Round 2 - Set 16 (Energy, Bio, Earth and Space)

Toss up: Biology – Short Answer: What is the term for the specialized reproductive organ that characterizes angiosperms?

FLOWERS

Bonus: Biology – Short Answer Identify all of the following three molecules of which ribosomes are composed: 1) RNA; 2) DNA; 3) Proteins.

1, 3

Toss up: Earth and Space – Short Answer: What is the name of the geologic principle that states that, in an un-deformed sequence of sedimentary rocks, the youngest beds are always at the top and the oldest at the bottom?

PRINCIPLE OF SUPERPOSITION

Bonus: Earth and Space – Multiple Choice An Ekman spiral in the surface ocean is created by the combined effect of what two influences?

W) Wind and water upwelling

X) Wind and water downwelling

Y) Coriolis force and water downwelling

Z) Coriolis force and wind

Z) CORIOLIS FORCE AND WIND

Toss up: Energy – Multiple Choice Scientists at Brookhaven National Lab are studying artificial photosynthesis. To do so, they have coupled chromophores to catalysts by adding long alkyl [AL-kul] tails to each one. These alkyl tails then tether the two molecules together. Which of the following forces is most influential in providing the tethering force?

W) London dispersion

X) Dipole-dipole

Y) Hydrogen bonds

Z) Ionic

W) LONDON DISPERSION

Bonus: Energy – Short Answer Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Lab are developing sodium-ion batteries. Identify all of the following three statements that are potential advantages of these batteries:

1) They are less flammable than lithium-ion batteries;

2) They are more efficient than lead-acid batteries;

3) They are rechargeable.

ALL

Toss up: Biology – Short Answer What is the term for metabolic reactions that require the input of energy to build up complex molecules?

ANABOLIC

Bonus: Biology – Multiple Choice Which of the following best demonstrates paracrine [para-krin] signaling?

W) A tumor cell creates its own growth factors

X) An allergen results in localized histamine release

Y) The pituitary gland secretes vasopressin [VAY-zoh-pressin] in response to thirst

Z) The pancreas produces insulin after a meal

X) AN ALLERGEN RESULTS IN LOCALIZED HISTAMINE RELEASE

Toss up: Earth and Space – Multiple Choice Which of the following groups of stars exhibits the empirical relationship that luminosity is proportional to mass to the 3.5 power?

W) Giants

X) Supergiants

Y) White dwarfs

Z) Main sequence

Z) MAIN SEQUENCE

Bonus: Earth and Space – Short Answer What is the term for small variations in a celestial object’s rate of precession due to the gravitational influence of nearby bodies?

NUTATION

Toss up: Energy – Short Answer Pacific Northwest National Lab researchers are studying the factors that lead to type one diabetes. One of the main causes is the death of what specific cell type within the pancreatic islets [EYE-lets]?

BETA CELLS

Bonus: Energy – Multiple Choice Ames Lab researchers are trying to understand the ground state of crystals using a jellium model. Jellium is a quantum model in which positive charges are assumed to be a uniform jelly. This is most similar to the assumptions made by which of the following atomic models?

W) Bohr model

X) Rutherford model

Y) Atomic orbital model

Z) Plum pudding model

Z) PLUM PUDDING MODEL

Toss up: Biology – Short Answer Operant and classical conditioning are both examples of what general type of learning through which animals relate one stimulus with another?

ASSOCIATIVE

Bonus: Biology – Short Answer Identify all of the following three statements that are true of quantitative traits:

1) They are usually polygenic;

2) Without selection, they will be bimodally distributed in a population;

3) Eye color in fruit flies is a quantitative trait.

1

Toss up: Earth and Space – Short Answer According to Bowen’s Reaction Series, in fractional crystallization of a magma, what mineral will precipitate out of the magma first?

OLIVINE

Bonus: Earth and Space – Short Answer The Gulf Stream and the Canary Current bound what major ocean gyre [JI-er]?

NORTH ATLANTIC

Toss up: Energy – Short Answer Researchers at Brookhaven National Lab are using a de-alloying technique to create nanostructured materials. The film that is their starting material is an alloy that is composed of the two most common elements in Earth’s core. What are these two elements?

IRON AND NICKEL

Bonus: Energy – Multiple Choice Researchers at Fermi National Accelerator Lab are searching for supersymmetric pairs to known elementary particles. Which of the following best explains why these pairs need not have the same mass as their Standard Model counterparts?

W) Supersymmetry is unrelated to gravity

X) The mass of supersymmetric particles grows with the renormalization scale

Y) Supersymmetry can be spontaneously broken

Z) Supersymmetric pair particles are all required to be massless

Y) SUPERSYMMETRY CAN BE SPONTANEOUSLY BROKEN