General Science Mixed Quiz: Set 134

Twelve pairs of cranial nerves arise from the brain and serve the head and neck, among them the optic nerve of sight, the auditory nerve of hearing and the vagus, the longest cranial nerve, which reaches the heart and the abdomen; thirty-one pairs of spinal nerves arise from the spinal…

The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in the neck, in front of the windpipe, and is the largest of the ductless or endocrine glands; it secretes thyroxine, for which iodine is essential, and the hormone controls the rate of metabolism, growth and development.

In an electromagnetic wave the electric field, the magnetic field and the direction of propagation are mutually perpendicular, and because the wave is made of fields and not of vibrating particles it needs no medium, which is how sunlight crosses empty space while sound cannot.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is the statutory body that lays down standards for food and regulates its manufacture, storage, sale and import across India.

The mango belongs to the genus Mangifera and the species epithet indica marks its Indian origin; it is also the national fruit of India, which is why this name appears in both science and static general knowledge papers.

This is the incorrect statement, because periodic motion repeats after every interval T, again and again. The time period T of a pendulum is the time for one complete oscillation, that is, the smallest interval after which the bob returns to the same position moving in the same direction.

Guttation is the loss of water in the form of liquid droplets from the edges and tips of leaves. Guttation happens mostly at night or early in the morning, when the soil is moist and the air is humid, so transpiration is slow.

A beam seen from the side is visible only because tiny particles send some of its light sideways. Light travelling in a straight line cannot enter our eyes unless something redirects it towards us.

Melanin absorbs the ultraviolet rays of sunlight and shields the DNA of skin cells from damage. Melanin is made by cells called melanocytes in the lower layer of the epidermis.

Anabaena is a cyanobacterium, a prokaryote with no true nucleus, and all prokaryotes are placed in Monera. In R.H.

Their wavelength runs from about a tenth of a metre up to many kilometres, which makes them the longest and therefore the lowest in frequency and energy of the whole spectrum; they are used in broadcasting, mobile telephony and radio astronomy.

Work is force multiplied by displacement. Force has the dimensions M L T⁻², and multiplying it by a length adds one more power of L, which gives M L² T⁻².

Panthera tigris is the tiger, the national animal of India, and the Bengal tiger found in the country is its subspecies Panthera tigris tigris, a three part name that illustrates trinomial nomenclature.

Adrenaline, also called epinephrine, is made by the medulla of the adrenal gland and is the body's emergency hormone; it makes the heart beat faster and stronger and narrows the small blood vessels, so blood pressure rises within seconds.

They have the shortest wavelength of the spectrum and therefore the highest frequency and energy, and being uncharged and very energetic they pass through several centimetres of lead, which is why thick shielding is needed in radiotherapy rooms.

An alpha particle consists of two protons and two neutrons bound together, which is exactly the nucleus of a helium-4 atom, so it carries a charge of plus two and a mass number of four.

Rice is Oryza sativa, a member of the grass family, and the epithet sativa, meaning cultivated or sown, marks it as a crop raised by farmers rather than a wild species.

The spectrum in order of rising wavelength runs gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet, visible light, infrared, microwaves and radio waves, and the option follows that sequence with the visible and microwave bands left out.

The Indian peafowl, declared the national bird of India, is Pavo cristatus, the epithet cristatus referring to the crest on its head, and it is protected under the Wild Life Protection Act of 1972.

In 1895 he noticed that a screen coated with a fluorescent salt glowed when a discharge tube was working nearby even though the tube was covered, and he called the unknown radiation X-rays; he received the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 for the discovery.