View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

4. Pluto is the first planet to be discovered by an:
(a) Argentine.
(b) Austrian.
(c) Australian.
(d) American.

5. Which of the following is NOT a quark "flavor?"
(a) Down.
(b) Charm.
(c) Strange.
(d) Inverted.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. In the 1700s, people were finding holes in theories. For example, if the thoughts on erosion were completely correct, then:

3. Many scientists suspect that Pluto is just a comet of the:

4. When French physicist Henri Becquerel accidentally left a packet of uranium salts on a photographic plate, what happened?

5. In 2003, NASA came up with an estimated age of the universe. What was it?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. Describe inner solar system asteroids.

5. Describe what happened after the last supervolcano erupted on Earth. When did this happen?

6. 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).

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

8. Where do earthquakes occur?

9. Summarize what the author says about why it took so long to discover that Pluto has a moon.

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,006 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample