Gizmos, Gadgets and Gourmets Quiz

1. Gizmos, Gadgets and Gourmets Quiz Siddhartha Gadgil UlkaKelkar 21 March 2010

2. Percy Spencer, an American engineer was working on a radar set when he found that the peanut chocolate bar in his pocket had melted. What did he invent as a result?

3. ANSWER

4. Microwave oven

5. The yubiwa pipe, a finger ring that would allow the wearer to smoke a cigarette down to its nub, was the first successful product of a well-known company. The profits from the yubiwa pipe were used to develop an electro-mechanical gadget that has made this company famous. Name the gadget or the company.

6. ANSWER

7. Casio calculator

8. “The principal components of _________ are millions of tiny microcapsules, about the diameter of a human hair. In one incarnation, each microcapsule contains positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles suspended in a clear fluid. When a negative electric field is applied, the white particles move to the top of the microcapsule ….” What is being described?

9. ANSWER

10. E-ink

11. This device grew out of a scrapped NASA project related to Mars missions, but is targeted at earthbound customers. Name the device.

12. ANSWER

13. Bloom Box (Bloom Energy Server)

14. The local daily weather forecast is presented to you in an unusual form by this gizmo, invented by Robin Southgate in 2001 as a variation of a common household appliance. What gizmo?

15. ANSWER

16. Toaster

17. In the 1800s, physician John Gorrie invented this device as a way of controlling tropical diseases. This device is still used widely, but not for medical reasons. What is this device?

18. ANSWER

19. Air conditioner

20. This wheeled variation of a common gadget won the Ignobel for economics since it increased productive work hours. What is it?

21. ANSWER

22. Clocky

23. What is this musical LED-lit household gizmo? Hint: it relates to the subject of a keynote talk in the IISc Centenary Conference!

24. ANSWER

25. Cutting a cake into equal slices

26. Complete this series: Ace, Magic, Winger, _______ (bigger than the other gizmos)

27. ANSWER

28. Nano

29. This popular device for personal use was first marketed in the UK under the name Stowaway. When an early version of this device was being tested by its developer, his wife had felt excluded by it, so he got the engineers to make a two-person version (which was not marketed). What is this gadget?

30. ANSWER

31. Sony Walkman

32. This device has been used extensively by the Karnataka government for processing land records and by the police to track traffic offenders and issue tickets. What is it?

33. ANSWER

34. Simputer

35. This photo from the 1950s shows a camera with two lenses: one that took a regular picture, and the other that separated light into colours. What was it meant to photograph?

36. ANSWER

37. UFOs

38. This is a popular gadget’s first prototype, built in 1975. What is it?

39. ANSWER

40. Digital camera

41. Introduced in China last year, what is this cell phone’s unique feature?

42. ANSWER

43. “Shave mobile”

44.  In 1999, Chicago-based conceptual artist Eduardo Kac charged the costof a Tritech Positive-displacement Embryonic Micro-injector to his NEA(National Endowment for the Arts) grant, for a work which brought him much fame / notoriety. What?

45. ANSWER

46. GFP bunny“Alba”

47. Surveys in rural Punjab found washing machine ownership to be disproportionately high. Why?

48. ANSWER

49. Lassi-making

50. To work in zero gravity, a special version of an everyday gadget was developed for NASA at considerable expense. It subsequently found a market, mostly as a curiosity, among the general public. The Russians on the other hand used a simple substitute. What was the gadget?