This is a translation of the 2011 edition of the Dutch National Science Quiz, an annual tv show.
The questions are published a few weeks before the show is broadcast,
so the public can also compete (and win a few prizes, such as a visit
to CERN). I
put this here after the last entry date, so as not to 'spoil' that. The
tv show will be broadcast on 26 december, so I'll give the correct
(official)
answers after that.
I have tried to make translations as exact as possible, because every
word could be relevant. Sometimes I didn't completely manage and
sometimes this resulted in some odd English (no points for eloquence).
My apologies for that.
Please use the talk page for discussions (Wiki style, not ref desk :) ).
I suggest that:
- you try to come up with answers before looking at the talk page.
- the first few days you don't use any sources (such as Wikipedia). The
contestants in the
tv show can't use any sources either. And they have to come up with an
answer in a very short time, so we still have an edge on them. (Of
course I looked things up for the answers I sent in, but only after I
wrote my answers on the talk page.) Or maybe use sources after 4 days
(so as of 23 december). DirkvdM (talk) 08:21, 19 December 2011 (UTC)
The questions
1.
After pouring the drink, champagnebubbles rise faster than beerbubbles
of equal size. Why?
a. Because of the higher viscosity of the beer.
b. Because proteins stick to the beerbubbles as they rise, giving them
a higher resistance.
c. Because of the higher gas-pressure in champagnebubbles, which
increases the upward force.
2.
Most olympic swimming pools are 3 m deep. What happens to the swimming
times of the contestants of an olympic sprint if the water were only
1,5 m deep?
a. the swmimming times all rise equally.
b. the swmimming times go further apart.
c. the swmimming times get closer together.
3.
At Facebook you can see how many friends your friends have. Do people
on Facebook on average have as many friends as their friends have?
a. Yes.
b. No, on average their friends have more friends than they do.
c. No, on average their friends have fewer friends than they do.
4.
You carefully drop a 1 mm large drop of water on a metal plate with a
temperature well below freezing. What shape will the ice-drop get?
a. It gets a perfectly round top.
b. It flows out flat and then freezes like a sort of pancake.
c. It will get a pointy top.
5.
A gps-satellite is just before launch always set such that the clock is
just a fraction slower
than clocks on Earth. Why?
a. To compensate for the higher speed of the satellite.
b. To compensate for the changed gravity working on the satellite.
c. To compensate for the lower temperature of the satellite.
6.
You've got your shirt on inside out and your hands are tied with
handcuffs. Is it possible to get the shirt on right without untying
your hands?
a. Yes, albeit with some difficulty.
b. No, your shirt will end up upside down.
c. No, your shirt will end up back to front.
7.
It is like trees know where other trees are. Why is it that grown trees
don't 'repress' (*) each other or touch each other with their branches?
((*) I couldn't think of a better translation.)
a. They detect signal chemicals which neighbouring trees give off to
the ground water through their roots.
b. They detect the light spectrum that comes off their neighbouring
trees.
c. They detect the oxygen that their neighbouring trees produce
through photosynthesis.
8.
There is a fairly recently discovered discharge-phenomenon above the
clouds that is named after a creature from a play by:
a. Sophokles
b. Shakespeare
c. Goethe
9.
On Greenland lies about 2,9 million km³ ice. If all that ice would
melt and immediately spread over the entire ocean surface, how much
rise in sealevel would this cause at the Dutch coast?
a. Nothing changes.
b. Between 2 and 3 m.
c. Between 7 and 8 m.
10.
A gray screen is filled with randomly placed black and white dots. With
every new image on the screen the dots move a little to the right. We
then see a fluent motion of the dots to the right. What happens to this
movement if for every even image (number two, three, four, six, etc)
the white dots are made black and the black dots white?
a. We see the same movement, but with a greater speed.
b. We don't see any movement because your (sic) brain doesn't see an
unequivocal (unambiguous?) movement. (Sorry about the crummy
translation.)
c. We see the direction of movement reverse.
11.
For riding a bicycle for the first time, you have a choice between an
oldfashioned 'high bi' (vélocipède) and a recumbent
bicycle. On which of these two bicycles can you most easily maintain
your balance?
a. The high bi.
b. The recumbent bicycle.
c. Makes no different, equally difficult on both.
12.
A 35 year old man transplants pubic hair to his head, to combat the
fast advancing baldness, which is common in his family. What will he
look like ten years later?
a. Bald: the pubic hair will fall out, just like the head-hair.
b. Hairy: the pubic hair is still there, but there is a big chance of
curly hair.
c. Hairy: the pubic hair is still there, and it has assumed the shape
and colour of the head-hair.
13.
When you make a tea towel wet it gets darker in colour. When you let it
dry, it gets lighter again. What causes this colour change?
a. The water acts like a sort of glass fibre, as a result of which the
light penetrates more deeply into the material.
b. Because the refractive index of water lies close to that of textile,
the scattering increases.
c. Water absorbs more red and green light than textile.
14.
You have 3 boxes with pralines. One contains 2 white pralines. One
contains 2 brown pralines. And one contains a white and a brown
praline. You randomly choose one of the three boxes and then from that
you again randomly pick one of the two pralines. The praline is white.
What is the chance that the other praline in the chosen box is also
white?
a. 1/3
b. 1/2
c. 2/3
15.
A ship that transports drinking water lies waiting in a large sea-lock.
Through a hole in the ship seawater streams into the ship. To prevent
the ship sinking, the crew pumps drinking water into the lock. Just as
much water streams into the ship as the crew pumps away. The water
level in the lock:
a. rises.
b. falls.
c. remains equal.
