PREFACE

What is Knowledge Bytes?

Knowledge Bytes is a collection of riddles, interesting facts, mnemonics
and puzzles that will make your learning fun and engaging.
We want you to be delighted about studying. Knowledge Bytes helps you to
know more about the subject in a fun, motivating and educational way and
helps to implement what you learn in a creative way.

Benefits
Saves Time

Develops Learning Skills

Stimulates Interest

Leads to Increased Comprehension

EXPLORE
1. Coordinate Geometry and Its Usefulness in Daily Life 1
2. Electricity 6
3. Metals and Non-metals 12
4. How do Organisms Reproduce? 16
5. Ecological Conservation 22
6. Reported Speech 24
7. Brainstormer 28
 Coordinate Geometry and Its Usefulness in Daily Life

1. Digital World

Drawing any figure or editing image in computer is again a field where

concepts of coordinate geometry are used.
i
Superior
250 0, 0 1, 0 2, 0 3, 0 4, 0

200 j
0, 1
150 0, 2
100
0, 3
Right 50
0, 4
250 200 150 100 50

2. Location of Air Transport

It’s a tool which will answer our following questions :-

What is the current

location of aircraft?

How much time is required

from one place to another
travelling at certain speed?
And many others.
1
3. Latitude and Longitude

For the real world locations, de-

scribing the accurate location and
shape of features will require a co-
ordinate framework. So for this
purpose, a special coordinate
system called geographical coor-
dinate system is used to assign
geographic locations of objects.

4. Predicting Weather Forecast

In real life, when weather forecast-

ers are tracking hurricanes, they
note the absolute location on a pe-
riodic basis to see the path of the
storm and try to predict the future
path based partially on these find-
ings.

5. GPS System

In a GPS, the longitudes and the

latitudes of a place are its coordi-
nates. The distance formula is
used to find the distance between
2 places in GPS.

2
Area of Triangle in Determinant Form

Let A(x1, y1), B(x2, y2) and C(x3, y3) are the vertices of a triangle, then area of
∆ ABC is given by
x1 y1 1
1
∆= x2 y2 1
2
x3 y3 1

Inside ‘| |’ symbol for determinant

Outside ‘| |’ symbol for modulus

Determinant given above is expanded as:

C1 C2 C3
+ – +
x1 y1 1 R1 3 Rows
1 3 Columns
∆ = x2 y2 1 R2
2
x3 y 3 1 R3

Expanding along Row 1:

1
∆= x (y – y3) – y1(x2 – x3) + (x2y3 – x3y2)
2 1 2
1
∆= x (y – y3) – y1x2 + y1x3 + x2y3 – x3y2
2 1 2
1
∆= x1(y2 – y3 ) + x2 (y3 – y1) + x3 (y1 – y2 )
2

Condition for collinearity

x1 y1 1
1
∆ = x2 y2 1 = 0
2
x3 y3 1

When the points are collinear, area of ∆ = 0 3

 Riddles

1
A bag of Apples was divided between Harsh
and Atharv. Atharv said, “This is not fair!
You have 3 times as many Apples I have."
Harsh said, "OK, I will give you one Apple for
each year of your age." Atharv replied, "Still
not fair. Now, you have twice as many
Apples as I have." “Now, that's fair enough
as I am twice older than you", said Harsh.
Harsh went to Kitchen to drink juice. While
he was in Kitchen, Atharv took Apples from
Harsh's pile equal to Harsh's age. Who has
more Apples now?

2
I was walking around my friend’s lawn and
found five short chains of gold with four
links in each. It struck my mind, if I com-
bined them all into one big loop of twenty
links, it would have been an incredible
necklace.

I went to a jeweller who told me the cost of

making the necklace will be ₹1000 for each
gold link that he has to break and then
reseal. How much will it cost me to make a
chain of twenty links?
4
 Solutions
Answer (Riddles)

1. Let Atharv had initially ‘k’ apples so Harsh had ‘3k’ apples initially.

Suppose Atharv’s age is ‘n’ years according to the statement Harsh’s

age is ‘2n’

Now, Atharv has k + n apples

Harsh has 3k – n apples

According to Question :
3k – n = 2(k + n)

k = 3n

Again Atharv took Apples from Harsh’s pile equal to Harsh’s age

Finally Atharv has k + n + 2n = k + 3n

and Harsh has 3k – n – 2n = 3k – 3n

Substitute k = 3n

Both have same number of Apples now.

2. Best way to mold the chains to make

necklace so that it costs less is, break
all the four links of one chain only. It
will only cost ₹ 4000.

5
 Electricity

WORK DONE
P.D. =
CHARGE
W ELECTRIC ENERGY
V=
OHM’S LAW Q V2t 2
V∝I Unit of V is Volt Work = = I Rt
V = RI R
= VIt
Unit of R is Ohm Unit of EE is kWh
1 kWh = 3.6 × 106J

ELECTRIC POWER
RESISTANCE Work
P= OR
= P.D./CURRENT Time
V V2 2
R= P = = I R = VI
I R
Unit of P is Watt

JOULE’S LAW
RESISTIVITY
HEAT V2t
RA ENERGY (H) =
ρ= R
L
=I Rt = VIt
2

Unit of resistivity RESISTANCE IN SERIES

Unit of heat energy
is ohm-m Rs = R1 + R2 + R3……Rn
is joule
RESISTANCE IN PARALLEL
1 1 1 1 1
= + + + ...
Rp R1 R2 R3 Rn

6
 Fact 1 ‘Flow’ of charges inside a wire
Electrons in the conductor moves
with a certain average ‘drift velocity’,
this drift velocity of electrons for a Electron

typical copper wire carrying a small

current is found to be actually very
small, of the order of 1 mm/s.
Signal velocity
Drift velocity

How is it then that an electric bulb lights up as soon as we turn the

switch on?
It is not that a current starts only when an electron from one terminal of
the electric supply physically reaches the other terminal through the
bulb, because the physical drift of electrons in the conducting wires is
a very slow process.
The exact mechanism of the current flow, which takes place with a
speed close to the speed of light, is fascinating, actually when an elec-
tric field is applied, electrons at all parts of the conductor start drifting.
The electrons just near the negative terminal of the battery drifts, the
electrons at the middle of the conductor drifts and the electrons near
the positive end of the conductor also drifts. So, even if the drift velocity
is the order of few mm/s, the current flows at the velocity of the propa-
gation of the electric field, which is the velocity of light.
This is why, when you switch ON the bulb, we observe that the bulb
glows instantly.

7
 Fact 2
Birds won’t get electrocuted if
they sit on one power line. But
if they touch two lines simul-
taneously, the bird will essen-
tially become a circuit as the
electricity from one line flows
through it to the other line,
resulting in electrocution.

Fact 3
Do you know two same charged body can also attract each other if the
charge on one body (Q1) is much greater than that on the other (Q2) and
they are close enough to each other so that force of attraction between
Q1 and induced charge on the other exceeds the force of repulsion be-
tween Q1and Q2. (This is not valid for particles.)

8
 Fact 4
Wondering what actually a UFO- (Unidentified Flying Object) is ?
Most common answer – An Alien ship out of this world ?
Actually electricity may be the force behind sightings of
unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The fact is that what
many have reported as UFOs have actually been static
electrical charges on transmission lines that cause
glowing corona discharges, giving the appearance of a
bright flying object. So if you hear of a sighting near your
area and it happens to be in the vicinity of a power plant
static electricity is more than likely the culprit.

Fact 5
Alloys are used in heating elements
which have higher resistance so when
current flows through the heating ele-
ment, it becomes too hot and glows red.
But the cord of electric heater is usually
made up of copper or aluminium which
have very low resistance so it does not
glow.

9
 Thunderbolt

Circuit-I Find the equivalent resistance between A and B.

3Ω

3Ω
3Ω 6Ω
6Ω
6Ω
3Ω
3Ω
A 3Ω B

Circuit-II Find the equivalent resistance between A and B.

2Ω C 3Ω 4Ω
A D B

10
 Answer (Thunderbolt)

Circuit-I Reconstructed figure equivalent to given figure are given

step by step as

3Ω 6Ω

3Ω
3Ω 6Ω A B
6Ω 3Ω
6Ω
3Ω
3Ω 2Ω
A 3Ω B
A B

Circuit-II The equivalent figure is given as

1 1 1 1 2Ω
So, = + +
Req 2 3 4 A B
3Ω
12 4Ω
Req = Ω D C
13

11
 Crossword Metals and Non-metals

Across

2. Method used to extract sodium. (12)

1
3. Gas that reduces oxide ores. (14) 2

3 4
7 Ore of lead. (6)
5 6
8. A form of carbon. (4) 7
8 9
10. Main ore of aluminium. (7)

10
Down

1. Another name of calcium carbonate (9)

4. Gas blown into molten iron to reduce its carbon content (6)

5. Metal used for making high-voltage electricity cables (9)

6. Argon is _____ in nature. (5)

9. Mineral which contains extractable metal (3)

12
 Thermite Process

Thermite process is an important metallurgical process which is used

to reduce metal oxide into metal with the help of more reactive metal.

This process is highly exothermic in which metals are obtained in molten state.
Due to exothermic nature of process, it is used in

Thermite welding Joining railway track

U
D YO ? Thermite process is also used for military purposes. It was
DI O W
KN used as incendiary bombs in World War II.
These bombs consisted of dozens of thin
thermite-filled canisters (bomblets) which
were ignited by a magnesium fuse. The
bombs created massive damage in many
cities due to fires started by the thermite.
Cities that primarily consisted of wooden
buildings were especially susceptible.

13
Metals : Blessing for The Human
Body!!

Singing bowls were actually

made with a combination of
“seven sacred metals”: gold,
silver, copper, tin, iron, lead
and mercury.
Singing bowl

Some metals were

consecrated. Each metal
believed to represent a heavenly
body or a planet: Gold (Sun), Silver
(Moon), Mercury (Mercury),
Copper (Venus), Iron (Mars),
Tin (Jupiter) and
Lead (Saturn).

Modern science
shows that most bowls made
Metals were smelted from this range of metals actually
and purified prior to can’t sing very well. This explains
being cast, reheated and why the Himalayan people even-
hammered into different tually began making more simple
form. bowls out of 80% copper
and 20% tin.
14
Answer (Crossword)

1
L
2 E L E C T R O L Y S I S
4 M
3C A R B O N MO N O X I D E
X 5 6 S
Y A I T
9 7 G A L E N A O
8 C O K E U E N
R N M R E
E I T
N
10 B A U X I T E
U
M

15
 Word How do Organisms
Puzzle Reproduce ?

1. It is a source of perennation rather than reproduction

2. Method of vegetative pro- A T M O F X R L M T N E X B

pagation that involves
S R E D U Q P W O Y P U Q U
stock and scion
P S G Z D M I T O S I S O D
3. Mode of reproduction in O T S G R T D C F J S R Q D
Hydra R E M R O X M O R T S H T I
U G W A I F E R A M E T O N
4. Method of reproduction L T B F Q G S O D W R F W G
common in Amoeba and A F F T R B H H A R A E B P
Plasmodium T H N I X U T I F Z B X R Y
I R N N T A F I S S I O N B
5. Individual of clone
O M R G S O D B W B P E B U
N X W A Q R T M F R A Q T S
6. Process required to
F R A G M E N T A T I O N B
maintain continuity of
species S M R E P R O D U C T I O N

7. Type of cell division that occurs in somatic cells

8. Spirogyra reproduces by this method.

16
 Riddles

1 Hint: I don’t need seeds because I carry my

baby buds on my leaves; Who am I?

Hint: You cut my stems & you squish out its juice.
Cutting gives off roots when placed partly under
2
moist soil and that’s how I reproduce! Who am I?

3 Hint: I am a stem but I reproduce by my eyes.

Who am I?

Hint: You cut me into pieces yet I grow a new me from

each one. I may be a worm but I know this process!
4

5 Hint: I have false feet yet I can split in any

direction. Who am I?

17
6 Hint: I make your bread spongy. How do I
reproduce?

Hint: I’m the malarial parasite and I reproduce

by dividing multiple times.
7

8 Hint: You detached me from one plant and

tied me on another stem. What am I?

Hint: You grow me layer by layer & tie my

flowers in your hair. 9
After solving all the above given puzzles, let us
now solve the final puzzle by arranging the
alphabets in the encircled boxes of the above
puzzles.

To increase their number, all

organisms do this!

18
 Unscramble The Mysteries of Plant Cloning

NOSOTL SIBBLUL
1. Hint: Each of these 4.
is a method by
which the following
STOFEF plants propagate ZEMHIRO
2. vegetatively. Let's 5.
see how many of
these you can
MOCR RBUTE
guess correctly!
3. 6.

1. Strawberry 3. Colocasia

2. Pistia

4. Pineapple
5. Turmeric

6. Dahlia
19
 Mnemonic
Mnemonics for remembering examples of underground stem  Corm
Coca Cola Freezed At Zero degree

Corm Freesia Zaminkand

Colocasia Amorphophallus

For remembering examples of stolon & runner

Ram Can’t Order Lots of Goods

Runner Oxalis Grass

Centella Lawn

Answer (Word Puzzle)

A T M O F X R L M T N E X B
S R E D U Q P W O Y P U Q U
P S G Z D M I T O S I S O D
O T S G R T D C F J S R Q D
R E M R O X M O R T S H T I
U G W A I F E R A M E T O N
L T B F Q G S O D W R F W G
A F F T R B H H A R A E B P
T H N I X U T I F Z B X R Y
I R N N T A F I S S I O N B
O M R G S O D B W B P E B U
N X W A Q R T M F R A Q T S
F R A G M E N T A T I O N B
S M R E P R O D U C T I O N 20
Answer (Riddles)

1 B R Y O P H Y L L U M 7 P L A S M O D I U M

2 S U G A R C A N E 8 S C I O N

3 P O T A T O 9 J A S M I N E

4 R E G E N E R A T I O N
R E P R O D U C E
5 A M O E B A

6 B U D D I N G

Answer (Unscramble The Mysteries of Plant Cloning)

1 Stolon 4 Bulbils
2 Offset 5 Rhizome
3 Corm 6 Tuber

21
 Ecological Conservation

YOU
DID W? Asiatic Cheetah
O
KN
Asiatic Cheetah (Acinonyx
jubantus) also known as Iranian or
Persian cheetah, is the fastest
mammal on the earth. These were
found once in India; however, with the
increase in their hunting and habitat
destruction it became extinct in India
in 1952. Now it is only found in Iran,
where it is critically endangered.

World Heritage Site

Nazca Lines
You must have heard about many arts,
artefacts, drawings by the ancient
people which always amazed us to the
core and forced us to ask the question
that how was it made and what
technology they used etc… One such
historic site we are talking about is

22
It is a group of very large geoglyphs
made in the Nazca Desert in Southern
Peru. These were created between
500BCE and 500CE by the people of
Nazca.

The figures include simple lines and

geometric shapes; more than 70 are
zoomorphic designs including a
hummingbird, spider, fish, condor,
heron, monkey, lizard, dog and a
human. It is commonly believed that
these symbol had a religious
significance to the people of Nazca.

One of the hypotheses about its

purpose is to be seen by deities from
the sky.

Considering its unique designs and

historical significance it was
designated as a UNESCO World
Heritage Site in 1994.

23
 Reported Speech

What is Direct & Indirect Speech?

Direct Speech

The message of the speaker is conveyed or reported in his own

actual words without any change.

Indirect Speech

The message of the speaker is conveyed or reported in our own

words.

Direct Indirect
Example: Radha said, “I am very Radha said that she
busy now.” was very busy then.

Process of conversion followed in the example:

All inverted commas or quotation marks are omitted and the sentence
ends with a full stop.
Conjunction ‘that’ is added in place of comma (,)
The pronoun ‘I’ is changed to ‘she’. (The Pronoun is changed according to
person & gender of the speaker)
The verb ‘am’ is changed to ‘was’. (Present Tense is changed to Past)
The adverb ‘now’ is changed to ‘then’.
24
Rules For Changing Direct Speech into Indirect Speech
1. When the reporting or principal verb is in Past Tense, the tense of the
reported clause is changed into the corresponding Past Tenses.
Tense of the reported clause doesn't change when the reporting verb
is in present/ future tense.
Tense also doesn't change when the reported clause is a quote,
universal truth or scientific fact.
2. Commands and Requests
Indirect Speech is introduced by some verbs like ordered, requested,
advised and suggested. Forbid(s)/forbade is used for the negative
sentences. The imperative mood is changed into the Infinitive verb form.
Exclamations and Wishes
Indirect Speech is introduced by some words like grief, sorrow,
happiness, applaud. Exclamatory sentence changes into assertive
sentence and Interjections are removed.
3. Change of Pronouns
S O N
1st 2nd 3rd
First person pronoun changes according to subject.
Second person changes according to object.
Third person will have no change.

4. Words expressing nearness in time or place also change to distant.

Now — Then
Here — There
Ago — Before
Thus — So
Today — That day
25
Tomorrow — The next day/the following day
 5. In interrogative sentences, Reporting Verb like ‘said/ said to’ changes to
asked, enquired or demanded.
Comma is removed to add 'if or whether' in questions demanding
'yes or no' answer.
In W/H family questions, same W/H word is used instead of any
other connector.
Question is converted into a statement.

6. In positive sentences, reporting verbs change in presence of Object.

Said to — told
Says to — tells
In absence of the Object — no change in reporting verb

Spot the error and rewrite the sentences given as indirect

speech.

1. Direct: The boy said, “I’m happy with my results.”

Indirect: The boy said that he is happy with his results. (Incorrect)

2. Direct: She said, “I have baked a cake.”

Indirect: She said (that) she baked a cake. (Incorrect)

3. Direct: He said, “All people have equal rights.”

Indirect: He said that all people had equal rights. (Incorrect)

4. Direct: Roshni said, “I may meet him here”.

Indirect: Roshni said that she may meet him here. (Incorrect)

5. Direct: She says, “I will go to school tomorrow.”

Indirect: She says that she would go to school the day after. (Incorrect) 26
 6. Direct: He said, “She is coming this week to discuss it.”
Indirect: He said that she was coming this week to discuss it.
(Incorrect)

7. Direct: He said to them, “Will you come for dinner?”

Indirect: He said to them will they come for dinner? (Incorrect)

8. Direct: The teacher said, “Be quiet and listen to my words.”

Indirect: The teacher said them to be quiet and listen to my words.
(Incorrect)

Answers

1. The boy said that he was happy with his results.

2. She said (that) she had baked a cake.

3. He said that all people have equal rights.

4. Roshni said that she might meet him there.

5. She says that she will go to school tomorrow.

6. He said that she was coming that week to discuss it.

7. He asked them whether they would come for dinner.

8. The teacher urged /ordered them to be quiet and listen to her/his words.

27
 Brainstormer

Three friends Amar, Beena and

Chetan were playing on the ground. Arun
brought 5 caps in which 2 red and 3 were green.
Arun was asked them to stand in a straight line such
that Amar was standing at the front of the line, can’t
see either of the friends behind him or their heads.
Beena was in the middle, can see only Amar and his
head. Chetan at the rear can see both friends and
their heads. None of the friends can see the cap on
his own head. Arun put a cap on each head and asked
to deduce its colour. Finally Amar made an
announcement. “My cap is green”, he was correct.
How did he come to this
conclusion ?

Hints and Answers

If chetan sees two red caps, in front of him, he would immediately know
his cap is green as there were only 2 red caps. His silence told the other
two that at least one of them had a green cap. With that information,if the
middle person saw a red infront of her she would know for sure that her
cap is green. But if she saw a green cap she could not say any thing. Her
silence thus told Amar that his cap is green.
28
nobel prize in Physiology or medicine

Happy Birthday
Ronald Ross
Science is the Differential
Calculus of the mind. Art
the Integral Calculus; they
may be beautiful when
apart, but are greatest only
when combined.

Ronald Ross was born on May 13, 1857, in

Almora, India. At the age of 14, Ross won a prize
in mathematics and was presented the book
Orbs of Heaven, which sparked his interest in the
field of mathematics. Ross is known for his
outstanding research work on malaria-causing
parasites in mosquitoes. He discovered malarial
parasites in the salivary glands of mosquitoes.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1902), The

James Tait black Memorial Prize - Biography (1923).
1430

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156 23
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