkesine, while
researching a substitute for ivory to
produce billiard balls. Parkesine had been
invented by the English Alexander Parkes in
1862. X’s experimentation resulted in a method
to mass produce Y.
Who is X and what is Y ?

62. X-John Wesley Hyatt
Y- Celluloid

63. Q4. X was an Indian scientist and an applied statistician. X
is best remembered for the Y distance, a statistical
measure. X made pioneering studies in anthropometry in
India, founded the Indian Statistical Institute, and
contributed to the design of large-scale sample surveys.
In Presidency College, culcutta, X was taught by teachers
who included Jagadish Chandra Bose and Prafulla
Chandra Ray. Meghnad Saha was an year junior
and Subhash Chandra Bose was two years junior at
college. X interacted with the mathematical
genius Srinivasa Ramanujan during the latter's time at
Cambridge.
ID X and Y.

65. X - P. C. Mahalanobis
Y - Mahalanobis

66. Q5. X was created by Harold P Brown and Arthur
Kennelly, employed by Y, during the ’war of
currents’ in order to highlight the dangers posed
by the alternating current which was marketed
by Westinghouse Electric.
Identify X and Y.

68. X-Electric Chair
Y-Thomas Alva Edison

69. Q6. First developed in 1991, X was pointed at
the Trojan Room coffee pot in the Cambridge
University Computer Science Department. It was
finally switched off on August 22, 2001. The
oldest X still operating is now at San Francisco
State University, which has been running
continuously since 1994.
Identify X.

71. Webcam

72. Q7. X is a physicist who kept a list of names
of physicists which he ranked on a logarithmic scale
of productivity ranging from 0 to 5. The highest
ranking, 0, was assigned to Isaac Newton. Albert
Einstein was ranked 0.5. A rank of 1 was awarded to
the founding fathers of quantum mechanics, Niels
Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Paul Dirac and Erwin
Schrödinger, and others. He ranked himself as a 2.5,
but, later promoted himself to a 2. David Mermin,
writing about this particular scientist, referred to
the scale, and ranked himself in the fourth division,
in the article My Life with X: Homage of a 4.5 to a 2.
Identify X.

74. Lev Landau (Landau scale)

76. Q1.

78. Ubuntu versions.

79. Q2.

81. Milestones of Gravitational theory.
Curved Space

82. Q3.
50 70 30

84. Science Nobel prize
winners born in India

85. Q4.

87. Apollo 11

88. Q5.

90. The methods of Mathematical proofs!
Proof by contradiction
 Probabilistic proof
 Proof by Induction
 Proof by Construction
 Proof by Exhaustion.

91. Q6. Connect these artificial elements.

93. All these elements are discovered by
one scientist.
Seaborg

95. Q1. Identify the voice. Explain.

97. Stephen Hawking through his
computer.

98. Q2. Identify and explain the interesting
phenomenon.

100. The different voices belong to the
same person. The second voice is
produced as he inhales a low density
gas (Helium in this case).
To be more specific the voice is that of
Morgan Freeman.

101. Q3. Identify the historical incident

103. Indira Gandhi speaks with Rakesh
Sharma from space.

104. Q4. Identify the voice of a famous
scientist.

106. James D. Watson

107. Q5. Identify the voice.

109. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

110. Q6. Identify the voice.

112. Humpback whales

113. Tie-breaker!
• Only pouncing is allowed.
• Three questions !
• Whoever draws the first blood wins !

114. First Chance!
Q1. n + (143n+92p) (85n+56p) + (56n+36p) + 3n.
Identify the process represented by the given
expression.

116. Nuclear fission of Uranium 235 into
Barium and Krypton
(n and p are Neutrons and Protons
respectively)

117. The second chance!
Q2. X operates in the range of 2400-2483.5 MHz
(including guard bands). This is in the globally
unlicensed (but, not unregulated) Industrial,
Scientific and Medical (ISM) 2.4 GHz short-range
radio frequency band. It uses a radio technology
called frequency-hopping spread spectrum. X is
named after 10th century king Harald Blåtand
Gormse who united Denmark and Norway. Logo of
X is formed from the initials of the king written in
Bind Rune.
Identify X.

119. Bluetooth

120. The last chance?
Q3. Laplace once wrote “A profound and
important idea which appears so simple to us
now that we ignore its true merit ……. and we
shall appreciate the grandeur of this
achievement when we remember that it
escaped the genius of Archimedes and
Apollonius, two of the greatest minds produced
by antiquity.”.
Which idea is he referring to?

122. Decimal number system (The idea of writing
numbers in the powers of 10)

123. There it goes..
Q3. Which laboratory glassware is named after
the official flower of Scotland?

125. Thistle funnel (or Thistle tube)

126. Acknowledgement
We thank Akhil Suresh, Arun Chaithanya,
Aromal A, Karthik R, QSI and all the volunteers
for their support.
-- Joseph and Yadu