General Knowledge Questions

Sufi silsilas began to crystallise in different parts of the Islamic world around the twelfth century. The word silsila literally means a chain, signifying a continuouslink between master and disciple, stretching as an unbroken spiritual genealogy to the Prophet Muhammad. It was through this channel that spiritual power and blessings were transmitted to devotees. Special rituals of initiation were developed in which initiates took an oath of allegiance, wore a patched garment, and shaved their hair. Thus, all statements are correct.

Visceral muscle is another name for Smooth muscle.

Kepler’s  laws  of  planetary  motion state  that  (a)  All  planets  move  in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one of  the  focal  points  (b)  The  radius vector  drawn  from  the  sun  to  a planet  sweeps  out  equal  areas  in equal  time  intervals.  This  follows from  the  fact  that  the  force  of gravitation on the planet is central and  hence  angular  momentum  is conserved.  (c)  The  square  of  the orbital   period   of   a   planet   is proportional  to  the  cube  of  the semi  major  axis  of  the  elliptical orbit of the plane.

Dr Manmohan Singh also announced that the year 2012 would be celebrated as the National Mathematics Year. The Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan was born on 22 December 1887 and died on 26 April 1920.

PTH - Parathyroid hormone which balances calcium levels if they are low.