Physics Intersection Quiz prelims made by me and Sacman.
Level: Class 10th
1. The name of this popular dance move is an oxymoron, since low gravity would make it very difficult to perform. What are we talking about?
2. What does applying torsion to an object do to it?
3. When these devices first came out, they were called “optical masers” where maser stood for "Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation". What name do we use for them now?
4. One of black light’s uses is to detect trace amounts of pet excreta. What is black light made of that causes cat’s urine to glow in it?
5. In acoustics, what is the unit equal to 0.1 bel?
6. Katherine K. Whitcome of the University of Cincinnati, Daniel E Lieberman of Harvard University and Liza J. Shapiro of the University of Texas, won this award in the Physics category this year for analytically determining why pregnant women do not tip over. What prizes are these?
7. Who said “All science is either Physics or stamp collecting”, while rejecting the Nobel Prize for Chemistry?
8. Connect: Ladle, the Alaskan state flag, Saucepan, the Plough.
9. "I lowered my left foot and the thin crust gave way. Soft contact. There, it was done. A Cernan bootprint was on the moon." Who said this and what is he famous for?
10. On the Mach scale, how much is the speed of sound?
11. According to the Edwin Hubble’s system, E0, E 1-7, Sa, Sb and Sc are classifications of :
a) stars b) galaxies
c) pulsars d) orbits
12. Which 1921 Nobel laureate and theoretical physicist was offered the post of the President of Israel?
13. ______________ is used to deviate a beam of light by 90 degrees. Of its 7 faces, 2 are silvered and 3 others don’t participate. Variations of this optical instrument are used in cameras.
Try them out. Answers in 5 days. I'll just add an update on this post and publish them. So.
Answers:
1. Moonwalk. Surprisingly, very few got this right. There were ballets and a pirouette and salsa. Somebody even wrote "flamingo". I hope they meant "flamenco".
2. Twists/turns/rotates it
3. Lasers. Most people answered microwave. :P
4. UV light
5. 1 decibel
6. Ig Nobel Prizes. Yet another one that hardly anyone got right. Practically everyone wrote Nobel Prizes. Ha.
7. Ernest Rutherford (I read this in some places, but no biography of Rutherford mentions this. So I'm assuming this is just a rumour. Sorry about this.)
8. Big Dipper. The Alaskan flag has the Big Dipper and the rest are names for it in different countries. Just cuz it said "Connect", one team's answer was: "The Ladle made the Alaskan state flag using a plough and a saucepan. And 2 more wrote these words down and simply made arrows between them. They took "Connect" a little too literally, I guess.
9. Eugene A Cernan - last man on the moon. I was surprised to see that no one got this right. EVERYbody said Neil Armstrong. Like, WTF?
10. Mach 1
11. galaxies. The classifications are made based on the shape.
12. Einstein.
13. Pentaprisms.
This time round, we asked the kids to name their teams and allowed upto 3 teams per section. One of the unanimous favourites was called "Herd of Nerds".