NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 9 Kings and Chronicles The Mughal Courts

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 9 Kings and Chronicles The Mughal Courts are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 9 Kings and Chronicles The Mughal Courts.

Board CBSE
Textbook NCERT
Class Class 12
Subject History
Chapter Chapter 9
Chapter Name Kings and Chronicles The Mughal Courts
Number of Questions Solved 9
Category NCERT Solutions

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 9 Kings and Chronicles The Mughal Courts

Question l.
Describe the process of manuscript production in the Mughal court.
Solution :
The process of manuscript production in the Mughal court involved a variety of tasks as mentioned below :

  • Paper makers prepared the folios of the manuscript.
  • Scribes or calligraphers used to copy the text.
  • Gliders illuminated the pages of the manuscript.
  • Painters illustrated the scenes from the text to describe it in a visual form.
  • Bookbinders gathered the individual folios and set them within ornamental covers.

At the end of above tasks, the finished manuscript was seen as a precious object, a work of intellectual wealth and beauty. It was an example of power of its patron, the Mughal emperor, to bring such beauty into being.

Question 2.
In what ways would the daily routine and special festivities associated with the Mughal court have conveyed a sense of the power of the emperor?
Solution :
The daily routine and special festivities associated with the Mughal court observed the following:

  1. By representing the status of the court.
  2. In form of salutation of emperor.
  3. Jharokha Darshan.
  4. Meeting held by sultan in Diwan-i-Am and Diwan-i-Khas.
  5. By honouring the mansabdar on special occasion with special gifts and jagir.

Question 3.
Assess the role played by women of the imperial household in the Mughal Empire.
Solution :
The role played by women of the imperial household was significant:

  1. Nur Jahan took an important part in the administration during the period of Jahangir.
  2. After Nur Jahan, Mughal queens and princesses began to control significant financial resources. Shah Jahan’s daughters Jahanara and Roshanara enjoyed an annual income often equal to that of high imperial mansabdars. Jahanara, in addition, received revenues from the port city of Surat, which was a lucrative centre of overseas trade.
  3. The princess Jahanara played an important role in the arrangement of marriage of Dara Shukoh and Nadira.
  4. Control over resources enabled women to commission buildings and gardens. Jahanara participated in many architectural projects of Shah Jahan’s new capital, Shahjahanabad (Delhi) which included an imposing double-storeyed caravanserai with a courtyard and garden. The bazaar of Chandni Chowk was too designed by Jahanara.
  5. Besides taking part in different activities, some women such as Gulbadan Begum, daughter of Babur, wrote the Humayun Nama. She was Akbar’s aunt and when Akbar commissioned Abu’l Fazl to write history of his reign, he requested her to record her memoirs of earlier times under Babur and Humayun. She described the conflicts and tensions among the princes and kings and the important mediating role elderly women of the family played in resolving some of these conflicts.

Question 4.
What were the concerns that shaped Mughal policies and attitudes towards regions outside the subcontinent ?
Solution :
The following concerns shaped Mughal policies and attitudes towards regions outside the subcontinent:

  1. The Safavids and Qandahar : Qandahar was a bone of contention between the Safavids and the Mughals due to its strategic importance because all conquerors who sought to make their way into the Indian subcontinent had to cross the Hindukush to have access to north India. It was, therefore, a constant aim of Mughal policy to ward off this potential danger by controlling strategic outposts — notably Qandahar and Kabul. It was under these circumstances that the Mughals tried to have control over Qandahar. It was under the possession of Humayun but later the Mughals lost control of it. Akbar reconquered it in 1595. The Safavids, however, maintained diplomatic relations with the Mughals, but they always continued to stake claims to Qandahar. In 1622, the Persian army besieged Qandahar and defeated the Mughals. The city once again came under the control of the Safavids. Thus, due to its strategic importance Qandahar remained a bone of contention between the Mughals and the Safavids.
  2. The Ottomans : Pilgrimage and trade :
    • The relationship between the Mughals and the Ottomans was to ensure free movement for merchants and pilgrims in the territories under Ottoman control, particularly in Hijaz (Ottoman Arabia) where the important centres of Mecca and Madina were located.
    • The Mughal emperors combined religion and commerce by exporting valuable merchandise to Aden and Mokha, both Red Sea ports. They distributed the proceeds of the sales in charity to the keepers of shrines and religious men there.
  3. Mughals and the Portuguese : After the discovery of a direct sea route to India, the Portuguese king was interested in the propagation of Christianity with the help of missionaries. Akbar too was curious about Christianity. So, Jesuits mission came to India in 1580, 1591 and 1595. At public assemblies, Jesuits were assigned places in close proximity to Akbar’s throne.

Question 5.
Discuss the major features of Mughal provincial administration. How did the centre control the provinces?
Solution :

  1. The head of the provincial administration was the governor (subadar). He reported directly to the emperor.
  2. Each suba was divided into sarkar,
  3. The local administration was looked after at the level of the pargana (sub-district) by three semi-hereditary officers, the qanungo (keeper of revenue records), the chaudhur (in charge of revenue collection) and the qazi.
  4. Each department of administration maintained a large support staff of clerks, accountants, auditors, messengers, and other functionaries who were technically qualified officials, functioning in accordance with standardised rules and procedures, and generating copious written orders and records.

Question 6.
Discuss, with examples, the distinctive features of Mughal chronicles.
Solution :
The distinctive features of Mughal chronicles were as given below :

  1. They projected a vision of enlightened kingdom to all those who were under it and conveyed a message to the resistors that they could not be successful in their objects.
  2. The chronicles were commissioned by the Mughal rulers to ensure that there was an account of their rule for posterity.
  3. The chronicles were written by the courtiers who focused on events centred on the ruler, his family, the court and nobles, wars and administrative arrangements because for them the history of the empire and the court was synonymous with that of the emperor. Their titles were therefore, after the name of emperors such as Akbar Naina, Shahjahan Nama and Alamgir Nama.
  4. Mughal chronicles were written in Persian e.g., Akbar Nama. Babur’s memoirs was translated from the Turkish into Persian Babur Nama.
  5. The chronicles were manuscripts and included paintings to enhance their beauty.
  6. Chronicles showed the power of the Mughal kings came directly from God. The emperors were portrayed wearing the halo to symbolise the light of God.
  7. Mughal chronicles presented the empire as compromising many different ethnic and religious communities. Abu’l Fazl described the ideal of sulh-ikul as the comer stone of enlightened rule.

Question 7.
To what extent do you think the visual material presented in this chapter corresponds with Abu’l Fazl’s description of the taswir (Source 1)?
Ans:

  1. Drawing the likeness of anything is called taswir. His Majesty from his earliest youth, has shown a great predilection for this art, and gives it every encouragement, as he looks upon it as a means both of study and amusement.
  2. A very large number of painters set to work.
  3. Each week, several supervisors and clerks of the imperial workshop submit before the emperor the work done by each artist, and his Majesty gives a reward.
  4. Paintings served not only to enhance the beauty of a book, but were believed to possess special powers of communicating ideas about the kingdom and the power of kings in ways that the written medium could not.
  5. The historian Abu’l Fazl described painting as a ‘magical art’ in his view it had the power to make inanimate objects look as if they possessed life.

Question 8.
What were the distinctive features of the Mughal nobility ? How was their relationship with the emperor shaped ?
Solution :

  1. The distinctive features of the Mughal nobility were as given below :
    • The nobility was recruited from diverse ethnic and religious groups. No faction was large enough to challenge the authority of the state.
    • There were Turani, Iranian, Rajputs, and Indian Muslims (Shaikhzadas).
    • Nur Jahan was an Iranian and so Iranians gained high offices under Jahangir.
    • Aurangzeb appointed Rajputs to high offices.
    • All holders of government offices held mansabs comprising two numerical designations zat and sawar.
    • The nobles participated in military campaigns with their armies. They also served as officers of the empire in the provinces.
    • Akbar established spiritual relationships with a select band of his nobility by treating them as his disciples (murid).
    • Nobles stationed at the court were a reserve force to be deputed to a province or military campaign.
  2. Their relationships with the emperor were shaped in different ways :
    • As the nobility was recruited from diverse ethnic and religious groups, no faction was strong enough to challenge the authority of the state.
    • The emperor personally reviewed their rank, titles and postings.
    • Akbar maintained spiritual relationship with some nobles and treated them as the disciples.
    • The influence of different groups of nobility changed from time to time. For example, Iranians were influential in the time of Jahangir but Rajputs and Marathas became influential dining the time of Aurangzeb.
    • The emperor used to award them with office or titles to maintain their loyality towards
      him.
    • According to the Jesuit priest Father Antonio Monserrate, resident at the court of Akbar, in order to prevent the great nobles becoming insolent through the unchallenged enjoyment of power, the emperor used to summon them to court and give them imperious commands, as though they were his slaves.

Question 9.
Identify the elements that went into the making of the Mughal ideal of kingship.
Solution :
The following elements went into the making of the Mughal ideal of kingship :

  1. Divine light – Court chronicles considered that the power of the Mughal kings came directly from God. Abu’l Fazl placed Mughal kingship as the highest station in the hierarchy of objects receiving light emanating from God. King was the source of spiritual guidance for his subjects. Thus, Mughal artists portrayed emperors wearing the halo to symbolise the light of God.
  2. A unifying force – The emperor was source of peace and stability. He stood above all religious and ethnic groups, mediated among them, and ensured that justice and peace prevailed. Abu’l Fazl describes the ideals of sulh-i kul as the comer stone of enlightened rule. Under the sulh-i kul, the nobility of the Mughals consisted of Iranis, Turanis, Afghans, Rajputs and Deccanis — all of whom were given positions on the basis of their merits and loyalty to the king. Akbar abolished pilgrimage tax in 1563 and Jizya in 1564.
  3. Just sovereignty as social contract : Under Mughal ideal of kingship, Abu’l Fazl defined sovereignty as a social contract. The emperor protected the life (jan), property (mal), honour (namus) and faith (din) of his subjects and in return demanded their obedience and a share of resources.

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NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 1 The Third Level

Here we are providing NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 1 The Third Level. Students can get Class 12 English The Third Level NCERT Solutions, Questions and Answers designed by subject expert teachers.

The Third Level NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 1

The Third Level NCERT Text Book Questions and Answers

The Third Level Reading with insight

Question 1.
What does the third level refer to?
Answer:
The third level is the world somewhere between desire or dream and reality. It is a world of fantasy that we create for ourselves and occasionally seek to escape to. Most of the time it is a picture of the simple past of our forefathers, who, we believe were happier. It is an escapist’s world which one weaves around to be off the current-day problems, worries, anxieties and tensions.

Question 2.
Would Charley ever go back to the ticket-counter on the third level to buy tickets to Galesburg for himself and his wife?
Answer:
Time travel is a temporary relief that man seeks to escape from the rush of his present existence. It was a world of fantasy that Charley too had created. So, he exchanged all his savings for 1894 currency to buy tickets from the third level to Galesburg, Illinois. However, he could not find the third level again as it did not exist.

The Third Level Reading With Insight

Question 1.
Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?
Answer:
Life today is full of insecurity, fear and worries and time travel is man’s way of escaping from it. Occasionally, man seeks escape into the world of fantasy and his nostalgic memories, the happier • times of the past. Yes, the third level was Charley’s medium of escape from the mad rat race of modern times.

Question 2.
What do you infer from Sam’s letter to Charley?
Answer:
Sam’s letter shows man’s pining for the simple, less harassing and a happier era. He too had found respite from the hurry and worry of modern life in time travel. Sam had learnt to transport himself into the time period of his ancestors whose quality of life he considered was better than their present existence.

Question 3.
The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress. What are the ways in which we attempt to overcome them?
Answer:
Man often creates in his fantasy a world which is somewhere between his desire and reality, and often seeks respite by transporting himself to it mentally. Time travel is another way of overcoming stress; we travel back in time to the past which we believe was a quieter and happier era. Nostalgic memories too are often a way of escape from the harassing present.

Question 4.
Do you see an intersection of time and space in the story?
Answer:
Yes, the story clearly shows an intersection of time and space. Firstly, the first two levels of Grand Central Station were located in the present time while the third level existed in the 1890s. Secondly Charley and his wife, Louisa, live in the present time yet Charley goes to get old currency to buy tickets to go to the Galesburg of 1894. The old architecture of the platform at the third level is different from the platform of the modern times. The archaic manner of dressing by the people and the newspaper, The World, dated June 11, 1894 also overlap with Charley’s real time world and existence. Finally, the letter that was mailed to Charley’s Grandfather on 18 July, 1894 highlights the intersection of time and space.

Question 5.
Apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be a futuristic projection? Discuss.
Answer:
It is true that apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be a futuristic projection. A good number of scientific inventions sounded ridiculous and absurd till some brilliant minds gave them a concrete shape. Before the Wright Brothers invented the first aeroplane, nobody could have dared to believe that man could fly. There are many other examples of inventions which were conceived in dreams but now are part of our everyday reality. All this emphasizes that fantasies of one point of time that seem illogical may turn out to be revolutionary things that change the future of the mankind. It would not be far-fetched to think about railway stations fitted with time-machine devices from one era to another. It is just a matter of time.

Question 6.
Philately helps keep the past alive. Discuss other ways in which this is done. What do you think of the human tendency to constantly move between the past, the present and the future?
Answer:
Besides philately, there are numerous other ways to keep the past alive. Collecting historical artefacts, paintings and statues in a museum, collecting and reading books, collecting stamps, first day covers, etc. are all a few ways of revisiting history.

Fond memories of the past are often kept alive through photographic collections, letters, etc. Man seeks refuge in the nostalgic memories, the happier times of the past. He transports himself to the world by travelling through time to escape the present. In fact, he is constantly moving between past for escape, and present and future.

This capacity to oscillate between the past, present and future is a great intellectual gift. This human tendency enables him to plan for the future in the present by reaping benefits from the past. Such a tendency helps in ensuring acceptance of the impact of important decisions taken at any point of time and learning from them.

Question 7.
You have read ‘Adventure’ by Jayant Narlikar in Hornbill Class XI. Compare the interweaving of fantasy and reality in the two stories.
Answer:
In ‘Adventure’ Jayant Narlikar expressed that many worlds exist simultaneously though they appear to be separated by time. He conveyed that the other world also existed and prospered with the world we are aware of.

In The Third Level, Charley, a young New York commuter wandering Grand Central Station by accident, finds a gateway that leads to the past of 1894. Charley attempts to escape the rat race by buying a one way ticket to his childhood town of Galesburg, Illinois. But circumstances forced him to postpone his plan to escape to the past.

The Third Level Extra Questions and Answers

The Third Level Short Answer Questions

Question 1.
How does the narrator describe himself? What made him take the subway from Grand Central?
Answer:
The narrator describes that he is Charley, 31. He is wearing a tan gabardine suit and a straw hat with a fancy band. One night last summer, he worked late at the office. So, he was in a hurry to be at his apartment. He took the subway from Grand Central because it was faster than the bus.

Question 2.
How does the narrator describe the first two levels of the Grand Central?
Answer:
The narrator went down the steps of the Grand Central from Vanderbilt Avenue to the first level. From there one can take trains like the twentieth century. Then he walked down another flight to the second level. From there the suburban trains leave for various destinations.

Question 3.
The narrator got lost once when he ducked into an arched doorway heading for the subway. Where did he come out?
Answer:
The narrator says that he has been in and out of Grand Central hundreds of times. He always bumps into new doorways, stairs and corridors. Once he got into a one-mile-long tunnel and came out in the Roosevelt Hotel lobby. Another time he came up in an office building on Forty-sixth street, three blocks away.

Question 4.
What does the narrator think of Grand Central? What does it symbolize?
Answer:
The narrator thinks that Grand Central is growing like a tree. It pushes out new corridors and staircases like roots. There are long tunnels under the city on their ways to Times Square and to Central Park.
The Grand Central symbolizes the labyrinth that this world is with its intricate and tangled pathways. It has always been an exit, a way to escape.

Question 5.
What strange things did the narrator see when he reached the third level of Grand Central?
Answer:
Charley noticed a difference in the way things looked at the third level of the Grand Central Station. It was smaller, with fewer ticket counters and had an old look of the 1890s with wooden booths, dim open-flame gaslights, brass spittoons and an old-style locomotive with a funnel shaped stack. Even the people’s attire was old fashioned and men had funny handle-bar mustaches and sideburns. The whole setting was in contrast to the modern times.

Question 6.
How did the man on the third level appear to the narrator?
Answer:
The narrator saw a man pulling a gold watch from his vest pocket. He snapped open the cover, glanced at his watch and frowned. He wore a derby hat, a black four-button suit with tiny lapels and had a big, black handlebar mustache.

Question 7.
What did the narrator do to make sure that he was actually at the third level of Grand Central?
Answer:
The narrator walked over to a news boy. He glanced at the stack of newspapers. It was The World and The World had not been published for years. The lead story was about President Cleveland. Later on, he confirmed from the public library files that the newspaper was dated 11th June 1894.

Question 8.
Why did the narrator turn towards the ticket windows? Why did he run back from there?
Answer:
The narrator turned towards the ticket window to buy tickets to go to Galesburg, Illinois, in the year of 1894. When Charley produced money to pay for the two tickets, the clerk stared at him as the currency did not match with the currency of that time. He accused him of trying to cheat him and threatened to hand him over to the police. The narrator turned away thinking that there was nothing nice about jail even in 1894.

Question 9.
How does the narrator describe Galesburg, Illinois?
Answer:
The narrator states that Galesburg, Illinois, is a wonderful town with big old frame houses, huge lawns and big trees. Summer evenings were twice as long. People sat out on their lawns, the men smoking cigar and talking quietly, the women waving palm-leaf fans. It means the people had lived in peace and harmony and had a lot of leisure time.

Question 10.
What did the narrator do the next day?
Answer:
The narrator withdrew his entire money from the bank. He bought old-style currency to buy two tickets to Galesburg. He got less than two hundred old-style bills for his three hundred dollars. He consoled himself for having got less money by the fact that life in 1894 Galesburg was quite cheaper as compared to the modern life.

Question 11.
How does the narrator’s psychiatrist friend react to the narrator’s statement that the third level exists?
Answer:
The narrator’s psychiatrist friend, Sam Weiner, says it is ‘a waking-dream-wish fulfilment’. He says that the narrator is unhappy and the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war and worry. So, he wants to escape and has created an imaginary third level.

Question 12.
How did Louisa react when the narrator told his wish to go to the third level to buy tickets?
Answer:
When the narrator told Louisa about his wish she got pretty worried. She was a loving and a caring wife. She got alarmed at Charley’s claim of having been to the third level. His exchanging the currency was a cause of concern. She thought the third level to be a product of Charley’s imagination and asked him to stop looking for it. However, after some time they both started looking for the third level.

Question 13.
Why was going to the psychiatrist the obvious step? Did it help?
Answer:
Charley was convinced that there were three and not just two levels at the Grand Central Station, when all others claimed there were only two. Going to the psychiatrist was the obvious step because he wanted his opinion on whether it was insanity on his part to believe so. The psychiatrist too interpreted his delusion as a waking-dream wish fulfilment and, like his stamp collection, a temporary refuge from a world full of tensions, worries, insecurity, fear, war and envy.

Question 14.
Why could Charley not be convinced by his distractions that the third level was only a wish fulfilment?
Answer:
Charley could not be convinced that the third level was a temporary escape from reality through fantasy like stamp collection. He argued that his grandfather too was into stamp collection and he started Charley’s collection. He said that at that time people were content and lived in peaceful times and did not need to seek such refuge.

Question 15.
What happened to the narrator’s psychiatrist friend Sam Weiner? What do you deduce from it?
Answer:
One day the narrator’s psychiatrist friend Sam Weiner disappeared. He was a city boy. He always
said that he liked Galesburg very much and its sound. From this I deduce that even Sam was affected by the stress of modern living and sought temporary refuge by travelling through time.

Question 16.
Why was Charley sure that his psychiatrist friend had gone back to the year 1894 in Galesburg?
Answer:
Charley’s psychiatrist friend Sam had disappeared. One night going through his first-day covers,
Charley found one dated 1894 and with his Grandfather’s address on it. He opened and found inside a letter from Sam addressed to him. He invited him to the third level saying that it was worth it.

Question 17.
What is the first-day cover?
Answer:
At that time when a new stamp is issued, stamp collectors buy some of them and use them in order to mail envelopes to themselves and the postmark proves the date. That envelope is called the first- day cover.

Question 18.
Describe the first-day cover envelope that the narrator found among his collection.
Answer:
The first-day cover envelope was dated July 18, 1894. It was addressed to his grandfather in Galesburg. It carried a letter from Sam addressed to Charley. The stamp was a six-cent, dull brown, with a picture of President Garfield.

Question 19.
What had Sam Weiner written on the paper in the first-day cover?
Answer:
Sam Weiner had invited the narrator to the third level. It was worth it. It added that it was true, there existed the third level and he had found that. He had been there for two weeks. He could hear someone playing a piano, down the street. They were singing ‘Seeing Nelly Home’.

Question 20.
What did the narrator find about Sam Weiner when he went to the stamp and coin store?
Answer:
When the narrator went to the stamp and coin store he came to know that Sam had bought eight hundred dollars worth of old currency. That ought to set him up in a nice little hay, feed and grain business. He always wanted to do that. He didn’t want to go back to his old business. Not in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1894, Charley felt that the services of a psychiatrist would not be needed in Galesburg of 1894, his friend would be jobless there.

Question 21.
What is the evidence that Charley often sought escape through time travel?
Answer:
Charley had often bumped into new doorways, archways and stairways at the Grand Central and got lost. Once he had got into a long tunnel, about a mile long, and another time had landed in an office building on the Forty-sixth street, three blocks away. This makes it evident that Charley, often sought escape through wishful dreaming and in nostalgic memories. He often lived in a world of fantasy.

Question 22.
Discuss the irony at the end of the chapter.
Answer:
Charley had found the third level and desired to go back to the Galesburg of 1894. It is ironical that at the end, not Charley but his psychiatrist friend who had scorned his discovery, uses the third level to reach Galesburg of 1894 and tells Charley to keep looking for it.

The Third Level Long Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Describe the third level as a science fantasy?
Answer:
Science makes the impossible possible by giving a touch of realism to things that simply cannot happen in the real world under any circumstances. It explains a person’s perceptions, his difficulties and circumstances. Science fantasy has an aura of magic. In the lesson ‘The Third Level’ Charley’s fantasies are magical. He travels through time to Galesburg of 1894, the world of his childhood. He is stressed out by his modern living and takes refuge in his nostalgic memories, and at times he loses touch with reality. Such time travel is an essential element of all scientific fantasy.

Question 2.
Finney manages to not only capture the reader’s imagination, but also provides a clear example of time travel that does not confuse the reader. Discuss.
Answer:
‘The Third Level’ is a well-defined and convincing description of time travel. It can be divided into modern world and the world of the 1890s, the world of Grand Central Station of New York and the past world of Galesburg, Illinois. The narrator talks of the present world of 21st century through the references of New York Central, New York, New Haven, Hartford of Galesburg, Illinois of the 1890s in clearer terms. His visit to the third level of Grand Central and the physical description of this symbolize a flashback of the 19th century. So, the writer takes the reader in both the eras with care without confusing them. Thus, the third level is a beautiful interpretation of things through what, we call ‘the catastrophe theory’ as given in ‘The Adventure’ by Jayant Narlikar.

Question 3.
Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?
Answer:
The torture of stress, sense of insecurity and fear have made man an escapist who wants to run away from reality. He looks for a temporary refuge and starts pursuing different hobbies to divert his attention temporarily and give himself some comfort. The fast pace life has made Charley uneasy and restless. He yearned for peace and tranquillity. He turned to philately but could not find much relief. His efforts for escape resulted in his flight to the third level—a level of existence which he associated with tranquillity. His psychiatrist friend Sam, diagnosed Charley’s claim as a waking- dream wish fulfilment. Hence, the third level undoubtedly is a medium of escape for Charley.

Question 4.
What do you infer from Sam’s letter to Charley?
Answer:
Sam’s letter is a proof of his having reached the third level and of having been transported to Galesburg of 1894. The date 18th July 1894 and the content of the letter indicate that he too yearned for such an escape. Being equally insecure, he started believing in the existence of the third level and eventually found it. Galesburg always fascinated him with ample leisure and innocent happiness. He suggested to Charley and Louisa to keep on looking for it till they come across it. Sam’s letter also indicates the social life of Galesburg where people loved music, dance and socializing. But we are not sure that Sam’s letter is a mere figment of Charley’s imagination just like the third level or has he really transported to Galesburg of 1894. So, the whole idea of travel in time and multiple levels of reality is mind-boggling and so is Sam’s letter indeed.

Question 5.
The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry, tension and stress. What are the ways in which we attempt to overcome them?
Answer:
There is no doubt that the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry, tension, stress, anxiety and what not. Strangely, there is no escape from these things, yet people devise, find and invest different ways to escape from them. Some like liquor, some tranquillizers, some sleeping pills, some consult saints or seers or psychiatrists. Some daydream or listen to music or visit night parties or browse the Internet and fall down to tiredness and sleep. They awake to another day of tension and . anxiety. People like the narrator invent an imaginary world around them and get lost in it for the time being. But such a life is not for all the persons. It is for those who are a sensitive mind and look at life in a thoughtful manner, albeit, very seriously.

Question 6.
Did Sam really go to Galesburg or was it Charley’s figment of imagination?
Answer:
The third level at the Grand Central symbolizes man’s yearning to attain an ideal level of existence which is free from wars, worries, insecurities, tensions and a level which exudes calm, peace and tranquillity. Charley imagined this world briefly but could never get back to that world. His craving for such a world forced him to imagine things. He imagined that his psychiatrist friend, Sam, had succeeded in reaching there. He even saw a letter from Sam in his first-day cover collection. It was dated July 18, 1894 and posted to his grandfather’s address in Galesburg, Illinois. After this he redoubled his efforts to search the third level.

If it is only the imagination of Charley, then how do you explain Sam’s exchanging of currency at the coin shop? The fact that Sam too lived in a world of fantasy makes us understand that time travel was one way of escape for the modern man.

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Chapter 3 Deep Water

Here we are providing NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Chapter 3 Deep Water. Students can get Class 12 English Deep Water NCERT Solutions, Questions and Answers designed by subject expert teachers.

Deep Water NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Chapter 3

Deep Water NCERT Text Book Questions and Answers

Deep Water Think as you read 

Question 1.
What was the “misadventure” that William Douglas speaks about?
Answer:
William Douglas’ traumatic experience in the sea, as a child, made him afraid of water. However, as he was learning to swim in the YMCA pool, he was thrown into the deep end by an older boy. The experience terrified him as he had almost drowned and finally lost consciousness before being hauled out of the water.

Question 2.
What were the series of emotions and fears that Douglas experienced when he was thrown into the pool? What plans did he make to come to the surface?
Answer:
When Douglas was thrown into water, he landed in a sitting position, swallowed water, and went at once to the bottom. He was frightened, but planned to jump, as his feet touched the bottom, and bounce to the surface, and paddle to the edge of the pool. His repeated failed attempts left him terrified and exhausted, till he slipped into unconscious and was pulled out of the pool. The author went from fear to exhaustion and finally submission. He showed courage when he planned to reach the surface, however the repeated attempts drained his strength and he was gripped by terror. He eventually gave up and felt resigned before losing consciousness.

Question 3.
How did this experience affect him?
Answer:
The writer’s experience of near drowning affected him greatly. He felt weak and trembled on his way back home from the pool. He spent many more days in unrest. He never went back to the pool. He feared water and avoided it whenever he could.

Question 4.
Why was Douglas determined to get over his fear of water?
Answer:
Douglas was determined to get over his fear of water as he wished to get into the water of Cascades. He felt terrorised by the memories of the pool and regretted being deprived of the pleasures of fishing, canoeing, boating, and swimming.

Question 5.
How did the instructor “build a swimmer” out of Douglas?
Answer:
The instructor put a belt around Douglas to which a rope was attached. The rope went through a pulley fixed on an overhead cable. He held on to the end of the rope, and made Douglas swim for weeks. Three months later, he taught Douglas to exhale under water, and to raise his nose and inhale, and made him overcome his fear of putting his head under water. Next, the instructor held him at the side of the pool and made him kick with his legs. Gradually, after weeks of practice, his legs relaxed. When Douglas had perfected each hurdle, the instructed coordinated his efforts and gradually built a swimmer out of Douglas.

Question 6.
How did Douglas make sure that he conquered the old terror?
Answer:
To make sure he had conquered fear, Douglas went to Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire, dived in and swam two miles across the lake to Stamp Act Island. Only once when he was in the middle of the lake, did the terror return. But he confronted it and swam on. He also swam across Warm Lake to the other shore and back, to make sure that he had conquered his fear of water.

Deep Water Understanding the text

Question 1.
How does Douglas make clear to the reader the sense of panic that gripped him as he almost drowned? Describe the details that have made the description vivid.
Answer:
Douglas was pushed into the deep end of the YMCA swimming pool by a strong boy. He landed up in sitting position, swallowing water. He was frightened, but as he was going down to the bottom of the pool, he decided to make a big jump when his feet would hit the bottom of the pool, come up to the surface, lie flat, and paddle to the edge. But his fall seemed unending. The nine feet felt ninety to the little boy, and before his feet touched the bottom, his lungs were ready to burst.

As soon as his feet hit the bottom, he gathered all his strength and tried to spring upwards. Unlike what he had foreseen, he came up slowly. On opening his eyes, he saw nothing but water; he was terrified. There was nothing to hold on to and he felt suffocated. He tried to scream but no sound came. His eyes and nose came out of the water but his mouth was still under the surface. He thrashed at the surface of the water, but merely swallowed more water and choked. When he tried to bring his legs up, they hung like dead weights, refusing to move. He was pulled under water and once again he felt himself sinking back to the bottom of the pool. Breathless, he hit at the water with all his strength. His lungs and head ached and he began to feel dizzy.

He decided to jump when he hit the bottom. However it made no difference. He groped around for something and felt even more terrorized, with his limbs refusing to move. He finally gave up—his legs felt limp and blackness swept his brain. He felt neither anxiety nor fear. On the contrary, he felt quiet and peaceful, but drowsy, and was finally oblivious of everything around him. The writer makes the description vivid by giving graphic details of the situation and of his fear.

Question 2.
How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?
Answer:
Douglas overcame his fear of water through sheer determination. The experience he had, as a child of three or four, had left an indelible imprint on his mind. This was aggravated by the experience that he had when he was thrown into the pool. This made him stay away from water for many years. Later when he attempted to overcome his fear, his instructor taught him to swim, yet he felt terror-stricken when alone in the pool. He swam tirelessly up and down the length of the pool but he was not sure that the fear had left.

So he went to Lake Wentworth, in New Hampshire, and swam two miles across the lake to Stamp Act Island. Only once did he feel afraid, when he was in the middle of the lake, but he confronted it and swam on. To ascertain if he had overcome his fear completely, he went up to Meade Glacier, and swam across the Warm Lake. This assured him that he had accomplished his desire to overcome his fear of water.

Question 3.
Why does Douglas, as an adult, recount a childhood experience of terror and his conquering of it? What larger meaning does he draw from this experience?
Answer:
Douglas, as an adult, recounts his childhood experience of terror and how he conquered it. He recalled his ordeal as a child about how he almost drowned in a swimming pool. He narrated his journey, under his trainer, where he learnt to swim and finally how he swims across Warm Lake. The account does not attempt to glorify his accomplishment as a swimmer, but celebrates his efforts of conquering his fear of water.

The writer shares with his readers how the experience held a deep significance for him. He writes that he had experienced both the sensation of dying and the terror it produces. He came to realize the value of life through this incident. The account also sheds light on his take on adventure. Adventure calls on all the faculties of the mind and the spirit. It develops self-reliance and independence. Adventure is, however, enjoyed when one is rid of fear. Fear cripples an individual and limits one’s scope. One stays tethered by strings of doubt and indecision and has only a small and narrow world to explore. Douglas shared his experience as a useful lesson and called upon his readers to conquer their fears.

Deep Water Talking about the text

Question 1.
“All we have to fear is fear itself.” Have you ever had a fear that you have now overcome? Share your experience with others in the class.
Answer:
Answers will vary.

Question 2.
Find and narrate other stories about the conquest of fear and what people have said about courage. For example, you can recall Nelson Mandela’s struggle for freedom, his perseverance to achieve his mission, to liberate the oppressed, and the oppressor as depicted in his autobiography. The story “We’re Not Afraid To Die”, which you have read in Class XI, is an apt example of how courage and optimism helped a family survive under dire stress.
Answer:
She could easily be called the Helen Keller of our times. The darkness that surrounds her life has not prevented Bibi Mohammadi from spreading the light of education. At twenty six, Bibi, whose lower limbs are paralysed teaches more than 300 students at her school in Nathnagar, Bhagalpur.

Born in a poor family of weavers, Bibi cleared her intermediate examination—an achievement, considering that her six siblings failed. But, her achievement has not come easy. At school, she was the laughing stock and when other children jumped and ran about, she could only watch. In 1983, while she was still studying, she decided to start a school of her own with around 50 students. Now she teaches over 300 children in three shifts.

Keeping in view the poor economic condition of her locality, she charges a nominal fee of Rs 10 from each student. Interestingly, she is the lone teacher and manages all the classes single-handedly. With slippers in her hands, she crawls from one comer to the other of the dingy, thatched-roof classroom. What keeps her going are words of inspiration from Qari Saheb, the Imam of the Nathnagar mosque. He told her to continue with her education so that by teaching children she could become financially independent and not feel handicapped. Many such stories of Gandhi’s freedom straggle, Martin Luther King, and various everyday examples continue to inspire us.

Deep Water Extra Questions and Answers

Deep Water Short Answer Questions

Question 1.
Douglas’s first experience in water was not a happy incident. Why?
Answer:
Douglas’s first experience in water was very unhappy. It left an indelible imprint on his young mind. As a three or four-year-old, his father took him to the beach in California. As they were surfing, the waves pushed him down and swept over him. He felt buried in water and felt suffocated and frightened. All he could recall later was clinging to his father out of fear. The terror caused by the force of the waves resulted in fear and insecurity that he associated with water.

Question 2.
What were the writer’s complexes that he needed to overcome in order to learn swimming at the YMCA?
Answer:
The writer had developed a fear of water at an early age that was associated with the bitter memory of the Yakima River. He had gone surfing and had almost drowned in the river. Secondly, he hated walking naked into the pool with his bare skinny legs. To overcome this complex, he had to hold back his pride.

Question 3.
What was the writer’s misadventure in the pool at YMCA?
Answer:
The writer was still battling with his complexes in order to learn swimming when another misadventure befell him. He was sitting on the poolside waiting for others when a boy of about eighteen years old came up to him and asked him if he wanted to be “ducked”. Before the writer could react, the older boy picked him up and tossed him into the deep end of the pool.

Question 4.
Douglas had planned on coming out of the pool. Why did his plan fail him?
Answer:
When Douglas was pushed into the pool of water, he planned to jump to the surface and paddle to the edge of the pool. But before he touched bottom, he felt that his lungs were ready to burst. He tried to spring up, but came up slowly. He could see and feel nothing but water. He was too suffocated to scream for help as his mouth did not surface out of the water. As fear gripped him and his legs seemed paralyzed. His attempts to shoot up were thwarted and before he knew he was sinking back to the bottom.

Question 5.
How did Douglas feel when he sank into water the second time?
Answer:
Douglas was petrified of water and the fear worsened when he could not rise to the surface of water. His first attempt to rise was thwarted and he sank back to the bottom. He attempted again but felt a force pulling him under water. He seemed to sink down endlessly. He tried to open his eyes but saw nothing but water with a yellow glow. Fear gripped him and he could not shout out.

Question 6.
Why did his second attempt to come out of water fail?
Answer:
Douglas’ second attempt to come out of water failed although he sprang from the bottom and came up like a cork to the surface. He planned to lie flat on the water and strike out with his arms and thrash with his legs. Keeping that in mind he decided to jump when he hit the bottom. However when he attempted to jump, it made no difference. His helplessness made him shiver with fright. His limbs refused to move as if he was paralyzed, he tried in vain to call for help.

Question 7.
Where did Douglas find himself when he regained his memory?
Answer:
When Douglas’ repeated attempts to come out of water failed, he felt drowsy and lost consciousness. His next memory was of being carried. He got the feeling of floating in space and also felt tender arms lulling him to sleep.On regaining his consciousness, he found himself lying on the side of the pool on his stomach and vomiting. He recalled that the boy who threw him claimed that he was “only fooling”. He vividly heard someone giving instructions to carry him to the locker room.

Question 8.
How did the drowning experience affect Douglas?
Answer:
After the drowning experience, Douglas felt weak and was trembling as he walked home. That night he shook and cried in bed and could not eat. A haunting fear gripped his heart for days the slightest exertion upset him, made him unsteady in the knees and sick to his stomach. The experience affected him so adversely that he started dreading the sight of water and avoided it.

Question 9.
When did Douglas try to go into water again after the pool episode? What was the outcome?
Answer:
A few years after the misadventure in the pool, Douglas learnt of the waters of the Cascades. He tried to wade across the Tieton. He even attempted bathing in Warm Lake of the Goat Rocks. But all his attempts reminded him of the terrifying experience in the pool, and he would get paralyzed with fear.

Question 10.
How did the instructor “build a swimmer” out of Douglas?
Answer:
The instructor built a swimmer out of Douglas gradually. First he put a belt around him to which a rope was attached. The rope was hung through a pulley that ran on an overhead cable. He went into water holding on to one end of the rope. Three months later, the instructor taught Douglas to exhale under water. He also taught him to raise his head and inhale. The instructor taught him next to put his legs to use. With practice, he learned to coordinate his efforts and learnt to swim.

Question 11.
The instructor was satisfied but not the writer. Why?
Answer:
The instructor was satisfied with Douglas’ progress, but Douglas was still apprehensive about facing his fears alone. Although after about six months of training, the instructor felt he had succeeded in teaching Douglas the technique, Douglas felt differently. He wondered how he would react when alone in water. He, thus, attempted to swim alone but his old terror kept coming back. He decided to practise some more to overcome the fear.

Question 12.
How did Douglas make sure that he conquered the old terror?
Answer:
To conquer his old terror of water, Douglas went to Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire and swam for two miles across the lake to Stamp Act Island. He felt the old terror return but he confronted it and swam on. He practised the crawl, the breast stroke, side stroke, and back stroke. Then he swam across Warm Lake to the other shore and back. It was only then that he was sure of having conquered his fear of water.

Question 13.
What was the biggest lesson that the writer learnt during his swimming lessons?
Answer:
The biggest lesson that the writer learnt during his swimming lessons was the need to conquer his fear.
He learnt that in death there was peace but in terror there was the fear of death alone. The writer endorsed Roosevelt’s views: “All we have to fear is fear itself.” Being free from terror was being released.

Deep Water Long Answer Questions

Question 1.
Recount the experiences that made the writer terrified of water? How did he plan to overcome his fear?
Answer:
Two experiences made the writer terrified of water. As a child of three or four, he had gone with his father to a beach in California. They had been surfing and the waves knocked him down and swept over him.He remembered having felt buried in water and was gasping for breath. Later, when he was ten or eleven years old at the YMCA in Yakima, he was pushed into the pool by an older child. He had been saved from drowning but the experience had petrified him. The writer planned to overcome his fear by learning to swim in order to conquer his fear of water.

Question 2.
Why did Douglas’ second attempt to come out of the pool fail?
Answer:
Douglas’s second attempt to come out of the pool failed. As he sank to the bottom of the pool, the nine feet seemed like ninety. Before he touched the bottom of the pool, his lungs were ready to burst. Although Douglas mustered up all his strength and made a spring upwards, he came up slowly. On his way up, he saw nothing but dirty yellow water. He tried to latch on to something but he was surrounded by water. He felt suffocated and could not scream. As he reached up, his eyes and nose were out of the surface of water, but his mouth was still below the surface. His legs hung like dead weights and soon he sank back to the bottom of the pool.

Question 3.
When Douglas went down the third time, he could barely recall anything. What does he recall of the episode?
Answer:
When Douglas went down the third time, he remembered very little of it later. He saw nothing but dark water all around. It terrified him. Screams froze in his throat. He felt lifeless and the only sign of life was his beating heart and the pounding in his head. He was determined to push himself up when he hit the bottom but it made no difference.

He lost hope around that time. He shook and trembled with fright and his limbs were paralyzed. When he regained his consciousness next, he was lying on his stomach and vomiting. He overheard the boy who pushed him into the water claim that he was “only fooling.” Douglas also heard someone say that he had almost died. He was the carried into the locker room.

Question 4.
How did the instructor help Douglas learn swimming?
Answer:
Douglas’ instructor helped build him as into a swimmer. He did this bit by bit. Douglas practised with him five days a week, for an hour each day. Each day the instructor put a belt around his waist, attached to a rope that was strung through a pulley on an overhead cable. He held on to the end of the rope as Douglas swam. Initially, each time the instructor relaxed his hold, the old terror returned.

However, after three months the tension began to ease. The instructor also taught him to put his face under water and exhale, and to raise his nose and inhale till he had eventually learnt to put his head under water. His instructor held him at the side of the pool and had him kick with his legs. The stiffness of the legs gradually relaxed and finally he could command a use over them. Thus piece by piece, the instructor built him into a swimmer.

Question 5.
Why was Douglas not satisfied even after the instructor finished his job of teaching him to swim? How did he help himself?
Answer:
The instructor was satisfied once Douglas learnt to swim. But Douglas still had his apprehensions. He wondered if he would be terror-stricken when was alone in the pool. He tried swimming the length of the pool but was still terrified. He went to Lake Went worth in New Hampshire and also dived off a dock at Triggs Island. He swam two miles across the lake to Stamp Act Island; in the middle of the lake, he put his face under water. Although he was scared, he swam on. It was when he dived into the Warm Lake and was . able to swim across that he shouted with joy at having conquered his fear of water.

Deep Water Value Based Question

Question 1.
Often, the key to the cause of a certain fear or phobia is the same as the key to conquering it. How does the story “Deep Water” justify this?
Answer:
Douglas, the narrator, had been scared of water as a boy. As a child, he was terrified of getting into water. In his attempt to overcome his fear, he tried to learn swimming. At YMCA, he was hurled into the deepest part of the pool by a big strong boy. He was almost drowned, and thereafter he lived a life of overwhelming fear of water. He was so petrified that the sight of water made him sick. Consequently he lost out on various water sports such as fishing or canoeing. He decided to overcome the constricting dread and with grit and determination, he found an instructor who trained him to swim, bit by bit. He successfully overcame his fear and felt liberated. He put his grit and determination to test. The experience of overcoming his fear of water was life-changing for the narrator.

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 14 Ecosystem

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 14 Ecosystem

These Solutions are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 14 Ecosystem

Question 1.
Fill in the blanks
(a) Plants are called as ___ because they fix carbon dioxide.
(b) In an ecosystem dominated by trees, the pyramid (of numbers) is ___ type.
(c) In aquatic ecosystem, the limiting factor for the productivity is ___
(d) Common detritivores in our ecosystem are ____
(e) The major reservoir of carbon on earth is ___
Solution:
(a) producers
(b) inverted or spindle
(c) light
(d) saprotrophs
(e) oceans

Question 2.
Which one of the following has the largest population in a food chain?
(a) Producers
(b) Primary consumers
(c) Secondary consumers
(d) Decomposer’s
Solution:
(d) decomposer’s

Question 3.
The second trophic level in a lake is
(a) phytoplankton
(b) zooplankton
(c) benthos
(d) fishes.
Solution:
(b) zooplankton

Question 4.
Secondary producers are
(a) herbivores
(b) producers
(c) carnivores
(d) none of these
Solution:
(a) herbivores

Question 5.
What is the percentage of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), in the incident solar radiation.
(a) 100%
(b) 50%
(c) 1 – 5%
(d) 2 – 10%
Solution:
(b) 50%

Question 6.
Distinguish between
(a) Grazing food chain and detritus food chain
(b) Upright and inverted pyramid
(c) Litter and detritus
(d) Production and decomposition
(e) Food chain and food web
(f) Primary and secondary productivity
Solution:
(a) Differences between grazing food chain and detritus food chain are as follows
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 14 Ecosystem 6.1

(b) Differences between upright and inverted pyramids are as follows :
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 14 Ecosystem 6.2

(c) Differences between litter and detritus are as follows :
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 14 Ecosystem 6.3

(d) Differences between production and decomposition are as follows :
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 14 Ecosystem 6.4

(e) Differences between food chain and food web are as follows:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 14 Ecosystem 6.5

(f) Differences between primary productivity and secondary productivity are as follows :
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 14 Ecosystem 6.6

Question 7.
Describe the components of an ecosystem.
Solution:
Ecosystem: The system resulting from the interaction between organisms and their environment is called an ecosystem.
(a) Producers: Organisms, which can synthesize their own food are included under producers, e.g., Volvox, Pandorina, Oedogonium, Saggitaria, Utricularia, Azolla, Trapa, Lemna, Typha, Nymphaea etc. form the producer class of the pond ecosystem.

(b) Consumers:

  • Primary consumer: Animals, which feed on producers are included in this category e.g., Daphnia, Cyclops, Paramoecium, Amoeba, and small fishes.
  • Secondary consumers: Primary consumers also serve as food for water snakes, a few tortoises, few types of fish, etc. hence, these are carnivores.
  • Tertiary consumers: Secondary consumers also serve as food for aquatic birds like kingfishers, cranes, big fish and these together form a top-class carnivorous group and called tertiary consumers.

(c) Decomposers: All producers and consumers die and accumulate on the floor of the pond. Even the waste material and feces of these animals get accumulated on the floor of the pond. Similarly, the floor of the pond is also occupied by decomposers, which include bacteria and fungi. These decomposers decompose complex organic compounds of then- bodies into simpler forms which are finally mixed with the soil of the floor of ponds. These are again absorbed by the roots of producer plants and thus matter is recycled.

Question 8.
Define ecological pyramids and describe with examples, pyramids of number and biomass.
Solution:
An ecological pyramid is a graphic representation of an ecological parameter, as a number of individuals present in various trophic levels of a food chain with producers forming the base and top carnivores the tip. Ecological pyramids were developed by Charles Elton (1927) and are, therefore, also called Eltonian pyramids.

There are three types of ecological pyramids, namely,

  • Pyramid of numbers
  • Pyramid of biomass
  • Pyramid of energy

Pyramid of numbers: It is a graphic representation of the number of individuals per unit area of various trophic levels stepwise with producers at the base and top carnivores at the tip. In a grassland, the producers, which are mainly grasses, are always maximum in number. This number then shows a decrease towards the apex, as the primary consumers (herbivores) like rabbits, mice, etc. are lesser in number than the grasses; the secondary consumers, snakes, and lizards are lesser in number than the rabbits and mice. Finally, the top (tertiary) consumers hawks or other birds, are the least in number. Thus, the pyramid becomes upright.
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 14 Ecosystem 8.1

Pyramid of biomass: The amount of living organic matter (fresh and dry weight) is called biomass. Here, different trophic level of the ecosystem are arranged according to the biomass of the organisms. In grassland and forest, there is generally a gradual decrease in biomass of organisms at successive levels from the producers to the top carnivores. Thus these pyramids are upright. But in pond ecosystem, it is inverted because the biomass gradually increases from the producers to carnivores.
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 14 Ecosystem 8.2

Question 9.
What is primary productivity? Give a brief description of factors that affect primary productivity.
Solution:
The rate of biomass production is called productivity.
It is expressed in terms of g-2yr-1  or(Kcal-m-2) yr-1 to compare the productivity of ecosystems.
It can be divided into Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and Net Primary Productivity (NFP).

Gross Primary Productivity of an ecosystem is the rate of production of organic matter during photosynthesis. A considerable amount of GPP is utilized by plants in respiration.

Gross primary productivity minus respiration losses (R), is the Net Primary Productivity (NPP). GPP – R=NPP.
Primary productivity depends on:

  • The plant species inhabiting a particular area.
  • The environmental factors.
  • Availability of nutrients.
  • Photosynthetic capacity of plants.

Question 10.
Define decomposition and describe the processes and products of decomposition.
Solution:
Decomposition is the breakdown of dead or wastes organic matter by micro-organisms. Decomposition is both physical and chemical in nature. Processes involved in decomposition are – fragmentation, catabolism & leaching.

  • Fragmentation – The process primarily due to the action of detritus feeding invertebrate (detritivores) causes it to break into smaller particles. The detritus gets pulverized when passing through the digestive tracts of animals. Due to fragmentation, the surface area of detritus particles is greatly increased.
  • Catabolism – Enzyme degradation of detritus into simpler organic substances by bacteria and fungi.
  • Leaching – The process by which nutrients, chemicals, or contaminants are dissolved & carried away by water, or are moved into a lower layer of soil.

Various inorganic and organic substances are obtained by decomposition. Inorganic substances are obtained in the process of mineralization while organic substances are obtained in humification. A dark coloured amorphous substance called humus is formed by decomposition. Humus is highly resistant to microbial action & undergoes extremely slow decomposition. It serves as a reservoir of nutrients.

Question 11.
Give an account of energy flow in an ecosystem.
Solution:
Ecosystems require a constant input of energy as every component of an ecosystem is regularly dissipating energy.

Two laws of thermodynamics govern this flow of energy. According to the first law of thermodynamics, energy can be transferred as well as transformed but is neither created nor destroyed. According to the second law of thermodynamics, every activity involving energy transformation is accompanied by the dissipation of energy. Except for deep hydrothermal ecosystems, the source of energy in all ecosystems is solar energy. 50% of the solar energy incident over the earth is present in PAR (photosynthetically active radiation).

Energy flow in an ecosystem is always unidirectional or one way, i.e., solar radiation → producers → herbivores → carnivores. It cannot pass in the reverse direction. There is a decrease in the content and flow of energy with the rise in trophic level. Only 10% of energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next.
Producer biomass (1000 K cal) → Herbivore biomass (100 K cal) → Carnivore I biomass (10 Kcal) Carnivore II biomass (1 Kcal)
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 14 Ecosystem 11.1

Question 12.
Write important features of a sedimentary cycle in an ecosystem
Solution:
Sedimentary Biogeochemical cycle:- It is the circulation of a biogeochemical between the biotic and abiotic compound of an ecosystem is a nongaseous being lithosphere or sediments of the earth. Sedimentary cycles occur in the case of phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, etc.

Question 13.
Outline salient features of carbon cycling in an ecosystem.
Solution:
Carbon constitutes 49 percent of the dry weight of organisms and is next only to water. 71 percent of carbon is found dissolved in oceans. This ocean reservoir regulates the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Fossil fuels also represent a reservoir of carbon. Carbon cycling occurs through the atmosphere, ocean, and living and dead organisms. 4 x 1013 kg of carbon is fixed in the biosphere through photosynthesis annually.

A considerable amount of carbon returns to the atmosphere as Co2 through respiratory activities of the producers and consumers. Decomposers also contribute substantially to the CO2 pool by their processing of waste materials and dead organic matter of land or oceans. Some amount of fixed carbon is lost to sediments and removed from circulation. Burning of wood, forest fire and combustion of organic matter, fossil fuels, volcanic activity are additional sources for releasing Co2 into the atmosphere.

Human activities have significantly influenced the carbon cycle. Rapid deforestation and the massive burning of fossil fuels for energy and transport have significantly increased the rate of release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 14 Ecosystem 13.1

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NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Poem 2 An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

Here we are providing NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Poem 2 An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum. Students can get Class 12 English An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum NCERT Solutions, Questions and Answers designed by subject expert teachers.

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Poem 2

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum NCERT Text Book Questions and Answers

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Think it out 

Question 1.
Tick the item which best answers the following:

(a)“The tall girl with her head weighed down ” means The girl
(i) is ill and exhausted
(ii) has her head bent with shame
(iii) has untidy hair
Answer:
(i) is ill and exhausted

(b) “The paper-seeming boy, with rat’s eyes “ means The boy is
(i) sly and secretive
(ii) thin, hungry, and weak
(iii) unpleasant looking
Answer:
(ii) thin, hungry, and weak

(c) “The stunted, unlucky heir of twisted bones ” means The boy
(i) has an inherited disability
(ii) was short and bony
Answer:
(i) has an inherited disability

(d) “His eyes live in a dream, of squirrel’s game, in tree room, Other than this ” means The boy is
(i) full of hope about the future
(ii) mentally ill
(iii) distracted from the lesson
Answer:
(ii) mentally ill

(e) The children’s faces are compared to “rootless weeds ”
This means they
(i) are insecure
(ii) are ill-fed
(iii) are wasters
Answer:
(ii) are ill-fed

Question 2.
What do you think is the colour of “sour cream”? Why do you think the poet has used this expression to describe the classroom walls?
Answer:
The colour of “sour cream” is off-white or yellowish. The poet has used this expression to describe the classroom walls in order to underline the prevalent neglect. The dull colour and the suggested bitterness, echo the situation of the children.

Question 3.
The walls of the classroom are decorated with the pictures of Shakespeare, “buildings with domes”, “world maps”, and “beautiful valleys”. How do these contrast with the world of these children?
Answer:
The poet saw the lives of slum children as far removed from that which is represented in schoolbooks, maps, photographs of alpine valleys, pictures of buildings with domes and the bust of Shakespeare. The glories of the world filled the textbooks and their classroom walls but failed to liberate these children from the reality of their impoverished existence in the cramped waste of modem industrial towns. The pictures serve as a stark contrast to the lived reality of the children.

Question 4.
What does the poet want for the children of the slums? How can their lives be made to change?
Answer:
Stephen Spender, in this poem, questions the value of education in a slum. He appealed to the governors, teachers, inspectors and visitors to rescue the poor and oppressed from the “tomb” of class discrimination. The poet appeals to them to work towards the social and economic development of these children.

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extra Questions and Answers

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Short Answer Questions

Question 1.
Describe the three deprived children as described by Spender in the poem.
Answer:
Among the three deprived children described by Spender in the poem, the first is the tall girl with a “weighed-down head” signifying that she was mentally and physically exhausted. The second is the “paper- seeming boy” with frightened eyes. He was malnourished with twisted bones. The third is an unnoticed “sweet and young” boy whose eyes “live in a dream”.

Question 2.
Mention the characteristics of the slum children.
Answer:
The slum children are described as drained of energy; pale and thin. They are undernourished and unkempt like the “rootless weeds”. They are exhausted—mentally, physically and emotionally.

Question 3.
The first three stanzas spell a scene of dejection and despair. Justify.
Answer:
In the first stanza, the poet spells a scene of dejection and despair by using words such as the “rootless”,“stunted”, “twisted”, “gnarled”, “dim” and “diseased”. The poet speaks of the children’s faces as “rootless weeds”—unwanted, ugly and parasitic. They were unkempt and exhausted, sickly lean and like rodents. They had inherited their diseased bones from their parents. Their pitiable plight is reflected by equally dim and pathetic classrooms. They were doomed to be the “slag heap” of society like useless and unwanted “rubbish”.This antithetical imagery lends a contrast between the slum children and the subjects of their learning.

Question 4.
Contrast the imagery of the slum with donations on the wall.
Answer:
The slum is described as dark and dim where the children live on slag heap. They have a foggy future. The course of life for them is a narrow street with a lead sky that encloses on them. This is in contrast to the donations on the wall. Shakespeare’s head symbolizes an enlightened mind and the cloudless bright skies and the Tyrolese valley are contrasted with the foggy environment of the slum. The donations talk both of beauty and progress, while the slum is regressive.

Question 5.
What do “sour cream walls” symbolize?
Answer:
The “sour cream walls” symbolize the unkempt walls where the paint is yellowing and has lost lustre. Metaphorically, it reflects the despondent look of the students as well as the bitter life of the slum children.

Question 6.
Who can change the lives of the slum children and how?
Answer:
An enlightened person like a governor, inspector, or visitor can transform the lives of the slum children. These educated minds can liberate the imprisoned minds of the children. The poet then visualizes liberated children running on the “gold sands” and delving into the books. Their mind will be empowered and enlightened like the sun.

Question 7.
Discuss the use of metaphors in the poem.
Answer:
The poem uses a lot of comparisons or metaphors. The “gusty waves” symbolize the energy that ought to be found in children. The image of the fog is an implied comparison with the bleak future of children; for this purpose the poet uses the words “painted with a fog” and closed down with a “lead sky”. The children live “from fog to endless night” and for them “time and space are foggy slum”. The exposure to education and liberation of the mind is compared to being shown “green fields” and allowed to run “azure on gold sands”.
Being empowered and enlightened is being like the sun.

Question 8.
The poem dwells on squalor but ends on an optimistic note. Discuss.
Answer:
The poem dwells on squalor but ends on an optimistic note. The imprisoned minds and lives will be released from their bondage when “governor, inspector, visitor” come to their rescue. They will be free from the “tomb” of class prejudice and are visualized as liberated children running on the “gold sands”, exploring the realms of knowledge. They will also be liberated from the shackles of poverty.

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Value Based Question

Question 1.
The poem exposes the widespread neglect of children of all nationalities, races, and ethnicities. The poet pleads for equal opportunity for education thereby appealing to the people to be more sensitive to their needs. Justify.
Answer:
The poet pleads for social justice so as to provide equal opportunity for education to children of all social strata. He pities the miserable plight of the classroom in the slum that offers little hope for change or progress for its students. The poem provides a clear, dreary depiction of the students in the classroom. The poverty and social injustice imposed upon the children causes them to be “weighed-down,” “paper-seeming,” diseased and “twisted.” Through the poignant imagery, the poet expresses his outrage at the insensitive attitude of the rich and the privileged, towards the unfortunate children of the slum school.

The poem also highlights the importance of education and how it should touch the lives of the downtrodden society. Empowered by education, these children, according to the poet, can achieve a mental prowess that will free them from futures “painted with a fog”. He views education as a means of bringing about social . change and uprooting poverty. He wishes for the divide between the rich and the poor to disappear so that no childhood is lost in the gloomy darkness of the ignorance in the slums.

Give examples from the poem of the following poetic devices.

Antithesis
Contrast between the “rootless”, “stunted”, “twisted”, “gnarled”, “dim” and “diseased” lives of the slum children with that represented in schoolbooks, maps, photographs of alpine valleys, or a bust of Shakespeare.

Repetition
(a) “Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.”
(b) “Break O break open ‘till they break the town.”

Simile
(a) “.. .children’s faces/Like rootless weeds”
(b) “With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.”

Metaphor
(a) “The paper-seeming boy, with rat’s eyes.”
(b) “these windows, not this world, are world,”
(c) “future painted with fog”
(d) “A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky,”
(e) “From fog to endless night”

Irony
“Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, and the map a bad example”

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics. Here we have given. NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current

Board CBSE
Textbook NCERT
Class Class 12
Subject Physics
Chapter Chapter 7
Chapter Name Alternating Current
Number of Questions Solved 26
Category NCERT Solutions

Question 1.
A 100 Ω resistor is connected to a 220 V, 50 Hz ac supply.
(a) What is the rms value of current in the circuit?
(b) What is the net power consumed over a full cycle?
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 1
Question 2.
(a) The peak voltage of an a.c. supply is 300 V. What is the rms voltage?
(b) The rms value of current in an ac circuit is 10 A. What is the peak current?
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 2
Question 3.
A 44 mH inductor is connected to 220 V, 50 Hz ac supply. Determine the rms value of the current in the circuit.
Answer:
Here, reactance XL = 2 Πv L = 2Π X 50 x 44 x 10-3
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 3

Question 4.
A 60 μF capacitor is connected to a 110 V, 60 Hz ac supply. Determine the RMS value of the current in the circuit.
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 4

Question 5.
In Exercise 7.3 and 7.4, what is the net power absorbed by each circuit over a complete cycle? Explain your answer.
Answer:
In the case of an ideal inductor or capacitor, there is no power loss.

Question 6.
Obtain the resonant frequency ωr of a series LCR circuit with L =2.0 H, C = 32 μF and R = 10 Ω. What is the Q-value of this circuit?
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 5

Question 7.
A charged 30 μF capacitor is connected to a 27 mil inductor. What is the angular frequency of free oscillations of the circuit ?
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 6

Question 8.
Suppose the initial charge on the capacitor in Exercise 7.7 is 6 mC. What is the total energy stored in the circuit initially? What is the total energy at later time?
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 7
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 8
At a later time, energy is shared between capacitor and inductor, However, the total energy remains the same, provided there is no loss of energy.

Question 9.
A series LCR circuit with R = 20 Ω, L = 1.5 H and C = 35 μF is connected to a variable-frequency 200 V ac supply. When the frequency of the supply equals the natural frequency of the circuit, what is the average power transferred to the circuit in one complete cycle?
Answer:
At natural frequency
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 9

Question 10.
A radio can tune over the frequency range of a portion of the MW broadcast band : (800 kHz to 1200 kHz). If its LC circuit has an effective inductance of 200 pH, what must be the range of its variable capacitor?
[Hint. For tuning, the natural frequency i.e., the frequency of free oscillations for the LC circuit should be equal to the frequency of the radio wave.]
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 10
Thus, the range of the variable capacitor must be 88 pF to 198 pF.

Question 11.
Figure shows a series LCR circuit connected to a variable frequency 230 V source. L = 5.0 H, C = 80 μF, R = 40 Cl.
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 11
(a) Determine the source frequency which drives the circuit in resonance.
(b) Obtain the impedance of the circuit and the amplitude of current at the resonating frequency.
(c) Determine the rms potential drops across the three elements of the circuit. Show that the potential drop across the LC combination is zero at the resonating frequency. (C.B.S.E. 1994, 1998, 2006)
Answer:
(a) Resonant angular frequency,
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 12

Question 12.
An LC circuit contains a 20 mH inductor and a 50 μF capacitor with an initial charge of 10 mC. The resistance of the circuit is negligible. Let the instant the circuit is closed be t = 0.
(a) What is the total energy stored initially? Is it conserved during LC oscillations?
(b) What is the natural frequency of the circuit?
(c) At what time is the energy stored:
(i) completely electrical (i.e., stored in the capacitor)?
(ii) completely magnetic (i.e., stored in the inductor)?
(d) At what times is the total energy shared equally between the inductor and the capacitor?
(e) If a resistor is inserted in the circuit, how much energy is eventually dissipated as heat? (C.B.S.E. Sample Paper 1998)
Answer:
(a) Total initial energy
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 13
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 14
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 15
(e) Total initial energy of 1 J will be lost as heat due to Joule’s heating effect in the resistor.

Question 13.

A coil of inductance 0.50 H and resistance 100 Ω is connected to a 240 V, 50 Hz ac supply.
(a) What is the maximum current in the coil?
(b) What is the time lag between the voltage maximum and the current maximum?
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 16
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 17

Question 14.

Obtain the answers (a) to (b) in Exercise 7.13 if the circuit is connected to a high-frequency supply (240 V, 10 kHz). Hence, explain the statement that at very high frequency, an inductor in a circuit nearly amounts to an open circuit. How does an inductor behave in a dc circuit after the steady-state?
Answer:
For the given high frequency, ω = 2 Π v = 2 Π x 104 rad s-1
I0, in this case, is too small, so it can be concluded that at high frequencies an inductor behaves as on an open circuit.
In a steady d.c. circuit v = 0, so the inductor acts as a simple conductor.

Question 15.
A 100 μF capacitor in series with a 40 Ω resistance is connected to a 110 V, 60 Hz supply.
(а)    What is the maximum current in the circuit?
(b)  What is the time lag between the current maximum and the voltage maximum?
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 18
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 20
Question 16.
Obtain the answers to (a) and (b) in Exercise 7.15 if the circuit is connected to a 110 V, 12 kHz supply. Hence, explain the statement that a capacitor is a conductor at very high frequencies. Compare this behavior with that of a capacitor in a dc circuit after the steady-state.
Answer
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 21

embed=”true”>or n is nearly zero at high frequency. In part (a) C term is negligible at a high frequency so it acts like a resistor. For a steady d. c. we have v like

Question 17.
Keeping the source frequency equal to the resonating frequency of the series LCR circuit, if the three elements. L, C, and R are arranged in parallel, show that the total current in the parallel LCR circuit is minimum at this frequency. Obtain the current rms value in each branch of the circuit for the elements and source specified in Exercise 7.11 for this frequency.
Answer:
In the case of parallel LCR circuit, impedance is given by,
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 22
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 23

Question 18.
A circuit containing an 80 mF inductor and a 60 μF capacitor in series is connected to a 230 V, 50 Hz supply. The resistance of the circuit is negligible.
(a) Obtain the current amplitude and rms values.
(b) Obtain the rms values of potential drops across each element.
(c) What is the average power transferred to the inductor?
(d) What is the average power transferred to the capacitor?
(e) What is the total average power absorbed by the circuit?
[‘Average’ implies ‘averaged over one cycle’.]
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 24
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 25

Question 19.
Suppose the circuit in Exercise 7.18 has a resistance of 15 Ω. Obtain the average power transferred to each element of the circuit, and the total power absorbed.
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 26

Question 20.
A series LCR circuit with L = 0.12 H, C = 480 nF, R = 23 Ω is connected to a 230 V variable frequency supply.
(a) What is the source frequency for which current amplitude is maximum. Obtain this maximum value.
(b) What is the source frequency for which the average power absorbed by the circuit is maximum. Obtain the value of this maximum power.
(c) For which frequencies of the source are the power transferred to the circuit half the power at resonant frequency? What is the current amplitude at these frequencies?
(d) What is the Q-factor of the given circuit? (C.B.S.E. 1992 )
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 27
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 28
Question 21.
Obtain the resonant frequency and Q-factor of a series LCR circuit with L = 3.0 H, C = 27 μF, and R = 7.4 Ω. It is desired to improve the sharpness of the resonance of the circuit by reducing its ‘full width at half maximum’ by a factor of 2. Suggest a suitable way.
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 29
Question 22.
Answer the following questions :
(a) In any ac circuit, is then applied instantaneous voltage equal to the algebraic sum of the instantaneous voltages across the series elements of the circuit? Is the same true for rms voltage?
(b) A capacitor is used in the primary circuit of an induction coil.
(c) An applied voltage signal consists of a superposition of a dc voltage and an ac voltage of high frequency. The circuit consists of an inductor and a capacitor in series. Show that the dc signal will appear across C and the ac signal across L.
(d) A choke coil in series with a lamp is connected to a dc line. The lamp is seen to shine brightly. Insertion of an iron core in the choke causes no change in the lamp’s brightness. Predict the corresponding observations if the connection is to an ac line.
(e) Why is choke coil needed in the use of fluorescent tubes with ac mains? Why can we not use an ordinary resistor instead of the choke coil?
Answer:
(a) Yes, the applied instantaneous voltage is equal to the algebraic sum of the instantaneous voltages across the series elements of the circuit. It is because voltages across different elements are not in phase.
It is not true for rms voltages. It is because rms voltages across different elements are not in phase with each other.

(b) At the break, a large induced emf is produced. In case the capacitor is not connected, sparking will take place. But when the capacitor is used, the large induced emf produced at break is used up in charging the capacitor and no sparking takes place.

(c)
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 30
For d.c., XL = 0, therefore, XL = 0 and Xc = oo. Hence, d.c. signal appears across capacitor.For high frequency a.c., XL → High and Xc → 0. Hence, a.c. signal appears across inductor.

(d) When a choke coil in series with a lamp is connected to a d.c. line, L has no effect on the steady value of the current. Therefore, the brightness of the lamp is not affected by the insertion of the iron core in the choke. On a.c. line, the lamp will shine dimly due to the impedance of the choke coil. The brightness of the lamp will further go dim on the insertion of an iron core, which increases the impedance of the choke coil.

(e) The choke coil is used to reduce the current. As its power factor is zero, it reduces the current without wasting the power. If an ordinary resistor is used instead of a choke coil, ft will waste power in the form of heat.

Question 23.
A power transmission line feeds input power at 2300 V to a step-down transformer with its primary windings having 4000 turns. What should be the number of turns in the secondary in order to get output power at 230 V? (C.B.S.E. 1997)
Answer:

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 31

Question 24.
At a hydroelectric power plant, the water pressure head is at a height of 300 m and the water flow available is 100 m3s-1. If the turbine generator efficiency is 60%, estimate the electric power available from the plant (g = 9.8 ms-2).
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 32
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 33

Question 25.
A small town with a demand of 800 kW of electric power at 220 V is situated 15 km away from an electric plant generating power at 440 V. The resistance of the two wirelines carrying power is 0.5 Q per km. The town gets power from the line through a 4000-220 V step-down transformer at a sub-station in the town.
(a) Estimate the line power loss in the form of heat.
(b) How much power must the plant supply, assuming there is negligible power loss due to leakage?
(c) Characterise the step-up transformer at the plant.(C.B.S.E. Sample Paper 2003)
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 34

Question 26.
Do the same exercise as above with the replacement of the earlier transformer by a 40,000 – 220 V step-down transformer (Neglect, as before, leakage losses though this may not be a good assumption any longer because of the very high voltage transmission involved). Hence, explain why high voltage transmission is preferred.
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 7 Alternating Current 35

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NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 3 Kinship, Caste and Class Early Societies

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 3 Kinship, Caste and Class Early Societies are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 3 Kinship, Caste and Class Early Societies.

Board CBSE
Textbook NCERT
Class Class 12
Subject History
Chapter Chapter 3
Chapter Name Kinship, Caste and Class Early Societies
Number of Questions Solved 9
Category NCERT Solutions

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 3 Kinship, Caste and Class Early Societies

Question 1
Explain why patriliny may have been particularly important among elite families.
Solution :
Patriliny means tracing descent from father to son, grandson and so on. While ; patriliny had existed prior to the composition of the Mahabharata, its central story reinforced the idea that it was valuable. It was important among elite and ruling families to avoid conflicts over land, power and resources including the throne in the case of kings of their fathers when the latter died as had happened between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, who belonged to a single ruling family.

There were, however, variations in practice. Sometimes if there were no sons, brothers succeeded one another. Sometimes other kinsmen claimed the throne, and in very exceptional ; circumstances, women such as Prabhavati Gupta exercised power.

Question 2.
Discuss whether kings in early states invariably were Kshatriyas.
Solution :
As per the Dharmashastra, only Kshatriyas were supposed to be the kings. But it was also to be noted that many important ruling lineages perhaps had different origins. Mauryas were considered Kshatriyas by many people. Some Brahmanical texts described Mauryas as of low origin. The Shungas and Kanvas who were immediate successors of the Mauryas were Brahmanas. In fact those sections of the society controlled the political power which enjoyed support and resources. It did not depend on the question of being bom as Kshatriya.

There were other rulers like Shakas who came from Central Asia. But the Brahmanas considered them as mlechchhas, barbarians and outsiders. Similarly, Gotami-putra Satkami, the best known ruler of the Satavahana dynasty, became a destroyer of the pride of kshatriyas. This we see that the Satavahanas claimed to be Brahmanas whereas the Brahmanas were of the opinion that the king should be Kshatriyas.

Question 3.
Compare and contrast the dharma or norms mentioned in the stories of Drona, Hidimba and Matanga.
Solution :
(a) The following principles of dharma or norms have been mentioned in the stories of Drona, Hidimba and Matanga:

  • Story of Drona : To teach Kshatriyas only, to take fee or guru dakshina from the pupils, and to keep his words.
  • Story of Hidimba : Marriage of Bhima with Hidimba against the principles of marriage.
  • Story of Matanga : To treat chandalas at the very bottom of the hierarchy of vamas due to handling of corpses and dead animals and treating them as “polluting” by those who claimed to be at the top of the social order.

(b) In all the three stories the dharma or norms as mentioned in the Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras have been violated in one way or the other. In case of Drona, he refused to have Ekalavya as his pupil because he was a forest dwelling nishada who did not fit into the fourfold varna system. It was considered a jati. Ekalavya acquired great skill in archery that was perhaps better than Arjuna before the image of Drona. He acknowledged Drona as his teacher. So, when Drona approached him and asked for his right thumb as his fee, he did not hesitate and offered it to his teacher. This shows that Drona followed a double standard towards Ekalavya. He refused to treat him as his pupil but in order to keep his words that no one would be better than Aijuna, he demanded the right thumb from Ekalavya as his fee. It was against the principles of morality.

In case of Hidimba, Yudhisthira agreed to the marriage conditionally. After giving birth to a rakshasa son, the mother and son left the Pandavas. This was in violation of the norms for marriages because rakshasa were the people whose practices differed from those laid down in Brahmanical texts.

In case of Matanga, on his first encounter with Dittha Mangalika, he was beaten as she had seen something inauspicious. Later on Matanga attained spiritual powers and married her. They had a son named Mandavya Kumara who treated Matanga unworthy of alms and treated him badly. When Mangalika learnt about the incident, she sought his forgiveness. This story shows that chandalas were regarded as “polluting”. At the same time this proves that they did not accept the life of degradation prescribed in the Shastra. Matanga attained spiritual powers. He gave a bit of the leftover from his bowl to Dittha Mangalika and asked her to give it to Mandavya and Brahmans which hint that occasionally the social realities were different from the Brahmanical texts. The above stories reflect the realities of social condition of that period.

Question 4.
In what ways was the Buddhist theory of a social contract different from the Brahmanical view of a society derived from the Purusha Sukta?(VBQ)
Solution :
The Purusha Sukta of the Rig Veda says that the four Vamas emerged because of the sacrifice of Purusha, the primeval man. The four vamas were Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. These Vamas had different jobs. The Brahmanas had supreme position in the society. They were also considered as teachers. Kshatriyas were considered warriors. They also ran the administration. The Vaishyas were the masters of trade. The Shudras were at the lowest strata. Their duty was to serve the above three vamas. Under this Brahmanical system, birth was the only criteria to judge the status and prestige in the society.

But the Buddhisftheory of a social contract was different. As per the Buddhist concept, there was inequality in society. But they also opined that this inequality was neither natural nor permanent. They did not favour the idea of birth being the criteria of social status.

Question 5.
The following is an excerpt from the Mahabharata, in which Yudhisthira, the eldest Pandava, speaks to Sanjaya, a messenger :
Sanjaya, convey my respectful greetings to all the Brahmanas and the chief priest of the house of Dhritarashtra. I bow respectfully to teacher Drona… I hold the feet of our preceptor Kripa … (and) the chief of the Kurus, the great Bhishma. I bow respectfully to the old king (Dhritarashtra). I greet and ask after the health of his son Duryodhana and his younger brother .. Also greet all the young Kuru warriors who are our brothers, sons and grandsons … Greet above all him, who is to us like father and mother, the wise Vidura (bom of a slave woman)… bow to the elderly ladies who are known as our mothers. To those who are our wives you say this, “I hope they are well-protected” … Our daughters-in-law bom of good families and mothers of children greet on my behalf. Embrace for me those who are our daughters … The beautiful, fragrant, well-dressed courtesans of ours you should also greet. Greet the slave women and their children, greet the aged, the maimed (and) the helpless …

Try and identify the criteria used to make this list – in terms of age, gender, kinship ties. Are there any other criteria ? For each category, explain why they are placed in a particular position in the list.
Solution :
(a) The list has been prepared on the following basis and order. The criteria used for each category has been mentioned against them :
(b) From the above list it is clear that each category has been placed keeping in view the age, gender and kinship ties as well as their varnas. Slave women and aged, the maimed and the helpless have been placed in the last two categories.

Question 6.
This is what a famous historian of Indian literature, Maurice Wintemitz, wrote about the Mahabharata : “just because the Mahabharata represents more of an entire literature … and contains so much and so many kinds of things. … (it) gives(s) us an insight into the most profound depths of the soul of the Indian folk.” Discuss.
Solution :
The above statement of Maurice Wintemitz about the Mahabharata seems to be correct because it is one of the richest texts of the subcontinent. It is a colossal epic running in

its present form into over 100,000 verses with depictions of a wide range of social categories and situations. It was composed over a period of about 1000 years and some of the stories it contains may have been in circulation even earlier. The text also contains sections laying down norms of behaviour for various social groups. Occasionally, the principal characters seem to follow these norms. Over the centuries, versions of the epic were written in a variety of languages. Several stories that originated in specific regions or circulated among certain people found their way into the epic. The central story of the epic was often retold in different ways. Its episodes have been depicted in sculpture and painting. They also provided themes for a wide range of performing arts – plays, dance, and other kinds of narrations. Its central story describes a feud over land and power between two groups of cousins. It reinforces the principle of patriliny. It mentions rules of marriage too. Thus, it is correct that it contains so many things and gives us an insight into the most profound depths of the soul of the Indian folk.

Question 7.
Discuss whether the Mahabharata could have been the work of a single author.
Solution :

  1. The Mahabharata could not have been the work of a single author because a text which initially perhaps had less than 10,000 verses grew to comprise about 100,000 verses. This enormous composition is traditionally attributed to a sage named Vyasa. There is also a tradition that Vyasa dictated the text to the deity Ganesha.
  2. The original story was probably composed by charioteer-bards known as sutas who generally accompanied Kshatriya warriors to the battlefields. They used to compose poems celebrating their victories and other achievements. These compositions circulated orally.
  3. Then from the fifth century BCE, Brahmanas began to commit it to writing.
  4. This was the time when the Kurus and Panchalas became kingdoms and perhaps the new kings wanted their itihas to be recorded and preserved systematically. Social values were often replaced by new norms and these have been mentioned in the Mahabharata.
  5. The next stage was between 200 BCE and 200 CE when worship of Vishnu grew in importance and Krishna was identified with Vishnu.
  6. Between 200 and 400 CE, large didactic sections resembling Manusmriti were added. Thus, the epic was neither written by one author nor was it written during one period.

Question 8.
How important were gender differences in early societies? Give reasons for your answer.
Solution :
It is seen that in early societies families were generally patriliny. Patriliny means tracing descent from father to son and to grandson and so on. Matriliny family was k generally not in use. But exception was also available. As exception, Satavahanas of Andhra can be mentioned. Historical sources mention the name of some rulers from inscriptions associated with the names of the mothers of the king. As Gotami-putra means’ son of Gotami’. Gotami and Vasistha are the feminines of Gotama and Vasistha. Sons were considered important for the continuity of the family. Attitudes towards daughter were different. They had no claims towards the resources of the household. But marrying them into the families outside the kin was considered desirable. This system of marriage was called exogamy. According to this system, the lives of the young ‘girls and women belonged to those families which claimed that high status were often carefully regulated to ensure that they were married at the right time and to the right person. This gave rise to the tradition that in marriage Kanyadana was an important religious duty of the father.

After marriage women were supposed to give up their father’s gotra and adopt their husband’s.As per Manusmriti, the paternal state was to be divided equally amongst sons after the death of parents, with a special share for the eldest. Women were not given any share
in this state.

But women were allowed to keep the gifts with themselves which they received at the [ time of their marriage. This was called stridhana. This could be inherited by. their children and the husband had no claim over it. But at the same time Manusmriti also told women not to hoard family property or even their own valuables without the permission of their husband.
In fact, social differences were sharpened because ofthe differences in access of resources.Many texts suggest that while upper class women may have access to resources but l and, cattle, money were generally controlled by the men. Vakataka queen Prabhavati Gupta was a rich woman.

Question 9.
Discuss the evidence that suggests that Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and marriage were not universally followed.
Solution :
The following evidence suggests that Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and marriage were not universally followed :

  1. Change in kinship relations : There was change in kinship relations. For example, the Mahabharata is a story of a feud over land and power between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Ultimately, the conflict ended in a battle, in which the Pandavas emerged victorious.
  2. Patriliny : Patriliny means tracing descent from father to son, grandson and so on. But there were variations in practice. Sometimes, if there were no sons, brothers succeeded one another. Sometimes other kinsmen claimed the throne. In very exceptional circumstances, women such as Prabhavati Gupta exercised power.
  3. Marriages : The Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras recognised as many as eight forms of marriage. Of these, the first four were considered as “good” while the remaining were condemned. These were perhaps practised by those who did not accept Brahmanical norms.
  4. Gotra of women : According to Brahmanical practice, women were expected to give up their father’s gotra and adopt that of their husband on marriage and members of the same gotra could not marry. This was not followed universally. For example, names of many women who married Satavahana rulers had been derived from gotras such as Gotama and Vasistha, their father’s gotras. They did not adopt their husband’s gotra. Not only this, some of them belonged to the same gotra that was against exogamy. The system of endogamy or marriage within the kin group was too prevalent among several communities in south India.

We hope the NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 3 Kinship, Caste and Class Early Societies help you. If you have any query regarding NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 3 Kinship, Caste and Class Early Societi

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 10 Microbes in Human Welfare

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 10 Microbes in Human Welfare

These Solutions are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 10 Microbes in Human Welfare

Question 1.
Bacteria cannot be seen with the naked eyes, but these can be seen with the help of a microscope. If you have to carry a sample from your home to your biology laboratory to demonstrate the presence of microbes under a microscope, which sample would you carry and why?
Solution:
Curd. It is simple to carry and easily demonstrate the presence of Lactobacillus bacteria.

Question 2.
Give examples to prove that microbes release gases during metabolism.
Solution:

  • Making of dough for bread, dosa, and idli with the help of fermenting microbes. Heat expels the gases and makes the food spongy.
  • Production of biogas

Question 3.
In which food would you find lactic acid bacteria? Mention some of their useful applications.
Solution:
Curd. LAB (Lactic Acid Bacteria) produce acids that coagulate and partially digest the milk protein. LAB also play very beneficial role in the stomach to check disease-causing microbes.

Question 4.
Name some traditional Indian foods made of wheat, rice, and Bengal gram (or their products) which involve use of microbes.
Solution:
Idli, Dhokla, Dosa. Several food items such as dosa, idli, jalebi and bread are prepared by fermentation process in which one or more kinds of microbes are used.

Question 5.
In which way have microbes played a major role in controlling diseases caused by harmful bacteria?
Solution:
Microbes are very useful to combat disease-causing harmful bacteria. A number of antibiotics have been isolated from microorganisms. An antibiotic is a substance which in low concentration inhibits the growth and metabolic activity of pathogenic organisms without harming the host. Penicillin was the first antibiotic to be discovered by Alexander Fleming from fungus Penicillium notation. Antibiotics are obtained from lichens, fungi, eubacteria, and actinomycetes. Some common antibiotics and their sources are as follows :

  1. Polymyxin – Bacillus polymyxa
  2. Chloramphenicol – Streptomyces venezuelae
  3. Neomycin – Streptomyces fradiae
  4. Tetracycline (Terramycin) – Streptomyces rimosus
  5. Cephalosporin – Cephalosporium acremonium

Question 6.
Name any two species of fungus, which are used in the production of the antibiotics
Solution:
Penicillium notatum provides antibiotic penicillin and antibiotic fumagillin is obtained from Aspergillus fumigatus.

Question 7.
What is sewage? In which way can sewage be harmful to us?
Solution:
The wastewater containing large amounts of organic matter and microbes is called sewage. The sewage contains many harmful pathogens. It will pollute the natural water bodies like rivers and streams if it is released into them. This will in turn cause the spreading of many communicable diseases which are transmitted through contaminated food and water.

Question 8.
What is the key difference between primary and secondary sewage treatment?
Solution:
Primary (1°) treatment is a physical process that involves for removal of particulate as settleable particles. Secondary (2°) treatment is purely a biological treatment involving microbial oxidation.

Question 9.
Do you think microbes can also be used as a source of energy? If yes, how?
Solution:

Biogas is a mixture of gas containing methane, hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide. Methane is the predominant gas. It is produced by microbial activity and is used as a source of energy. The types of gases produced depend upon the types of organic materials they (microbes) use. The bacteria grow anaerobically on cellulose, produce a large amount of meth­ane along with hydrogen and carbon dioxide. These bacteria are collectively called methanogens.

One of the common methanogens is Methanobacterium. Methanogens are commonly found in sewage. They are also found in the rumen (a chamber of the compound stomach) of cattle where a large amount of cellulosic food is present. These bacteria help in the breakdown of cellu­lose and thus play a vital role in digestion (symbiotic digestion). Thus, the excreta (dung) of cattle, commonly called gobar can be used for the produc­tion of biogas and hence called gobar gas.

Question 10.
Microbes can be used to decrease the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Explain how this can be accomplished.
Solution:
Due to its hazardous nature and anti-environmental effect the use of chemical fertilisers and chemical insecticides are very illegitimate. The development of biofertilisers and bioinsecticides has enabled us to reduce the use of chemical fertilisers and chemical insecticides. Microbes are very important biological agents as biofertilisers and biopesticides.
Microbes as biofertilisers

  1. Free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria – Azotobactcr, Clostridium.
  2. Free-living nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria – Anabaena, Nostoc.
  3. Symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria – Rhizobium
  4. Symbiotic nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria – Azolla – Anabaena
  5. Mycorrhiza – symbiotic association between fungi and roots of a higher plant.

Microbes as bio-pesticides:
Biopesticides are that biological agents that are used to control weeds, insects, and pathogens. The microorganisms used as biopesticides are viruses, bacteria, protozoa, fungi, and mites. Some of the biopesticides are being used at a commercial scale. Most important example is the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Spores of this bacterium produce the insecticidal Cry protein. This bacterium was the first biopesticide to be used on a commercial scale in the world. Through the use of genetic engineering, the scientists have introduced the B. thuringiensis toxin gene into plants. Such plants are resistant to attack by insect pests.

Question 11.
Three water samples namely river water, untreated sewage water and secondary effluent discharged from a sewage treatment plant were subjected to BOD test. The samples were labelled A, B and C; but the laboratory attendant did not note which was which. The BOD values of the three samples A, B and C were recorded as 20mg/L, 8mg/L and 400mg/L, respectively. Which sample of the water is most polluted? Can you assign the correct label to each assuming the river water is relatively clean?
Solution:
If the BOD level of A, B and C are 20 mg/L, 8 mg/L and 400 mg/L, the /most polluted one is sample ‘C’ i.e., untreated sewage water. Sample B is the least polluted and it is river water. Sample A is secondary effluent discharged from a treatment plant.

Question 12.
Find out the name of the microbes from which Cyclosporin A (an immunosuppressive drug) and Statins (blood cholesterol-lowering agents) are obtained.
Solution:
Cyclosporin A – Trichoderma polysporum. Statin – Monascus purpureus.

Question 13.
Find out the role of microbes in the following:

  1. Single-cell protein (SCP)
  2. Soil

Solution:
1. Single-cell protein (SCP) is the protein extracted from cultivated microbial biomass. Edible mushrooms, yeast cells, and blue-green algae provide high protein resources with some medicinal effects. SCP is available in the forms of fresh cells, dry cells, tablets, or extracts.

2. The use of biological methods for controlling plant diseases and pests is called biocontrol. This method has been replaced by the indiscriminate use of chemicals used in the chemical control of pests. The chemicals used for killing pests are toxic and extremely harmful to men and domestic animals. They also pollute the environment and our crop plants.

Question 14.
Arrange the following in the decreasing order (most important first) of their importance, for the welfare of human society. Give reasons for your answer. Biogas, citric acid, penicillin and curd
Solution:
The correct order from viewpoint of human welfare should be as follows: Penicillin > biogas > citric acid > curd Penicillin is an antibiotic, which is used to combat pathogenic microorganisms. Today, we cannot imagine a world without antibiotics because antibiotics have greatly improved our capacity to treat deadly diseases such as plague, whooping cough (kali khansi), diphtheria (gal ghotu) and leprosy (kusht rog), which used to kill millions of people all over the globe. It should be given first priority.

As we are going to face a great crisis of fossil fuels in near future, biogas can be the legitimate and brilliant alternative to fossil fuels. It can be used as fuel for heating, cooking, lighting, power for irrigation and other purposes. It is considered an eco-friendly and pollution-free energy source.
Citric acid is produced through the fermentation carried out by Aspergillus niger on many carbohydrates. Citric acid is used in medicines, dyeing, mirror silvering, manufacture of ink, flavouring and preservation of food and candies.

Curd is prepared by fermentation of milk. Fermentation agents are lactic acid bacteria. Curd is more nutritious than milk as it contains a number of vitamins and organic acids.

Question 15.
How do biofertilisers enrich the fertility of the soil?
Solution:
The use of biological methods for controlling plant diseases and pests is called biocontrol. This method has been replaced by the indiscriminate use of chemicals used in the chemical control of pests. The chemicals used for killing pests are toxic and extremely harmful to men and domestic animals. They also pollute the environment and our crop plants.

We hope the NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 10 Microbes in Human Welfare help you. If you have any query regarding NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology Chapter 10 Microbes in Human Welfare, drop a comment below and we will get back to you at the earliest.

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 1 Bricks, Beads and Bones The Harappan Civilisation

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 1 Bricks, Beads and Bones The Harappan Civilisation are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 1 Bricks, Beads and Bones The Harappan Civilisation.

Board CBSE
Textbook NCERT
Class Class 12
Subject History
Chapter Chapter 1
Chapter Name Bricks, Beads and Bones The Harappan Civilisation
Number of Questions Solved 9
Category NCERT Solutions

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 1 Bricks, Beads and Bones The Harappan Civilisation

Question 1.
List the items of food available to people in Harappan cities. Identify the groups who would have provided these.
Solution :
(a) The following items of food were available to people in Harappan cities : Wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea, sesame, millets, rice, fish, and goat.
(b)

  • Animals such as cattle, sheep, buffalo and pig were domesticated. So, they could get meat from these animals.
  • The evidence of a ploughed field at Kalibangan and knowledge of bull prove that harvesting was done by the Harappans.
  • Regarding hunting of wild animals such as boar, deer and gharial, there is no proof whether the Harappans hunted these animals themselves or obtained meat from other hunting communities.

Question 2.
How do archaeologists trace socio-economic differences in Harappan society? What are the differences that they notice?
Solution:
Following examples can be cited to show the existence of social and economic variations : in the Harappan society:
(i) Study of burials is one example. In the Harappan sites, the deads were usually laid in pits. There were differences in the Way burial pits were made. At some instances, the hollowed-out spaces were lined with bricks. But these may not be taken as an indication of social differences.
(ii) In some graves pottery and ornaments have been found. Jewellery has been found from the graves of men and women as well. These findings can point out social and economic differences. ‘
(iii) The artefacts have been classified into two categories, Utilitarian and Luxurious. Objects of daily uses and objects made of ordinary materials made of clay or stone come under utilitarian category. Ordinary articles consisted of querns, pottery, flesh-rubbers and needles. These have been found distributed throughout settlements.
(iv) Objects of luxuries were rare and made from precious, non-local materials. The technology used was advanced and complicated. Little pots of faience were considered precious. They were also not easy to make. These show the existence of social and economic variations in the Harappan society.

Question 3.
Would you agree that the drainage system in Harappan cities indicates town planning? Give reasons for your answer.
Solution :
The drainage system in Harappan cities indicates town planning as is clear from the following reasons :

  • It was planned drainage system. In the Lower Town, the roads and streets were laid out along an approximate “grid” pattern, intersecting at right angles.
  • It seems from the plan of the Lower Town that streets with drains were laid out first and then houses built along them.
  • The drains of every house were connected to the street drains. Very long drainage channels were provided at intervals with sumps for cleaning. Drainage system has been found in smaller settlements like Lothal.

Question 4.
List the materials used to make beads in the Harappan civilisation. Describe the process by which any one kind of bead was made.
Solution :
(a) The materials used to make beads in the Harappan civilisation were as given below:

  • Stones like carnelian of a beautiful red colour, jasper, crystal, quartz, and steatite;
  • Metals like copper, bronze, and gold;
  • Shell, faience, and terracotta or burnt clay.

(b)

  • The process or technique for making beads differed according to the material.
    For example, steatite, a very soft stone, was easily worked. Some beads were moulded out of a paste made with steatite powder. This permitted making a variety of shapes, unlike the geometrical form that were made out of harder stones.
  • Red colour of carnelian was obtained by firing the yellowish raw material and beads at various stages of production.
  • Nodules were chipped into rough shapes, and then finely flaked into the final form.
  • Grinding, polishing, and drilling completed the process.

Question 5.
Look at figure and describe what you see. How is the body placed? What are the objects placed near it? Are there any artefacts on the body? Do these indicate the sex of the skeleton?
Solution :
(a) A dead body has been laid in a pit.
(b) Some objects of pottery are placed near it.
(c) There seems to be some ornaments on body but these do not indicate the sex of the skeleton because jewellery has been found in burials of both men and women.
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 1 Bricks, Beads and Bones The Harappan Civilisation 1
Question 6.
Describe some of the distinctive features of Mohenj odaro.

Or

Describe the features that justify that Mohenjodaro was a planned urban cetnre.
Solution :
Some of the distinctive features of Mohenjodaro were as given below :

  1. Mohenjodaro is the most well known site. It was divided into two sections – one smaller but higher and the other much larger but lower. These are known as the Citadel and the Lower Town, respectively. Both the sections were walled.
  2. Several buildings were built on platforms which implies that the building activity was restricted on the platforms. It seems that the settlement was first planned and then implemented accordingly.
  3. The standardised ratio of bricks – sundried or baked – is also a sign of planning. The length and breadth of bricks were four times and twice the height, respectively.
  4. There was well-planned drainage system. The roads and streets were laid out along an approximate “grid” pattern, intersecting at right angles. It appears that streets with drains were laid down first and then houses built along them.
  5. Residential buildings were centered on a courtyard, with rooms on all sides. There were no windows in the walls along the ground level to have privacy. The main entrance too did not give a direct view of the courtyard.
  6. There was a bathroom in everyhouse. The drains were connected to the street drains.
  7. Some houses had staircases to reach a second story or the roof.

Question 7.
List the raw materials required for craft production in the Harappan civilisation and discuss how these might have been obtained.
Solution :

Following is the list of materials required for craft production in the Harappan Civilisation:
Stone, clay, copper, tin, bronze, gold, faience, shell, camelian, jasper, crystal, steatite, quartz, timber.
Some of the raw materials were locally available whereas some were purchased from the distant places. Soil and wood were locally available raw materials. Stones, fine quality wood, metals were procured from distant places.
Settlements of the Harappans were situated at such places where raw materials were easily available. Nageshwar and Balacot were famous for shell. Some places were famous for Lapis Lazuli like Shortughai in Afghanistan. Rajasthan and Gujarat were famous for copper. Lothal was famous for camelian.

Another way of obtaining raw material was sending expeditions to different places.
Evidences show that expedition was sent to Khetri region of Rajasthan for copper and to South India for Gold. Through these expeditions local communities were contacted. Harappan evidences found at these places indicate contacts between each other. Evidences found at Khetri region were given the name of Ganeshwar Jodhpura Culture by archaeologists. Huge reserves of copper products were found here. It is assumed that inhabitants of these area sent copper to Harappan people.

Question 8.
Discuss how archaeologists reconstruct the past.
Solution :
It is the material evidence by which the archaeologists reconstruct the past. This material could be pottery, tools, ornaments and household objects. It is done in the following ways:

  1. Classifying finds : The archaeologists classify their finds in terms of material, such as stone, clay, metal, bone, ivory, etc. and in terms of function i.e., an artefact is a tool or an ornament or both or something meant for ritual use.
  2. The archaeologists try to reconstruct religious practices because certain objects which seemed unusual or unfamiliar may have had a religious significance. For example, terracotta figurines of women, heavily jewelled, some with elaborate head dresses were regarded as mother goddesses.
  3. Religious beliefs and practices are reconstructed by examining seals, depicting ritual scenes, animals (one, horned animal) cross-legged yogic figure.
  4. Many reconstructions are made on the assumption that later traditions provide parallels with earlier ones because archaeologists move from present to the past. The example is ‘proto-Shiva’ seal which can be compared with Rudra mentioned in Rigveda.

Question 9.
Discuss the functions that may have been performed by rulers in Harappan society.
Solution :
The functions that may have been performed by rulers in Harappan society whereas mentioned below –

  1. There are indications of complex decisions being taken and implemented in Harappan society. For example, the extraordinary uniformity of Harappan artefacts as evident in seals, pottery, weights and bricks would have due the authority of the rulers. A large building has been found in Mohenjodaro. It might be a palace for the rulers. A stone statute has been labelled as ‘priest-king’. Thus, he may be a ruler who exercised authority for taking various decisions.
  2. Whether the ritual practices were performed by the ‘priest-king’ is not clear because these practices of Harappan civilisation are not well understood yet nor are there any means of knowing whether those who performed them also held political power.

We hope the NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 1 Bricks, Beads and Bones The Harappan Civilisation help you. If you have any query regarding NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Chapter 1 Bricks, Beads and Bones The Harappan Civilisation, drop a comment below and we will get back to you at the earliest.

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 2 The Tiger King

Here we are providing NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 2 The Tiger King. Students can get Class 12 English The Tiger King NCERT Solutions, Questions and Answers designed by subject expert teachers.

The Tiger King NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 2

The Tiger King NCERT Text Book Questions and Answers

The Tiger King Reading with insight

Question 1.
The story is a satire on the conceit of those in power. How does the author employ the literary device of dramatic irony in the story?
Answer:
The story is a poignant satire on the abuse of power by the people in powerful positions. The Maharaja, fearing the prophecy that he would meet his death from the hundredth tiger, launched a feverish hunt in the name of “self-defence”.The state banned tiger hunting by anyone except the Maharaja. He declared that the property of the person, who dared to hunt a tiger, would be confiscated. The king was all set to realise his ambition. He vowed to attend to other matters only after killing of a hundred tigers. In the process, he came close to losing his throne when he refused permission to a high-ranking British officer to hunt tigers in his state.

When there were no more tigers left in his kingdom, he married a girl of a state with a large tiger population. With the passage of time, tigers had become extinct even in his father-in-law’s kingdom. On hearing the news of a tiger in a village of his kingdom, the Maharaja whimsically announced a three- year exemption from all taxes for that village and set out on the hunt at once.

When the tiger was not found, many officers lost their jobs. He put his whole kingdom through misery, threatening to take away jobs and double the taxes, until he was presented with the hundredth tiger. Ironically, in spite of his frenzied initiative to negate the prophecy, he met with his death at the hands of a wooden, toy tiger. In this way, the hundredth ‘toy tiger’ took its final revenge upon the Tiger King.

Dramatic irony is employed in the ironical twist in the tale— ninety-nine tigers were killed in vain, and the king came under threat from a wooden toy tiger. There is also a great deal of irony in how contrary to the ferociousness of tigers, the hundredth tiger was old and fainted from the shock of the bullet whizzing past. The tale is a satire on the pompous Maharaja, who heartlessly killed a hundred tigers, only to meet his nemesis in a toy.

Question 2.
What is the author’s indirect comment on subjecting innocent animals to the wilfulness of human beings?
Answer:
Through the story “The Tiger King”, the writer puts across his view of condemning the killing of animals. The Maharaja, the protagonist of the story, scared of a prophecy, killed tigers mercilessly. The author also raises a contemporary concern of the present times—the extinction of wildlife due to human activities. Asserting the “right” to kill animals is like asserting the right to steal, from future generations. The tiger population became extinct in the territories where he had an access to kill. The writer garbs it in the guise of a folklore, but addresses how merciless killing of animals leads to a depletion of natural resources. The sensitive environmental issue of certain species becoming extinct is beautifully and humorously conveyed.

Question 3.
How would you describe the behaviour of the Maharaja’s minions towards him? Do you find them sincere towards him or are they driven by fear when they obey him? Do we find a similarity in today’s political order?
Answer:
Since the Maharaja’s existence revolved around killing a hundred tigers, his minions, driven by fear, obeyed him. Even the astrologer was afraid of predicting his death till the Maharaja told him to “speak without fear”. Determined to fulfil his mission, the Maharaja threatened to confiscate the wealth and property of any person who dared to hurt a tiger.

Overtaken by the madness to kill hundred tigers, he unjustly levied taxes and threatened his subjects to take away their jobs. The minions seemed afraid of their whimsical monarch. They kept their opinions to themselves, and watched as their king drove the entire nation to risk for his personal agenda. In today’s political order, we have such examples of autocratic rulers and dynastic monopolies throughout the world. In many countries we see that the role of money, crime, electoral manipulation and muscle power greatly influences political decisions. Sycophants prevent those in power from seeing the truth.

Question 4.
Can you relate instances of game hunting among the rich and the powerful in the present times that illustrate the callousness of human beings towards wildlife?
Answer:
While not every medieval noble ever went off to war, they all, if physically able, went off to hunt on horseback. Hunting was the favourite pastime of the warrior class.However, in the recent past, when poaching has been made illegal, most hunters get away with murder in India. When Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was apprehended for hunting down an endangered species of black buck, the ruthless, arrogant lifestyle of some Indians with inherited fortunes were exposed.

For years, animals—especially tigers and elephants—have been killed for their skins and organs. National parks, sanctuaries, and reserves have been virtually turned into hunting grounds by poachers. Armed with sophisticated weapons and vehicles, supported by corrupt officials and politicians, and glamorised by movie stars like Salman Khan, who was arrested for killing the black buck in Rajasthan, the poachers have ruled the jungles with little fear.

All this has led to certain species becoming extinct due to encroachment and hunting by human beings. One such example is the Tibetan Antelope, which has been hunted down by poachers for its skin, used to make the Shahtoosh shawl. This antelope yields one of the finest and most expensive wools in the world—a prized possession of the rich. Pearl essence is obtained primarily from herring and is one of the many by-products of large-scale commercial fishing.

Question 5.
We need a new system of the age of ecology—a system that will take care of all people and of the earth and of all life upon it. Discuss.
Answer:
In our diverse and increasingly interdependent world, it is crucial that we, the people of earth, declare our responsibility to the greater community of life. The survival of our earth depends upon the consciousness that we should move beyond nationalism to more global concerns, for instance, to a sense of bio-regionalism. The well-being of people and the biosphere depends upon preserving clean air, pure waters, fertile soils, and a rich variety of plants, animals and ecosystems. The global environment with its finite resources is a primary concern of all humanity. The community of our planet stands at a defining moment. With science and technology have come great benefits and also great harm.

The dominant patterns of production and consumption are altering the climate, degrading the environment, depleting resources, and causing massive extinction of species. A dramatic rise in population has increased the pressures on ecological systems and has overburdened social systems. The challenges humanity faces can only be met if people everywhere acquire an awareness of global inter- dependence, identify themselves with the larger world, and decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility.

The Tiger King Extra Questions and Answers

The Tiger King Short Answer Questions

Question 1.
Who was the Tiger King? Why was he so named?
Answer:
When the king was bom, the astrologers had foretold that one day he would be killed by a tiger. The king, they predicted, would grow up to become the greatest of all warriors, heroes and champions, but since he was bom in the hour of the bull, predicted that he would meet his end at the hand of its nemesis—the tiger.

Question 2.
When did the king kill his first tiger? What was his reaction?
Answer:
When the Maharaja came of age at twenty, he became the ruler of the State. It was then that he heard of the astrologer’s prediction. He immediately launched on a spree to kill hundred tigers, and killed the first of them around that time. He justified his hunt by calling it an act of “self-defence”. He was thrilled with his first kill, but was soon unsettled when the astrologer predicted that it would be the hundredth tiger that would kill him.

Question 3.
“The king seemed well set to realise his ambition.” What was his ambition? How did he set out realising it?
Answer:
The king’s ambition was to kill a hundred tigers. He went forth fearlessly, there were times when the bullet missed its mark, the tiger leapt upon him and he fought the beast with his bare hands. Each time it was the Maharaja who won.

Question 4.
The tiger hunt almost cost the Maharaja his throne. How?
Answer:
A high-ranking British officer visited Pratibandapuram. He was very fond of hunting tigers. He was keener on being photographed with the tigers he had shot. He wished to hunt tigers in Pratibandapuram. But the Maharaja firmly refused permission. He even refused to let him be photographed, standing over the tiger’s carcass. But the Maharaja appeased the officer by sending his wife expensive diamond rings as gifts.

Question 5.
What difficulty awaited the Maharaja’s tiger hunts after he killed seventy of them? How did he solve the situation?
Answer:
Within ten years of his hunt for tigers, the Maharaja succeeded in killing seventy tigers. With that, the tigers became extinct in the forests of Pratibandapuram. To resolve the issue, the Maharaja decided to get married to a girl of a royal family of the state with the highest tiger population.

Question 6.
What incentive did the Maharaja give to the village with the hundredth tiger? What was his reaction when the tiger was not found?
Answer:
The Maharaja announced a three-year exemption from all taxes for the village where a tiger was spotted. When the tiger was not found, the Maharaja refused to leave the forest until the tiger was found. As the days passed, many officers lost their jobs, he doubled the land tax, and threatened the.dewan, asking him to resign.

Question 7.
How was the hundredth tiger found?
Answer:
The dewan got a tiger from the People’s Park in Madras and kept it hidden in his house. At midnight when the town slept in peace, the dewan and his aged wife dragged the tiger to the car and shoved it into the seat. The dewan himself drove the car straight to the forest where the Maharaja was hunting.

Question 8.
Bring out the irony in the end of the story.
Answer:
The Maharaja, the greatest of warriors and heroes, was killed by a wooden tiger that cost only two annas and a quarter. After he spent years hunting down tigers to avoid the death that was predicted, he met his end at the hands of a toy tiger. The irony lay in the strange way his fate unfolded.

The Tiger King Long Answer Question

Question 1.
Bring out the irony in the title “The Tiger King”.
Answer:
The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram took on the title of His Highness Jamedar-General, Khiledar-Major, Sata Vyaghra Samhari, Maharajadhiraja Visva Bhuvana Samrat, Sir Jilani Jung Jung Bahadur; but this name was often shortened to Tiger King. As his name suggested, the astrologers predicted that he would grow up to become the warrior of warriors, hero of heroes, and champion of champions. They also foretold that he would be killed by a tiger.

However, his death was an anti-climax. He had killed ninety-nine tigers to overwrite the prediction of the astrologer. However, he died — not a valiant death on the battlefield or while hunting a tiger. Instead, his death was caused by a wooden tiger that cost only two annas and a quarter. The surface of the tiny little • wooden tiger, carved by an unskilled carpenter, was rough and had tiny slivers of wood like quills all over it. One of those quills pierced the Maharaja’s right hand. The next day, infection flared in the Maharaja’s right hand. In four days, it developed into a suppurating sore which spread all over the arm. Three famous surgeons operated but could not save him.

Question 2.
“The Tiger King” was punished for his crime of killing the tigers. Comment.
Answer:
The day the Maharaja was bom, astrologers predicted that he would be killed by a tiger as he was bom in the hour of the bull, which had a tiger for its enemy. The hundredth tiger would be the cause of his death. As the Maharaja grew up, he set out to hunt all the tigers, vowing he would attend to all other matters only after killing a hundred tigers. He was well set to realize his ambition. There was a time when the bullet missed its mark, the tiger leapt upon him, and he fought the beast with his bare hands.

Each time, it was the Maharaja who won. Within ten years, the tiger population became extinct in the forests of Pratibandapuram. To kill thirty more tigers, he married a girl from the royal family of a state with a large tiger population. After his marriage, Maharaja Jung Jung Bahadur killed five or six tigers each time he visited his father-in-law. In this manner, the number rose to ninety-nine. But, as luck would have it, he missed killing the hundredth tiger as it was still alive when the Maharaja took him for dead.

The Maharaja, however, paid for his deeds. His death was caused by a wooden tiger that cost only two annas and a quarter. The tiny little wooden tiger that he got as a gift for his son had been carved by an unskilled carpenter. Its surface was rough and tiny slivers of wood stood up like quills all over it. One of those slivers pierced the Maharaja’s right hand. The next day, infection flared in the Maharaja’s right hand. In four days, it developed into a suppurating sore which spread all over the arm. Despite famous surgeons operating on it, he could not be saved.

Question 3.
Why does the writer say: “Even the threat of a Stuka bomber will not throw me off track.”
Answer:
The Junkers Ju 87 ‘Stuka’ was a plane used by the Germans as a dive bomber. It was instantly recognizable with its inverted gull-wings and fixed undercarriage. The bomber’s accuracy was high when in a full dive as it used an automatic pull-up system to ensure that the plane pulled out of the dive once the bomb was released. The wheel covers were fitted with sirens that were used once the planes went into a dive, to shatter the morale of enemy troops and civilians. The fins of the bombs were also fitted with whistles to ensure that those being bombed knew just when the bombs were released and could track them on the way down. This was supposed to generate fear in them. The writer refers to the Stuka bombers to convey that nothing, not . even a horrific thing like a Stuka Bomber, could deter him from telling the story.

Question 4.
What does the writer mean when he says: “As Bharata said to Rama about Dasaratha, the Tiger King has reached that final abode of all living creatures”?
Answer:
In the Ramayana, Kaikeyi, the last and youngest of Dasaratha’s three wives, on Manthara’s advice, forced Dasaratha to banish Rama from the kingdom for a period of no less than fourteen years and place her son, Bharata, upon the throne of Ayodhya. Honouring his father’s vow, Rama relinquished his claim to the throne and left. In time, Dasaratha lost the will to live and died of grief.

Outraged at his mother’s act and grieved at the loss of his father, Bharata went to get back his brother Rama to take over as the next king. As Bharata conveyed to Rama the news about Dasaratha’s demise, the writer conveyed the news of Tiger King’s death to the reader in a similar fashion.

Question 5.
Explain the miracle that happened soon after the Maharaja was born.
Answer:
When the Maharaja was only a ten-day-old infant, a miracle occurred. The astrologers predicted that one day the king would grow up to become a valiant warrior. He would be one of the greatest heroes but would one day have to meet his death. As the astrologers foretold his future, a great miracle took place. The ten- day-old Maharaja spoke.

He said that all mortals would one day have to die. He wanted to know the cause of his death. The chief astrologer was wonderstruck. The infant Maharaja had not only spoken, but had also raised an intelligent question. The chief astrologer predicted that the prince was bom in the hour of the bull. The bull and the tiger being enemies; the Maharaja’s death would come from the tiger. As soon as Jung Jung Bahadur heard of the prophecy, he shouted a warning to all the tigers—“Let tigers beware!”

Question 6.
How did the Maharaja come close to losing his throne? How did he save it?
Answer:
Maharaja Jung Jung Bahadur had issued an order forbidding anyone but himself from shooting tigers in his kingdom. This order put him in danger of losing his throne. Once, a high-ranking British officer who was very fond of hunting tigers visited Pratibandapuram. He wished to hunt tigers in Pratibandapuram, but the Maharaja declined. The Maharaja not only sent a message forbidding him to kill tigers but he also refused to let the officer be photographed holding the gun and standing over the tiger’s carcass.

Since he prevented a British officer from fulfilling his desire, he stood in danger of losing his kingdom. Hence, the Maharaja sent a telegram to a famous company of jewellers in Calcutta to send samples of expensive diamond rings of different designs. About fifty rings were sent. The Maharaja sent the whole lot to the British officer’s wife expecting her to choose one or two rings and send the rest back. But she kept all of them for herself. The Maharaja had to foot a bill for three lakh rupees but was happy that he had managed to retain his kingdom.

Question 7.
In Pratibandapuram it was “easier to find tiger’s milk than a live tiger”. Why was this so?
Answer:
After the Maharaja had heard of the astrologer’s prediction, he set out to hunt a hundred tigers. He vowed he would attend to all other matters only after killing a hundred tigers. Within ten years, he was able to kill seventy tigers, but with this the tiger population became extinct in the forests of Pratibandapuram. To kill thirty more tigers, he asked his minister to find a girl from a royal family in a state with a large tiger population.

After the right girl was found, the Maharaja Jung Jung Bahadur killed five or six tigers each time he visited his father- in-law. In this manner, the number rose to ninety-nine. But, when just one tiger was left to achieve his count of a hundred, and he could not find another tiger, he sank into gloom. Finding a tiger was next to impossible. Here the author has used a hyperbole to stress the scarcity of tigers for a comical effect. Tiger’s milk, which is impossible to find, is used to convey that it became next to impossible to find a live tiger in Pratibandapuram.

Question 8.
Did the Maharaja ‘kill’ the hundredth tiger? Why/why not?
Answer:
After the Tiger King had killed ninety-nine tigers, the Maharaja sank into gloom as he could not find the hundredth tiger. Then, one day, when he heard that in his own state the sheep had begun to disappear from a hillside village, his hopes began to rise. Delighted, he even announced a three-year exemption from all taxes for the village and set out to find the tiger. But it was in vain. Furious, the Maharaja threw out many officers and doubled the land tax there.

The worried dewan was relieved when a tiger was brought from the People’s Park in Madras and he kept . it hidden in his house. At midnight, the dewan and his wife dragged the tiger to the car and drove it till the forest where the Maharaja was hunting. With a great difficulty, the dewan pushed it out. The next day, the old tiger wandered into the Maharaja’s presence. The Maharaja shot the beast and the tiger fell to the ground. The overjoyed Maharaja left after ordering that the tiger be brought to the capital in a grand procession, After
the Maharaja left, the hunters realized that the tiger was not dead; it had merely fainted from the shock of the bullet that went past it. For the fear of losing their jobs, the hunters decided to keep away the truth from the Maharaja and shot the tiger dead.

Question 9.
Why did the hunters not tell the Maharaja that he had failed in his mission of killing the hundredth tiger?
Answer:
After a great deal of effort, the Maharaja found the hundredth tiger. Ironically, for the Maharaja, who had earlier fought and killed a tiger bare-handed, killing the old tiger would have been a cake-walk; and yet destiny did not allow this. The Maharaja shot the tiger and thinking it dead, left the forest, feeling elated. But when the hunters took a closer look at the tiger, it rolled its eyes in bewilderment. The men realized that the tiger was not dead. The Maharaja’s bullet had missed it.

Nevertheless, it had fainted from the shock of the bullet speeding past. The hunters decided that the Maharaja must not come to know that he had missed his target. He was quick to anger and would punish them. They would lose their jobs or worse. Hence, one of the hunters took aim from a distance of one foot and shot the tiger. This time, the tiger was killed. But the Maharaja was blissful in his ignorance.

Question 10.
The story is a satire on the conceit of those in power. Comment.
Answer:
The story, “The Tiger King”, is a poignant satire on the self-importance that the people in power assume. Because of a prophecy made at the time of his birth, the Maharaja shouted a warning to all the tigers—’’Let tigers beware!” After he grew older, he started his tiger hunt in the innumerable forests in Pratibandapuram State and justified the act as he was doing so in “self-defence”. He banned tiger hunting in the State by anyone other than him and declared that the property of the person who would hurt a tiger would be confiscated. He vowed to attend to all other matters only after killing hundred tigers. After killing all the seventy tigers in his own kingdom, the Maharaja married a girl of a state with a large tiger population.

Soon, tigers became extinct even in his father-in-law’s kingdom. Hearing the news of a tiger in a village announced a three-year exemption from all taxes for that village and set out on the hunt at once. After shooting the tiger the Maharaja was relieved. However, the warrior of warriors, hero of heroes, and champion of champions did not die a valiant death on the battlefield or while hunting a tiger. Instead, his death was caused by infection resulting from a wound caused by a wooden tiger that cost only two annas and a quarter.

Question 11.
Human beings view nature merely as a resource to be exploited or even an enemy that needs to be vanquished. Comment with reference to The Tiger King.
Answer:
The author in the story “The Tiger King” expresses the view that there is no excuse or justification for stalking and killing an animal. Because of his blind faith in prophecy, the Maharaja kills tigers aimlessly. Ironically, he who had confessed as a child that “all those who are bom will one day have to die”, later sets out to become immortal by killing tigers, indiscriminately. Hunting animals by humans operates perversely. The Maharaja’s only need was to prove his masculinity, his dominance by killing hapless animals.

The writer reaffirms a very valid reason against hunting—the extinction of species due to human activities. We realize that asserting the right to kill animals is like asserting the right to steal from future generations. The Maharaja steals tigers from the future. The tiger population became extinct in the territories where he had an access to kill. Thus, the next generation would not have the right to see and learn from the bountiful earth that they inherited because the present generation would have left it barren.

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics. Here we have given. NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices

Board CBSE
Textbook NCERT
Class Class 12
Subject Physics
Chapter Chapter 14
Chapter Name Electronics Devices
Number of Questions Solved 19
Category NCERT Solutions

Question 1.
In an n-type silicon, which of the following statement is true :
(a) Electrons are majority carriers and trivalent atoms are the dopants.
(b) Electrons are minority carriers and pentavalent atoms are the dopants.
(c) Holes are minority carriers and pentavalent atoms are the doplants.
(d) Holes are majority carriers and trivalent atoms are the dopants.
Answer:
(c) ‘Holes are minority carriers and pentavalent atoms are the dopants in n type semiconductor.’

Question 2.
Which of the statements given in Exercise 1 is true for p-type semiconductors ?
Answer:
(d) Holes are majority carriers and trivalent atoms are the dopants in p-type semiconductors.

Question 3.
Carbon, silicon and germanium have four valence electrons each. These are characterised by valence and conduction bands separated by energy band gap respectively equal to (Eg)c, (Eg)si and (Eg)Ge-
Which of the following statements is true ?
(a) (Eg)Si < (Eg)Ge < (Eg)c
(b)(E)c<(Eg)Ge>(Eg)si
(c) (Eg)c > (Eg)si > (Eg)Ge
(d) (Eg)c = (Eg)si = (Eg)Ge
Answer:
(C) (Eg)c > (Eg)Si > (Eg)Ge. Energy band gap is maximum in carbon and least in germanium among the given elements.

Question 4.
In an unbiased p-n junction, holes diffuse from the p-region to n-region because
(a) free electrons in the n-region attract them.
(b) they move across the junction by the potential difference.
(c) hole concentration in p-region is more as compared to n-region.
(d) All the above.
Answer:
(c) hole concentration in p-region is more as compared to n-region because hole diffusion takes place from higher concentration to lower concentration.

Question 5.
When a forward bias is applied to a p-n junction, it
(a) raises the potential barrier
(b) reduces the majority carrier current to zero
(c) lowers the potential barrier
(d) none of the above.
Answer:
(c) lowers the potential barrier by cancelling the depletion layer.

Question 6.
For transistor action, which of the following statements are correct :
(a) Base, emitter and collector regions should have similar size and doping concentrations.
(b) The base region must be very thin and lightly doped.
(c) The emitter junction is forward biased and collector junction is reverse biased.
(d) Both the emitter junction as well as the collector junction are forward biased.
Answer:
(b) and (c) : The base region must be very thin, lightly doped and the emitter junction is forward biased whereas collector junction is reverse biased to avoid unnecessary diffusion of charge carrier in the base and also for proper amplification.

Question 7.
For a transistor amplifier, the voltage gain :
(a) remains constant for all frequencies.
(b) is high at high and low frequencies and constant in the middle frequency range.
(c) is low at high and low frequencies and constant at mid frequencies.
(d) None of the above.
Answer:
(c) is low at high and low frequencies and constant at mid frequencies as per frequency response of a transistor.

Question 8.
In half-wave rectification, what is the output frequency if the input frequency is 50 Hz. What is the output frequency of a full-wave rectifier for the same input frequency.
Answer:
A half wave rectifier rectifies only one half cycle of input A.C.
.’. frequency of the output A.C.
= frequency of input A.C. = 50 Hz A full wave rectifier rectifies both halve cycles
of the A.C. input
.’. frequency of output A.C. = 2 x frequency of input A.C. = 2 x 50 = 100 Hz

Question 9.
For a CE-transistor amplifier, the audio signal voltage across the collector resistance of 2 kQ is 2 V. Suppose the current amplification factor of the transistor is 100, find the input signal voltage and base current, if the base resistance is 1 kΩ.
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 1

Question 10.

Two amplifiers are connected one after the other in series (cascaded). The first amplifier has a voltage gain of 10 and the second has a voltage gain of 20. If the input signal is 0.01 volt, calculate the output ac signal.
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 2

Question 11.

A p-n photodiode is fabricated from a semiconductor with bandgap of 2.8 eV. Can it detect a wavelength of 6000 nm ?
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 3
Since the energy of the light photon is less than the bandgap energy of the p-n diode, it can not be detected.

Question 12.
The number of silicon atoms per m3 is 5 x 1028. This is doped simultaneously with 5 x 1022 atoms per m3 of Arsenic and 5 x 1020 per m3 atoms of Indium. Calculate the number of electrons and holes. Given that ni = 1.5 x 1016 m-3. Is the material n-type or p- type ?
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 4

Question 13.

In an intrinsic semiconductor, the energy gap Eg is 1.2 eV. Its hole mobility is much smaller than electron mobility and independent of temperature. What are the ratio between conductivity at 600 K and that at 300 K? Assume that the temperature dependence of intrinsic carrier concentration ni is given by
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 5
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 6

Thus, conductivity of a semiconductor increases with rise in temperature.

Question 14.
In a P-n junction diode, the current I can be expressed as
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 7
where I0 is reverse saturation current. V is the voltage across the diode and is positive for forwarding bias and negative for reverse bias, and I is the current through the diode, Kis the Boltzmann constant (8.6 x 10-5 eV/K) and T is the absolute temperature. If for a given diode I0 = 5 x 10-12 A and T = 300 K, then
(a) What will be the forward current at a forwarding voltage of 0.6 V?
(b) What will be the increase in the current if the voltage across the diode is increased to 0.7 V?
(c) What is the dynamic resistance?
(d) What will be the current if reverse bias voltage changes from 1 V to 2 V?
Answer:
The statement of the given question is incorrect. The relation should be

Question 15.
You are given the two circuits as shown in Figure. Show that circuit (a) acts as OR gate while circuit (b) acts as AND gate.
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 8
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 9

Question 16.

Write the truth table for a NAND gate connected as given in Fig. Hence identify the exact logic operation carried out by these circuits.
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 10
Answer:
The NAND gate shown in the truth table has only one input. Therefore, the truth table is

A A y = \( \bar { A.A }\)
0 0 1
1 1 0

Since Y = \( \bar { A }\) in this case, the circuit is actually a NOT gate with the truth table

A Y
0 1
1 0

Question 17.
You are given two circuits as shown in Fig., which consist of NAND gates. Identify the logic operation carried out by the two circuits.
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 11
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 12
Question 18.
Write the truth table for circuit given in Fig. below consisting of NOR gates and identify the logic operation (OR, AND, NOT) which this circuit is performing.
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 13
Answer:
Let y1 be the output which appears at the first operation of NOR gate.
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 14

A B Y
0 0 0
1 0 1
0 1 1
1 1 1

Question 19.
Write the truth table for the circuits given in Fig., consisting of NOR gates only. Identify the logic operations (OR, AND, NOT) performed by the two circuits
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 15
Answer:
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics Chapter 14 Electronics Devices 16

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