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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who said, "Physics as we know it will be over in six months."
(a) Albert Einstein.
(b) Kurt Godel.
(c) Max Born.
(d) Stephen Hawking.

2. Why did the universe not collapse back on itself shortly after the big bang?
(a) We don't know.
(b) Particles became real and less dense.
(c) Gravity interfered.
(d) There was too much acceleration.

3. What is entropy?
(a) Amount of disintegration in a system.
(b) Amount of movement in a system.
(c) Amount of velocity in a system.
(d) Amount of disorder in a system.

4. What is one thing particles do when they enter a black hole?
(a) Become very dense.
(b) Become destroyed.
(c) Cause the emission of other particles.
(d) Stop emitting light.

5. Infinities in partial theories can be canceled out through a process known as what?
(a) Recontouring.
(b) Restructuring.
(c) Renormalization.
(d) Rebalancing.

Short Answer Questions

1. "We see the universe the way it is because we exist," demonstrates what principle?

2. Science has become too _____, so that normal people and philosophers cannot understand it.

3. Who discovered the equation that governs the electron?

4. Hawking believes that if science does discover a complete theory of the universe, then humans will have come to know what?

5. A closed string is defined as what?

Short Essay Questions

1. The Catholic Church allowed Galileo to write a book, but said that it must do what?

2. What does the psychological arrow of time represent?

3. Hawking concludes that life is only possible during the expansion phase of the universe for what reason?

4. When you combine the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, what does that mean for the universe?

5. What is the mathematical problem regarding the origination of the universe?

6. What are the three possibilities Hawking sees for the unification of physics theory?

7. What might have happened to the black holes left over from the early period of the Big Bang?

8. When and why did Einstein become a pacifist?

9. According to Hawking, people are naturally curious about what?

10. When did the early ideas that the universe is deterministic fall apart?

(see the answer keys)

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