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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the official title of the monetary award for solving the longitude problem?
(a) The Longitude Prize.
(b) The Longitude Solution.
(c) The Longitude Award.
(d) The Longitude Problem.

2. What could the powder of sympathy reportedly do?
(a) Make one immortal.
(b) Point north when mixed with water.
(c) Cure scurvy.
(d) Heal at a distance.

3. What was Flamsteed's title?
(a) "Celestial navigator."
(b) "King of naval longitude."
(c) "French stars master."
(d) "Astronomical observator."

4. Which of the following was NOT an early player in the quest for the longitude prize?
(a) Newton.
(b) Galileo.
(c) Flamsteed.
(d) Halley.

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

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

7. What did Humphrey Ditton propose to use to solve the longitude problem?
(a) Sounds.
(b) Telescope.
(c) Animals.
(d) Compass.

8. What was Huygens best known as?
(a) The first great philosopher.
(b) The first great scientist.
(c) The first great horologist.
(d) The first great astronomer.

9. The placement of the prime meridian was a ____________ decision.
(a) Social.
(b) Economic.
(c) Political.
(d) Historical.

10. When measuring longitude, each hour of time difference between the ship and starting point marks a progress of how many degrees of longitude?
(a) 15.
(b) 25.
(c) 5.
(d) 30.

11. What advantage did the magnetic variation method have over astronomical approaches at determining longitude?
(a) It utilized new technology in clockmaking.
(b) Longitude could now be charted on a map.
(c) It did not depend on knowing the time at two places at once.
(d) It didn't rely on wouding animals.

12. What unusual occurrence helped in early navigation at sea?
(a) Solar and lunar eclipses.
(b) Asteroids.
(c) Storms.
(d) Comets.

13. In the earliest lines of latitude, what marked the zero-degree line?
(a) The tropic of cancer.
(b) The north pole.
(c) The equator.
(d) The prime meridian.

14. What role did the Board of Longitude play?
(a) Provided funding for research to solve the longitude problem.
(b) Unite angered seamen around the longitude prolem.
(c) Bring an international committee to review the longitude problem.
(d) Test the various proposals to the solution to longitude.

15. The moon travels a distance roughly equal to its own width every _________.
(a) 30 minutes.
(b) Second.
(c) Minute.
(d) Day.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who built a watch within a vacuum that could tell stable time?

2. How was John Harrison educated?

3. What does the coiled balance spring do in clocks?

4. What was Giovanni Domenico Cassini famous for?

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

(see the answer keys)

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