Static GK carries most of the 100 marks of the CDS General Knowledge paper. Of the 120 questions in the CDS (II) 2026 paper, about 20 were on Indian Polity, about 20 on the History of India, about 15 on Geography and the environment, about 10 on the Indian Economy and about 37 on Physics, Chemistry and Biology, which makes CDS the most science-heavy General Knowledge paper among the major recruitment exams. Polity questions test writs, the NHRC, electoral systems, disqualification of legislators, GST and delimitation. History runs from the Upanishads and the Shunga dynasty to Vijayanagara, temple architecture, the Sylhet referendum and the SNDP Yogam. Geography asks about the atmosphere, earthquakes and tsunamis, Ramsar sites, mangroves and World Heritage sites. Science stays at school level but expects reasoning: a lens problem, a magnetic field direction, molarity versus molality, what cooking soda is, how enzymes act. This page holds GK24's topic-wise GK notes for CDS, written as short facts and tables so that a topic can be revised in one sitting. Read a topic, then solve its previous-year questions and quiz on this site to check what stayed with you.
The book 'The Art of War' was written by :
Among the four thinkers listed, Machiavelli is the one who wrote a work called The Art of War (Dell'arte della guerra), published in Florence in 1521.
Read the full explanation →The mass of one mole of a substance in grams is called its
The mass of one mole of any substance, expressed in grams, is by definition its molar mass. One mole contains the Avogadro number of particles, about 6.022 × 10 23, so the molar mass links the mass we can weigh to the number of atoms or molecules present.
Read the full explanation →Which one among the following is not Fundamental Right under the Constitution of India?
Citizenship is dealt with in Part II of the Constitution (Articles 5 to 11), not among the Fundamental Rights in Part III.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following statements about the Mahanavami Dibba : 1. It was the name of a giant box of sweets distributed at the Mahanavami festival. 2. It was the name of a massive platform with a base covered with relief carvings. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
The Mahanavami Dibba is a massive stone platform in the royal centre of Hampi, the Vijayanagara capital, with its base covered in relief carvings.
Read the full explanation →Chlorine occurs in nature in two isotopic forms of masses 35 u and 37 u in the ratio of 3 : 1 respectively. What is the average atomic mass of the Chlorine atom ?
The average atomic mass is the weighted mean of the isotope masses, taking each in proportion to how common it is.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following features about a geographical phenomenon : 1. Torrents of snow and ice roaring down a steep mountain side 2. It is hazardous to skiers and mountaineers 3. It involves a mix of falling, rolling, sliding and flowing of materials Which of the following phenomena can be identified with the above features?
A rapid rush of snow and ice down a steep mountain slope, dangerous to skiers and climbers, is an avalanche.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following has described the medieval Indian postal system as of two kinds—the horse-post called 'Uluq' and the foot-post called 'Dawa'?
The Moroccan traveller described the two kinds of post he saw in India under Muhammad bin Tughlaq: the uluq, run by royal horses, and the dawa, run by runners on foot.
Read the full explanation →One block of 2.0 kg mass is placed on top of another block of 3.0 kg mass. The coefficient of static friction between the two blocks is 0.2. The bottom block is pulled with a horizontal force F such that both the blocks move together without slipping. Taking acceleration due to gravity as 10 m/s², the maximum value of the frictional force is :
The friction between the blocks is the only force that drags the top block along, and its largest possible value is μ times the normal force from the top block.
Read the full explanation →The North-South and East-West Road Corridors of India cross each other at which of the following cities?
The North-South and East-West corridors of the National Highways Development Project intersect at Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh. The North-South corridor runs from Srinagar to Kanyakumari, and the East-West corridor from Silchar in Assam to Porbandar in Gujarat.
Read the full explanation →A microscope may be a combination of :
A compound microscope uses two converging lenses, the objective and the eyepiece, to give a greatly magnified image of a tiny object.
Read the full explanation →In which Schedule of the Constitution of India, provisions as to disqualification on grounds of defection are given ?
The Tenth Schedule, known as the anti-defection law, sets out when a member of Parliament or a state legislature loses the seat for defection.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following conditions favourable for the formation and intensification of Tropical Storms : 1. Presence of the Coriolis force 2. Upper divergence above the sea level system 3. High variations in the vertical wind speed Which of the conditions given above is/are correct ?
Tropical storms need the Coriolis force and upper-level divergence, but they need small, not high, variations in vertical wind speed.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following pairs : Books — Authors I. Dayabhaga — Jimutavahana II. Prithviraj Raso — Chandbardai III. Lilavati — Bhaskaracharya IV. Mitakshara — Vijnaneshvara How many pairs given above are correctly matched?
Every book in the list is paired with its real author. Dayabhaga, written by Jimutavahana in Bengal in the twelfth century, is a work on Hindu law of inheritance; under it a son gets a share in family property only after the father's death.
Read the full explanation →A prolonged period of inadequate rainfall marked with mal-distribution of the same over time and space is known as :
A drought defined only by too little rain, badly spread over time and space, is a meteorological drought. Drought is usually classified by what runs short.
Read the full explanation →A circular coil of single turn has a resistance of 20 Ω. Which one of the following is the correct value for the resistance between the ends of any diameter of the coil ?
The two ends of a diameter split the ring into two equal halves of 10 Ω each, and these two halves are connected in parallel.
Read the full explanation →A circular coil of radius R having N number of turns carries a steady current I. The magnetic induction at the centre of the coil is 0.1 tesla. If the number of turns is doubled and the radius is halved, which one of the following will be the correct value for the magnetic induction at the centre of the coil?
The field at the centre of a coil is proportional to the number of turns and inversely proportional to the radius, so doubling N and halving R makes it four times larger.
Read the full explanation →LIGO stands for
LIGO uses laser beams in long perpendicular arms to detect the tiny stretching of space caused by gravitational waves. LIGO has two detectors in the United States, at Hanford in Washington and Livingston in Louisiana, each with arms 4 km long.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following died in exile ?
The last Mughal emperor was exiled by the British to Rangoon in Burma, where he died in 1862. The rebels of 1857 proclaimed Bahadur Shah II the leader of the revolt.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following was considered to be the preceptor of Mirabai ?
Tradition holds that the saint Raidas, also called Ravidas, was the guru of Mirabai, the Rajput princess-poet devoted to Krishna.
Read the full explanation →Rutherford's alpha-particle (α) scattering experiment was responsible for the discovery of which one of the following ?
Rutherford's gold foil experiment of 1911 showed that an atom's positive charge and almost all its mass sit in a tiny central nucleus.
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