These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on 2017-12-05,
and should be interpreted accordingly.
On each question you may give up to two answers, but if you give
both a right answer and a wrong answer, there is a small penalty.
Please post all your answers to the newsgroup in a single followup,
based only on your own knowledge. (In your answer posting, quote
the questions and place your answer below each one.) I will reveal
the correct answers in about 3 days.
All questions were written by members of Smith & Guessin' and are
used here by permission, but have been reformatted and may have
been retyped and/or edited by me. For further information see
my 2017-09-25 companion posting on "Questions from the Canadian
Inquisition (QFTCI*)".
** Final, Round 9 - Science
That is:
http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/msb/gfr9/sci.jpg
* Psychological Experiments
1. This experiment was performed to test people's obedience to
authority figures. Subjects were told to deliver electric shocks
to another subject who in fact was an actor. They were told to
deliver increasing voltage of shocks until the actor appeared
to pass out. Over half the subjects would reach this point,
despite cries from the actor to stop. The experiment is named
for the psychologist who invented it -- who was that?
2. This experiment was supposed to demonstrate the effects of
perceived power, and involved dividing subjects into two
groups: prisoners and guards. With little instruction from
supervisors, incredible results were seen, to the point that
the experiment had to be ended early. The experiment is named
for the university where it took place -- which one was that?
3. An experiment at a factory near Chicago was done to try and
improve worker efficiency. They changed lighting, cleanliness,
and break times, and found that *every* change created a
short burst in productivity followed by a slump once undone.
Researchers realized that just being observed increased
productivity, regardless of the change. This is sometimes
known as the "observer effect", but it's also named after the
place where the experiment took place. Where was that?
* In the Air Tonight
The Earth's atmosphere is divided into several distinct layers
that extend to fairly constant altitutdes and are named using the
suffix -sphere.
4. In which of these -sphere layers would you find the ozone layer?
5. This is the third-highest layer, where most meteors break up
on entry. It is too high to be accessible by conventional
aircraft, but too low for satellites to remain in orbit.
What layer is this?
6. Please decode the rot13 only after you have answered the two
previous questions. Juvyr vg'f abg bar bs gur qvfgvapg
ynlref gung gur bgure dhrfgvbaf ner nobhg, guvf grez ersref
gb gur cneg bs gur ngzbfcurer nssrpgrq ol fbyne enqvngvba,
ohg vgf cbfvgvba inevrf ol gvzr bs qnl. Vg znl rkgraq vagb
gur zrfbfcurer, gurezbfcurer, naq/be rkbfcurer. Guvf vf jurer
nhebenf gnxr cynpr. Jung ynlre vf guvf?
* Distances in Space
7. This unit represents the mean distance between the Earth and
the Sun, or about 149,600,000 km. What is it called?
8. Used to measure distances of objects outside the solar system,
this term refers to one <answer 7> subtending an angle of
one arcsecond. It is a unit equal to about 3.26 light-years.
What is it called?
9. This unit represents the distance from Earth of a galaxy that
is currently receding from us at the speed of light. It is
equal to about 14,400,000,000 light years. What is it called?
* Nutritional Molecular Structures
10. See:
http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/msb/gfr9/mole/10.png
Name this monosaccharide, it is the most widely used in the
human body. It is a ubiquitous food source across all biological
beings.
11. See:
http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/msb/gfr9/mole/11.png
Name this sterol. It is synthesized in all animals as it is
an essential component in cell membranes. It also serves as
a precursor to a number of steroid molecules and bile acids.
12. See:
http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/msb/gfr9/mole/12.png
Name this vitamin. It is essential for tissue repair, the
creation of neurotransmitters, and the immune system, and serves
as a cofactor for a number of enzymatic reactions.
* Recent Nobel Prizes
13. The 2017 physics Nobel Prize went to a group of scientists
who were able to prove the existence of a specific astronomical
phenomenon. They observed the effect coming from the collision
of two massive black holes over 100,000,000 light-years away.
The result was observable in 2015. What did they detect?
14. The 2017 chemistry Nobel Prize was awarded for the development
of a new imaging technique. By flash-freezing biomolecules to
vitrify them, proteins can be frozen in mid-action to better
capture their natural state. The process is known as cryoEM,
where EM stands for what?
15. The 2017 medicine Nobel Prize was awarded for the discovery
of a process in the human body. In this process, a DNA
transcriptional feedback loop would alter the expression of
two genes known as "period" and "timeless" into an oscillating
pattern. This pattern would control how animals act during
night and day cycles, a cycle called what rhythm?
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "In cyberspace, the lunatics not only run the asylum,
m...@vex.net | but they helped build it..." --Richard Kadrey
My text in this article is in the public domain.