UPSC Civil Services GK Questions 2026

The earlier Zone I was merged with Zone II, so the map now runs from Zone II, of low hazard, to Zone V, of the highest hazard, which covers Kutch, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, most of the North-East, parts of northern Bihar and parts of the western Himalaya.

S waves are transverse: the particles move at right angles to the direction of travel, and that requires a medium with shear strength, which liquids do not have.

It expresses magnitude, the energy released at the focus, on a logarithmic scale, so a rise of one whole number means about thirty-two times more energy, and a single earthquake has only one magnitude whatever the distance of the observer.

The energy of an earthquake is released at a point inside the earth, and the point on the surface directly above it is the epicentre, where the tremor is felt first and usually most strongly; it is the point reported in news bulletins.

In this cell hydrogen is fed to the anode and oxidised, oxygen is fed to the cathode and reduced, and the two combine to give water, so the cell produces electricity for as long as the gases are supplied and leaves no polluting exhaust.

Galvanisation is the coating of iron or steel with zinc, usually by dipping the article in molten zinc, and it protects the iron twice over: the layer keeps out air and moisture, and because zinc is the more reactive metal it corrodes in place of the iron even where the…

Pure alumina melts at a very high temperature, so it is dissolved in molten cryolite, which is sodium aluminium fluoride, usually with a little fluorspar added; this brings the working temperature down sharply and makes the melt a good conductor.

The lead-acid cell has a spongy lead negative plate and a lead dioxide positive plate dipped in dilute sulphuric acid, and as the cell discharges both plates turn to lead sulphate while the acid becomes weaker, which is why its state of charge can be judged from the specific gravity…

In the Leclanche dry cell the outer container itself is made of zinc and acts as the anode, being oxidised to zinc ions as the cell works, which is why an old cell often leaks when the container is eaten through.

Its reaction is reversible, so passing a current through it in the opposite direction converts the products back into lead and lead dioxide and the cell can be used again; such a cell is called a secondary or storage cell, and the car battery is the common example.

In the chlor-alkali process a concentrated solution of sodium chloride is electrolysed; chloride ions are oxidised at the anode and come off as chlorine gas, hydrogen is set free at the cathode, and sodium hydroxide remains in the solution, which is why the industry yields three useful products at once.

The metal ions in the plating bath carry a positive charge, so they move towards the negative electrode and are reduced to metal there; the article must therefore be the cathode for the coating to build up on it.

One faraday is the charge carried by one mole of electrons, obtained by multiplying the charge on a single electron by the Avogadro number, and it comes to about 96,500 coulombs; passing one faraday through an electrolyte liberates one gram equivalent of the substance at an electrode.

The anode is the electrode joined to the positive terminal of the supply, so negatively charged ions, the anions, travel to it and give up electrons there; loss of electrons is oxidation.

When cells are joined in parallel all their positive terminals are connected together and all their negative terminals together, so each cell is across the same two points and the voltage of the combination is the voltage of one cell, that is 12 volts.

The working rule for charging a storage battery is that the charging current should be about one-tenth of the ampere-hour capacity of the battery, which is called the C by 10 rate.

The agreement lists delivery of parcels paid for in advance and parcels paid for on delivery, confirmation of delivery through a one-time password, and tracking of a consignment in real time, along with faster delivery through closer operational coordination and shared technology.

The Department of Posts runs more than that many post offices across the country, which together make up the largest postal network in the world, and it is this reach that Blue Dart Express Limited gains under the agreement.

The Department of Posts, which works under the Ministry of Communications, signed the agreement with that company in New Delhi on 9 October 2026, in the presence of senior officers from both organisations.

The Department of Telecommunications presented a curtain raiser for the second conclave at the valedictory session, and it is scheduled from 27 to 29 October 2026 at that venue, guided by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser and organised by CSIR along with twelve participating ministries and departments, on…