General Science Questions (MCQs) for Competitive Examinations

Notes:
Radon, a radioactive noble gas with atomic number 86, is used in radiotherapy. Created by disintegration of radium, its one of the heaviest gases and a health hazard. Radon gas, chemically inert yet radioactive, can accumulate in buildings and drinking water causing lung cancer. Furthermore, radon is noted for brilliant phosphorescence when cooled below its freezing point. Its most stable isotope, 222Rn, has a half-life of 3.8 days. Groundwater often has a higher 222Rn concentration than surface water due to less exposure to atmosphere.

Notes:
Calyptrogen is a layer of rapidly dividing cells at the tip of a plant root, from which the root cap is formed. It occurs in grasses and many other plants. The root cap is formed by several layers of cells that envelop the root tip externally. This covering of cells, of which the outermost ones are dead, envelops and protects the growing tip of root.

Notes:
Smallpox was one of the world’s most devastating diseases known to humanity. The last known natural case was in Somalia in 1977. It was declared eradicated in 1980 following a global immunization campaign led by the World Health Organization. Smallpox is caused by infection with the variola virus.

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Skeletal muscle is a form of striated muscle which is under the voluntary control of the somatic nervous system. Most skeletal muscles are attached to bones by bundles of collagen fibres known as tendons. It is one of three major muscle types, the others being cardiac muscle and smooth muscle.

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Swedish naturalist Carlous Linnaeus established the binomial system of naming living organisms, setting a format and a structured process for classifying the interrelationships between plants (among which he included all fungi), and between animals. The binomial system that Linnaeus devised enables an author to refer to a species confident that it will mean the same thing to informed readers anywhere else in the world.

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The open circulatory system is a system in which fluid in a cavity called the hemocoel bathes the organs directly with oxygen and nutrients and there is no distinction between blood and interstitial fluid; this combined fluid is called hemolymph. Arthropods and mollusks have an open circulatory system.

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Plants and photosynthetic organisms utilize this solar energy in fixing large amounts of CO2 while amounts consumed by human beings are relatively small representing only 10% of the energy converted during photosynthesis. The process of photosynthesis in plants involves a series of steps and reactions that use solar energy, water, and carbon dioxide to produce organic compounds and oxygen.

Notes:
Cause of night blindness is a deficiency of retinol, or vitamin A, found in fish oils, liver, dairy products, vegetable and fruits yellow in colour. Nyctalopia also called “Night Blindness” is a condition making it difficult or impossible to see in relatively dim light. To over come deficiency of vitamin-A, one needs to feed of food products rich in carotene which is used in synthesis of vitamin-A is liver.

Notes:
Riboflavin is also known as vitamin B2. It is a vitamin found in food and used as a dietary supplement. Food sources include eggs, green vegetables, milk and other dairy product, meat, fish, mushrooms, and almonds. Riboflavin is a water soluble and heat-stable vitamin that the body uses to metabolize fats, protein, and carbohydrates into glucose for energy.

Notes:
DPT refers to a class of combination vaccines against three infectious diseases in humans: diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), and tetanus. The vaccine components include diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and killed whole cells of the organism that cause pertussis (wP).