Insights Secure PRELIMS – previous Year Questions, 06 August 2014

Rs. 4,200

A is the husband of D

Harappan Culture

Worship of gods and goddesses

B and E are neighbours

Brahmacharya—Grihastashrama— Vanaprastha — Sanyasa

The emergence of monarchical states in the later Vedic age (10 to 5th century BC) , led to a distancing of the rajan from the people and the emergence of a varna hierarchy. The society was divided into four social groups— Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras.

Post Vedic age, ashrama system was developed i.e. after 5th century BC.

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The Great Himalayan Range

It is situated on the Geomagnetic Equator

It’s a common misconception that when launching a rocket into orbit you have to accelerate it vertically. A satellite requires an orbital (i.e. tangential) velocity given by:

v≈

where M is the Earth’s mass and r is the distance from the Earth’s centre. If you consider, for example, a GPS satellite with an altitude of about 20,000 km from the ground the orbital speed is about 14,000 km/hour. So to get it into a stable orbit you need to accelerate it sideways, not vertically.

Because the Earth rotates, any point on the Earth already has a tangential velocity, and this velocity varies from zero at the North and South pole to about 1,700 km/hour at the equator. The higher the tangential velocity at the launch site the less you need to boost the rocket’s speed and the less fuel it will use. So it’s better to launch rockets from the equator than from the North pole.

The geographical equator is quite close to the magnetic equator. Besides, magnetic quator also offers several other advantages.

Thumba is located very close the magnetic equator of the Earth (located just north of Thumba), making it the ideal location for scientists to conduct atmospheric research. In fact, Thumba’s location at 8°32’34” N and 76°51’32” E is ideal for low-altitude, upper atmosphere and ionosphere studies. Thumba is a small fishing village situated close to the Thiruvananthapuram airport in Kerala.

At the geomagnetic equator, the satellite will suffer less resistance in flight. Here is what geomagnetic equator means. Some basics of earth magnetic is also given as many questions are asked in UPSC on this topic.

Geomagnetic equator is a notional circle on the earth’s surface, the plane of which is equidistant between the north and south magnetic poles and perpendicular to the magnetic field.
To a first approximation, the Earth’s magnetic field resembles that of an enormous bar magnet. The field lines emerge from the southern half of the earth and re-enter in the northern half.

Several features of the Earth’s field vary in a predictable way across the surface of the globe and might, in principle, be used in assessing geographic position. For example, at each location on the Earth, the field lines intersect the Earth’s surface at a specific angle of inclination. On the diagram above, note that near the equator, the field lines are approximately parallel to the Earth’s surface; the inclination angle in this region is said to be 0°. As one travels north from the equator, however, the field lines become progressively steeper. At the magnetic pole, the field lines are directed almost straight down into the Earth and the inclination is said to be 90°. Thus, inclination angle varies with latitude. As a consequence, an animal that has the ability to distinguish between magnetic inclination angles has a mechanism that it might be able to use to approximate its latitude. As we will discuss, hatchling loggerheads have been shown to have this ability.

A second geomagnetic parameter that varies across the surface of the Earth is the strength or intensity of the field. Although intensity varies somewhat less predictably than inclination, the general trend is that the field is strongest near the magnetic poles and is weakest near the equator. Hatchling loggerheads have also been shown to detect magnetic field intensity.

November 21, 1963 was a golden day in the Indian Space chronology, when rocket-based research in the country had formally begun.  A two-stage sounding rocket, Nike Apache, imported from the United States was launched on that day, heralding the operationalisation of Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS).  TERLS was established at Thumba because the geo-magnetic equator of earth passed over the very place.  Hence Thumba was selected as the site for establishes a rocket station that would launch sounding rockets intended for meteorological and upper atmospheric research. 

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15 km

South West

dharmachakra

“Gesture of Argument”
(vitarka) also called “The Gesture of Debate” or “discussion” mudra. In this gesture the tips of thumb and index finger touched forming a circle. All the other fingers are extended upwards. This is the mystic gesture of Taras and Bodhisattvas, often used when explaining the Buddhas teachings.

Buddha Mudra: DHARMACHAKRA – Wheel of Dharma (Cosmic Order)
What is Darmachakra Mudra? Dharmachakra mudra expresses the continuous energy (symbolized by a wheel/chakra) of the cosmic order. The hands are placed at the heart level with the thumbs and index fingers forming circles (similar to Vitarka mudra ). The right palm faces outwards and the left one faces towards the heart.

This mudra is associated with Buddha’s first sermon, or teaching. It is often referred to as the representation of teaching about the cosmic order as coming from (or through) the heart center.

5 km

mechanical support 

A plant, such as a tropical orchid or a staghorn fern, that grows on another plant upon which it depends for mechanical support but not for nutrients. Also called aerophyte, air plant.

Hasrat Mohani

In 1921 Ram Prasad Bismil attended Ahmedabad Congress along with many volunteers from Shahjahanpur and occupied a place on the dias. A senior congressman Prem Krishna Khanna and revolutionary Ashfaqulla Khan was also with him. Bismil played an active role in the Congress with Maulana Hasrat Mohani and got the most debated proposal of Poorn Swaraj passed in the General Body meeting of Congress. Mohandas K. Gandhi, who was not in the favour of this proposal became quite helpless before the overwhelming demand of youths.

Baltic Sea

30 minutes

20 minutes

Both A and R are individually true but R is NOT a correct explanation of A.