Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon – November 24

Statement 1 is correct.  Tides refer to the rise and fall of our oceans’ surfaces. It is caused by the attractive forces of the Moon and Sun’s gravitational fields as well as the centrifugal force due to the Earth’s spin. As the positions of these celestial bodies change, so do the surfaces’ heights.

Statement 2 is correct. Even though the Sun is 391 times as far away from the Earth as the Moon, its force on the Earth is about 175 times as large. Yet its tidal effect is smaller than that of the Moon because tides are caused by the difference in gravity field across the Earth. The tidal effect varies inversely as the cube of distance. Therefore the tidal effect of moon is higher because of the small distance between earth and moon.

Statement 1 is correct. It is located about 180° east (or west) of Greenwich(0 degree). The IDL mostly passes through the Pacific Ocean

Statement 3 is correct. When you cross the IDL from west to east, you subtract a day, and if you cross the line from east to west, you add a day.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The International Date Line is located from the prime meridian (0° longitude) about 180° east (or west) of Greenwich. It is not straight but zigzags to avoid political and country borders and to not cut some countries in half.

All the given statements are correct. Laterite soil is primarily found in the tropical regions which receive heavy seasonal rainfall. High rainfall encourages the leaching of soil where lime and silica are leached away and a soil rich in oxides of aluminum predominate and abundance laterite is called bauxite. Due to the presence of iron oxides the colour of laterite soil is basically red. This soil is poor in organic matter and lime content. The laterite soil is suitable for cashew cultivation.

Statement 1 is incorrect. A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain. Cyclone refers to their winds moving in a circle, whirling round their central clear eye, with their winds blowing counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and blowing clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Large and continuous supply of warm and moist air is the most important condition for formation of tropical cyclone. Where coriolis force is zero (like equator), tropical cyclones do not develop. An upper level outflow of air (and not inflow) helps in formation of tropical cyclone.

Statement 1 is correct. In June 21,the northern solstice is in June, when the Sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere. The North Pole receives 24 hours of daylight.

In March equinox the sun is on the horizon at the North Pole. The sun rises at the North Pole at noon to the horizon on the March Equinox and the North Pole remains light until the September Equinox.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Variation in day and night is due to the inclination of our earth’s axis and the planet’s revolution around the sun. When’s sun’s moving towards northern hemisphere, the day length is more and correspondingly in southern hemisphere day length gets shorter.

Both statements are correct and R is the correct explanation of A. The Earth has an equatorial bulge of 42.72 km (26.5 miles) due to its rotation. That is, its diameter measured across the equatorial plane is 42.72 km more than that measured between the poles.

The poles are closer to the center due to the equatorial bulge, and thus have a stronger gravitational field. The distance between centre of earth to equator is greater is the reason for less gravity at equator.

Both statements are correct. Asteroids are rocky, airless worlds that orbit our sun,  in the main asteroid belt, a ring between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Asteroids that pass close to Earth are called near-earth objects. It is mainly made up of iron, nickel, silicon.

Meteors due to collision with the particles of the atmosphere burn and get converted into ashes. When a meteoroid enters Earth’s atmosphere, produces a streak of light, both from the glowing object and the trail of glowing particles that it leaves in its wake. This phenomenon is called a meteor or “shooting star”. If that object withstands ablation from its passage through the atmosphere as a meteor and impacts with the ground, it is then called a meteorite.