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Science Monstrosity V
Written by Selene Koo and Seth Teitler
1. This element may be produced from its oxide by the Pidgeon process. In the Barbier reaction, a
substituted alcohol is formed in the presence of this element. Coordination to this element varies in one set
of compounds that contains it according to the Schlenk equilibrium. The counter-ion to ATP and other
nucleic acid moieties is generally the divalent ion of this element. It is also the primary cation in forsterite,
an end member of the olivine series. This element replaces some of the calcium in calcite to form
dolomite, and is the central ion in the porphyrin ring of chlorophyll. FTP identify this metal found in
Grignard reagents and whose sulfate is also called Epsom salt.
ANSWER: magnesium or Mg
2. The band of this name is a standard filter centered on 2.2 microns in the near infrared, and the
corrections of this name account for the effects of redshift on the apparent magnitude seen through fixed
filters. One of the two targets of Project Ozma was Epsilon Eridani, a main-sequence star of this spectral
type with about one-third the luminosity of the Sun. This term also denotes the Fraunhofer line at 3934
Angstroms, which, like the H line, is produced by singly-ionized calcium. FTP, give the spectral type
shared by orange-red giant stars such as Aldebaran and Arcturus, and main-sequence stars intermediate
between G and M stars.
ANSWER: K
3. Results from this experimental technique may be visualized by ORTEP (read "or-tep"). One of the
issues of this technique can sometimes be resolved by considering Harker sections in relation to the
Patterson function or by the technique of multi-wavelength anomalous dispersion. Ewald's sphere is a
reciprocal space construction of the central equation that defines peaks seen in this technique. Originally
developed by von Laue, it was used by Hodgkin in her elucidation of the structures of cholesterol and
vitamin B12. FTP name this experimental technique that depends on interferences as posited by Bragg's
law and that uses high-energy photon scattering to determine lattice structure.
ANSWER: X-ray crystallography or XRC
4. This man’s son James showed with Petterson that viscosity and the Lense-Thirring effect could combine
to force the inner portion of an accretion disk to align with the rotation of a central black hole. Doctoral
advisor to the inventor of the LED, this man’s own accomplishments include his urging of Xerox to
maintain their Palto Alto Research Center, and his work at Bell Labs on the first point-contact variety of a
certain device. With a post-doc and a grad student, he also developed a theory involving bosonic, paired
electrons that successfully explains the Meissner effect. FTP, name this man whose work on inventing the
transistor and developing BCS theory earned him shares of two physics Nobels.
ANSWER: John Bardeen
5. This functional group is produced in the second step of the Darzens condensation and can be synthesized
enantioselectively using a manganese-salen complex as a catalyst or a combination of titanium
tetraisopropoxide and diethyl tartrate in reactions named for Jacobsen and Sharpless. Reaction with
tungsten reagents and triphenylphosphine will result in elimination to produce alkenes; in the inverse
reaction, a butterfly mechanism is hypothesized this functional group's formation from the reaction of a
peroxyacid with an alkene. It may also be produced from a halohydrin via an intramolecular Williamson
reaction. FTP name this highly strained functional group, a three-membered cyclic ether.
ANSWER: epoxide
6. The structure of the frustrated magnet pyrochlore consists of two sublattices each consisting of repeating
units with this geometry. Electrons occupying the relatively higher energy t2 ("tee-two") orbitals
contribute to the orbital angular momentum of transition metal complexes adopting this geometry. Those
complexes tend to be high-spin due to the relatively small splitting energy for this geometry. Zinc occupies
this type of hole in both the zinc-blende and wurtzite structures. This geometry was first posited by Le Bel
and van't Hoff to exist for compounds of carbon. FTP identify this geometrical shape for which the angle
between bonds is 109.5 degrees, frequently adopted when four substituents surround a central atom.
ANSWER: tetrahedral or tetrahedron
7. The chemical composition and this quantity are the only variables that enter into the Russell-Vogt
theorem. The Proca Lagrangian determines the effects of a non-vanishing value of this property in
photons. One combination of fundamental constants gives the value for this property at which the
Schwarzschild radius equals the Compton wavelength. The torsion balance experiments of Eötvös showed
the equivalence of its inertial and gravitational forms. Associated in the Standard Model with the Higgs
boson, FTP name this property that Einstein proved is equivalent to energy.
ANSWER: mass
8. This man’s eponymous acceleration mechanism involves charged particles reflecting off of moving
magnetic mirrors, and may explain cosmic-ray acceleration in supernova remnant shocks. His name is
often attached to a relation derived by Dirac between a transition probability and the associated matrix
element, which he called a “golden rule.” He estimated the yield of the atomic bomb by dropping pieces of
paper during the first test. He lends his name to a unit of length equal to 10 to the minus 15 meters, and to
particles with half-integer spin. FTP name this Italian-American physicist who developed the first
controlled nuclear chain reaction.
ANSWER: Enrico Fermi
9. When diseased, these structures often develop parking lot inclusions. Barth syndrome results from the
mutation of an enzyme responsible for the synthesis of a four-lipid-tail phospholipid found in them. These
structures also contain Tom and Tim proteins as well as Diablo or SMAC (read "smack"), whose activation
leads to the release of caspase nine through the release of cytochrome c from their membranes. FTP
identify these organelles in which the Krebs cycle and oxidative phosphorylation occur, often called the
powerhouses of the cell.
ANSWER: mitochondrion or mitochondria
10. Dispersive propagation following one of these events can generate the right-hand circularly polarized
whistler modes first heard by Barkhausen. They are usually preceded by the formation of a staggered
channel known as a stepped leader. Gurevich proposed a runaway breakdown model for these events in
which cosmic rays produce a cascade of ionization in the atmosphere. Producing a luminous return stroke
of strong current and initiated by charge separation in clouds, FTP name these natural events that come in
ball and cloud-to-cloud varieties.
ANSWER: lightning strikes or bolts or whatever
11. The antibiotic mupirocin binds to the enzyme that synthesizes one member of this group of molecules,
while puromycin functions by mimicking one end of this molecule. Retroviruses co-opt it from their hosts
to use as a primer for reverse transcriptase. Maturation of this molecule requires the activity of an enzyme
studied by Sidney Altman as well as various synthetases that recognize identity elements in its ends and
three loops. Those loops frequently contain modified bases such as pseudouridine and inosine, which may
be found in the wobble position of the A loop. FTP identify this molecule that carries amino acids to the
ribosome, where it recognizes codons on mRNA.
ANSWER: transfer RNA
12. The synthase for this compound binds its two substrates sequentially, with one binding event followed
by an 18 degree rotation of one of the enzyme's domains. This molecule stimulates the enzyme catalyzing
the committed step for fatty acid synthesis in the cytoplasm; it is transported there in exchange for malate.
Other regulatory roles for this compound include the activation of fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase and
inhibition of phosphofructokinase-1, a critical enzyme in the pathway that precedes the one where this
molecule is synthesized. It is the substrate for the iron-sulfur protein aconitase, which isomerizes it, and is
produced by the reaction of oxaloacetate and acetyl coA. FTP name this six-carbon molecule that is
produced at the beginning of a metabolic cycle named for it or for Krebs.
ANSWER: citric acid or citrate (accept 2-hydroxy-1,2,3-propanetricarboxylic acid)
13. These organisms possess pores for gas exchange known as cyphellae. Usnic acid may be secreted by
their cortex, which is sometimes covered by a layer called the tomentum. Warty growths known as
cephalodia can allow these organisms to fix nitrogen in addition to performing photosynthesis. They can
reproduce through apothecia or more effectively by producing isidia or soredia, which are held together by
hyphae. Including such morphological types as squamulose and crustose, FTP identify these symbiotic
associations between a fungus and an alga or cyanobacterium.
ANSWER: lichens
14. The solutions to a linear system of these can be characterized using the cylindrical algebraic
decomposition algorithm. One of these involves the inverse of the Fisher information and the variance of
an unbiased estimator, and another can be used to prove the weak law of large numbers. The one named
for Hölder involves p-norms and can be used to prove one sometimes credited to Bunyakovsky that relates
the modulus of the inner product of two vectors to the product of their norms. FTP name this class of
relations which includes the aforementioned Cramér-Rao, Chebyshev and Cauchy-Schwartz examples.
ANSWER: inequality
15. A theory based on that of this man was invoked in the development of the Woodward-Hoffmann rules.
In contrast to the extended theory, his basic theory assumes no orbital overlap and does not consider
electrons in sigma bonds. His namesake system has an even number of sign inversions in a basis set of p
orbitals, in contrast with systems named for Mobius. Along with another man, his name is given to an
equation that was improved by Onsager and relates activity coefficients to the ionic strength of a solution.
FTP name this scientist who developed a theory of electrolytic solutions with Debye and whose namesake
rule gives the number of electrons in an aromatic system as 4 n plus two.
ANSWER: Erich (Armand Arthur Joseph) Hückel
16. These objects obey the “D n sigma” relation derived by Dressler from a relation between three of their
observables known as the fundamental plane. Their surface brightness profiles are well-fit by the de
Vaucouleurs “R to the one-fourth” law, and their luminosities correlate with their central velocity
dispersions, a result known as the Faber-Jackson relation. Examples of these early-type members of the
Hubble sequence include the giant M87, which includes many globular clusters in its population of old
stars. Subclassified by the ratio of their minor and major axes, FTP name this morphological class of
galaxies which vary from spheroidal to nearly cigar-shaped.
ANSWER: ellipticals or elliptical galaxies
17. These disturbances are associated with the scalar potential portion of the displacement field, and their
namesake modulus is given by four-thirds the shear modulus plus the bulk modulus. The stereographic
projections of their radiation patterns are known as beach-ball diagrams. They exhibit I and K phases when
they pass through the inner and outer cores, respectively, and outer core diffraction produces their shadow
zone. Rayleigh waves are produced by the interaction of vertically-polarized shear waves with, FTP, these
longitudinal seismic waves, the first to arrive after an earthquake.
ANSWER: primary waves
18. The Hopfield version of this structure has an associated scalar energy value that is partially dependent
on the threshold of each unit. Teuvo Kohonen invented a type called a self-organizing map that allows the
output space to have fewer dimensions than the input space. In 1974, Paul Werdos developed an algorithm
to train these called backpropagation. Feedforward is the original type of, FTP, what kind of learning
structure often made up of perceptrons that is used in the field of artificial intelligence?
ANSWER: neural network
19. Smale’s h-cobordism theorem applies to smooth manifolds of dimension 5 or higher with a strong
version of this property involving a trivial fundamental group and continuous maps from closed real
intervals. The topologist’s sine curve has this property, which can be used to define equivalence classes
known as components. The intermediate value theorem follows from this property of the real line, and in
general a space has this property if and only if it has no proper clopen subspaces. FTP name this property
that holds for a space if it has no separations, and for a graph if there is a path between any pair of nodes.
ANSWER: connectedness (accept simple connectedness or simply connected or path connectedness
before “topologist’s sine curve has this property”)
20. The Jeans swindle involves assuming that this man’s namesake equation does not apply to the
unperturbed potential, and the Lane-Emden equation is this man’s equation for a spherically symmetric
polytrope. Each constant of motion commutes with the Hamiltonian under this man’s namesake bracket.
He tried to disprove Fresnel’s wave theory by showing that it predicts a bright region at the center of the
shadow of a circular object, but Arago found the spot now named for him. FTP identify this namesake of
the probability distribution for the number of events in a fixed time given the average rate.
ANSWER: Siméon-Denis Poisson