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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Plate tectonics refers to:
(a) The mechanism behind sand dunes.
(b) The mechanism behind hurricanes.
(c) The motion of the Earth's crust.
(d) The motion of the Earth's atmosphere.

2. How do today's professional astronomers search for supernovae?
(a) In collaboration with astrologers.
(b) Hiring interns to peer through telescopes 24/7.
(c) With digital cameras and computers.
(d) Using classical mathematical predictions.

3. In 1875, why was Max Planck advised against studying physics and urged to study math instead?
(a) It was believed that all the important physics discoveries had already been made.
(b) Planek knew high-level math but only very basic physics.
(c) A career in math offered greater financial opportunities for him.
(d) The government often arrested those who delved in certain branches of physics.

4. James Hutton believed that the natural forces forming the geology of Earth are:
(a) Now extinct.
(b) Random and unpredictable.
(c) Impossible to classify.
(d) Still at work.

5. What is a supernova?
(a) A white dwarf.
(b) A young, emerging star.
(c) A dying star.
(d) A red giant.

6. Sir Isaac Newton wrote "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy," which explains his laws of what?
(a) Quantum physics.
(b) Motion and gravity.
(c) Electromagnetic interference.
(d) Attraction.

7. What organization opposed geologist Clair Patterson and his campaign?
(a) American Academy of Pediatrics.
(b) Swimming Pool Safety Institute.
(c) American Dairy Association.
(d) American Petroleum Institute.

8. What happened to the dinosaur bone discovered in New Jersey in 1789?
(a) It is part of a wealthy family's private collection.
(b) It had been permanently misplaced.
(c) It is on permanent display at the Smithsonian.
(d) It was sold to a museum in England.

9. Invented in the 1930s, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have proven to be damaging to:
(a) Refrigerator production.
(b) Underground caves.
(c) The ozone layer.
(d) The tourism industry.

10. When did the last supervolcano erupt on Earth?
(a) 9,000 years ago.
(b) 74,000 years ago.
(c) 23,000 years ago.
(d) 1,100 years ago.

11. Vesto Slipher's work at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona led him to discover that distant stars are moving away from us, with the farthest stars moving the fastest, suggesting that the universe is:
(a) Oscillating.
(b) Expanding.
(c) Stable.
(d) Shrinking.

12. Approximately how many miles are there from Earth's surface to its core?
(a) 595,399.
(b) 695.
(c) 3,959.
(d) 45,599.

13. Which of the following is not a layer of Earth?
(a) Filling.
(b) Mantle.
(c) Crust.
(d) Core.

14. In 1903, who won the Nobel Prize in physics for discovering radioactivity?
(a) René Just Haüy and Jean Becquerel.
(b) Louise Désirée Lorieux, Jean Becquerel, and Henri Becquerel.
(c) Marie Curie, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel.
(d) Marie Curie and Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen.

15. When radiation was first discovered, it was sometimes added to:
(a) Gasoline and alcohol.
(b) Stews and casseroles.
(c) Toothpastes and laxatives.
(d) Drinking water.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following is not a major geological era?

2. According to the Superstring Theory, the components making up protons, neutrons, electrons, and neutrinos are not regular particles, but instead are:

3. What are so small that the dot on the letter "i" could hold 5 billion of them?

4. About how many stars are visible to the naked eye from Earth?

5. What is an extremophile?

(see the answer keys)

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