QUADSPARKS 2023 PRAVEGA X

Sponsored by:

ANSWER KEY AND RUBRIC

ONLINE PRELIMS, 22ND JULY 2023

• Answers are provided in italics.

• Part points are applicable wherever possible.
• Spellings are evaluated leniently, as long as it is comprehensible.
• Reach out to [email protected] for any clarifications on the answer
key.

Section 1

1. According to sacred texts, Vaidoorya is the gemstone of Ketu. This gem is uniquely
known as the " _ _ _ _ _ _ _ " because one can see a band of reflected light across the
middle of the gemstone when light is shone on its rounded surface. This optical
reflectance effect arises from the fibrous inclusions or cavities within the stone. This
effect is termed as chatoyancy, which translates to "shining like a _ _ _ _ _ _ _".
Fill in the blanks. (Blanks are indicative)
(1)

Cat’s eye

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2. Referring to people with X syndrome as Y dates back to 1866, when Dr. John Langdon
X published a paper “Observations on an Ethnic Classification of Idiots”, in which he
asserts that it is possible to classify different types of conditions by ethnic
characteristics. He picked this up while working for the Royal Earlswood Asylum for
Idiots with people having learning disabilities. He noticed a big group of people he
was treating shared common appearance traits of round cheeks, flattened faces and
oddly shaped eyes, and concluded that they are of Y ethnicity. From that time on, Y
was the “clinical” term used for this syndrome.
In 1959, the true nature of this syndrome was understood, and a joint letter was written
to The Lancet (a prominent medical journal) to change the name Y as it is “racially
insensitive”. In 1965, the country of Y joined the WHO and pleaded for the same. From
then on it was changed to X syndrome.
Name X and Y.
(2)

X – Down (1)
Y- Mongoloid (1) (no credits for Chinese etc.)

3. The following are the characteristics of the planet Vulcan:

it was estimated to have an orbital inclination of between 5.3° and 7.3°,
a longitudinal node of about 183°, an "enormous" eccentricity, and a transit time
across the solar disk of 4 hours, 30 minutes.
Its orbit was described as follows by astronomer Lescarbault as follows: 
    -a period of 19 days, 7 hours; 
    -a mean distance from Sun of 0.1427 AU; 
    -an inclination of 12° 10'; and, 
    -an ascending node at 12° 59'.  
The diameter is considerably smaller than Mercury's and its mass is estimated at
one-seventeenth of Mercury's mass.
What is special about Vulcan?
(1)

Vulcan is a hypothetical planet. It doesn’t exist. (1)

It was believed to be a planet that existed closer to the Sun than mercury.

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4. MIT meteorologist Edward Lorenz tried to create a mathematical model to quantify

the behavior of atmospheric convection currents. Solving this system, he showed that
at certain parameters, even a minuscule change in initial conditions could lead to a
very different solution. To account for this large uncertainty, a technique was
developed to make useful predictions.
What is the common name of the effect that calls into need this technique?
What is the name of the forecasting technique in question?
(2)

Butterfly effect (1)

Ensemble forecasting (1)

5. arXiv is a worldwide repository of electronic preprints and postprints of scientific

literature, which are posted online for free access. The platform, owned and hosted by
Cornell University, was one of the pioneers of the scientific open-access movement.
Why is the name spelled this way?

X refers to the Greek letter chi (Ⲭ). Hence, arXiv -> archive
(full credits for mentioning chi. Half for mentioning archive)

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6. Pando is a male aspen clonal colony found in Fishlake National Park in Utah. The
tree was identified in 1976 by Jerry Kemperman and Burton Barnes. Genetic marker
analysis has led to a certain categorization of the organism. Why does it figure on
this quiz?

It is the world’s largest and heaviest organism (either sufficient)

7. This commonly used item has several parts – a certain few essential ones are bottom
and top springs, shaft, runner, ferrule and ribs. Ribs are connected
via stretchers to runners on the shaft for its intended movement.
The entity is commonly available in two varieties – telescopic and non-telescopic.
Telescopic ones have a central spring along the shaft.
What are we talking about?

Umbrella

8. Kamala Sohonie was the first Indian woman to receive a PhD in a scientific discipline.
However, this was achieved after major controversy.
When Kamala applied to the Indian Institute of Science for a research fellowship, her
application was rejected by the then-Director solely on the grounds of her being a
woman, and the director believing that women were not competent enough to pursue
research.
This led to Kamala holding a Satyagraha outside the director's office. Further, she was
granted admission, albeit with some insulting limitations (such as a year of probation
and not being granted regular student status). She joined the institute in 1933, and the
director eventually allowed female students into the institute with no stipulations in
1936.
Identify this director, who conducted some early scientific work into the acoustics of
Indian musical instruments.

Sir CV Raman

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9. The science-fiction movie 2012 dealt with an apocalyptic plot that dramatizes the end
of the world. The historical backing was provided by the popular prediction in the
Mayan calendar.
The makers also attempted to explain the rash of natural disasters by adding in
ignorant scientific “quips”. In the storyline, an astrophysicist in India discovers that a
huge solar flare is causing the temperature of the earth’s core to spike. With a horrified
look on his face, he says that the _________ have mutated.
The blank indicates a class of subatomic particles, belonging to the larger group of
fermions, which are now thought to be responsible for weak nuclear forces. The rest
mass of the particle is much smaller than that of the other known elementary particles,
leading to its erroneous description in pop-science arenas (and in actual science in the
past) as being “massless”.
Fill in the blank.

Neutrinos

10. Charles ("Pete") Conrad Jr. was a Princeton University alumnus, having spent his
undergraduate years there before getting selected for training. As the Commander of
a certain mission, Pete decided to honour his alma meter by carrying the university
Coat of Arms with him. The successful completion of the event meant that the
Princeton University flag holds the distinction of having been at a specific place.
Which place?
What is Pete Conrad’s claim to fame?
(2)

The moon (1)

Conrad was third man on the moon – aboard the Apollo 12 mission, after Armstrong and
Aldrin (1) (either third man, or Apollo 12)

11. The following is a book by Deepak Chopra, a prominent Indian-American author

and mystic, who is a leading figure in the New Age spiritual movement.
His books, including the one pictures, attempt to draw direct connections between
an element of modern science and mind-body healing, a theory that has been
widely characterized by physicists as “flapdoodle” that invigorates misinformation
among the public, and as hijacking of the scientific discipline.
Earlier books of a similar genre include The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the
Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism, written by physicist
Fritjof Capra in 1975.
Fill in the blank on Chopra’s book title. 
(1)

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Quantum Healing (half credits for mentioning “quantum”)

12. While the irrationality of pi was only proved in 17th century Europe by Johann
Lambert, it is believed that a 6th century Indian mathematician might have implied
the same in his book. Paraphrased, the book says that by doing some calculations
(which compute to 62832), one can approach the circumference of a circle with
diameter 20000. This gives the value of pi as 3.1416. It is speculated that the use of the
word “approached” implies that the mathematician knew that the value was
incommensurable due to it being irrational. The book was translated into Arabic and
the same approximation is mentioned in Al-Khwazirmi's book on Algebra. 
Who is the Indian mathematician being talked about here?
(1)

Aryabhata

Section 2

13. The following is the chemical compound 6,6′-Dibromoindigo, commonly known as

Tyrian ______.
This dye, extracted from desiccated hypobranchial glands of sea snails from
the Murex species, which were further dyed and boiled. Fabrics once dyed retained the
remarkable stench of the snail secretions.
The blanks indicate the rich colour provided by the dye. Worn by the rulers of the
Byzantine empire, the Holy Roman Empire, and in more recent times, by Roman
Catholic Bishops, this colour is most often associated with royalty, rarity, luxury and
magic.

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However, this colour does not appear on Newton’s colour wheel. What is the closest
colour to it that appears?
(1)

Violet
The dye is Tyrian purple (half credits for purple)

14. A study in 2017, investigating the prevalence of different kinds of hyper excitability
during migraine, found that hypersensitivity to a certain general sensory cue gave rise
to an aversion/fear of such stimuli in 84% of migraine patients with aura.
What sensory cue are we talking about?
(1)

Odour/stench (half credit for smell)

15. The common name of this mineral originates from the Latin word for "flow". The
mineral is used as flux in iron smelting to reduce the viscosity of the by-product.
Samples of this mineral obtained from certain locations emitted light (due to the
presence of impurities), and the word for a certain kind of luminescence is derived
from it.
Which mineral?
(1)

Fluorite/Fluorspar (Half credit for CaF2)

16. What etymological theme connects the answers to the above questions?
(2)

The etymologies of halogens (full credit)

Fluorine <- Fluorite; Bromine <- stench (bromos); Iodine <- violet colour (iodos)

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