Insights Secure Prelims-2014: Questions from Previous Years-1

Copper

http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/plaintexthistories.asp?historyid=ab16

Boiling

Other methods are adding borax, solution of ammonia base exchange process.

By grafting one with the other

Fertilisation of ovum takes place in the test tube but it develops in uterus

Of rectilinear propagation of light

‘Rectilinear propagation’ is a wave property which states that waves propagate (move or spread out) in straight lines. This property applies to both transverse and longitudinal waves as well as electromagnetic waves (light). Even though a wave front may be bent (e.g., the waves created by a rock hitting a pond) the individual waves are moving in straight lines. In the sense of the scattering of waves by an inhomogeneous medium, this situation corresponds to the case n ≠ 1, where n is the refractive index of the material.

This can be proven by setting up an experiment in which you align three cardboard squares with a small hole in the centre of each. You then set up a light behind the cardboard and look through all three holes from the other side to see the light. If you moved any one of the cardboard squares even a tiny bit, you would no longer be able to see the light. This proves that waves travel in straight lines and this helps to explain how humans see things, among other uses. It has a number of applications in real-life as well.

The length of the pendulum increases and time period increases

2π√L/G = Time Period (T)

The rarefied air offers less resistance to the ball

Rarefied air basically means less dense air.

Asteroid

Explanation:

Comet

• A comet is a relatively small solar system body that orbits the Sun. When close enough to the Sun they display a visible coma (a fuzzy outline or atmosphere due to solar radiation) and sometimes a tail.

Asteroid

• Asteroids are small solar system bodies that orbit the Sun. Made of rock and metal, they can also contain organic compounds. Asteroids are similar to comets but do not have a visible coma (fuzzy outline and tail) like comets do.

Meteoroid

• A meteoroid is a small rock or particle of debris in our solar system. They range in size from dust to around 10 metres in diameter (larger objects are usually referred to as asteroids).

Meteor

• A meteoroid that burns up as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere is known as a meteor. If you’ve ever looked up at the sky at night and seen a streak of light or ‘shooting star’ what you are actually seeing is a meteor.

Meteorite

• A meteoroid that survives falling through the Earth’s atmosphere and colliding with the Earth’s surface is known as a meteorite.

Closing and opening the holes

The supply exceeds the demand

A situation in which supply exceeds demand, giving purchasers an advantage over sellers in price negotiations. Buyer’s Market is commonly used to describe real estate markets, but it applies to any type of market where there is more product available than there are people who want to buy it. The opposite of a buyer’s market is a seller’s: market a situation in which demand exceeds supply and owners have an advantage over buyers in price negotiations.

Accession of Kamal Pasha on the throne of Turkey

The Khilafat movement came and went very quickly. It had lost its relevance when Mustafa Kemal Atatlurk had abolished the Caliphate. The last Caliphate was Abdülmecid II, who was expelled with his family and took asylum in Istanbul (Constantinople), where he spent rest of his life catching butterflies. He died in 1948.

Appease the Indian public opinion

Stafford Cripps was sent to India in March 1942 with a brief to win the co-operation of Indian political groups. Under imperial rule the majority of India was bound to support the Allies when war broke out, and many Indians sympathised with the war effort. But India’s Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow, made the mistake of declaring India at war with Germany without consulting Indian leaders.

This divided the Indian National Congress. Pacifists, such as Gandhi, directly opposed India’s participation in the war. Others saw co-operation with the British as leverage in negotiations for independence.

Roosevelt’s administration had wanted to put an end to imperial power with the Atlantic Charter (August 1941), but Churchill had resisted. Then, with the fall of Singapore and Rangoon to Japan, the British in India were under threat and Churchill had to act accordingly.

Cripps delivered a promise of a new constitution for India with an electoral body (effectively offering independence after the war), along with immediate participation in the viceroy’s Executive Council.

But his mission reached a stalemate: the Indians wanted authority in military strategy (which Cripps refused to concede) and the question of the viceroy and a cabinet-style government could not be agreed upon.

The Raj became further isolated and the ‘Quit India’ movement was established. Gandhi proposed that the British leave, thus reducing the likelihood of a Japanese invasion, while Allied troops remain in India’s defence.

Cripps’ mission ended with recriminations. He and Churchill were not close allies and Cripps resigned. But despite their differences, Churchill did not want to lose such a valuable minister and he persuaded Cripps to oversee aircraft production, which he did until the end of the war. (Source – BBC)

 Chaitanya Prabhu

Islam

Sufism is a concept in Islam, defined by scholars as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam; others contend that it is a perennial philosophy of existence that pre-dates religion, the expression of which flowered within Islam.Its essence has also been expressed via other religions and metareligious phenomena. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a ṣūfi. They belong to different ṭuruq or “orders” – congregations formed around a master – which meet for spiritual sessions (majalis), in meeting places known as zawiyahs, khanqahs, or tekke.

Sufis believe they are practicing ihsan (perfection of worship) as revealed by Gabriel to Muhammad: “Worship and serve Allah as you are seeing Him and while you see Him not yet truly He sees you”. Sufis consider themselves as the original true proponents of this pure original form of Islam. Sufism is opposed by Wahhabi and Salafist Muslims.

Classical Sufi scholars have defined Sufism as “a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else but God“. Alternatively, in the words of the Darqawi Sufi teacher Ahmad ibn Ajiba, “a science through which one can know how to travel into the presence of the Divine, purify one’s inner self from filth, and beautify it with a variety of praiseworthy traits”.

Muslims and mainstream scholars of Islam define Sufism as simply the name for the inner or esoteric dimension of Islamwhich is supported and complemented by outward or exoteric practices of Islam, such as Islamic law.In this view, “it is absolutely necessary to be a Muslim” to be a true Sufi, because Sufism’s “methods are inoperative without” Muslim “affiliation”. In contrast, author Idries Shah states Sufi philosophy is universal in nature, its roots predating the rise of Islam and Christianity. Some schools of Sufism in Western countries allow non-Muslims to receive “instructions on following the Sufi path”.Some Muslim opponents of Sufism also consider it outside the sphere of Islam.

Classical Sufis were characterised by their attachment to dhikr, (a practice of repeating the names of God, often performed after prayers) and asceticism. Sufism gained adherents among a number of Muslims as a reaction against the worldliness of the early Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE). Sufis have spanned several continents and cultures over a millennium, originally expressing their beliefs in Arabic, before spreading into Persian, Turkish, Indian languages and a dozen other languages.

Gupta period

Alauddin Khilji

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Battle of Wandiwash

Destruction of ozone layer

Elephanta caves