Four siblings are fighting over their toy science kit. Florence has the Bunsen burner and the test tube until Marie snatches one off her. Stephen wants to swap the goggles for the tongs or the Bunsen burner. Marie refuses to swap, but Albert is happy to.

Who ends up with what?

What subject?

Four friends are each starting one of these A-levels this week. Can you match them up? Aidan isn’t taking a language, and Dean isn’t taking a science subject. Chris went for Physics ahead of Chemistry. Brenda had an easy choice as she’d always preferred German to French.

Sudoku

General Knowledge Crossword

Across

1 The property of an object moving away from the middle of rotation (13)

8 Robert, German physician who was a founder of bacteriology (4)

10 A symbol used to express a quantity (7)

11 Another name for the snow leopard (5)

12 Boy’s name that derives from the Irish for ‘red king’ (5)

14 Warm-blooded (11)

15 An amino acid that is a common constituent of proteins (7)

16 Part of a boot or shoe covering the front of the foot (4)

18 Alan, the first US astronaut to travel in space (7)

20 A boundary or restriction (5)

21 A granular or compact mineral found in magnesium-rich rocks (4)

22 Non-flowering aquatic plants that include seaweed (5)

23 Latin expression meaning ‘entirely’ (2,4)

26 On the ____ of Species, work on evolution by Charles Darwin published in 1859 (6)

27 The prehensile claw of an arthropod such as a crab (5)

28 ____ disease, a virus transmitted to humans by ticks, affecting the joints, heart and nervous system (4)

30 International organisation founded in 1967 to which Indonesia among others belongs (5)

31 Relating to the threshold of consciousness (7)

32 The brightest star in the constellation of Lyra (4)

34 An obscuration of the light of the sun or moon by the intervention of another body (7)

35 Impassive or not showing feelings (11)

38 ____ goose, another name for the Northern gannet (5)

39 The longest river in France (5)

40 Mistakenly (2,5)

41 A large black and white killer whale (4)

42 Prevailing model by which astronomers explain the beginning of the universe (3,4,6)

Down

1 Places where wildlife is protected (12,5)

2 A member of a wandering pastoral community (5)

3 An uncommon thing or incident (6)

4 A gelatinous mass of cyanobacteria once thought to be of meteoric origin (6,4)

5 Partial darkness (5)

6 Possibly the smallest lizard known to science (4-9)

7 Clear, bright green precious stones (8)

8 Border between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space named after a Hungarian born physicist (6,4)

9 A cell found in the muscle of the heart (13)

13 Usually the last stage of production in e.g. sodium (17)

17 Most fungi are these type of organisms (13)

19 The practice of capturing, storing, processing and analysing data near the client (4,9)

24 A bear native to South Central China (5,5)

25 US aviator Ed Yost was a pioneer in this activity (10)

29 A society in the US for the singing of choral music (4,4)

33 Another term for advanced or modernistic (2-4)

36 An injection of fluid into the lower bowel e.g. to introduce drugs (5)

37 A slang term in the US for an agent who enforces laws on the illicit production of drugs (5)

Solutions

Snowed In

4,850m

Explanation: Nick has travelled three sides of a trapezium. He moves 1,300m between the frozen lake and the reindeer stable, which is 500m further south. A right-angled triangle can be formed using 1,300m as the hypotenuse. Using Pythagoras’ theorem it can be determined that the reindeer stable is √(1,3002 – 5002) = 1,200m further west than the frozen lake. Nick’s cabin is 3,000 – (1,200 + 1,275) = 525m further east from where he started. We know that his cabin is at the same latitude as the reindeer stable, 500m further south than the frozen lake and his starting point. A second right-angled triangle can be formed. The direct route to Nick’s cabin is √(5002 + 5252) = 725m.

Cold as Ice

837.2 metres

Explanation: At – 15˚C the speed of sound is:

331 – (1.5 × 6) = 322 m/s

Samuel hears the echo 5.2 seconds later, so the sound of the foghorn took 2.6 seconds to reach the iceberg.

322 × 2.6 = 837.2 metres

Space Race

0.2 metres per second per second

Explanation: The equation for Alan’s craft is: s = 1t + 0t². The equation for Bernice’s craft is s = 0.5t + 0.05t². The ships travelled the same distance and took the same time, so s and t are the same in both equations.

We can combine them to get:

t = 0.5t + 0.05t²
1 = 0.5 + 0.05t
0.5 = 0.05t

t = 10 seconds and therefore s = 10 metres.

To get Chester’s craft to take the same time, use the equation again:

10 = 0t + 0.5at²
10 = 0.5at²
20 = at²
20 = a × 100
a = 20/100 = 0.2 metres per second per second

Square Up

Word Games

1. Hydrology, mechanics, orography
2. Biology, botany, geology (A becomes V, B becomes W, etc)
3. Astronomy, hydrology, phylogeny

Carol’s Conifers

£420

Explanation: Assign the letters N, S and D to represent the number of each type of tree. N = Norway spruce, S = Scots pine, D = Douglas fir. Three equations can now be made:

1) N + S + D = 59
2) 20N + 25S + 12.5D = 1,195
3) S = D + 10

Substitute 3 into 1:

N + D + 10 + D = 59
N = 49 – 2D

Then substitute this equation into 2:

20(49 – 2D) + 25(D + 10) + 12.5D = 1,195
1,230 – 2.5D = 1,195
D = 14, S = 24, N = 21

Carol therefore would have made 21 x £20 = £420 from selling Norway spruces.

Science Class

Albert gets the goggles, Stephen the tongs, Marie the Bunsen burner and Florence the test tube.

What Subject?

Aidan is taking Chemistry, Brenda is taking German, Chris is taking Physics and Dean is taking French.

Sudoku

General Knowledge Crossword

• This article first appeared in issue 371 of BBC Science Focus Magazine – find out how to subscribe here