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 was the Big Bang Theory first proposed?
(a) 1920s.
(b) 1850s.
(c) 1790s.
(d) 1960s.

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

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

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

5. Today, scientists know that radiation in high doses is:
(a) Tolerable.
(b) Toxic.
(c) Safe.
(d) Healthy.

Short Answer Questions

1. Sir Isaac Newton wrote "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy," which explains his laws of what?

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

3. Approximately how many miles are there from Earth's surface to its core?

4. Harry Hess determined that, in the Atlantic, the ocean floor is:

5. What did the French Compte de Buffon claim about the New World (the Americas) compared to the known Old World?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain Albert Einstein's theory of space curvature using a tennis ball and an ant.

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

3. Explain the misunderstanding of radiation during the early 1900s.

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

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

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

7. What are quarks? How are they categorized and classified?

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 855 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample