General awareness: General Science notes # 1

• E.Goldstein discovered the presence of new radiations in a gas discharge and called them canal rays which later led to the discovery of Protons.
• The mass of a proton is taken as one unit and its charge as plus one.
• J.J.Thomson won nobel prize in physics in 1906 for his work on the discovery of electrons.
• The mass of an electron is negligible and its charge is minus one.
• Thomson proposed that  a) An atom consists of a positively charged sphere and the electrons are embedded in it.           b) The atom as a whole is electrically neutral.
• E.Rutherford was known as the father of nuclear physics.
• Rutherford got the nobel prize in chemistry in 1908 for his work on radioactivity and the discovery of the nucleus of an atom with the gold foil experiment.
• Neils Bohr got the nobel prize for his work on the structure of atom in 1928.
• J.Chadwick discovered Neutron.
• Neutron had no charge and a mass nearly equal to that of proton.
• Neutrons are present in the nucleus of all atoms, except hydrogen.
• Atomic number(Z) is defined as the total number of protons present in the nucleus of an atom.
• The mass number is defined as the sum of the total number of protons and neutrons present in the nucleus of an atom.
• Protons and neutrons are called Nucleons.
• Isotopes are defined as the atoms of the same element, having the same atomic number but different mass number.
• Three isotopes of hydrogen atom - Protium, Deuterium and Tritium
• An isotope of Uranium is used as a fuel in nuclear reactor.
• An isotope of Cobalt is used in the treatment of cancer.
• An isotope of iodine is used in the treatment of Goitre.
• Isobars are defined as the atoms of different elements with different atomic numbers which have the same mass number.

General Awareness: Indian history notes # 3

1.      James Rennel was asked by Robert Clive to produce maps of Hindustan. An enthusiastic supporter of British conquest of India, Rennel saw preparation of maps as essential to the process of domination.

2.      Britannia – the symbol of British power.

3.      In 1817, James Mill, a Scottish economist and political philosopher, published a massive three-volume work, A History of British India. In this he divided Indian

history into three periods – Hindu, Muslim and British.

4.      Moving away from British classification, historians have usually divided Indian history into ‘ancient’, ‘medieval’ and ‘modern’.

5.      The National Archives of India came up in the 1920s.

6.      The practice of surveying also became common under the colonial administration. The British believed that a country had to be properly known before it could be effectively administered.

7.      From the end of the nineteenth century, Census operations were held every ten years. These prepared detailed records of the number of people in all the provinces of India, noting information on castes, religions and occupation.

8.      There were many other surveys– botanical surveys, zoological surveys, archaeological surveys, anthropological surveys, forest surveys.

source: 8th NCERT History Chapter 1

DOWNLOAD GENERAL AWARENESS SSC-CGL MODEL QUESTION PAPER

Hi Aspirants
In this post you can download the general awareness Section model question paper of SSC-CGL examination.
General awareness section contains 50 questions with 4 choices each. This section carries 50 marks. If you prepare well you can score more than 35 marks in this section easily. This is the only section in the examination where you can save your time for answering remaining sections.

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Download 12th NCERT History- Part I Chapter 4

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6th NCERT Geography Full Notes (Points to Remember)

chapter 1

chapter 2

chapter 3 & 4

chapter 5

chapter 6

chapter 7

chapter 8

General awareness: Geography Notes # 8

(Source: 6th NCERT Geography Chapter 8)

1.Broadly, the major seasons recognised in India are:

• Cold Weather Season (Winter) December to February

• Hot Weather Season (Summer) March to May

• Southwest Monsoon Season (Rainy) June to September

• Season of Retreating Monsoon (Autumn) October and November
 

2.Hot and dry winds called loo, blow during the summer days.

3.The climate is about the average weather condition,which have been measured over many years.

4.The climate of India has broadly been described as Monsoon type.

5.Monsoon is taken from the Arabic word ‘mausim’, which means seasons.

6.Due to India’s location in the tropical region, most of the rain is brought by monsoon winds.

7.The climate of a place is affected by its location, altitude, distance from the sea, and relief.
 

8.Vegetation of India can be divided into five types –

a.Tropical evergreen forest,

b.Tropical deciduous forest,

c.Thorny bushes,

d.Mountain vegetation and

e.Mangrove forests.

9.Tropical Evergreen Forest:

Tropical Rain Forests occur in the areas which receive heavy rainfall. Important trees found in these forests are mahogany, ebony and rosewood. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, parts of North-Eastern states and a narrow strip of the Western slope of the Western Ghats are home of these forests.

10. Tropical deciduous forest:

           These forests are also called monsoon forests.

           They are less dense.

           They shed their leaves at a particular time of the year.

           Important trees of these forests are sal, teak, peepal, neem and shisham.  They are found in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and in parts of Maharashtra.

11.Thorny Bushes:

                The leaves are in the form of spines to reduce the loss of water.

                Cactus, khair, babool, keekar are important and are found in the states of       Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Eastern slopes of Western Ghats and Gujarat.

12.Mountain Vegetation:

At a height between 1500 metres and 2500 metres most of the trees are conical in shape. These trees are called coniferous trees. Chir, Pine and Deodar are important trees of these forests.

13.Mangrove Forests

These forests can survive in saline water.

They are found mainly in Sunderbans in West Bengal and in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Sundari is a well-known species of trees in mangrove forests after which Sunderbans have been named.

14.The tiger is our national animal.

15.Gir forest in Gujarat is the home of Asiatic lions.

16.Elephants and one-horned rhinoceroses roam in the forests of Assam.

17.Elephants are also found in Kerala and Karnataka.

18.Camels and wild asses are found in the Great Indian desert and the Rann of Kuchchh respectively.

19.Wild goats, snow leopards, bears, etc. are found in the Himalayan region.

20.The peacock is our national bird.

21.The Government has also started Project Tiger and Project Elephant to protect these animals.

22.Every year we observe wildlife week in the first week of October, to create awareness of conserving the habitats of the animal kingdom.

23.Some birds such as the Pelican, Siberian Crane, Stork, Flamingo, Pintail Duck and Curlew migrate to our country in the winter season every year.

24.Siberian Cranes migrate from Siberia. They arrive in December and stay till early March.

General awareness: Geography notes # 7

(Source: VI NCERT Geography Chapter 7)

- The peninsula is a piece of land that is surrounded by water on three sides.

- India has an area of about 3.28 million sq. km.

- The north-south extent from Kashmir to Kanyakumari is about 3,200 km. And the east-west extent from Arunachal Pradesh to Kuchchh is about 2,900 km.

- India is located in the northern hemisphere.

- The Tropic of Cancer (23°30'N) passes almost halfway through the country.

- From south to north, main land of India extends between 8°4'N and 37°6'N latitudes.

- From west to east, India extends between 68°7'E and 97°25'E longitudes.

- There are seven countries that share land boundaries with India. They are:

1.Afghanistan
2.Pakistan
3.China
4.Bangladesh
5.Bhutan
6.Myanmar
7.Nepal

- Sri Lanka does not share boundary with India. It is a neighbouring country.

- Sri Lanka is separated from India by the Palk Strait.

- Rajasthan is the largest state and Goa is the smallest state in terms of area.

- The Himalayan Mountains are divided into three main parallel ranges. The northernmost is the Great Himalaya or Himadri. The world’s highest peaks are located in this range.

- Middle Himalaya or Himachal lies to the south of Himadri. Many popular hill stations are situated here.

 - The Shiwalik is the southernmost range.

- The Northern Indian plains lie to the south of the Himalayas. They are generally level and flat. These are formed by the alluvial deposits laid down by the rivers– the Indus, the Ganga, the Brahmaputra and their tributaries. These river plains provide fertile land for cultivation. That is the reason for high concentration of population in these plains.

- In the western part of India lies the Great Indian desert. It is a dry, hot and sandy stretch of land.

- To the south of northern plains lies the Peninsular plateau. It is triangular in shape. -The relief is highly uneven. This is a region with numerous hill ranges and valleys. -Aravali hills, one of the oldest ranges of the world, border it on the north-west side. -The Vindhyas and the Satpuras are the important ranges.

-The rivers Narmada and Tapi flow through these ranges. These are west-flowing rivers that drain into the Arabian Sea.

-The Western Ghats or Sahyadris border the plateau in the west and the Eastern Ghats provide the eastern boundary.

-While the Western Ghats are almost continuous, the Eastern Ghats are broken

and uneven.

-The plateau is rich in minerals like coal and iron-ore.

-To the West of the Western Ghats and the East of Eastern Ghats lie the Coastal plains.

 -The western coastal plains are very narrow. The eastern Coastal plains are much broader.

-There are a number of east flowing rivers.

-The rivers Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri drain into the Bay of Bengal. -These rivers have formed fertile deltas at their mouth.

-The Sunderban delta is formed where the Ganga and Brahmaputra flow into the Bay of Bengal.

-Two groups of islands also form part of India - Lakshadweep and Andaman & nicobar

-Lakshadweep Islands are located in the Arabian Sea. These are coral islands located off the coast of Kerala. Corals are skeletons of tiny marine animals called Polyps.

When the living polyps die, their skeletons are left. Other poplyps grow on top of the hard skeleton which grows higher and higher, thus forming the coral islands.

-The Andaman and the Nicobar Islands lie to the southeast of the Indian mainland in the Bay of Bengal.

General awareness: Geography Notes # 6

(Source: VI NCERT Geography Chapter - 6)

Chapter 6 - Major Landforms of the Earth
 

- A hill is a land surface that rises higher than the surrounding areas.

- A hill with an elevation of more than 600 metres is termed as mountain.

- Based on elevation and slope we can group different landforms as Mountains, Plains and Plateaus.

It is natural elevation of the earth surface.

- Glaciers are the mountains with permanently frozen rivers of ice.

- Range is the arrangement of mountains in a line.

- There are three types of mountains

1.Fold mountains

2.Block mountains

3.Volcanic mountains

-The Himalayan Mountains and the Alps are young fold mountains with rugged relief and high conical peaks.

-The Aravali range in India is one of the oldest fold mountain systems in the world.

-The Appalachians in North America and the Ural mountains in Russia have rounded features and low elevation. They are very old fold mountains.

-Block Mountains are created when large areas are broken and displaced vertically. The uplifted blocks are termed as horsts and the lowered blocks are called graben.

-The Rhine valley and the Vosges mountain in Europe are examples of such

mountain systems. 

-Volcanic mountains are formed due to volcanic activity.

-Mt.Kilimanjaro in Africa and Mt.Fujiyama in Japan are examples of such mountains.

-The mountains are a storehouse of water.

 -Many rivers have their source in the glaciers in the mountains.

-Water from the mountains is also used for irrigation and generation of hydro-electricity.

-The river valleys and terraces are ideal for cultivation of crops.

-Mountains have a rich variety of flora and fauna.

-Mountains provide an idyllic site for tourists.

-Mauna Kea (Hawaii) in the Pacific Ocean is an undersea mountain. It is higher than Mount Everest being 10,205 metres high.

-The Himalayas, the Alps and the Andes are mountain ranges of Asia, Europe and South America, respectively.

PLATEAUS

-It is an elevated flat land.

-It is a flat-topped table land standing above the surrounding area.

-A plateau may have one or more sides with steep slopes.

-The height of plateaus often varies from few hundred metres to several thousand metres.

-Plateaus, like mountains may be young or old.

-The Deccan plateau in India is one of the oldest plateaus.

-The East African Plateau in Kenya,Tanzania and Uganda and the Western plateau of Australia are other examples.

-The Tibet plateau is the highest plateau in the world with a height of 4,000 to 6,000 metres above the mean sea level.

-Plateaus are very useful because they are rich in mineral deposits. As a result, many of the mining areas in the world are located in the plateau areas.

-The African plateau is famous for gold and diamond mining.

-In India huge reserves of iron, coal and manganese are found in the Chhotanagpur plateau.

-In the plateau areas, there may be several waterfalls as the river falls from a great height. In India, the Hundru falls in the Chhotanagpur plateau on the river Subarnarekha and the Jog falls in Karnataka are examples of such waterfalls.

-The lava plateaus are rich in black soil that are fertile and good for cultivation.

-Many plateaus have scenic spots and are of great attraction to tourists.

PLAINS

-Plains are large stretches of flat land.

-They are, generally, not more than 200 metres above mean sea level.

 -Most of the plains are formed by rivers and their tributaries. The rivers flow down the slopes of mountains and erode them. They carry forward the eroded material. Then they deposit their load consisting of stones, sand and silt along their courses and in their valleys. It is from these deposits that plains are formed.

-Generally, plains are very fertile.

 -These plains are very thickly-populated regions of the world. Plains are the most useful areas for human habitation. There is great concentration of people as more flat land is available for building houses, as well as for cultivation.

-In India, the Indo-Gangetic plains are the most densely populated regions of the country.