General Science & Static GK

General Science and Static GK top up the CUET General Test with quick recall marks - SI units, human-body basics, discoverers, and "firsts". The facts are fixed, so this is a memory-and-revision zone.

Physics and units

• SI base units: metre (length), kilogram (mass), second (time), ampere (current), kelvin (temperature).
• Newton's laws: first = inertia; second = F = ma; third = action-reaction.
• Speed of light = about 3 x 10^8 m/s; sound travels fastest in solids, slowest in gases.

Chemistry and biology

• Chemical symbols: Au (gold), Ag (silver), Fe (iron), Na (sodium), Hg (mercury).
• Water is H2O; common salt is NaCl; the pH scale runs 0-14 (7 = neutral).
• Human body: 206 bones in an adult; blood groups A, B, AB, O; the pancreas secretes insulin. Vitamin C prevents scurvy; vitamin D deficiency causes rickets.

Static GK anchors

• Firsts: first Indian President - Dr Rajendra Prasad; first PM - Jawaharlal Nehru; first woman PM - Indira Gandhi.
• Symbols: national animal - tiger; national bird - peacock; national flower - lotus.

Exam Tricks & Tips

• 🎯 Memorise SI base units and their quantities as a table - a guaranteed one-liner.
• 🎯 Keep a symbol-to-element card (Au, Ag, Fe, Na, Hg, K) - the frequent traps.
• 🎯 Link each vitamin to its deficiency disease (C-scurvy, D-rickets, A-night blindness, B1-beriberi).
• 🎯 Fix 206 bones, pH neutral at 7, and insulin from the pancreas - recurring biology facts.
• 🎯 Build a "firsts of India" table (President, PM, woman PM) - almost free marks.
• ❌ Common mistake: swapping Ag and Au or Na and K - drill the symbol pairs until automatic.

Expected exam pattern

Single-fact recall on units, symbols, diseases, and national/first facts. Easy, high-speed marks.

Quick recap

Drill SI units, element symbols, vitamin-disease pairs, the 206-bones/pH-7/insulin facts, and India's "firsts". These never change - pure revision returns.

Cover the answer, recall, then check. 12 cards on general science and static-GK staples for CUET.

Q1. State the SI base units for length, mass and time.
A1. Metre, kilogram and second.

Q2. What does Newton's second law state?
A2. Force = mass x acceleration (F = ma).

Q3. In which medium does sound travel fastest?
A3. In solids (slowest in gases).

Q4. Give the chemical symbols for gold, silver and mercury.
A4. Au (gold), Ag (silver), Hg (mercury).

Q5. What is the chemical formula of common salt?
A5. NaCl (sodium chloride).

Q6. How many bones are there in an adult human body?
A6. 206.

Q7. Which organ secretes insulin?
A7. The pancreas.

Q8. Deficiency of vitamin C causes which disease?
A8. Scurvy (vitamin D deficiency causes rickets).

Q9. What is the range of the pH scale, and what value is neutral?
A9. 0 to 14; 7 is neutral.

Q10. Who was India's first President?
A10. Dr Rajendra Prasad.

Q11. What are India's national animal and national bird?
A11. The tiger and the peacock.

Q12. Approximately what is the speed of light in vacuum?
A12. About 3 x 10^8 metres per second.

This is the "everything else" bucket of the CUET General Test — a spray of physics, chemistry, biology and static facts. You cannot revise all of science, but you can master the recurring high-frequency facts that examiners reuse year after year.

What this tests / core idea: basic science concepts (units, diseases, discoveries) and static GK (national symbols, superlatives, sports, awards). The reward is breadth of familiar facts, not depth.

Deep explanation

Beginner — everyday science

• Units: force = newton (N), energy = joule (J), power = watt (W), electric current = ampere (A), frequency = hertz (Hz).
• Human body: normal temperature 37 °C, adult heartbeat ~72/min, largest organ = skin, longest bone = femur, blood groups A/B/AB/O with Rh factor.
• Nutrition: vitamin C prevents scurvy, vitamin D prevents rickets, iron deficiency → anaemia.

Intermediate — chemistry and biology anchors

• Symbols: Na (sodium), K (potassium), Fe (iron), Au (gold), Ag (silver), Hg (mercury).
• Gases: we breathe in O₂, out CO₂; plants do photosynthesis (take CO₂, release O₂). Common acids/bases: HCl (stomach), NaHCO₃ (baking soda).
• Diseases: malaria (mosquito, Plasmodium), tuberculosis (bacteria), diabetes (insulin), diseases caused by viruses (COVID-19, dengue).

Advanced — static GK bank

Memorise national symbols (animal: tiger; bird: peacock; flower: lotus; tree: banyan; aquatic animal: river dolphin), highest awards (civilian: Bharat Ratna; gallantry: Param Vir Chakra), and sports terms (cricket, hockey — the national game is unofficial). Keep a running list of recent Nobel/awards and space missions (Chandrayaan-3 lunar south-pole landing, 2023).

Worked example

Q. Deficiency of which vitamin causes scurvy?
Reason: scurvy affects gums and skin, historically among sailors lacking fresh fruit → Vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Remember the pairing: C for "citrus," which cures scurvy. Answer: Vitamin C.

CUET relevance

The most frequent single General Knowledge category — short one-line MCQs across science, symbols, awards, sports and space. Volume is high (5–8 questions), so a strong static bank directly lifts your score.

Speed tricks & shortcuts

• Vitamin-deficiency mnemonic: A-night blindness, B1-beriberi, C-scurvy, D-rickets, K-poor clotting.
• SI-unit trick: units named after scientists are lowercase (newton, watt) but the symbol is capital (N, W).
• Keep a one-page "current awards + missions" sheet updated monthly before the exam.

Worked Example

Problem: Match each scientific fact to the correct answer: (a) the gas that turns lime water milky, (b) the SI unit of electric current, (c) the vitamin whose deficiency causes scurvy, (d) the powerhouse of the cell.

Solution:
CUET General Science mixes physics, chemistry, and biology basics. Reason each:
(a) The gas that turns lime water [Ca(OH)₂] milky is carbon dioxide (CO₂). It reacts to form insoluble white calcium carbonate: Ca(OH)₂ + CO₂ → CaCO₃ (white precipitate) + H₂O. This is the standard lab test for CO₂. (Excess CO₂ redissolves it as calcium bicarbonate.)
(b) The SI unit of electric current is the ampere (A) — one of the seven SI base units. (Common companions: voltage in volts, resistance in ohms, charge in coulombs, where 1 A = 1 coulomb/second.)
(c) Scurvy is caused by deficiency of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid), which is needed for collagen synthesis; symptoms include bleeding gums. (Contrast: Vitamin D deficiency → rickets; Vitamin A → night blindness; Vitamin B1 → beriberi.)
(d) The "powerhouse of the cell" is the mitochondrion, because it produces ATP (energy) through cellular respiration. (The chloroplast, by contrast, is the site of photosynthesis in plant cells.)

The technique for such matching MCQs: recall the single defining association for each term (CO₂–lime water, ampere–current, Vitamin C–scurvy, mitochondria–ATP) and eliminate look-alike distractors (Vitamin D/rickets, chloroplast/photosynthesis).

Answer: (a) Carbon dioxide (CO₂) turns lime water milky (forms CaCO₃). (b) The ampere (A) is the SI unit of current. (c) Vitamin C deficiency causes scurvy. (d) The mitochondrion is the powerhouse of the cell (produces ATP).