Static general knowledge is the larger part of every UPSC general studies paper. The notices name the same areas again and again: the history of India and the national movement, Indian and world geography, polity and the Constitution, the economy and social development, and general science with environment and ecology. The balance shifts from exam to exam. NDA puts about half of its General Knowledge part on Physics, Chemistry and General Science. CSE favours polity, modern history, environment and the economy. CAPF adds security and human rights, and CDS spreads its questions across polity, history, geography, the economy and school science.
GK24's GK notes are written topic by topic in English and Hindi, as short, fact-first chapters that are easy to revise. They cover Indian Polity, Indian History, Geography, Indian Economy, General Science, Environment and Ecology, Art and Culture, Computer, and the fact lists of awards, sports, books and days. A new chapter is added in each subject as the series grows. Each note carries practice questions, and those that have appeared in an exam say which exam and year. Start with Polity and modern history, then Geography, the Economy and Science. Read a note, take its topic quiz, and come back to it in your monthly revision.
The Bhakra Nangal project is built on which river?
The Bhakra dam stands on the Sutlej at Bhakra in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh, with the Nangal barrage downstream in Punjab, and the reservoir behind it is Govind Sagar.
Read the full explanation →The third stage of India's three-stage nuclear power programme is based on which element?
Homi Bhabha designed the programme around the fact that India has modest uranium but very large thorium reserves in the monazite sands of the Kerala coast.
Read the full explanation →Which was the first nuclear power station to be set up in India?
The Tarapur Atomic Power Station was the first nuclear power station in India and also the first in Asia, built with American collaboration and using boiling water reactors, unlike the pressurised heavy water reactors of the later Indian stations.
Read the full explanation →What is the SI unit of radioactivity?
One becquerel is one disintegration per second, and it is the SI unit of the activity of a radioactive source, named after the discoverer of radioactivity.
Read the full explanation →The energy radiated by the Sun is produced mainly by which process?
In the core of the Sun, at temperatures of millions of degrees, hydrogen nuclei fuse in stages to form helium, and the small amount of mass lost in the process appears as energy according to Einstein's mass-energy relation.
Read the full explanation →Control rods used to regulate the rate of a nuclear chain reaction are commonly made of which materials?
Both absorb neutrons strongly, so pushing the rods into the core removes neutrons and slows the chain reaction, while withdrawing them allows the reaction to build up; this is how the power of a reactor is controlled and how it is shut down.
Read the full explanation →In a nuclear reactor, heavy water is used mainly for which purpose?
Heavy water, in which the hydrogen of ordinary water is replaced by deuterium, slows the fast neutrons released in fission to low speeds at which they are far more likely to split further uranium nuclei, and it absorbs very few neutrons in doing so, which is why Indian pressurised heavy…
Read the full explanation →Which of the following radiations has the greatest penetrating power?
Gamma radiation is electromagnetic, carries no charge and no rest mass, and therefore passes through matter far more easily than charged particles; thick lead or concrete is needed to reduce it.
Read the full explanation →When a nucleus emits an alpha particle, how do its mass number and atomic number change?
An alpha particle takes away two protons and two neutrons, so the parent loses four units of mass number and two units of atomic number and becomes an element two places earlier in the periodic table; uranium-238, for instance, becomes thorium-234.
Read the full explanation →An alpha particle is identical to the nucleus of which atom?
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.
Read the full explanation →Radioactivity was discovered by which scientist?
In 1896 Becquerel found that a uranium salt kept in the dark fogged a wrapped photographic plate, which showed that the salt emitted its own penetrating radiation without being exposed to light.
Read the full explanation →A hydrogen bomb creates devastating explosion because of
A hydrogen bomb, also called a thermonuclear bomb, works in two steps. A fission explosion of uranium or plutonium produces the temperature of millions of degrees needed to force light nuclei together, and the fusion of those nuclei then releases far more energy than the fission stage alone.
Read the full explanation →Which radioactive isotope has a half-life of 5770 years, which is commonly used to estimate the age of organic materials such as paper and parchment?
Carbon-14 is the radioactive isotope of carbon used for radiocarbon dating, and its half-life is close to 5,700 years, which is the figure quoted in the question.
Read the full explanation →Concessoc 41 SAS, the acquirer of Vishavari Tollway and nine road SPVs, is ultimately controlled by which company?
The acquirer is a company incorporated under the laws of France and is ultimately controlled by VINCI S.A. through VINCI Highways and VINCI Concessions.
Read the full explanation →What equity stake does JSW Projects currently hold in BMM Ispat Limited?
JSW Projects Limited, an unlisted company of the JSW Group based in Mumbai, holds that share of the equity in BMM Ispat Limited at present, and the proposed combination is meant to convert this majority interest into full ownership by amalgamating BMM into JSW Steel Limited.
Read the full explanation →Which regulator approved the proposed combination amalgamating BMM Ispat into JSW Steel?
It is the statutory authority that examines proposed combinations, meaning mergers, amalgamations and acquisitions above the prescribed thresholds, to see whether they would cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India, and it cleared this internal restructuring of the JSW Group along with three other combinations the same day.
Read the full explanation →Who is the Union Minister for Communications who took part in the interaction with the GSMA Board?
He has been leading India engagement with the global telecom ecosystem on next-generation connectivity, and at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona he addressed the GSMA Ministerial Programme on making connectivity more affordable, inclusive and future-ready.
Read the full explanation →Which edition of the India Mobile Congress is India preparing to host in New Delhi?
The interaction with the GSMA Board came as India prepared to host the tenth edition of India Mobile Congress in New Delhi, an event that gathers global technology and telecom leaders.
Read the full explanation →Where did the Prime Minister interact with the Board members of the GSMA?
The Prime Minister held the interaction with Board members of the Global System for Mobile Communications Association at Seva Teerth, ahead of India Mobile Congress.
Read the full explanation →By when must the bankers committees submit their action-taken report to the Department of Financial Services?
The directions ask convenors of State Level Bankers Committees and Union Territory Level Bankers Committees to share the Scheduled Caste beneficiary information with the Commission regularly and to send an action-taken report to the Department of Financial Services by that date, setting out how far the data is available and…
Read the full explanation →