Name of the Centre :Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Document type : Previous Question Papers
Name Of The Exam : Joint Graduate Entrance Exam
Name Of The Subject : Biology
Website : http://univ.tifr.res.in/admissions/
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Biology Question Paper JGEEBILS GS2017 :
Duration : Three hours (3 hours)
Section A : General
Related : Tata Institute of Fundamental Research GS Computer & Systems Sciences Question Paper 2017 : www.pdfquestion.in/13091.html
1. In 1828, Wohler synthesized urea in the laboratory. This was significant because it demonstrated that:
a. biomolecules are carbon compounds
b. urea would be an ideal fertilizer
c. organic compounds can be synthesized without living organisms
d. life cannot generate spontaneously from non-living matter
2. The use of DNA evidence to find crime suspects is not perfectly conclusive because of
a. degradation of the sample
b. contamination by other individuals’ DNA
c. insufficient data to match one individual uniquely
d. all of the above
3. I hold a bottle vertically, looking down at its cap. To open the bottle I rotate the cap clockwise. This means the thread of the screw on which the cap moves is:
a. right-handed
b. left-handed
c. symmetric
d. this can’t be determined from the given information
4. The relative percentage of oxygen in the air remains constant at 21%, from sea level to the peak of Mt. Everest. Why then do humans suffer from altitude sickness?
a. Due to the ozone layer.
b. Due to the increased percentage of nitrogen in the air.
c. Due to the reduced air pressure at higher altitudes.
d. Due to the increased exposure to ultra-violet light.
5. In radiocarbon dating, scientists base their estimates of the age of a sample on the measured counts per minute per gram of carbon (cpm/g-C). The half-life of carbon-14 is 5700 years. A relic is found to give an activity of 12 cpm/g-C. If living trees give a count of 16 cpm/g-C, the approximate age of the relic is:
a. 2300 years
b. 5300 years
c. 6300 years
d. It depends on the total amount of carbon in the relic
6. Which of the following is not a necessary feature of a reflex action
a. It is mediated by the nervous system
b. It is involuntary
c. It serves a protective function
d. It is a rapid response to a stimulus
7. Which of the following viruses has been linked to microcephaly?
a. Yellow fever
b. Zika
c. Dengue
d. Japanese encephalitis
8. A bag contains 8 square and 3 spherical objects, and two objects are drawn oneafter another. If the first drawn object is put back in the bag before the second object is drawn, the probability that both are of the same shape is x. If the first drawn objectis not put back in the bag, then the probability that both are of the same shape is
a. smaller than x
b. equal to x
c. greater than x
d. greater than or smaller than x, depending on which shape is drawn first
9. The figure below shows a frequency histogram for the variable X. Which of these statements is correct for this histogram?
a. mean < median < mode
b. mode > mean > median
c. mode > mean > median
d. mean = mode, mode > median
10. The sum of the infinite series 1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/4 + 1/5 + … is
a. log 2
b. e
c. p
d. Cannot be determined because the series diverges
11. It takes 10 seconds to send or read an SMS text message. An earthquake hits me. I want to warn my friend who is located 60 km due west of me. The earthquake epicentre was 25 km due south of me. How many seconds does my friend have to get out of the building after reading my SMS? Assume SMS transmission time is instantaneous. Assume earthquake waves go at 1 km/s.
a. 45
b. 40
c. 30
d. 20
12. Solar eclipses do not occur every month. This is because
a. The Earth is significantly larger than the moon
b. the moon orbits the earth in the opposite sense as the Earth orbits the sun
c. the moon’s orbit is tilted relative to the Earth’s orbit around the sun
d. the moon presents one face to the Earth at all times
13. A bus is carrying 23 passengers. The average weight of these passengers is 64±10 kilograms (mean ± standard deviation). 5 passengers get down at a bus stop. No new passengers board the bus at this stop. Which of the following statements is true about the standard deviation of weights in the bus after it has left from this stop?
a. It will decrease
b. It will not change
c. It will increase
d. The answer cannot be determined from the given information
14. Suppose paper currency comes in denominations of Ones, Twos, Fives, Tens, Twenties, and Fifties. What is the smallest number of notes I must carry, to exactly generate any amount from Rs. 1 to Rs. 99?
a. 8
b. 16
c. 32
d. 64
15. The function x + sin(x) is best described as
a. non-decreasing
b. non-increasing
c. decreasing
d. increasing
Section B: Physics :
1. A beam of light from a laser pointer passes through air and then enters a glass block of refractive index 1.33. The wavelength of this laser beam in air is 490 nm. What is the wavelength in the glass block?
a. greater than 490 nm
b. smaller than 490 nm
c. equal to 490 nm
d. answer cannot be determined from given information
2. Why is it easier to throw a Frisbee only with one hand, rather than with both?
a. Throwing with both hands accelerates the Frisbee, making it unstable.
b. Momentum conservation is violated when you throw with both hands.
c. Throwing with one hand imparts angular momentum to the Frisbee.
d. All of the above.
3. Two children hold opposite ends of a rope and excite a sinusoidal travelling wave in the vertical plane. A bystander notices that the time it takes for the rope to go from its maximum height to its minimum height at any point along the rope is 0.5 s, and that the distance between two peaks at any instant is 1.5 m. What is the speed of the wave?
a. 1.5 m/s
b. 3 m/s
c. 1.5 m/s
d. 3 m/s
4. Unpolarized light is passed through a polarizing sheet. Which of the following statements describes the output beam?
a. It is polarized and its intensity is reduced.
b. It is unpolarized and its intensity is reduced.
c. It is polarized but its intensity is unchanged.
d. It is unpolarized and its intensity is unchanged.
5. I measure time using a pendulum. I find that a pendulum swinging from a fixed support oscillates with a different period than one whose support is accelerated horizontally with respect to the laboratory frame. This is mainly because of:
a. The effect of Earth’s rotation
b. Lorentz contraction
c. Doppler effect
d. None of the above
6. I force 200 cm3 of water through a slanted pipe whose cross-sectional area is constant at 10 cm2. The pressure at the pipe inlet is 150 N/cm2 higher than at its outlet. How much work have I done on the system?
a. 150 J
b. 300 J
c. 3000 J
d. It depends on the height difference at the ends of the pipe
7. I measure the strength of a signal from a radio tower to be 20 uW/m2 at a distance of 2 km from the tower. What is the total power radiated by the tower, assuming it is ransmitting uniformly in all directions?
a. 1 mW
b. 1 W
c. 1 kW
d. 1 MW
8. I use a lens to form a virtual image of an object, as shown below. What must be done to record this virtual image onto camera film?
a. It’s not possible: virtual images are only apparent sources of light.
b. Focus the camera on the virtual image, creating a real image on film.
c. Use a pinhole to capture only the light passing through the lens centre.
d. Place the film at the location of the virtual image.
9. A car of mass 1500 kg is mounted on four suspension springs, one for each wheel. When empty, the car oscillates vertically at a frequency of 3 Hz. When the car has four passengers each of mass 75 kg, it will oscillate at approximately:
a. 0.75 Hz
b. 1.75 Hz
c. 2.75 Hz
d. 3.75 Hz
10. Current is passed through this flexible loop of wire, which is placed on a frictionless insulating table. What will be the resulting effect on the shape of the wire?
a. The wire will expand to form a circular loop
b. The wire will bunch up further
c. The wire will lift off the table
d. There will be no effect
Section C: Chemistry :
1. The number of electrons in 18 ml of H2O is
a. 60.23 x 1023
b. 6.023 x 1023
c. 3.011 x 1023
d. 0.6023 x 1023
2. 0.22 g of a colourless oxide of nitrogen occupies 112 ml at STP. The compound is:
a. NO
b. N2O
c. NO2
d. N2O2
3. Which of the following molecules have a sugar moiety as an integral part?
a. Amino acids
b. Nucleic acids
c. Phospholipids
d. All of the above
4. The pOH of a solution of NaOH is 11.30. [H+] in M of this solution is:
a. 5.0 x 10-12
b. 6.2 x 10-8
c. 2.0 x 10-3
d. 9.0 x 10-3
5. Reactions with positive free energy change (?G0>0) can be made to occur by:
a. coupling them with exergonic reactions via a common intermediate
b. manipulating the concentrations of products and reactants
c. coupling them to hydrolysis of ATP
d. All of the above
6. The compound H2NC(CN)=C(CN)NH2 is a tetramer of HCN (hydrocyanic acid). How many geometrical isomers are possible in this compound?
a. 1
b. 2
c. 4
d. 6
7. Between ethanol, ethylamine and ethanethiol, which is the most nucleophilic:
a. ethanol
b. ethylamine
c. ethanethiol
d. Both ethylamine and ethanethiol are equally nucleophilic
8. The most basic naturally occurring amino acid is:
a. lysine
b. arginine
c. serine
d. tryptophan
9. The three pK’s of the amino acid lysine are approximately 2.1, 9.2 and 10.8. Which of the following is true in an electrophoresis experiment:
a. Lysine does not migrate at pH 1.2
b. Lysine does not migrate at pH 3.1
c. Lysine does not migrate at pH 9.5
d. Lysine does not migrate at pH 13.6