What is the chemical formula for the compound commonly known as 'laughing gas'?
- A.NO
- B.N2O3
- C.N2O
- D.NO2
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, N2O. Laughing gas is nitrous oxide, N2O, a colourless gas with a faintly sweet smell that makes people giggle and feel light-headed when they breathe it in. It was first prepared by Joseph Priestley in 1772, and Humphry Davy studied its effects and gave it the popular name. Dentists and surgeons use it mixed with oxygen as a mild anaesthetic and pain-killer, and it is also the propellant in whipped-cream cans. In the laboratory it is made by gently heating ammonium nitrate. It is a greenhouse gas too, and it damages the ozone layer. A is wrong because NO is nitric oxide, a colourless gas that turns brown in air. B is wrong because N2O3 is dinitrogen trioxide, a blue liquid at low temperature. D is wrong because NO2 is nitrogen dioxide, the reddish-brown, poisonous gas seen in vehicle smoke and acid rain. Exam tip: laughing gas = nitrous oxide = N2O, discovered by Priestley, used as a dental anaesthetic.
Practice Questions
View allThe fact that the planets move around the Sun, not in circles but in ellipses, was first demonstrated by
- A.Galileo
- B.Martin Luther
- C.Johannes Kepler
- D.Copernicus
Show answer
In 1609 Kepler showed that the planets move around the Sun in elliptical orbits, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements is correct?
- A.Urea is produced in liver.
- B.Urea is produced in blood.
- C.Urea is produced from digestion of starch.
- D.Urea is produced in lung and kidney.
Show answer
Liver cells turn the toxic ammonia released from the breakdown of amino acids into urea through the ornithine cycle, also called the urea cycle.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following is the correct sequence of passage of light in a compound microscope?
- A.Condenser-Objective lens-Eyepiece-Body tube
- B.Objective lens-Condenser-Body tube-Eyepiece
- C.Condenser-Objective lens-Body tube-Eyepiece
- D.Eyepiece-Objective lens-Body tube-Mirror
Show answer
Light passes through the condenser to the specimen, is picked up by the objective lens, travels up the body tube and reaches the eye through the eyepiece.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements regarding haemoglobin is correct?
- A.Haemoglobin present in RBC can carry only oxygen but not carbon dioxide.
- B.Haemoglobin of RBC can carry both oxygen and carbon dioxide.
- C.Haemoglobin of RBC can carry only carbon dioxide.
- D.Haemoglobin is only used for blood clotting and not for carrying gases.
Show answer
It binds oxygen at its iron-containing haem groups and carries some carbon dioxide on its protein chains. Each haemoglobin molecule has four polypeptide chains and four haem groups, and each haem iron can hold one oxygen molecule, forming oxyhaemoglobin in the lungs.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements regarding histone proteins is correct?
- A.Histones are proteins that are present in mitochondrial membrane.
- B.Histones are proteins that are present in nucleus in association with DNA.
- C.Histones are proteins associated with lipids in the cytosol.
- D.Histones are proteins associated with carbohydrates in the cytosol.
Show answer
They are the proteins around which DNA winds to form chromatin in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells. Histones are small basic proteins, rich in the positively charged amino acids lysine and arginine, which attract the negatively charged phosphate groups of DNA.
Read the full explanation →