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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. Max Planck ignored those who urged him to avoid physics and ended up doing groundbreaking work on:
(a) Optics.
(b) Electromagnetism.
(c) Acceleration.
(d) Entropy.

2. Many scientists suspect that Pluto is just a comet of the:
(a) Orion Belt.
(b) Kuiper Belt.
(c) Solar Belt.
(d) Neptunian Belt.

3. In the 1700s, people were finding holes in theories. For example, if the thoughts on erosion were completely correct, then:
(a) There would be no mountains, only smooth hills.
(b) All farmland would have been washed away.
(c) Sand would be ground to fine powder.
(d) Icebergs would have eroded long ago.

4. What campaign did geologist Clair Patterson take on?
(a) Fortifying milk with vitamin D.
(b) Adding fluoride to drinking water.
(c) Removing chlorine from swimming pools.
(d) Removing lead additives from gasoline.

5. What are so small that the dot on the letter "i" could hold 5 billion of them?
(a) Protons.
(b) Viruses.
(c) Quarks.
(d) Bacteria.

Short Answer Questions

1. Richard Owen coined the term paleontology as the study of prehistoric life forms and called the giant animals dinosaurian, meaning:

2. While he worked at General Motors Research Corporation in 1921, engineer Thomas Midgley, Jr. developed what dangerous gasoline additive?

3. According to the author, humans today have 625 percent more what in their bloodstream compared to previous generations?

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

5. Earth is the only planet in the solar system to have what?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is the Reverend Robert Evans, and what is he known for?

2. How close did asteroids come to Earth in 1991 and 1993?

3. What explanation did James Hutton come up with to describe the phenomenon of seashell fossils frequently found on mountaintops?

4. Describe what the Archbishop James Usser and the Reverend William Buckland concluded regarding the age of Earth.

5. Who was Clair Patterson? Describe Clair Patterson's campaign against lead contamination.

6. Who was Bob Christiansen, and how did he determine that Yellowstone is a supervolcano?

7. What is the theory of continental drift? Who first proposed this theory, and how was it received?

8. What happened when, in 1896, Henri Becquerel accidentally left a packet of uranium salts on top of a wrapped photographic plate?

9. Describe inner solar system asteroids.

10. Explain how inventor and engineer, Thomas Midley, Jr., solved some problems but created enormous safety and environmental issues by adding lead to gasoline and by inventing chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

(see the answer keys)

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