The National Science Bowl winners were announced in Washington D.C. in May. Below are some sample questions that the high school teams had to answer in regional contests to make it to the National Science Bowl. Test your knowledge.

1. What range of frequencies is usually referred to as the UHF Band?

W. 3 to 30 Megahertz
X. 30 to 300 Megahertz
Y. 300 to 3,000 Megahertz
Z. 30,000 to 300,000 Megahertz

2. The major form of pollution from a nuclear reactor is:

W. radioactivity
X. particulate formation
Y. thermal pollution
Z. noise pollution

3. The unit for reactance is the:

W. ampere
X. volt
Y. ohm
Z. J/C

4. After a time of 1 time constant, the current in an RC circuit will be equal to:

W. 50% of its initial value
X. 37% of its initial value
Y. 25% of its initial value
Z. 63% of its initial value

5. An organism has a diploid chromosome number of 10. A cell, from this organism, in metaphase I of meiosis has:

W. 10 chromosomes
X. 20 chromosomes
Y. 10 chromatids
Z. 5 chromosomes

6. Meiosis reduces the chromosome number by:

W. Discarding some of the chromosomes
X. Reducing the length of each chromosome by half
Y. Polar bodies forming
Z. Duplicating DNA once, followed by two cell divisions

7. Why is the surface of Venus so hot?

W. Atmospheric carbon monoxide transmits visible light and absorbs infrared light
X. Atmospheric carbon dioxide transmits visible light and absorbs infrared light
Y. Atmospheric carbon monoxide transmits infrared light and absorbs visible light
Z. Atmospheric carbon dioxide transmits infrared light and absorbs visible light

8. Radar was used to discover that Venus' rotation is:

W. rapid and direct
X. rapid and retrograde
Y. slow and retrograde
Z. slow and direct

9. A type of force that exists in the molecules ICl, HBr, and CHCl3 is:

W. dipole-dipole interaction
X. ion-dipole interaction
Y. ionic interaction
Z. metallic bond

10. The existence of intermolecular forces in such species as NH3 and H2O is necessary to explain:

W. how atoms stay together in the molecule
X. how the species can exist as liquids or solids
Y. why molecules have rigid shapes
Z. covalent bonding

11. What is the 2's complement of the 4-bit binary number 1010?

Answer

12. What is the hexadecimal difference of 3A minus 2B?:

Answer

13. An example of what type of selection is the death of extremely overweight and underweight babies?

W. Disruptive
X. Directional
Y. Stabilizing
Z. Survival of the fittest

14. If only the largest or the smallest (not the intermediate phenotype) individuals are favored by natural selection, what type of selection occurs?

W. Directional
X. Stabilizing
Y. Disruptive
Z. Dimorphic

15. Which of the following effects is the same in a resistor for one ampere rms ac as for one ampere dc?

W. conductance
X. reactance
Y. oscillation
Z. heating