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Sci Oly Trivia
100

Which organelle is primarily responsible for producing ATP in human cells?

Mitochondria

100

Which planet has the largest diameter in our Solar System?

Jupiter

100

Two 6 Ω resistors are connected in parallel. What is their equivalent resistance?

3 Ω

100

A roller coaster car starts at rest at the top of a hill. Ignoring friction, what happens to its gravitational potential energy as it moves downhill?

It decreases and becomes kinetic energy

100

In an experiment testing whether the amount of fertilizer affects plant growth, what is the independent variable?

Amount of fertilizer

100

What does Sci Oly stand for?

Science Olympiad

200

A pea plant has the genotype Tt, where T is dominant for tallness and t is recessive for shortness. What percentage of its offspring would be expected to be short if it is crossed with another Tt plant?

25%

200

Which mineral property describes how resistant a mineral is to being scratched?

Mineral hardness

200

If 100 g of water is heated from 20°C to 30°C, does the water gain or lose thermal energy?

Gain

200

A glider is launched using a stretched rubber band. If the rubber band is stretched farther before launch, what generally happens to the elastic potential energy stored in it?

It increases 

200

In a simple substitution cipher, every occurrence of the letter A is replaced by D, B by E, C by F, etc.

What letter would H become?

K

200

How many events are there?

23

300

Which plant tissue is primarily responsible for transporting water and dissolved minerals upward from the roots?

Xylem

300

At a convergent boundary between an oceanic plate and a continental plate, which process commonly occurs?

Subduction

300

A forensic investigator finds a white crystalline substance. It dissolves readily in water and produces a neutral solution. When a flame test is performed, it produces a strong yellow flame.

Which element is most likely responsible for the flame color?

Sodium

300

A boomilever fails because the compression member buckles. Which change would generally help prevent buckling?

Increase its resistance to buckling

300

A student tests whether temperature affects the rate at which sugar dissolves. They use:

  • 100 mL of water each time
  • 10 g of sugar each time
  • The same container
  • Different water temperatures

What is the dependent variable?

Time required for the sugar to dissolve

300

What are the 3 types of events?

Lab, Build, and Test

400

A stream has a sudden increase in nitrate and phosphate concentrations. Which phenomenon is most likely to occur as a result?

Eutrophication

400

Air temperature is 25°C and the dew point is 24°C. Compared with an air temperature of 25°C and dew point of 10°C, which situation has the greater relative humidity?

Explain why?

25°C air / 24°C dew point

400

Why does increasing the concentration of dissolved salt in water generally increase its boiling point?

Dissolved particles cause boiling-point elevation

400

A Scrambler vehicle travels 8 meters in 4 seconds. What is its average speed?

2 m/s

400

A ping-pong ball is attached to a parachute. Two parachutes have the same mass and shape, but one has twice the surface area.

Assuming other factors are equal, which parachute should generally produce more air resistance?

Explain why.

The parachute with twice the surface area 


400

Where is states held?

Coventry Middle School

500

At a school, 24 students develop vomiting and diarrhea within 36 hours of attending the same event. Of 120 people who attended, 60 ate a particular chicken dish. Of those who ate the chicken, 18 became sick. Of the 60 who did not eat it, 6 became sick.

18/60 = 30%; 6/60 = 10%

500

A satellite image shows an area with very high reflectance in the near-infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and relatively low reflectance in the red portion.

What type of surface is most likely being observed, and why does this spectral signature occur?

Vegetation

500

A circuit contains a 12 V battery and two resistors, 4 Ω and 8 Ω, connected in series.

  1. What is the total resistance?
  2. What is the current through the circuit?
  3. What is the voltage drop across the 8 Ω resistor?

12 Ω  2. 1 A  3. 8 V

500

You are designing a structure that must support the maximum possible load while using as little material as possible.

Material farther from the neutral axis increases bending resistance

500

You are given the following experimental results:

Trial
Temperature            Time for Reaction:
120°C                     82 s
220°C                     79 s
330°C                     61 s
430°C                     64 s
540°C                     43 s
640°C                     46 s


A student concludes:

"Increasing temperature causes the reaction to become faster."


Identify:

  1. The independent variable
  2. The dependent variable
  3. One controlled variable
  4. Whether the data supports the student's conclusion
  5. One improvement that would make the experiment more reliable 

Full experimental analysis:

1. Independent variable:
Temperature

2. Dependent variable:
Time required for the reaction

3. Controlled variable:
Examples include:

  • Amount/concentration of reactants
  • Container
  • Reaction volume
  • Mixing procedure

4. Does the data support the conclusion?
Yes. As temperature increases, reaction time consistently decreases:

  • 20°C → ~80.5 s
  • 30°C → ~62.5 s
  • 40°C → ~44.5 s

Since a shorter reaction time means the reaction occurs faster, the data supports the conclusion that increasing temperature increases reaction rate.

5. Improvement:
Perform more trials at each temperature and average the results. This would reduce the effect of random experimental error and increase reliability.

500

When was Sci Oly founded?

1985

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