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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. What did the French Compte de Buffon claim about the New World (the Americas) compared to the known Old World?
(a) Diseases of the New World would be much more deadly than in the Old World.
(b) The New World was much more fertile than the old.
(c) Unusual, enormous species would be found in the New World.
(d) Everything was smaller and inferior in the New World.

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

3. Continental drift refers to:
(a) Continents drifting apart.
(b) Changing weather patterns.
(c) Tides affecting the shape of continents.
(d) Unique cloud drifts over different continents.

4. The strongest earthquake ever recorded was measured off the coast of Chile in 1960. What did it measure on the Richter scale?
(a) 7.8.
(b) 10.2.
(c) 9.5.
(d) 8.9.

5. What is found at the very center of the Earth?
(a) Liquid inner core.
(b) Frozen core.
(c) Solid inner core.
(d) Gaseous core.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. Scientists are aware of at least how many galaxies in the universe?

4. Had the universe formed just slightly differently:

5. What is the average distance between asteroids found in the inner solar system between Mars and Jupiter?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Albert Einstein before he became well known in the scientific community.

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

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

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

5. Describe the three basic layers of Earth, namely, the crust, mantle, and core.

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

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

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

9. How does the Superstring Theory explain quarks?

10. Where do earthquakes occur?

(see the answer keys)

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