Science and Technology MCQ Set 19
Showing question 91 to 95 of total 301 MCQs
MCQ Set: 19
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Question No: 91
Which phenomenon has Venusian winds rotating 60 times faster than the planet below on the dark side?
- Super rotation
- Mono rotation
- Dual rotation
- Macro rotation
Answer and Explanation
Answer: A
Explanation
Scientists have characterised wind and cloud patterns of the night side of planet Venus for the first time, and found that it behaves very differently from the part facing the Sun.
The night side exhibits unexpected and previously-unseen cloud types, morphologies, and dynamics - some of which appear to be connected to features on the planet's surface.
This is the first time humans have been able to characterise how the atmosphere circulates on the night side of Venus on a global scale.
Scientists found that the cloud patterns there are different to those on the dayside, and influenced by Venus' topography on the dark side.
Venus' atmosphere is dominated by strong winds that whirl around the planet far faster than Venus itself rotates.
This phenomenon, known as 'super-rotation', sees Venusian winds rotating up to 60 times faster than the planet below, pushing and dragging along clouds within the atmosphere as they go.
These clouds travel fastest at the upper cloud level, some 65 to 72 kilometres above the surface.
The team used the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) on European Space Agency (ESA)'s Venus Express spacecraft to observe the clouds in the infrared.
VIRTIS enabled scientists to see these clouds properly for the first time, allowing them to explore what previous teams could not and we discovered unexpected and surprising results.
Rather than capturing single images, VIRTIS gathered a 'cube' of hundreds of images of Venus acquired simultaneously at different wavelengths.
This allowed the team to combine numerous images to improve the visibility of the clouds, and see them at unprecedented quality.
The VIRTIS images thus reveal phenomena on Venus' night side that have never before been seen on the dayside.
Question No: 92
Which is India's first bullet train project?
- Mumbai-Ahmedabad
- Delhi-Chandigarh
- Delhi-Jaipur
- Mumbai-Pune
Answer and Explanation
Answer: A
Explanation
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe laid the foundation stone for India’s first bullet train project in Ahmedabad on Sept 14, 2017.
The government has said the bullet train technology will revolutionise and transform the railways.
Critics, however, say the funds for the bullet train project could have been better utilised to revamp the ailing Indian Railways, which has witnessed various setbacks in the form of derailments and accidents in the past.
The train will have a top speeds of 320-350 km per hour and it is expected to reduce travel time between the two cities to around 2 hours from the existing 7-8 hours. The fares could be in the range of INR 3000 - 5,000.
Passengers will have two speed options in trains:
High-speed: It will take 2.58 hours to reach the destination
Rapid high-speed: It will cover the distance in 2.07 hours.
Initially, each high speed train will have 10 cars and the capacity to accommodate 750 people.
It will increase to 16 cars that will accommodate 1,200 people.
According to initial estimates, around 1.6 crore people are expected to travel by the bullet train annually. By 2050, around 1.6 lakh commuters should travel by the high-speed train on a daily basis
On the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route, 12 stations have been proposed: Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati.
The railways will only require around 825 hectares of land for the project as 92% of the route will be elevated, six per cent will go through tunnels and only the remaining two per cent will be on the ground. India’s longest tunnel21-km-long - will be dug between Boisar and BKC in Mumbai, 7km of which will be under the sea.
The train tracks will elevated to 18 metres for most of its route to ensure the train runs over the existing railway route.
The remaining, less than 40km, stretch will be under sea between Thane and Vasai, and underground in Mumbai.
The 508km-long Mumbai to Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) is scheduled for completion in December 2023, but commencement date has been sought to be advanced to August 2022.
The government said it will create around 15 lakh new jobs in India.
A dedicated High Speed Rail Training Institute will train about 4,000 technical staff of the bullet train project, The Indian Express report said.
Second Project: India's Bullet Train
The Indian Railways will launch the country’s second high-speed train from Delhi to Amritsar via Chandigarh.
The train will run on standard broad gauge and the project shall be completed by 2024. The proposed train will cover the 458-km-long route in 2 hours and 30 minutes running at a speed of 300-350 kmph, reducing the travel time between New Delhi and Amritsar by about two and a half hours.
Proposed stops will be Ambala, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar. The fare will be fixed equivalent to that of Shatabdi’s AC executive class
Shinkansen, meaning ‘new trunk line’, are trains shaped like bullets that run at the speed of 320 kmph.
They have become a symbol of the country’s progress and technological advancements after the World War 2.
Shinkansen have a reputation for punctuality and safety. The trains have never been in any accident since 1964, when they were introduced.
Question No: 93
How many animal species are there in Sundarbans according to ZSI?
- 2525
- 2626
- 2727
- 2828
Answer and Explanation
Answer: B
Explanation
In a first, the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has published a compendium of animal species in the Indian Sundarbans, estimating that there are 2,626 of them in the fragile island ecosystem.
The listing includes a diverse 25 phyla, as they are biologically classified.
The Indian segment of the Sundarbans, part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, forms part of the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta across 9,630 sq. km, distributed among 104 islands.
The region hosts 2,487 species that come under the zoological kingdom of Animalia, and 140 under the more primitive Protista.
The publication titled Fauna of Sundarban Biosphere Reserve is the first consolidated and updated information of the faunal diversity of the Sundarbans.
It lists over 2,600 species, including the new species described from the mangrove ecosystem as well as threats faced by them due to climate change.
When we talk about Sundarbans we refer to only a few major species in the reserve forest area in about 4,260 sq. km.
The publication catalogues the entire faunal diversity of Sundarban Biosphere Reserve covering 9,630 sq. km spread over 19 blocks in South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas of West Bengal.
The researchers document the famous tigers of these islands, which have adapted to aquatic conditions around, the human-tiger conflict, and behaviour of the big cat.
The fortunes of 50 mammalian species including the Asian small-clawed Otter, Gangetic Dolphin, Grey and Marsh Mongoose and the wild Rhesus Monkey, the only primate here, are also documented.
Two Rhinos, Swamp deer, Barking deer and Hog deer and Asiatic Wild Water Buffalo are not found in Sundarbans anymore.
Other Species in Sunderbans: Know More
There are 356 species of birds, the most spectacular being raptors, or birds of prey, that occupy the highest canopies of the forest.
Osprey, Brahminy Kite and White-Bellied Sea Eagle are dominant, while Rose-ringed parakeets, flycatchers and warblers are also found in the middle tier, while in the lower tier, kingfishers abound - and the Sundarbans has nine of them.
There are 11 turtles, including the famous Olive Ridley and Hawskbill sea turtles and the most threatened freshwater species, the River Terrapin.
A crocodile, 13 lizards including three species of Monitor Lizards and five Geckos are found here. The rivers, creeks channels and the islands together harbour about 30 snake species, led by the King Cobra, considered vulnerable by IUCN.
Others documented are the Monocellate or monocled cobra, Russell’s viper, common and banded kraits. Besides, ten species of frogs and toads are found
The mangrove ecosystem covers about 350 species of fish. Cartilaginous fish, which have skeletons of cartilage rather than bone, make up 10.3%.
The IUCN conservation status shows 6.3% fish are near-threatened and 4.85% are threatened. Also, there are 173 mollusks.
In another indication of its richness, 753 insect species are encountered in the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve. Of these, 210 are butterflies and moths. Moreover, Crustaceans - crabs, shrimp and prawns - constitute 334 species.
Question No: 94
Which languages can experience offline translations due to Google Translate updates, of these as of Sept 13, 2017?
- 1967
- 1977
- 1987
- 1997
Answer and Explanation
Answer: C
Explanation
Taking place originally in Barcelona, Spain - Mobile World Congress (MWC) brings the latest and greatest in the mobile industry from September 12-14. Currently, it is the largest exhibition in the world for mobile technologies.
Set for the first time in San Francisco since its inauguration in 1987, the event is foreseen to gather the biggest names in innovation from the world and California’s own Silicon Valley.
Mobile World Congress Americas is held in partnership with CTIA, a trade association that represents the wireless communication industry in the US.
While topics to be discussed cover the expected array of the latest technological advancement, (i.e IoT, Machine Learning, AI, the works) – some of the biggest tech corporations are putting stakeholders at the edge of their seats for their next announcements.
Kicking it off is KT Corporation, a South Korean-based communications company that will be unveiling its latest 5G -connectivity technologies - a technology that relies on Li-Fi which is set to revolutionize connectivity speeds.
AT&T is also set to make its presence sound alongside its business CEO, Thaddeus Arroyo.
The company is expected to portray its latest innovation in vehicle connectivity, healthcare, consumer electronics, and smart cities, among others.
Lastly, Mastercard will showcase Masterpass, a digital wallet platform that is meant to speed up checkout experiences in stores for consumers, tackling 340,000 merchants internationally that support Tap and Pay capabilities.
Besides the announcements, the event is set to witness keynote speeches from some of the most prominent personnel in the industry.
However, the most exciting part of the conference is the exhibition floor, which is a 2-day home for 1,000 exhibitors from around the world.
GSMA World Congress: Know More
The GSMA Mobile World Congress is a combination of the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry and a conference featuring prominent executives representing mobile operators, device manufacturers, technology providers, vendors and content owners from across the world.
The event, initially named as GSM World Congress and later renamed as the 3GSM World Congress, is still often referred to as 3GSM or 3GSM World.
In 2014, the GSMA announced that their annual summer event in China would be rebranded under the Mobile World Congress banner as "Mobile World Congress Shanghai".
In 2016, the GSMA announced the creation of Mobile World Congress Americas an event created in partnership with CTIA to bring an extension of the event to North America in 2017.
In 2011, it was announced that Barcelona, Spain had been chosen as the GSMA Mobile World Capital
Question No: 95
What is the period when hardly a ripple is seen on the earth's surface?
- Solar maximum
- Solar minimum
- Solar medium
- Solar density
Answer and Explanation
Answer: B
Explanation
OUR Sun has sent forth seven flares in seven days. One is headed our way.
One, unleashed last week, was the solar equivalent of Hurricane Irma - a monster X9.3 storm.
Even though it only struck Earth a glancing blow, this was enough to disrupt some radio communications.
Since then, the same cauldron of magnetic activity on the Sun’s surface has erupted with flare after flare.
Another big one, at magnitude X8.2, was blasted outwards overnight. It’s arriving soon.
An X8.2 class solar flare flashes in the edge of the Sun on September 10, 2017.
This image was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and shows a blend of light from the 171 and 335 angstrom wavelengths.
An X8.2 class solar flare flashes in the edge of the Sun on September 10, 2017.
What makes these flares so significant is that the explosions have been strong enough to tear pieces of the Sun away from itself, and fling it into space.
It’s called a coronal mass ejection (CME), and - depending on its strength - if one was to hit Earth the effects could range from an annoyance to catastrophic.
The latest warning from the Space Weather Prediction Center is that the latest flare could cause a moderate disruption radio communications over North and South America for up to an hour tonight.
While the Earth’s atmosphere protects those of us on the surface from the most harmful rays, things get different the higher up you go.
The Sun is supposed to be approaching solar minimum - a period where hardly a ripple marks its surface.
But observations over the centuries have shown that when a solar ‘hot spot’ does emerge at this time, it tends to be very hot. It’s times like these that have produced some of the biggest solar flares recorded.
The X9.3 flare was the largest flare so far in the current solar cycle, the approximately 11-year-cycle during which the sun’s activity waxes and wanes.
The current solar cycle began in December 2008, and is now decreasing in intensity and heading toward solar minimum. This is a phase when such eruptions on the sun are increasingly rare, but history has shown that they can nonetheless be intense.
Solar Flare: Know More
The first impact from a solar flare comes from charged particles travelling at 150,000,000km/h.
These arrive at Earth about an hour after an eruption.
But the bulk of the material spewed forth by a CME can take a couple of days to reach our planet - giving us time to prepare.
Solar flares can be a serious threat.
The biggest blobs of energy - if they were to strike Earth full-on - charge the ionosphere, causing it to absorb radio waves. This could cut communications with everything from airliners to satellites - including GPS signals.
Radiation levels in space would also spike, posing a health risk to astronauts aboard the International Space Station and even airline passengers.
The most severe geomagnetic storms could pump unwanted electrical current into power lines, and even electrical devices. These have been known to fry electrical networks, blacking out entire cities and states.
Blackouts From Solar Flares
In 1989, the entire Canadian state of Quebec was blacked out for nine hours after a direct hit from a coronal mass ejection.
Another 200 power grids in the United States experienced surges.
The worst was in 1859, when electricity was only beginning to be used in telegraph wires. These failed worldwide.
A similar hit, now, could be an electronics apocalypse - taking out power networks and destroying electronic systems such as banking transactions.
It would be a worldwide disaster, with transportation and food production networks crippled.
The current solar hotspot, dubbed Active Region 2673, was first spotted on August 29.
This flare is likely to be the last to have any impact on Earth as the region is rotating towards the Sun’s far side.