NSMQ TRIAL CONTEST

VENUE: ABURI GIRLS’ SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, ABURI

DATE: 25TH JANUARY, 2024

ROUND ONE (FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS)

PHYSICS 1
Preamble: Convert the given units into a unit containing SI Base units only.
1. Js Ans: 𝐤𝐠𝐦𝟐 𝐬 −𝟏
2. Nm−1 Ans: 𝐤𝐠 𝐬 −𝟐
3. J s−1 Ans: 𝐤𝐠𝐦𝟐 𝐬−𝟑
4. J m−2 Ans: 𝐤𝐠 𝐬− 𝟐

BIOLOGY 1
Preamble: Mention the structures in mammals to which the following descriptions refer.
1. Part of the skeleton that forms the intervertebral disc. Ans: Cartilage
2. The bone to which the triceps muscle is attached at the elbow. Ans: Ulna
3. Bones that join with chest bone at one end and to the backbone at the other end. Ans: Ribs
4. A break in the bones where the ends of the bones are driven into each other
Ans: Impacted Fracture or Buckle Fracture

MATHEMATICS 1
Preamble to all four schools: An arithmetic progression has 3 as its first term. Also, the sum
of the first 8 terms is twice the sum of the first 5 terms.

1. Find the sum of the first 5 terms in terms of the common difference, 𝑥. Ans: 15 + 10𝒙
2. Find the sum of the first 8 terms in terms of the common difference, 𝑥. Ans: 24 + 28𝒙
3. Find the sum of the first 10 terms in terms of the common difference, 𝑥. Ans: 30 + 45𝒙
4. Find the value of 𝑥, the common difference. Ans: 6/8 or 3/4

CHEMISTRY 1
1. In which of these solid elements are the atoms not held by metallic bonds?
Manganese; Silicon; Lithium; Ans: Silicon (Metalloid/Semi-metal)
2. Which of these elements, is/are non-metals? Boron; Iodine; Sulphur;
Ans: Iodine and Sulphur
3. Which of these elements, is/are not metals? Mercury; Germanium; Calcium;
Ans: Germanium
4. Which of these elements, is/are odd? Astatine; Polonium; Palladium;
1

Ans: Palladium (because is not semi-metal)

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 PHYSICS 2

Preamble: An object moves along the 𝑥 axis with a constant acceleration of 2.0 m s−2 in the
positive direction.

1. If the object is moving at 5.0 m s −1 when it passes a certain point on the 𝑥 axis, what is
its speed after it has travelled 8.0 m from that point?
Ans: 𝟕. 𝟔𝐦𝐬 −𝟏 [v = √𝒖𝟐 + 𝟐𝒂𝒔]
2. What is the speed of the object at the origin if its speed at 𝑥 = 24m is10.0m s−1 ?
Ans: 𝟐. 𝟎𝐦𝐬 −𝟏 [U = √𝒗𝟐 − 𝟐𝒂𝒔]
3. The speed of the object is 4.0ms−1 at the origin. What is its speed at 𝑥 = -4m?
Ans: 0.0m𝒔−𝟏 [U = √𝒗𝟐 − 𝟐𝒂𝒔]
4. How far is the object from the origin when its speed is 7.0𝑚𝑠 −1 if its speed at the origin
is 3.0ms−1 ?
𝒗𝟐 −𝒖𝟐
Ans: 𝟏𝟎 𝒎 [S = ]
𝟐𝒂

BIOLOGY 2
Preamble: Mention either the vitamin or mineral element whose deficiency results in the
following.
1. Dental caries; Ans: Fluorine
2. Pernicious Anaemia; Ans: Vitamin B12
3. Microcytic Anaemia; Ans: Iron
4. Scurvy; Ans: Vitamin C

MATHEMATICS 2
1
1. If 𝑥 3 + 𝑥 2 − 𝑥 + z is divided by x − 2 and the remainder is 2 2, calculate the value of
𝟏𝟓
𝑧. Ans: − 𝟐
3 2
2. If 2𝑥 − 7𝑥 + 𝑟𝑥 − 26 is divided by x − 2 and the remainder is − 24, calculate the
value of 𝑟. Ans: 𝟕
3. If 18𝑥 3 + 𝑤𝑥 2 − 8𝑥 + 9 is divided by 2x − 1 and the remainder is 6, calculate the
value of 𝑤. Ans: −𝟓
5 3 1
4. If 𝑥 − 2𝑥 − 𝑘𝑥 − 1 is divided by x − 1 and the remainder is 2, calculate the value
𝟓
of 𝑘. Ans: − 𝟐
2
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 CHEMISTRY 2
Preamble: Gold is refined by electrolysing gold (I) trioxonitate (v) solution using pure gold
as electrodes. If Gold is 197g, calculate the charge in Faraday required in refining

1. 1.182kg of gold. Ans: 6F

𝐀𝐮+ + 𝟏𝐅 → 𝐀𝐮
[ 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐮 ≡ 𝟏𝐅 ]
𝟏𝟏𝟖𝟐𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐮 = 𝟏𝟏𝟖𝟐/𝟏𝟗𝟕 × 𝟏𝐅 = 𝟔𝐅
2. 0.591kg of gold. Ans: 3F
3. 0.985kg of gold. Ans: 5F
4. 1.379kg of gold. Ans: 7F

ROUND TWO (SPEED RACE)

PHYSICS

1. A 5.0 kg object is released from a height of 10.0m above ground. Taking the local
acceleration due to gravity as 9.8ms −2 , calculate the kinetic energy of the object when
it strikes the ground. Ans: 490 J
2. If the linear momentum of a photon in vacuum is ῤ, what is its energy?
Ans: 𝒑𝒄, c the speed of light in vacuum
3. A 50 kg object lies on a horizontal surface. Find the pressure the object exerts on the
surface if the contact area between the surface and the object is 2.0𝑚2 and the local
acceleration due to gravity is 10ms −2 . Ans: 250 Pa

BIOLOGY
1. In a population of rats, the statistics show 60 births and 24 deaths per 1000 live births.
Calculate the growth rate. Ans: 0.036 or 3.6%
2. In respiration, the abbreviation ERV stands for… Ans: Expiratory Reserve Volume
3. The blood vessel that sends nutrient-rich blood from the gastrointestinal tract to the liver
is called …. Ans: Hepatic portal vein

MATHEMATICS
2
1. The probability of picking a footballer from a group of 120 sportsmen is . How many
3
sportsmen were not footballers? Ans: 40
2 1 𝑜 𝑜
2. Solve sin 𝑥 = 2 , where 0 ≤ 𝑥 ≤ 180 . Ans: 𝟒𝟓𝒐 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝟏𝟑𝟓𝒐
4 1 2
3. Find the determinant of the matrix [1 3 2] . Ans: 22
0 0 2
3
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 CHEMISTRY
1. In titration, if 20.00cm3 of 0.20moldm3 NaOH was neutralised by 26.70cm3 of
5.5gdm3 acid HA, what is the molar mass HA? Ans: 36.7 (±𝟎. 𝟐)
2. An impure tetraoxosulphate VI acid was prepared by dissolving 6.3g of it in 500cm3 of
solution. If 2.0g of calcium trioxocarbonate IV was neutralized by 200cm3 of the
resultant solution. Calculate the percentage purity of the acid. Ans: 77.78%
3. What is activation energy of a reaction?
Ans: It is the minimum amount of energy that reactants require to equal (or go
over) the intermediate complex (transition) state so that the reaction can occur.

ROUND THREE (TRUE/FALSE)

PHYSICS 1
Preamble: State whether the following statements are true or false.
1. Objects with equal mass have equal heat capacity. Ans: False
2. Different quantities of a pure substance have same heat capacities. Ans: False
3. It two objects are at the same temperature, the same quantity of heat is needed for the
same temperature increase of each. Ans: False
4. If two objects have the different heat capacity, then they contain different quantity of
heat. Ans: True

BIOLOGY 1
1. UAA is not a stop codon. Ans: False
2. UAG is a stop codon. Ans: True
3. UGA is not a stop codon. Ans: False
4. The start codon always codes for methionine in eukaryotes. Ans: True

MATHEMATICS 1
1. 𝑏 2 + 4𝑎𝑐 is called the discriminant of 𝑎𝑥 2 + 𝑏𝑥 + 𝑐. Ans: False
2
2. If 𝑏 − 4𝑎𝑐 ≥ 0 then the quadratic equation has at least two solutions. Ans: False
3. If 0 > 4𝑎𝑐 − 𝑏 2 then the quadratic equation has two distinct real roots. Ans: True
𝑏
4. If 𝑦 = 𝑎𝑥 2 + 𝑏𝑥 + 𝑐, where 𝑎 ≠ 0 then 𝑥 = 2𝑎 occurs at the turning point. Ans: False

CHEMISTRY 1
1. An element with atomic number of 14 will have an electron configuration of the valence
shell as 4s 2 4p2 . Ans: False [should be 𝟑𝐬𝟐 𝟑𝐩𝟐 ]
2. An element with a valence shell of 3s2 has atomic number of 12. Ans: True
3. An element with atomic number 20 should have electrons in shells at 4 different energy
levels. Ans: True
4

4. An element with an electron configuration of the valence shell as 4s2 4p2 would be
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metal. Ans: True

 PHYSICS 2

1. The frequency of a harmonic wave whose wavelength is 0.2m is 100Hz if the

wavelength is 0.6 m at a frequency of 1 kHz. Ans: False
2. The wavelength of a harmonic wave is 0.2m if its frequency is 5 Hz and the wave speed
is 1𝑚s −1. Ans: True
3. The frequency of a harmonic wave is 50Hz if its wavelength is 0.5m and the wave speed
is 50ms −1 . Ans: False
4. The frequency of a harmonic wave whose wavelength is 0.2m is 200Hz if the
wavelength is 0.8m at a frequency of 500Hz. Ans: False

BIOLOGY 2
1. The leaf of Acacia is digitate. Ans: False
2. Cassava leaf is digitate. Ans: True
3. Acacia leaf is bipinnate. Ans: False
4. Flamboyant leaf is pinnate. Ans: False

MATHEMATICS 2
1. A statistic is a numerical measurement describing some characteristic of a population.
Ans: False
2. A parameter is a numerical measurement describing some characteristic of a sample.
Ans: False
3 A census is the collection of data from every member in a sample. Ans: False
4 Continuous data refers to data resulting from finitely possible values that correspond to
some discontinuous scale that covers a range of values without gaps. Ans: False

CHEMISTRY 2
1. The benzene molecule exhibits resonance. Ans: True
2. Benzene is as reactive as six-carbon alkenes. Ans: False
3. The benzene molecule is perfectly flat. Ans: True
4. Benzene does not undergo the addition reactions that are characteristic of Alkanes.
Ans: True

ROUND FOUR (RIDDLES)

PHYSICS
1. My origin traces to Ancient Egypt in the 12th Dynasty in Mesopotamia.
2. I was identified by hero of Alexandria
3. However, credit is given to a Greek astronomer, engineer and physicist for being the
first to document me.
4. I am a simple machine.
5. I combine a fixed pulley with a movable pulley.
5

Who am I?
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Ans: Compound pulley

 BIOLOGY
1. I was born on April 8, 1911.
2. I was an American biochemist.
3. I spent most of my career at the University of California, Berkeley.
4. I was awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
5. If I discovered the cyclical reaction in photosynthesis, then.
Who am I?
Ans: Melvin Ellis Calvin

MATHEMATICS
1. I was born around 360 CE in Alexandria, Egypt.
2. To be precise, I am a great female Mathematics Philosopher.
3. My area of specialisation in Mathematics includes a pioneering work in conic
sections.
4. My life ended 415 CE as I was killed by fanatical Christian zealots during a period
of Political and Religious tension in Alexandria.
5. The first four alphabets of my name means ‘‘mega’, ‘super’ or ‘over’’
Who am I?
Ans: Hypatia of Alexandria

CHEMISTRY
1. I help to kick out peer pressure, because I hate it.
2. But I am not in the Police service or the Military.
3. I am only a scientific law helping gases to maintain order among them.
4. I ensure that unless there is a chemical reaction, each gas retains its belongings or
physical property as much as possible when they assemble.
5. I am particular about individual pressures.
6. I am named after the famous scientist who discovered me and also researched into
the composition of matter.
Who am I?
Ans: Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressure.
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