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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. James Hutton was a geologist who wondered why:
(a) Seashell fossils are found on mountaintops.
(b) There are no polar bears in Antarctica.
(c) Polar ice caps do not melt.
(d) The Great Barrier Reef is off the coast of Australia.

2. Had the universe formed just slightly differently:
(a) Mankind would not exist.
(b) Earth would have seven moons.
(c) Planets would be flat instead of round.
(d) Our solar system would have ten times more planets.

3. In the 1960s, what did Bob Christiansen realize about Yellowstone National Park after observing NASA-supplied images?
(a) Most of the park was created by a massive earthquake.
(b) The park was carved by moving glaciers.
(c) The park holds thousands of volcanoes.
(d) Practically the whole park is a volcano.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. In 1971, Mike Voorhies discovered an amazing fossil bed in Nebraska full of skeletons of prehistoric animals killed 12 millions years ago. How did they die?

2. Which of the following is not a layer of Earth?

3. What happened to the dinosaur bone discovered in New Jersey in 1789?

4. When radiation was first discovered, people thought it must have:

5. Astronomer Edmond Halley believed that the distance from the Earth to the sun could be deduced from the:

Short Essay Questions

1. When scientists first tried to grasp the idea of atoms, what did they disagree on?

2. Why is the term "dinosaurian" a misnomer?

3. 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).

4. How did the English scientist Henry Cavendish determine the weight of Earth?

5. Describe what happens in a supernova.

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

7. Describe some of the theories regarding what might have caused the Big Bang.

8. Why does Bryson consider Pluto to be an oddity?

9. What happened when Max Planck was advised to study math instead of physics?

10. Describe what happened when astronomer Edmond Halley asked Sir Isaac Newton for mathematical help.

(see the answer keys)

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