SB 1

Name this phenomenon in which attraction between the nucleus and a valence electron is partially negated by repulsion from the core electrons.

answer: shielding

In 1930 this American scientist used empirical data to create a system for approximately calculating the screening constant for a particular electron in an element.

answer: John Clarke Slater

What is the smallest number of consecutive counterclockwise rotations of 60 degrees that will return any shape to its original orientation?

answer: 6 rotations

What numbers are composed of real and imaginary parts?

answer: complex numbers

Name this task whose results are improved by pre-processing the input with the Burrows-Wheeler transform.

answer: data compression

Hutter prize submissions compress this type of data. Strings hold this type of data.

answer: text

What Irish scientist lends his name to the curl theorem?

answer: George Stokes

Stokes’s law gives this force for Stokes flow around a sphere. This force resists the motion of a body through a fluid.

answer: drag force

Stokes flow is this kind of flow, in which adjacent fluid layers move past one another with very little mixing. This kind of flow is contrasted with turbulent flow.

answer: laminar flow

What quantity is measured by a thermometer?

answer: air temperature

What noble gas lies above radon and below krypton on the periodic table?

answer: xenon

Name this element necessary for thyroid function, which is why it is added to table salt.

answer: iodine (or I)

This word refers to a hypothetical process of remaking an exoplanet or other astronomical body so it is more like Earth.

answer: terraforming

Name this genetic molecule shaped like a double helix.

ANSWER: DNA

Name this geometric relationship. This condition is stronger than similarity because both the shape and size of the two shapes must be the same.

ANSWER: congruence

An isometric transformation potentially involves three types of rigid motion. One of those is a translation, in which all points of the shape move the same amount in the same direction. Give the technical name for either of the other two motions

ANSWER: reflection and/or rotation

Rotations and translations are classified as a type of motion named for this ancient Greek thinker, whose textbook Elements usually earns him the title "Father of Geometry."

ANSWER: Euclid of Alexandria

Name this class of hydrocarbons that have a carbon-carbon triple bond.

ANSWER: alkynes

To ionize an alkyne, you’ll need a very strong one of these compounds, like sodium amide. Sodium hydroxide, a so-called “strong” one of these compounds, isn’t good enough!

ANSWER: bases

The most common weak bases are derivatives that replace the N-H bonds in this compound.

ANSWER: ammonia

The Hubble is what type of observation device in space?

ANSWER: telescope

Name this lightest chemical element.

ANSWER: hydrogen

In a small number of nuclear reactors, heavy water is used as this type of material that slows down neutrons and maintains an appropriately sustained chain reaction. Most nuclear reactors use light water for this purpose, and a small number use graphite.

ANSWER: moderator

Heat from the Sun is mostly transferred by what process that also emits light?

ANSWER: radiation

What branch of math whose study in high school concerns both numbers and variables?

ANSWER: algebra

What quantity is measured in Pascals or atmospheres?

ANSWER: pressure

Name this process that destroys cellular proteins when it happens to water cooled below zero degrees Celsius.

ANSWER: freezing

Antifreeze proteins are glycoproteins, which means they have one of these compounds covalently linked to them. These compounds are the monomers of poly⋅saccharides.

ANSWER: sugars

Importantly, antifreeze proteins work at very low concentrations, which is important to keep this quantity from getting too high. This quantity in a plant cell equals salt molarity times R⋅T, and is equalized by turgor.

ANSWER: osmotic pressure

Wilson's theorem explains whether an integer will be this type of number. These numbers are only evenly divisible by themselves and one, unlike a composite number.

ANSWER: prime number(s)

For an integer N, Wilson's theorem involves taking this operation on the input "N minus one."

ANSWER: factorial

Wilson's theorem notes that N will be a prime number if and only if the expression "N minus 1 factorial" is congruent to negative one within this type of arithmetic.

ANSWER: modular arithmetic

In areas with little vegetation, wind can blow sand into these mounds that can reach heights of hundreds of feet. A desert landscape filled with these features is called an erg.

ANSWER: dune

These narrow sea inlets, common in Norway and New Zealand, are formed by sea water flooding into a U-shaped valley cut out by glacial movement.

ANSWER: fjords

Alpine Europe has many examples of this type of topography, in which the dissolution of underground limestone forms sinkholes and caves, largely preventing the above-ground fields from being completely flat or having above-ground water.

ANSWER: karst topography

Brightly colored ducks or peacocks with large tails are what sex?

ANSWER: males

What complex geometric shapes that look like themselves, even after intense levels of zooming in?

ANSWER: fractals

Name this technique to measure the concentration of acids or bases.

ANSWER: titration

Name these metals that occupy the middle of the periodic table.

ANSWER: transition metals

Without oxidation, transition metals are colorless, unless they have this many d electrons, allowing them to steal an s electron to fill the d subshell. Copper has this many d electrons.

ANSWER: nine

This element in the copper group owes its brilliant color to relativistic electronic effects. This metal gives color to the salt auric chloride.

ANSWER: gold

The Galápagos Islands' finches are named for what English naturalist who hypothesized natural selection?

ANSWER: Charles Darwin

Give this term for a statement that logically contradicts itself. Studying these statements is a common lesson in critical thinking.

ANSWER: paradox

A paradox may be unraveled by finding an error in the construction of the logical argument within. This term also refers to logical problems like "post hoc, ergo propter hoc" or the posing of a "straw man."

ANSWER: fallacy

This British mathematician used set theory to pose his namesake paradox. The barber paradox, concerning a man who only shaves people who do not shave themselves, is almost an accurate restatement of this man's paradox.

ANSWER: Bertrand Russell

In July 1937, this pilot was flying with Fred Noonan across the Pacific Ocean when her plane failed to land at Howland Island.

ANSWER: Amelia Earhart

Name these subatomic particles with a negative charge that orbit the nucleus of an atom.

ANSWER: electrons

Name these weather phenomena that form in the mesocyclones of supercells.

ANSWER: tornado

Tornados form in the mesocyclones of the "supercell" form of these common weather systems that produce rain and lightning.

ANSWER: thunderstorm

To identify a high risk for tornados, meteorologists examine radar images of supercells for an "echo" with this curled shape.

ANSWER: hook echo

For four decades, the CDC carried out a wildly unethical experiment in which Black men in and around Tuskegee who had this sexually transmitted disease were observed without treatment, in order to see how the disease progressed when untreated.

ANSWER: syphilis

For instance, you can "titrate" down this variable, so to speak, by adding acid. This variable is usually measured on a scale from zero to fourteen.

ANSWER: p·H

The dependent variable in any titration is one of these chemicals, usually one that changes color depending on the p·H.

ANSWER: indicator

This process, which is separate from interphase, consists of prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. Name this process of cell division that creates two identical daughter cells.

ANSWER: mitosis

Name this three dimensional solid whose volume formula is "height times pi R squared."

ANSWER: cylinder

This two-dimensional quantity for a cylinder can be found by adding the areas of the top circular base, the bottom circular base, and the area that wraps around the cylinder like the label of a soup can.

ANSWER: surface area

The rectangular area that wraps around the cylinder is known as this type of surface area. In problem solving, this adjective describes a type of indirect "thinking" that is creative or "outside the box."

ANSWER: lateral

Give this term for a biomolecule that sends signals to cells or tissues, affecting organism behavior.

ANSWER: hormones

Phytohormones like auxins and abscisic acid control the growth of organisms in this kingdom. Some phytohormones are also found in fungi or bacteria, where they have less of a role.

ANSWER: plants

Somatotropin is an alternate name for this hormone, which is secreted by the pituitary gland to promote cell reproduction in humans. The use of this hormone by athletes is generally banned by sporting bodies.

ANSWER: growth hormone

In architecture, these structures are often classified as Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian.

ANSWER: columns

Name this type of reaction that occurs in fires.

ANSWER: combustion

Name this formula that will find the solutions of the equation "A x squared plus B x plus C equals zero.”

ANSWER: quadratic formula

Name these phenomena that propagate through space, as seen with the crests of water on a beach.

ANSWER: waves

The speed of this phenomenon is about three hundred forty meters per second in dry, room-temperature air.

ANSWER: sound

This Austrian physicist names the ratio of the speed of an object in air to the speed of sound in the surrounding air. For example, if an object is traveling at exactly the local speed of sound, this ratio would equal one.

ANSWER: Ernst Mach

Name this "sister planet" of Earth, the second planet from the Sun.

ANSWER: Venus

Cross-linking or vulcanizing these normally elastic materials strengthens them by linking long chains together. Name these molecules composed of repeating monomers.

ANSWER: polymer

Name this bacterial infection that causes uncontrolled muscle spasms

ANSWER: tetanus

Tetanus toxin blocks the signalling of glycine and GABA, two of these chemical signals that traverse synapses in the nervous system.

ANSWER: neurotransmitter

Since glycine and GABA are both this type of neurotransmitter, tetanus toxin causes uncontrolled motor neuron activation. In cell signaling, this kind of signal is the opposite of an activator.

ANSWER: inhibitor

What region of the interior Earth that lies below the crust?

ANSWER: Earth's mantle

Name this mathematical term for a line that cuts through a curve at two or more points, unlike a tangent line that merely touches the curve once.

ANSWER: secant

Name this behavior in which a liquid sticks to a solid of different chemical composition.

ANSWER: adhesion

Adhesion will only be possible if this quantity is sufficiently low. Water’s high value for this quantity allows some bugs to walk on it.

ANSWER: surface tension

At a molecular level, adhesion is driven by dispersion forces named for van der Waals, Keeson, or this fellow Dutchman. He names the unit of electric dipole moment and the “length” over which charges are screened in plasmas.

ANSWER: Peter Debye

Name these conductive lines used to build circuits.

ANSWER: wire

This scientist developed a law stating that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Another law named for him describes the gravitational attraction between two masses using a constant represented by G. His second law states that force equals mass times acceleration. Name this English physicist who formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation.

ANSWER: Sir Isaac Newton

This ancient Greek mathematician lends his name to a theorem relating the sides of a right triangle. That theorem states that the square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides. Name this mathematician associated with the equation a²+b²=c².

ANSWER: Pythagoras

This mathematician's name is attached to a famous identity that combines the numbers e, i, π, 1, and 0 into a single equation. He also gave his name to the mathematical constant approximately equal to 2.71828. Name this prolific Swiss mathematician known for Euler's Identity.

ANSWER: Leonhard Euler

Known as the "Prince of Mathematics," this German mathematician made major contributions to number theory, statistics, and geometry. His work helped pave the way for the development of non-Euclidean geometry. Name this mathematician whose name is attached to the Gaussian distribution.

ANSWER: Carl Friedrich Gauss

This mathematician developed set theory and introduced a rigorous way to discuss different sizes of infinity. He showed that some infinite sets are larger than others. Name this German mathematician who revolutionized the study of infinity.

ANSWER: Georg Cantor

A measure of collaborative distance in mathematics is named after this Hungarian mathematician. Researchers are assigned a number based on how many coauthorship links separate them from him. Name this mathematician whose name is used in the Erdős number.

ANSWER: Paul Erdős

According to a principle named for this mathematician, an object submerged in a fluid experiences an upward buoyant force equal to the weight of the displaced fluid. He also produced one of the most accurate ancient approximations of π. Name this Greek mathematician who supposedly shouted "Eureka!" after making a discovery.

ANSWER: Archimedes

A method for approximating the area under a curve by summing rectangles is named after this mathematician. His work in geometry later became important to Einstein's theory of general relativity. Name this German mathematician associated with the Riemann sum.

ANSWER: Bernhard Riemann

This Russian mathematician became famous for proving the Poincaré Conjecture, one of mathematics' most difficult problems. He notably declined both the Fields Medal and the Millennium Prize. Name this mathematician whose work transformed topology.

ANSWER: Grigori Perelman

This physicist proposed the theories of special and general relativity. His most famous equation states that energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. Name this scientist associated with the equation E = mc².

ANSWER: Albert Einstein

This scientist conducted pioneering research on radioactivity and became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. She remains the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields. Name this Polish-born physicist and chemist.

ANSWER: Marie Curie

After a voyage aboard the HMS Beagle, this scientist developed a theory explaining how species change over time through natural selection. Name this English naturalist who wrote On the Origin of Species.

ANSWER: Charles Darwin

This inventor and engineer helped develop alternating-current electrical systems. He also explored wireless transmission of power and numerous innovations involving electromagnetism. Name this Serbian-American inventor whose surname names a modern electric car company.

ANSWER: Nikola Tesla

This scientist improved the telescope and used it to observe the moons of Jupiter. His observations supported the heliocentric model of the solar system. Name this Italian astronomer often called the "father of modern science."

ANSWER: Galileo Galilei

Working with Charles Babbage's proposed Analytical Engine, this mathematician wrote what is often considered the first computer algorithm. Name this English mathematician often called the world's first computer programmer.

ANSWER: Ada Lovelace

This Swedish scientist created the modern system for naming living organisms using two-part scientific names. Name this founder of binomial nomenclature.

ANSWER: Carl Linnaeus

Using X-ray crystallography, this scientist produced images that were crucial to understanding the structure of DNA. One of those images, known as Photo 51, helped reveal the double helix. Name this British chemist and biophysicist.

ANSWER: Rosalind Franklin

The tetrahedron is the simplest example from this set of three-dimensional solids that are both convex and regular. There are five of these solids, named for an ancient Greek thinker.

ANSWER: Platonic solids

Before Darwin, this French naturalist proposed an early theory of evolution. He is often associated with the idea that acquired characteristics can be inherited by offspring. Name this scientist whose theories helped shape later discussions of evolution.

ANSWER: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

This mathematician calculated flight trajectories for early American space missions. During the Space Race, she worked for NASA and helped ensure the success of missions involving astronauts such as John Glenn. Name this pioneering African American mathematician.

ANSWER: Katherine Johnson

This primatologist spent decades studying chimpanzees in East Africa. Her observations revealed that chimpanzees use tools and have complex social behaviors. Name this British scientist whose research was conducted in Tanzania.

ANSWER: Jane Goodall

Name these calcified structures that are classified as incisors, canines, or molars in the human mouth.

ANSWER: teeth

Rubber is harvested as this type of milky emulsion of polymer particles, not to be confused with sap. This term can also refer to rubber itself, particularly as used in gloves.

ANSWER: latex