View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 3: Adrift in a Clockwork Universe.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many sailors died near the Scilly Islands?
(a) 500.
(b) 1,000.
(c) 4,000.
(d) 2,000.

2. Where was the destination the Centurion was sailing for?
(a) Tierra del Feugo.
(b) Cape Noir.
(c) Juan Fernandez Island.
(d) Scilly Islands.

3. What did King Louis XIV of France complain about with more accurate measures of longitude?
(a) That maps based on stars were inaccurate.
(b) That the economic costs of not knowing longitude were bankrupting his country.
(c) That he was losing more territory to his astronomers than his enemies.
(d) That sea travel became more treacherous.

4. What does the term "dead reckoning" refer to?
(a) A primitive way to navigate at sea using estimates from a fixed point.
(b) An early way to navigate at sea using the position of stars and the moon.
(c) A way to verify the number of sailors lost at sea.
(d) An advanced way to determine longitude using clocks.

5. What was Giovanni Domenico Cassini famous for?
(a) Publishing accurate maps.
(b) Sailing around the world.
(c) Discovering the moons of Jupiter.
(d) Inventing the pendulum clock.

Short Answer Questions

1. In AD 150, who plotted lines of longitude and latitude?

2. The moon travels a distance roughly equal to its own width every _________.

3. In the earliest lines of latitude, what marked the zero-degree line?

4. What toy does the narrator play with at the beginning of Chapter 1: Imaginary Lines?

5. The placement of the prime meridian was a ____________ decision.

(see the answer key)

This section contains 247 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample