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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What question is among the unanswerable questions children ask, according to the Introduction?

2. How does Hawking define scientific theory?

3. Who created the relativity formula that states energy equals mass multiplied by the speed of light squared?

4. What is one of the colors of quarks?

5. What shape did Aristotle think the Earth was?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is one implication of the theory of relativity?

2. How did Einstein observe Brownian motion?

3. Why do physicists of Stephen Hawking's caliber not make assumptions about the nature of the universe?

4. Scientists start with observations and mathematics to answer the fundamental questions and then do what?

5. What are some characteristics of a black hole?

6. What was the Ancient Greek view of the universe?

7. Why do scientists think that there is a black hole in the star system Cygnus X-1?

8. What are quanta?

9. The mathematical formulas that result from a scientific model of the universe must do what?

10. What model of the atom persisted until the 1960's?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is Hawking's definition of a scientific theory? Using this definition, discuss why (or why not) various theories in the book are scientific theories. Discuss at least three theories and use the book to support your answers.

Essay Topic 2

Based on your reading of the book, why does humanity try to understand the universe and what progress has humanity made in understanding it? Please support your answers with examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

What is the theory of relativity? How is the theory of relativity important, and related to, the understanding of the universe? Please use the text to support your answers.

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