Northern Kentucky Academic League
JV Packet #4
-First Half1. As a Marxist, this playwright fled Germany in February of 1933, moving throughout Scandinavia prior
to a six-year stay in the United States where he was blacklisted in Hollywood. Who was this author of
such plays as The Threepenny Opera, Mother Courage and Her Children, and The Caucasian Chalk Circle?
(Bertolt) Brecht
2. For the last fifteen years, this man has served as either Prime Minister or President of his nation
alternating back and forth twice. A former KGB officer, he took over as acting president when Boris
Yeltsin resigned in 1999. Who is this Russian President that has shown acts of aggression toward the
Ukraine throughout 2014?
(Vladimir) Putin
3. Typically having undergone ossification around the age of forty in adult humans, this small piece of
cartilage is located on the lower sternum. When it is struck, a person will have difficulty breathing for a
short period of time. What is small cartilaginous extension where the solar plexus connects with the
sternum?
Xyphoid Process
4. Rationalize the following expression: the cube root of the quantity x to the thirteenth power, y to the
seventh power, z to the fifth power.
X to the fourth power Y squared Z cube root of x y z squared (must say “cube root” not square
root or radical)
5. The title of this work is shared by a work by Niccolo Machiavelli. It describes the use of terrain to your
advantage and also cautions against cowardice. What is this ancient Chinese text, written by Sun Tzu?
The Art of War
6. Ratified as part of the Bill of Rights this amendment was addressed in the landmark Supreme Court
case Mapp v. Ohio. Weeks v. United States established that evidence obtained in violation of this amend
was not admissible in a criminal case. What amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits unlawful
search and seizure?
4th (Article of the U.S. Constitution)
7. This film begins with a tribe of pre-humans on the African plains developing their intelligence and
eventually finding a large black monolith. Its most famous scene is one in which an astronaut is
attempting to reenter his spaceship while aboard an EVA pod. What is this film that was directed by
Stanley Kubrick and based on a novel by Arthur C. Clarke?
2001: A Space Odyssey
8. This attribute of most plants occurs because the cells on the side opposite of the light source become
elongated in their growth. What is this feature of some plants and fungi whereby they grow toward a
light source?
Phototropism
9. This author wrote a poem to Aphrodite and an Ode to Anactoria. Plato referred to her as the tenth
muse. Who was this woman from the island of Lesbos, who is considered among the greatest of Greek
female poets?
Sappho
10. Matrix A has a determinant of forty-seven. Solve for x if the top row of matrix A is seven, negative
four and the bottom row is x, five.
(X equals) Three
11. This 2013 landmark case developed out of an estate tax case in which a surviving spouse from a
same-sex marriage was not given the estate tax exemption that would be afforded to surviving
opposite-sex partners. What is this U.S. Supreme Court case which ruled that no state or other
jurisdiction would interpret the word “marriage” in federal legislation as pertaining to only heterosexual
unions?
United States v. Windsor
12. This figure from Greek mythology is often depicted holding a scythe or sickle because he used it to
overthrow his father. Who was this leader of the Titans, often considered to be analogous to the Roman
Saturn?
Cronus
13. These aquatic reptiles can be found in the Southeastern United States, South America, Africa, and
Australia. The Nile variety is that which is responsible for most attacks on humans. What is this order of
large reptiles that spend a large portion of their lives in the water and include a species with a similar
name to the order, alligators, and caimans?
Crocodilia(ns)
14. This man has been called the father of empiricism and is known for his production in science and
literature along with many other fields. He died by contracting pneumonia while studying the effects of
freezing on meat. Who was this English scholar, philosopher, and author of the utopian work, The New
Atlantis?
(Francis) Bacon
15. Consider the set of all prime numbers and the set of all triangular numbers. How many elements are
in the intersection of these two sets?
1
16. Examples of this invertebrate phylum’s members include leeches and earthworms. The name of this
phylum is taken from the Latin meaning “little ring.” What is this phylum of worms that possess
circularly shaped segments?
Annelida
17. This author of The Rules of Sociological Method did a study of suicide rates in Catholic and Protestant
families at the end of the 19th century. Later, he would write The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life.
Who is this Frenchman, often called the “Father of Sociology”?
(Emile) Durkheim
18. In the outdated Gregorian calendar this Christian holiday can fall as late as May 8th, but in the Julian
calendar, it happens before April 26th. What is this holiday in which Christians celebrate the resurrection
of Christ that follows Holy Week and ends the period known as Lent?
Easter
19. Solve the following inequality for x: six x plus twelve is less than or equal to four x minus eighteen.
X is less than or equal to negative fifteen
20. The main character of this work visits the flying island of Laputa. He also visits Balnibarbi,
Blubbdubdrib, and Japan. What is this satire by Jonathan Swift in which the title character is held captive
by the little people of Lilliput?
Gulliver’s Travels
21. This man became the first to outline theories of the free market economy that had existed since the
creation of currency in ancient times. The most famous of his theories include the increased output of
dividing labor and the concept known as the invisible hand. Who is this father of modern economics and
author of The Wealth of Nations?
(Adam) Smith
22. This term is used to describe a diploid organism that possess two different alleles of a gene as
opposed to the presence of identical alleles. What is this characteristic of an organism’s genotype that is
often represented as a capital letter representing the dominant allele and a lowercase letter
representing the recessive allele?
Heterozygous (Alleles)
23. In the original performance by the Ballet Russes, the title character of this ballet was portrayed by
Vaslav Nijinsky. It is that character’s image that appears as a monument on Nijinsky’s tomb. What was
this Igor Stravinsky ballet about a puppet made of straw and sawdust?
Petrushka
24. This man’s autobiography is entitled Biographia LIteraria and it was published in two volumes in
1817. Who was this Englishman, the Romantic Movement poet of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and
Kublai Kahn?
(Samuel) Taylor Coleridge
25. Solve the following equation for all real values of x: x squared minus three x minus ten equals zero.
(x =) 5, -2
26. This capital city was settled in 1889 when during the Land Run. The North Canadian River was an
attraction to those seeking lands that were formerly Indian Territory. What is this American city, home
to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building which was bombed by Timothy McVeigh and accomplices in
1995?
Oklahoma City(, Oklahoma)
27. This dance move existed as far back as the 1940s and was performed by such stars as Cab Calloway,
Judy Garland, and Bill Bailey. The most famous performer of this movement unveiled it for the first time
during a performance of his hit song “Billie Jean.” What is this dance move that was most famously
performed by pop music star Michael Jackson?
Moonwalk
28. This structure of a fungus is responsible for absorbing nutrients. One step in that process includes
the decomposition of surrounding plant material, another important role that these structures of fungi
play in the ecosystem. What is this part of a fungus that is composed of a series of hyphae, root-like
structures?
Mycelium
29. This author travelled to Carthage in the early 1860’s to do research for his historical novel
Salammbo, a novel set in the ancient city-state. Always well researched, his novel Sentimental Education
took seven years to complete. Who was this 19th century author of Madame Bovary?
(Gustave) Flaubert
30. Consider the functions f of x equals x squared plus five and g of x equals two x minus one. Simplify
the composite function f of g of x.
(f of g of x equals) 4 x squared - 4 x + 6
31. This instrument evolved from the medieval instrument known as the shawm. The name of this
instrument comes from the French word hautbois, meaning “high woodwind.” What is this double reed
woodwind instrument that can be played in either the treble or soprano range?
Oboe
32. This event took place on April 26th, 1986 in a city in Northern Ukraine, and killed over thirty people
immediately with countless others dying later as a result of the radiation dispersed into the atmosphere.
What was this event, the worst disaster at a nuclear power plant in history?
Chernobyl (Disaster)
33. This country is bordered to the North by Kenya and Uganda and Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi to
the south. Its capital, Dodoma, is located in the central region of the country while its most populous
city, Dar es Salaam is located on the cost of the Indian Ocean. What is this East African nation, the site of
the continent’s tallest mountain, Kilimanjaro?
Tanzania
34. Express the following logarithmic expression as a single logarithm: 3 log 3 + log 5 – log 15.
Log 9
35. The Canadian rock band, Rush, has a song from their Moving Pictures album named for this literary
character. His best friends were Joe Harper and Huck Finn and he has an aunt named Polly. Infatuated
with Becky Thatcher, who is this character, created by Mark Twain?
Tom Sawyer
36. Astronauts train in for the higher than normal acceleration by sitting in a large version of these
devices which spin, applying a strong centripetal force onto the trainee. What is this suitcase-sized
device that spins an inserted laboratory tube around a central vertical axis for the purpose of separating
multiple blended substances within the tube by their respective densities?
Centrifuge
37. This Chinese dynasty developed out of the Bronze Age and witnessed the introduction of Iron. It
existed from around 1050 BC until its downfall in 256 BC at the hands of what would become the Qin
Dynasty. What was this first historically documented Chinese dynasty?
Zhou (Dynasty)
38. This court musician of the Esterhazy family created both the London Symphonies and the Surprise
Symphony. Who was this Austrian composer that became known as the Father of the Symphony as he
created over one hundred during his lifetime?
(Joseph) Haydn
39. This author’s hometown of Aracataca voted to rename itself Macondo after a fictional city that this
man created. That fictional city is the setting of his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. Who was this
Colombian author of Love in the Time of Cholera that passed away in April of 2014?
(Gabriel) Garcia Marquez
40. Consider the unit circle. It contains two points with a y-value of radical 3 over 2. These two points
have what two distinct x-values?
1/2 and -1/2
-End of First Half-Second Half1. This element of music was adopted from poetry where the rhyme scheme of lines in the poem or
syllables in those lines are arranged into a pattern. It has been referred to as the time pattern of a song.
What is this element in music that refers to the rhythm of the lines in a verse of a musical piece?
Meter
2. A substance that has this property maximized is said to be fully miscible. Sodium chloride has a high
level of this when mixed into water. What is this property, the ability of a substance to dissolve within
another substance to form a homogeneous solution?
Solubility
3. The name of this play is taken from a figure in Greek mythology, a sculptor who fell in love with his
statue. The plays plot concerns Henry Higgins, a professor who wagers that he can pass Eliza Doolittle
for a duchess at an upcoming event. What is this play that was written in 1912 by George Bernard Shaw?
Pygmalion
4. This man gained control of an expanse that would become the largest overland empire the world has
ever known, and did so from horseback. The steppes of Central Asia made his use of horses extremely
successful as he was able to move in battle much more quickly than his opponents. Who was this 13th
century Mongol leader?
Genghis Khan (accept: Temujin)
5. Express as a single trigonometric function 2 sine 38 degrees cosine 38 degrees.
Sine 76 degrees
6. Resultant from this physical law is the fact that more massive gasses that are released into a vacuum
will distribute themselves throughout that volume at a slower rate than less massive gasses. What is this
law, formulated by a chemist from Scotland, which states that a gas will spread throughout a fixed
volume at a rate inversely proportional to the square root of the mass of the total gas?
Graham’s Law (of Effusion or Diffusion)
7. In 2002, he wrote The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? and seven years later wrote At Home at the Zoo, a play
which added an act to one the author’s most famous absurdist drama. A play Who is this absurdist
playwright, the author of The Zoo Story and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
(Edward) Albee
8. This was the tallest manmade structure for one year, from its completion in 1888 until the
construction of the Eiffel Tower in 1889. Located to the east of the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln
Memorial, what is this obelisk that that took almost forty years to complete?
Washington Monument
9. Find all real roots of the function f of x equations x squared minus 3x plus 9.
None
10. Excommunicated from the Catholic Church following a series of disputes with the establishment, he
began the Church of England, which he oversaw during his reign. Who was this Tudor king, best
remembered in popular culture today for having six wives?
Henry VIII
11. In the year 2010 a five-thousand gram substance had a half-life of fifteen years. In what year will 625
grams of the substance remain?
2055
12. This novel was the first, written by a woman, to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, doing so in 1921.
The story’s protagonist is Newland Archer, a lawyer living in upper-class New York City society. What is
this novel in which Archer is torn between what is expected of him and his love for a woman other than
his fiancé, as written by Edith Wharton?
The Age of Innocence
13. The name of these support structures is taken from a town on the Peloponnesian peninsula as a
temple to Artemis that featured these female figures. The figures have an entablature on their head and
exist in the place of formal columns. What is this term that describes a sculpted woman who serves as a
pillar of support for a building?
Caryatid
14. This modern-day nation is bordered by Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Slovenia, Hungary,
Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. What is this European country which regained control of the United
States of Belgium following the Brabant Revolution in 1790, a nation it controlled, despite not sharing a
border with Belgium or The Netherlands today?
Austria
15. What type of geometric transformation results in a square with sides of length 10 inches each being
mapped to a square with sides of length 5 inches each?
Dilation
16. Often considered among the greatest war poems in history, the author writes that it is within the
title location that “the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row”, a reference to the gravestones
of fallen soldiers. What is this poem by Canadian lieutenant and World War One veteran John McCrae?
In Flanders Field
17. This law of physics was first published in 1609 and is now applied to the orbit of any astronomical
body orbiting and the placement of the body that it orbits, though it was originally applied more
specifically. What is this law in physics which states that the orbit of a planet is elliptical in shape with
the Sun at one of the ellipse’s foci?
Kepler’s First Law (of Planetary Motion)
18. The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 74 feet long. One of the triangle’s legs is 37 feet long. What is
the length of the other leg?
37 radical 3 feet
19. Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century this Western city was the site of the first epidemic of
bubonic plague in North America. What is this California city the site of an earthquake in 1906 that
ultimately killed over three thousand people?
San Francisco
20. This type of painting is exemplified in the works of Thomas Cole and other members of the Hudson
River School. The subject of these paintings is the Earth, water, and sky, with occasional figures dotting
the image. What is this type of painting which can feature mountains in the distance or other geologic
features?
Landscape
21. This unit is definied as one ampere multiplied by one second and thus measures the duration of a an
electric current. It is also equal to one farad multiplied by one volt. Named for a French physicist, what is
this SI derived unit of electric charge?
Coulomb
22. This 19th century author’s short stories include “My Kinsman, Major Molineux”, “Young Goodman
Brown”, and “The Minister’s Black Veil”. These stories appeared in the author’s famous collection Twice
Told Tales. Who was this New Englander that also authored many novels, including The House of the
Seven Gables?
(Nathaniel) Hawthorne
23. What is the volume of a sphere with a radius of 10 centimeters?
4000/3 pi cubic centimeters (or centimeters cubed)
24. The first and last name of the woman depicted in this tempera painting is Anna Olson, a polio
sufferer. She is shown on a field facing away from the observer with a farmhouse and barn on the
horizon. What is this painting, the most famous work created by Andrew Wyeth?
Christina’s World
25. The military capital of this civilization was located at Cusco, northwest of Lake Titicaca. The language
this civilization spoke was Quechua. Who were these Pre-Colombian people of the Andes Mountains
who famously built Machu Picchu?
Inca
26. This subatomic particles can only be found in hadrons. They come in six flavors: up, down, strange,
charm, bottom and top. A proton consists of two up and one down of what subatomic particle whose
name is taken from a novel by James Joyce?
Quark
27. The root word of both the animal Hippopotamus and the name of the ancient Middle East,
Mesopotamia is from the Greek for this type of body of water. What is this type of waterway, examples
of which include the Yellow, Volga, and Snake?
River
28. A regular polygon has an exterior angle that measures 15 degrees. How many sides does this
polygon have?
24
29. There are three different types of this principle of art: radial, symmetrical, and asymmetrical. What is
this property of a painting whereby the placement of its subjects is such that no part of the painting
gains more of a viewer’s focus than another?
Balance
30. This man explored southwest Greenland and parts of Canada, which is why a province in that nation
is now named for him. Who was this Portuguese explorer for whom the large northeastern peninsula of
Canada is also named?
(Joao Fernandes) Lavrador
31. Many of this planet’s moons are taken from the names of characters from English literature. These
moons include Miranda, Prospero, and Titania. What is this planet of the solar system that is tilted at
greater than an eighty degree angle, making it appear to lie on its side as it rotates?
Uranus
32. This individual or party in a court proceeding that is neither the plaintiff, nor the defendant, but is
providing a legal brief that they feel is important to the case. What is this third party which has a name
from Latin meaning “friend of the court”?
Amicus Curiae
33. Daniel Burnham designed the first building of this type in Chicago. The flatiron building is an early
20th century example of this type of building used by urban centers to expand upward instead of
outward. What is this type of building, examples of which include Burj Khalifa, Taipei 101, and The
Wainwright Building?
Skyscraper
34. This battle developed out of the Union’s blockade of Norfolk, Virginia. It would become the first
clash of ironclads and arguably the most important naval battle of the war. What was this battle of the
U. S. Civil War in which the Monitor and the Merrimack fought to a standstill?
(Battle of) Hampton Roads
35. An angle that is inscribed in a circle measures 48 degrees. What is the degree measure of the arc on
the cirlce that the angle intercepts?
96 degrees
36. This nine-letter word describes a substance that is consumed by the United States at a rate almost
twice as fast as that of any other country. Saudi Arabia and Russia are its greatest producers. What is
this fossil fuel that is extracted from the ground in the form of crude oil and is later refined into other
products such as fuels, lubricants, and other industrial materials?
Petroleum
37. This drama was set to music written by Johann Christoph Pepusch and it served as the inspiration for
Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera. In the end Macheath marries Polly despite being promised to be
married to at least five other women. What is this play that was written by John Gay?
The Beggar’s Opera
38. Find the absolute value of the complex number 8 minus 2 i.
2 radical 17
39. This style of rock music developed in the 1970’s and is often associated with its independence from
the music mainstream. The greatest of these bands came out of London and New York City, though
others found success with this counter-culture approach as well. What is this musical style that is
associated with the music of The Clash and The Ramones?
Punk (Rock)
40. As the Great Depression grew deeper, World War One veterans, now husbands and fathers, wanted
the money that had been promised to them by their government. By what name do we refer to this
group of veterans that marched on Washington DC until they were suppressed by Douglass MacArthur
and his men?
Bonus Army
-End of Second Half-Tiebreakers1. On May 18th, 2014, it was announced that this company was to buyout DirecTV for 48.5 billion dollars,
awaiting federal approval. The largest non-oil company that is based in the state of Texas, the current
version of this company is much smaller than the original company of this nation which was broken
apart by an antitrust case in 1984. What is this telecommunications company, the original of which was
founded by Alexander Graham Bell?
AT&T
2. There is evidence that this quantity was applied in the creation of both the Parthenon in Athens and
Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. Its value is equal to one plus the square root of five all over two,
which is approximately 1.618. What is this ratio, considered to be the ideal proportion in aesthetics?
Golden Ratio
3. The football was thrown for a touchdown by Peyton Manning. The verb in the previous sentence is in
what voice?
Passive (Voice)
4. The word for this field of study is taken from Greek words meaning “knowledge of the high sky.”
Topics within this field include the jet stream, air pressure, and the physics of our atmosphere. What is
this area of study that we encounter most often when listening to the weatherman?
Meteorology
5. Any time it rains, the probability that it will rain the next day goes down by one tenth. On Monday
there was a 1/2 chance of rain. What is the probability that it rains three days in a row?
.06 (accept: 3/50)
-End of Tiebreakers-
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