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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the powder of sympathy method to determine longitude called?
(a) The barking animal theory.
(b) The magical powder theory.
(c) The healing bird theory.
(d) The wounded dog theory.

2. The Parliamentary committee assembled to respond to the problem of longitude relied on which two experts?
(a) Whiston and Ditton.
(b) Newton and Halley.
(c) Flamsteed and Thacker.
(d) Ptolomy and Jupiter.

3. What is the main difference in measuring longitude and latitude?
(a) Latitude is measured by time.
(b) Longitude is measured by time.
(c) Latitude is measured in degrees and longitude is not.
(d) Longitude is measured by the sun.

4. What was the problem with pendulum clocks on ships?
(a) The ship's rocking would slow down or speed up the clock.
(b) Pendulum clocks were so valuable, the main concern was theft.
(c) Pendulum clocks would always point north.
(d) There were no problems, pemdulum clocks were very accurate onboard ships.

5. Who was in command of the ships that ran into the Scilly Islands near England?
(a) Admiral Sir Clowdisley Shovell.
(b) John Harrison.
(c) Commodore George Anson.
(d) Samuel Pepys.

6. What did Humphrey Ditton propose to use to solve the longitude problem?
(a) Compass.
(b) Telescope.
(c) Sounds.
(d) Animals.

7. In the Whiston-Ditton proposal, what did they hope to be exempt from?
(a) Espionage.
(b) Taxes.
(c) Acts of piracy.
(d) War.

8. What did Harrison build that still function today?
(a) Telephones.
(b) Clocks.
(c) Telescopes.
(d) Microscopes.

9. Who won the Hooke/Huygens conflict?
(a) Hooke.
(b) Both.
(c) Hugyens.
(d) Neither.

10. Thirty miles is how many degrees of longitude?
(a) Ten degrees.
(b) Half a degree.
(c) Eight degrees.
(d) Five degrees.

11. Which of the following was NOT an early player in the quest for the longitude prize?
(a) Galileo.
(b) Newton.
(c) Halley.
(d) Flamsteed.

12. When the Centurion set sail for the South Pacific, what did they not take with them?
(a) A compass.
(b) Smith's map.
(c) Harrison's clock.
(d) Medication to ward off scurvy.

13. Harrison was an avid ___________.
(a) Cricket player.
(b) Astronomer.
(c) Reader.
(d) Photographer.

14. What did Huygen's published argument state?
(a) A map with correct currents was necessary to navigate at sea.
(b) A clock could establish longitude at sea.
(c) Longitude could be determined by the moon.
(d) Jupiters moons were really rings.

15. Who developed the "lunar distance method" to longitude?
(a) Admiral Shovell.
(b) Johannes Werner.
(c) Ole Roemer.
(d) John Flamsteed.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was Flamsteed's title?

2. How accurate was the solution to longitude to be?

3. How is the fog described at the beginning of Chapter 2: The Sea Before Time?

4. What did Huygens and Hooke fight over?

5. Besides clocks, what was Hooke known for?

(see the answer keys)

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