Iken Scientifica

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LEVEL 2

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Introduction

Dear Student,

So far you have been seeing the academic side of science but is it what

science is really all about? Well friends, at Iken Scientifica science is a way of

life. In our daily walk of life, we learn most of the things by observing and

trying. Since childhood, we have been observing our parents eat, speak, do

things and that is how we learn these things, same is the case with all living

beings. We do what we observe in our surroundings. Same principle applies

to science as well. Science is not about knowing facts rather it is about

exploring, questioning, practicing and creating. It is about being inquisitive

and asking questions such as HOW? WHY? WHAT?

This preparatory booklet is not just limited to this competition but it

equips you with what we call a scientific attitude of approaching things. The

focus of this preparatory booklet is

To Stimulate young minds

Getting you to explore

Exposing you to observation and experimenting

Letting students have their own piece of mind (ideation)

Making you experience the power of innovation

Inculcating the habit of practicing and questioning science rather

than learning and believing it.

Emphasizing that one problem can have multiple solutions.

To master the scientific way of doing things

In coming pages you will learn the Scientifica approach to address

problems and device workable solutions. Above all you will be exposed to

the real world of science!

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IKEN SCIENTIFICA 2011 | PREPARATORY BOOKLET | LEVEL 2 IKEN SCIENTIFICA 2011 | PREPARATORY BOOKLET | LEVEL 2 1

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*Needs Parental Help And Guidance

How, Why, What?

The Round One of iKen Scientifica examines how well you can utilize your

scientific aptitude. You will be posed with some scenario based questions which

require the basic scientific concepts you have learnt till now and a little common

sense to address them. You do not need any special preparation for the first

round. The examination does not require you to have factual knowledge of any

particular concept. It needs the knowledge that you have gathered over the

years. Nevertheless, you can equip yourself, to handle the examination

questions. This booklet will introduce you to an approach to improve your

scientific aptitude along with scenarios and sample questions to practice.

Observing phenomena, actions or events and reason out

the knowledge gathered from abstract thoughts and

everyday experiences.

Observe

The scientific method starts when you ask a question about

something that you observe: How, What, When, Who, Which,

Why, or Where?

Question

An educated guess about how things work: If [I do this] ,

then [this] will happen."

Extrapolate

Applying scientific procedures, concept and knowledge in

understanding situations and problems that occur in every

day life.

Apply

Understanding, interpreting, relating and concluding.

Analyze

Generate interest and increase efficiency

Practise

IKEN SCIENTIFICA 2011 | PREPARATORY BOOKLET | LEVEL 23

bO serve

ueQ stion

Extrapolate

Apply

Analyze

Practice


The Scientific Way

IKEN SCIENTIFICA 2011 | PREPARATORY BOOKLET | LEVEL 2 4


Queen Amyitiss Garden

Case Study 1

Thinking beyond the obvious


1 IKEN SCIENTIFICA 2011 | PREPARATORY BOOKLET | LEVEL 25

The King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon wanted to construct a garden for

his wife Amyitis dearly. But the state doesn't receive much rainfalls and

the king need to irrigate the garden drawing the water from the nearby

river.

Minister- So let's break down our problem in a scientific way.

We need to Move water from the river to the garden

We will then have to transport the water to different levels

We need to protect the brick to get washed away from the flow of water.

King- So we need to first think of drawing water from the river. What do you think of that?

Minister- First we need to think of the options and problem with the options.

King- Yes like I said with the servants it's difficult to irrigate, and also one can't use the horses. They will

have difficulty in drawing water at different levels.

Minister- Yes Sir, that's right. Instead of having each and every servant bring water from the river, we

might have a chain of people standing at their position and pass on the buckets of water.

King- So you are talking about a human chain. But this will huge workforce.

Minister- Yes, so we might need to replace human with rope and pulley system. Thus we can automate

the system.

King- Please explain in details.

Minister- We can design a chain pump with two large

wheels, one above the other, connected by a chain. On

the chain are hung buckets. Below the bottom wheel is a

pool with the water source. As the wheel is turned, the

buckets dip into the pool and pick up water. The chain

then lifts them to the upper wheel, where the buckets

are tipped and dumped into an upper pool. The chain

then carries the empty buckets back down to be

refilled.

Minister- We can design a chain pump with two large

wheels, one above the other, connected by a chain. On

the chain are hung buckets. Below the bottom wheel is a

pool with the water source. As the wheel is turned, the

buckets dip into the pool and pick up water. The chain

then lifts them to the upper wheel, where the buckets

are tipped and dumped into an upper pool. The chain

then carries the empty buckets back down to be

refilled.

King- Minister, I want to construct a garden for Queen Amytis. She is feeling

homesick lately, a huge garden with multiple levels in our castle will surely cheer

her up. Our country hardly receives any rainfalls and irrigation will be a challenge. I

want you to come up with a good solution.

Minister- Yes, that is really a challenge, but we can think of getting water from nearby

Euphrates River.

King- You must be joking? Our castle is on a higher level and moreover the river is at a

far off place for us to carry water from there.

Minister- Yes, I know it's not the right way to carry water manually. But we can

solve this problem in a scientific way.

King- What do you mean by that? Are you planning to do some kind of black magic?

Minister- No, in a scientific way we can solve complex problem of this kind in a

methodical way. We can break down the problem and tackle individually to address

the larger problem. And more over we don't have to utilize a lot of wisdom and magic.

Instead common sense and observation will be helpful.

King- Ok sounds good to me, but how can we solve this problem with the help of

science.

Minister- We are 100 meters away from

the river and at 10 meters height from

the river level. If we are building garden

with plants at each level, then it means

we are lifting water to 35 meters from a

100 meters distance.

King- That makes a difficult task if we were to employ servant to carry

water every day to different levels.


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QWERTY keyScience is all about reasoning

Case Study 2


King - That is brilliant. You are really intelligent. This scientific way of problem

solving is really amazing, but how can you get water to each level?

Minister -The pool at the top of the gardens could then be released by gates into

channels which acted as artificial streams to water the gardens.

King- That's great. Check with our architect and get necessary material to build that.

Minister- Yes Sir, I will. Now we need to think of protecting the bricks.

King- Yes, what we can do about it.

Minister- We will be covering the mud bricks with

sheets of lead before laying the foundation to prevent

the water from sipping in.

King- Amazing! So we got our problem solved. Now we can

start with the garden. Thanks you so much for the brilliant idea and problem solving

skills. I salute your intelligence.

Imran- Yeah it was great. We enjoyed the class.

Teacher- Very good! Radha, You, tell me what you observed.

Radha- Teacher, I felt the keyboard on which we were typing was a faulty one. The keys were not in

order. I had hard time finding keys I want 'A' was not near 'B'. And they were completely randomly

arranged. It was so difficult

Teacher- Excellent Radha, you had very nice observation. But that was not a faulty one. I will explain.

But I am impressed with all your observation. In the world of science everything is for a reason. So if

you keep observing and questioning you will find science exciting and apply it to your everyday life.

Sreeja- Teacher, what could be the reason behind this kind of random arrangement of the keyboard?

Teacher- The keyboards earlier were not like what you are using now. The keyboards are

derived from the typewriters used earlier for typing and long ago in the early models had

keys were in an alphabetical order. And the current one you are using is called QWERTY

keyboard.

Teacher- Check the first 6 letters. They will be 'Q', 'W', 'E', 'R', 'T', 'Y'.

Imran- What was the problem with the alphabetical order that led to this unusual order?

Teacher- So student, how was your day in computer lab yesterday?

Radha- Teacher, why is it called QWERTY keyboard?

Amyitis likes it :)

Teacher- Christopher Latham Sholes was a U.S. mechanical engineer who

invented the first practical modern typewriter in 1868. Unlike our keyboard

which is electronic typewriter was mechanical.

Sreeja- Teacher, What is a mechanical typewriter?

Teacher- The first typewriter had its letters on the end of rods called "typebars." The typebars hung

in a circle. The roller which held the paper sat over this circle, and when a key was pressed, a typebar

would swing up to hit the paper from underneath. If two typebars were near each other in the circle,

they would tend to clash into each other when typed in succession.




Radha- But how would the typebars clash?

Teacher- Here is the problem. The typebars were attached to the circumference of a

metal ring, forming a "basket". When a key was pressed, the corresponding typebar

would swing upwards, causing the print head to strike at the center of the ring.

Gravity would then return the typebar to its initial position.

Radha- It is a great mechanism. If the bars are separate from each other then why

would they collide?

Imran- How did Sholes solve this problem?

Teacher- Sholes was very intelligent and great at problem solving. He understood

the problem is occurring due to following reasons.

The precision of the typebars are not too good

Arrangement of keys make adjacent bars hit each other too often

The arrangement is too simple and typist can type faster making the bars move

to fast and jam.

Radha- What did Sholes do then?

Radha- It is a great mechanism. If the bars are separate from each other then why

would they collide?

Teacher- Let's try and solve this problem like Sholes did.

Imran- Ok, the first one is to deal with precision. But can he increase the precision?

Teacher- No, at that time there was no way to improve the precision.

Sreeja- So the next option is with the arrangement. He can do something about the

arrangement.

Teacher- Exactly, Sholes made a list of all frequently appearing combination of

letters in the English language and after studying them, came up with a new

layout. The objective of this layout was to place these letters far apart on the

keyboard thus preventing the type bars from getting entangled.

Radha- But didn't initially the users get confused with this new arrangement?

Teacher- Yes they did, like you were in the computer lab. But QWERTY keypad was disturbed the

alphabetical sequence of letters so that the typists took a longer time to look for each letter, slowing

down the speed of typing, in the process.

Sreeja- A lesser speed meant fewer chances of the

adjacent type bars getting jammed and his third problem is

solved!

Teacher- Brilliant Sreeja! You got it.

Irfan- But why the keyboards are still in a QWERTY format if we are not using the mechanical

technique anymore?

Teacher- The electric typewriters were then replaced by electronic typewriters which were ultimately

evolved into type ball introduced by IBM in 1964. And they gradually evolved in to computer based

word processor. And now a day the keyboard doesn't have the type bars which will hit each other

during typing. But we are still using the QWERTY model.

The journey of typewriter evolution is one of the most interesting evolutions as it ultimately helped

into the evolution of one of the most ingenious inventions The Computer.

Teacher- Now look at the above diagram of type bars. And draw the movement of the

type bars when you type the letter FEED.

Now when the type bar for F is coming back to its position E is going to hit the paper.

And when E is returning D would be moving. Considering that they are mechanical

rods of average precision they will hit each other easily.


I. II. III.

Q1. Gears are parts of machines used in transferring motion. One such arrangement of

gears is shown. In the given arrangement how will the gears B and C (see figure) move

if gear A is rotated in clockwise direction?



Sample Qustions for Scientifica

Q2. A large and heavy stone is supported by wooden logs. Three different kinds of supports are

made using the same type of wood. Which one of the following would be the correct order

of their stability?

Q3. Three mirrors are placed inside a corridor. We need to check out whether the bulb at the other extreme

end is lit or not. Which of the following arrangements of mirrors will allow me to see whether the bulb is lit

or not?

Q4 A billiards room is to be made inside a floating hotel. Which would be the best location to put a billiards

table inside this hemispherical hotel? The available rooms are marked by English alphabets A , B, C, D.

Two things are important when we talk about symmetry of a structure. One is

symmetry. Here in this question all the three supports seem symmetrical, so we need

not worry about symmetry. Second is the load bearing points (or in this case the

area). More the area at which the stone is supported higher is the stability. We can

easily observe that (I) has the largest area followed by (III) and then by (II). So the

correct option would be B.

A. Stability of I>II>III

B. Stability of I>III>II

C. Stability of III>I>II

D. All would be equally stable.

This is a pretty straight forward question. You just have to see whether and where the incident ray is being

reflected or not. A, C and D can be easily ruled out as the wrong options which gives us B as the correct

answer. You can also test B for the incident ray from the bulb reaching the eye using the laws of reflection

The main criteria to find a suitable place for a billiards table would be minimum tilting when the hotel floats.

When the a structure floats, the point that moves the least is the centre of mass. Point B being the closest

to the hotel's centre of mass (assuming equal distribution of weight) will move the least which makes it the

most suitable place to put a billiards table. The correct option is B.

If two gears have interlocked teeth they will move in the opposite sense. If A tries to

move clockwise it will force B to move in the anticlockwise manner and also C will be

forced to move in the anticlockwise manner. But, we realize that Gears B & C have

themselves got interlocking teeth. While Gear A will force both B & C to move in the

anticlockwise manner, the interlocking between them will not allow them to do so. So

the entire system will not function and thus concluding D as the correct option

A. Room A

B. Room B

C. Room C

D. Room D

A. Gear B will rotate in clockwise

direction and gear C will rotate in

anti-clockwise direction.

B. Gear C will rotate in clockwise

direction and gear B will rotate in

anti-clockwise direction.

C. Both the gears B and C will rotate in

anticlockwise direction

D. The entire arrangement of gears

will not rotate.A

BC

C.A. B. D.

A

B

C

D


Web references

for self study & research


The Internet is full of limitless knowledge. And it is undoubtedly the best

place to gather material for preparation of Iken Scientifica round 1 test. To

give you a head start, we will give a few recommendations: -

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/

Has a varied amount of learning content broaden the child's horizon of knowledge. Well categorized fields make the surfing

easier. Science explained in a more readable format.

It has thousands of topics, from a simply key to advance security system explained through videos and illustrations. You can

learn how everything works.

www.howstuffworks.com

This site consists of vast and varied range of learning models. All the models can be prepared by simple use of cardboard cut

out to make learning resource. This gives a practical knowledge of mechanisms.

www.flying-pig.co.uk

www.technologystudent.com/cams/camdex.htm

This interactive site has numerous information accmpained with animated demonstartions and exercise to enhance the

study and understanding of Design and Technology we come across in day-to-day life.

Large collection of How To and Do it yourself and provides good hands-on experience. Along with exploring the projects,

you can also share your project. Great way to learn science!

www.instructables.com

This website helps you to learn and understand the basic concepts of physics through real-life scenarios perform small

activites and solve the quizzes. This is the one-stop to get your physics concepts clear.

www.physics4kids.com

www.popularmechanics.com

Get the answers to the how, what and why about all the mechanical gadgets in this site. It covers a variety of information on

home improvement, automotive needs, electronics, computers, telecommunications and everything dealing with

machines.

Learn the very basics to how to make a robot right from the simple to advanced concepts and provides a good resource of

robotic projects. You can also stay in touch with the latest roboticss news.

www.gorobotics.net

14IKEN SCIENTIFICA 2011 | PREPARATORY BOOKLET | LEVEL 2

EI report

The detailed Enterprise Index report would have much more analysis

based on these parameters to help you discover your true scientific

potential and tips to improve on the same.

Your performance will be indicated by an Enterprise index graph. This

graph represents your performance in the five parameters which constitute

the enterprise index. The percentage score in each category is plotted to

make a pentagon (a polygon with five sides). The shape of the pentagon can

be useful to understand your relative performances in different categories.

You should work towards increasing the area of this pentagon as much as you

can. The outside borders of graph represent, the highest possible enterprise

index and extra ordinary scientific aptitude.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Analyze

Practice

Extrapolate

Observe

Apply

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IKEN SCIENTIFICA 2011 | PREPARATORY BOOKLET | LEVEL 213

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