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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which famous scientist was once an unknown patent clerk in Switzerland?
(a) Joseph Lister.
(b) Thomas Edison.
(c) Albert Einstein.
(d) Charles Darwin.

2. Fred Hoyle came up with the term "Big Bang" while trying to:
(a) Show how life evolved on Earth.
(b) Prove the theory.
(c) Simplify how the universe came to exist.
(d) Disprove the theory.

3. Earth is the only planet in the solar system to have what?
(a) Moons.
(b) Storms.
(c) Plate tectonics.
(d) Mountains and valleys.

4. According to the Superstring Theory, the components making up protons, neutrons, electrons, and neutrinos are not regular particles, but instead are:
(a) Super-cooled forces.
(b) Gravity pockets.
(c) Super particles.
(d) Vibrating strings.

5. When was Pluto discovered?
(a) 1930.
(b) 1892.
(c) 1876.
(d) 1957.

6. Scientists eventually figured out that certain unusual rocks near Manson, Iowa, were not because of ancient volcanic activity as they first surmised, but the result of what?
(a) A huge meteor.
(b) A dynamite explosion.
(c) A lightning storm.
(d) A mini ice age.

7. Halley believed that once scientists figured out the distance from the sun to the Earth, they could then calculate what?
(a) Distances to distant stars.
(b) Distances to other planets.
(c) Weight of the sun.
(d) Weight of Earth.

8. What is an extremophile?
(a) An extremely large living organism.
(b) An organism adapted to living in extreme conditions.
(c) A researcher who explores extremely isolated regions.
(d) A scientist who studies climate extremes.

9. With scientists having found so many dinosaur bones by the dawn of the twentieth century, what did they conclude about the age of Earth?
(a) It has to be much older than 20 million years.
(b) It is no older than 5 million years.
(c) Nobody will ever figure out its age.
(d) It is hundreds of billions of years old.

10. Richard Owen coined the term paleontology as the study of prehistoric life forms and called the giant animals dinosaurian, meaning:
(a) Terrible lizard.
(b) Enormous creature.
(c) Large reptile.
(d) Ancient animal.

11. After noticing an unusual phenomenon with uranium salts and a photographic plate, Henri Becquerel asked one of his graduate students to investigate the matter. Who was this student?
(a) Louise Désirée Lorieux.
(b) Marie Curie.
(c) Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen.
(d) René Just Haüy.

12. As of July 2001, approximately how many asteroids had been identified?
(a) 2,700.
(b) 26,000.
(c) 29,000,000.
(d) 240.

13. When was the Big Bang Theory first proposed?
(a) 1960s.
(b) 1850s.
(c) 1920s.
(d) 1790s.

14. Earth is composed of 8 to 12 larger plates and about how many smaller ones?
(a) Eighty.
(b) One hundred.
(c) Five.
(d) Twenty.

15. Who suggested that mass and energy are actually the same thing?
(a) Thomas Edison.
(b) Joseph Lister.
(c) Charles Darwin.
(d) Albert Einstein.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following is NOT a quark "flavor?"

2. Which of the following is not part of an atom?

3. In the 1960s, what did Bob Christiansen realize about Yellowstone National Park after observing NASA-supplied images?

4. In a span of just 20 years, the number of known moons in the solar system grew from:

5. During the time of the dinosaurs, Earth's magnetic field was:

(see the answer keys)

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