State Exams GK Questions 2026

It is a molecule of sixty carbon atoms arranged in a closed cage of pentagons and hexagons, exactly like the panels of a football, and it is named after the architect who designed domes of the same geometry.

Ethanoic acid, better known as acetic acid and familiar as vinegar in dilute form, has the formula CH3COOH, and the -COOH group at the end is what makes it acidic, since it releases a hydrogen ion in water and turns blue litmus red.

Vegetable oils contain unsaturated chains with carbon to carbon double bonds; hydrogen adds across those double bonds in the presence of nickel or palladium, turning them into single bonds, so the oil becomes saturated and sets into a solid fat.

Going from methane to ethane, or from ethanol to propanol, adds one carbon atom of mass twelve and two hydrogen atoms of mass one each, which is fourteen in all, and it is this fixed step that defines a homologous series.

In graphite every carbon atom is bonded to only three others within a layer, so the fourth valence electron of each atom is free to move along the layer, and moving electrons constitute an electric current.

Catenation is the self-linking of atoms of the same element, and carbon shows it more strongly than any other element because the carbon to carbon bond is short and exceptionally strong, which is why chains of many carbon atoms remain stable.

When enough air reaches the burner, every carbon atom of the fuel is oxidised fully to carbon dioxide and the flame is blue and hot, giving the maximum heat for the gas consumed.

An alkyne contains a carbon to carbon triple bond, which needs at least two carbon atoms, so the series begins with ethyne, C2H2, also called acetylene and used with oxygen in welding.

The prefix di stands for two and the ending ene for a carbon to carbon double bond, so a diene is a hydrocarbon carrying exactly two such bonds; buta-1,3-diene, the raw material of synthetic rubber, is the standard example.

Hexane, C6H14, can be drawn as a straight chain of six carbons, as two chains of five carbons with a methyl branch in different positions, and as two chains of four carbons carrying branches, which gives five different structures with the same molecular formula.

Liquefied petroleum gas is a mixture of these two saturated hydrocarbons, which are gases at ordinary pressure but turn liquid under moderate pressure, so a large quantity of fuel fits into a small cylinder; a strong-smelling compound is added so that a leak is noticed.

It grew out of a department for non-conventional energy sources created in 1982, became a full ministry in 1992 and took its present name in 2006, and India is among the very few countries in the world to have a separate ministry devoted to this sector.

Projects of this size and below fall under the small hydro programme of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, while larger schemes are handled as conventional hydro power by the Ministry of Power.

The plan set out eight missions covering solar energy, enhanced energy efficiency, sustainable habitat, water, the Himalayan ecosystem, a green India, sustainable agriculture and strategic knowledge for climate change, and every later programme in this field refers back to it.

Both are long, narrowing inlets on the coast of Gujarat, and such a shape funnels the incoming tide so that the difference between high and low water is large, which is exactly what a tidal power scheme needs; the Sundarbans coast is the other site usually named.

The Puga valley in eastern Ladakh carries hot springs and sulphur deposits and is the best studied geothermal field in the country, the heat coming from the young mountain building of the Himalaya.

Muppandal lies in the far south of the state near Kanyakumari, where the wind pushed through a break in the Western Ghats blows strongly and steadily for much of the year, and Tamil Nadu has long been among the leading wind states of the country.

Natural gas is a fossil fuel formed over millions of years from buried organic matter; the stock is fixed, so every unit burnt is gone, and it releases carbon dioxide when burnt, although less than coal for the same heat.

The mission was launched in January 2010 as one of the eight national missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, and its aim was to make solar power competitive by building capacity in stages and by supporting domestic manufacturing.

The alliance has its secretariat on the campus of the National Institute of Solar Energy at Gwal Pahari in Gurugram, and because it rests on a framework agreement among its members it is the first treaty-based international organisation to be headquartered in India.