General Science Questions (MCQs) for Competitive Examinations

Notes:
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist. Atomic number 102 was named after him.

Notes:
Pulses are part of the legume family, but the term “pulse” refers only to the dried seed. Dried peas, edible beans, lentils and chickpeas are the most common varieties of pulses. The term “legume” refers to the plants whose fruit is enclosed in a pod. Other well-known legumes include alfalfa, clover, fresh peas, lupins, mesquite, soy and peanuts.

Notes:
Intensive farming is an agricultural intensification and mechanization system that aims to maximize yields from available land through various means, such as heavy use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. It is characterized by a low fallow ratio, higher use of inputs such as capital and labour, and higher crop yields per unit land area.

Notes:
The right pulmonary artery is longer and larger and runs horizontally outward in front of right main bronchus and behind the superior vena cava, to the base of the right lung where it divides in two branches. The left pulmonary artery is shorter and runs horizontally over the left upper division bronchus, to the base of the left hilum where it divides into two branches.

Notes:
Both polio and chicken pox are caused by virus. Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus; while, Chickenpox, also known as varicella, is a highly contagious disease caused by the initial infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV).

Notes:
Chameleons have specialized cells, chromatophores, which contain pigments in their cytoplasm, in three layers below their transparent outer skin. Dispersion of the pigment granules in the chromatophores sets the intensity of each color. Chromatophores contain pigments and reflect light, which are responsible for creating coloration. In chameleons, there are four types of chromatophores: xanthophores, erythrophores, iridiophores, and melanophores (Cooper and Greenberg, 1992).

Notes:
The skin is the soft outer covering of vertebrates that guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments, and internal organs. The cutaneous membrane is the technical term for our skin. The skin’s primary role is to help protect the rest of the body’s tissues and organs from physical damage such as abrasions, chemical damage such as detergents, and biological damage from micro organisms. Our skin is made of three general layers. In order from most superficial to deepest they are the epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue.

Notes:
Bharat Biotech, a vaccine company, in December 2017, received Pre-Qualification tag from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for Typbar TCV or Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine. The WHO tag would allow the firm to access global public vaccination programmes. Typbar TCV is the first typhoid vaccine, clinically proven to be administered to children from six months of age to adults and confers long term protection against typhoid fever.

Notes:
New born babies and children normally breathe faster than older children and adults. Their respiratory rate is about 30-60 breaths per minute. The respiratory rate for the different age-categories of children is:-6-12 months: 24-30; 1-5 years: 20-30; 6-12 years: 12-20.

Notes:
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest. Pesticides are a special kind of products for crop protection. A pesticide is generally a chemical or biological agent (such as a virus, bacterium, antimicrobial or disinfectant) that through its effect deters, incapacitates, kills or otherwise discourages pests. Target pests can include insects, plant pathogens, weeds, molluscs, birds, mammals, fish, nematodes (roundworms), and microbes that destroy property, cause nuisance, spread disease or are vectors for disease.