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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In order for Ditton's and Whiston's plan to determine longitude to work, what would have to be done?
(a) Accurate clocks would need to be on all ships.
(b) A fleet of ships would need to be anchored at 600-mile intervals in the ocean.
(c) New discoveries in compasses would need to be made.
(d) Ship captains would need to go to "Longitude School."

2. What does the coiled balance spring do in clocks?
(a) Prevents waves from destabilizing the clock.
(b) Prevents the pendulum from losing time.
(c) Allows the navigator to know the time in the home port.
(d) Allows the clock to keep a constant temperature.

3. Early clocks weren't up to measuring longitude at sea for two reasons. They were not accurate and changed because of what while at sea?
(a) Rocking of the boat.
(b) Speed of the boat.
(c) Wind.
(d) Temperature.

4. What was wrong with the watch built within a vacuum?
(a) It was too expensive for the common sailor.
(b) It was too large to take to sea.
(c) It lost accuracy due to temperature.
(d) The pendulum wasn't able to swing freely because of the vacuum.

5. At the end of Chapter 6: The Prize, how had Newton changed his thinking about the longitude problem?
(a) He wrote about the benefits to an astronomical solution.
(b) He was so frustrated he gave up the quest to solve longitude.
(c) He began to believe that there was no hope for solving the longitude problem.
(d) He began to think a clock might solve the longitude problem.

6. After the Association ran aground and the captain's body was found, what of value was found on him?
(a) A pouch of spices.
(b) A diamond necklace.
(c) An emerald ring.
(d) A pendulum clock.

7. Who developed the "lunar distance method" to longitude?
(a) John Flamsteed.
(b) Johannes Werner.
(c) Ole Roemer.
(d) Admiral Shovell.

8. Where did Newton believe the answer to the longitude problem lie?
(a) An astronomical solution.
(b) The wounded dog theory.
(c) A clock based solution.
(d) A sound and light solution.

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

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

11. Who explained the moons of Jupiter with the velocity of light?
(a) Tycho Brahe.
(b) Ole Roemer.
(c) Galileo.
(d) Cassini.

12. What was the tool introduced by John Davis in 1595 to better look at the sun called?
(a) The cross-staff.
(b) The sidestaff.
(c) The backstaff.
(d) The cane.

13. What did Huygen's published argument state?
(a) A clock could establish longitude at sea.
(b) Longitude could be determined by the moon.
(c) A map with correct currents was necessary to navigate at sea.
(d) Jupiters moons were really rings.

14. Who won the Hooke/Huygens conflict?
(a) Neither.
(b) Hugyens.
(c) Hooke.
(d) Both.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does the quote at the beginning of Chapter 3: Adrift in a Clockwork Universe have the author dreaming he is locked in?

2. Harrison's clocks were referred to as:

3. What unusual occurrence helped in early navigation at sea?

4. What could the powder of sympathy reportedly do?

5. What was one benefit of the Whiston-Ditton proposal?

(see the answer keys)

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