Skip to main content

Riddles

 Refer to the hints section below if you need them.


  1. On Dec 21, 2020, Saturn and Jupiter appeared in the sky to have a conjunction. They were in the same sign/rashi. Saturn takes 30 years to go around the Sun, while Jupiter takes 12 years. After how many years will they appear to be in the same sign again (not necessarily as close to have the conjunction we witnessed last December)? There are 2 possible answers although only one of them is possible in reality. What are the answers?


  1. On a fine day in June, I travel 10 kms North and then I travel 5 kms South. How far am I from my original location? I am not looking for the obvious answer of 5 kms North? What are the other answers?


  1. When a person is watching the lunar eclipse, his friend calls him and says that he is watching the Solar eclipse. How is this possible? Both of them are telling the truth.


  1. Consider an object which is falling to the Earth from great heights. As it approaches the Earth, it experiences increasing gravity. Now imagine that the object falls into a hole after reaching the surface of the Earth. The hole is deep enough to reach the center of the Earth. Will the object continue to experience increasing gravity or a steady gravity or decreasing gravity? Explain your answer as to why.


  1. Derive a formula to calculate the length of the arc of Earth’s surface that a plane flying at a height of h will see.


  1. Calculate the daylight hours for a given latitude on solstice. Extra credit - extend the formula to calculate on any day of the year (you can use days from solstice or equinox).

Hints


  1. Use angular speed and velocities to arrive at both the answers.

  2. You can change the directions (go South first and then go North), but then you may want to change the month to December

  3. This type of conversation was not possible before 1969

 Their third friend says that he is watching both the Solar and lunar    eclipses.

  1. What will be the gravity at the center of the Earth?

  2. Use basic trigonometry

  3. Use basic trigonometry and make reasonable assumptions

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Florida Memoirs

“What did you expect about America that wasn’t true?” It was a loaded question; Brian wanted to ask me about the lifestyle, culture and the behavior of the people I met in my first 3-4 weeks of my stay in the USA. Brian was an employee of the client company that TCS deputed me to in Florida. I could not answer the question directly, but gave a political answer, “I expected skyscrapers in the USA, but here in Melbourne, I don't see structures taller than 2-3 stories”. Brian went on to become a good friend of mine. In fact, when my parents visited Niagara Falls, his father, a retired Buffalo city cop showed them around in his big Impala. Brian used to discuss how American history is bloody and how steak is the staple diet for all Americans during dinnertime. He had a couple of complaints about me, one that I can't truly pronounce a “w” and a “v” separately and that my English was more formal than his colloquial language. The day I landed in Melbourne was a cool winter day; yes ev
5 comments
Read more

How much is enough?

Last week, Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person stepped down as CEO of Amazon, a company he had built grounds up and reaped the benefits for all these years. Was he intrigued by someone else, Elon Musk, now challenging him or eventually getting ahead at the top and hence he wants to focus his energy and passion in something equally jazzy or he is just too bored of being called the richest person? We will never know the answer! Unless you are Musk himself, who saw his net worth increase 7-fold last year or you have struck a multi-million dollar lottery, your net worth would have steadily increased over the past few years (if at all) and will grow gradually over time. Of course this is very relative; some people may call a few thousand dollars as gradual or other ultra rich will weigh it in millions? Regardless, as your net worth creeps up, you will find yourself in a different spot; your colleagues will change, your social structure will change. In order to keep up with these changes,
5 comments
Read more

An Ode to the Earth

Steadfast Angel in the sky You guard me like a giant North Star Bigger than any object up so high And bigger than the Sun and every star Dazzling display of colors Green, white, brown and those vast blues Streaks of gray, like feathers Their spiral formations make me muse Your crescent phase makes me wonder Why I am the object of comparison for lovers Monotonous white phases I offer No match for the beautiful phases you deliver Comfortable you keep your resident I get too hot in the day and too cold during nights Shade from the scorching Sun for hours you present I can repay for a few minutes; then from humans I get slights No experience of seasons, rain and snow Or of the water flowing through rivers Bored of those Sunny days and starry nights Feeling jealous for I have water only in craters Have watched your changing landscapes, Catastrophes, nuclear explosion and Amazon fires Global warming a reason the brown portion enlarges Humans welcome as guests not as colonizers
3 comments
Read more