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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 is the main difference in measuring longitude and latitude?
(a) Longitude is measured by the sun.
(b) Longitude is measured by time.
(c) Latitude is measured in degrees and longitude is not.
(d) Latitude is measured by time.

2. When did Harrison learn of the Longitude Prize?
(a) 1727.
(b) 1712.
(c) 1735.
(d) 1700.

3. At the end of Chapter 6: The Prize, how had Newton changed his thinking about the longitude problem?
(a) He began to think a clock might solve the longitude problem.
(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 wrote about the benefits to an astronomical solution.

4. What could have avoided the tragedy near the Scilly Islands?
(a) If the lead ship had followed the directions of the admiral.
(b) If the stars had been out so the captains could utilize them for navigation.
(c) If the rudder on the ship hadn't been broken, the captain could have steered away from the islands.
(d) If the admiral had listened to a sailor who kept his own navigation.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following was NOT an early player in the quest for the longitude prize?

2. Huygen's clocks went on a number of voyages. On the third voyage to the Cape Verde Islands, what did his clock do?

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

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

5. Where did Newton believe the answer to the longitude problem lie?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who were the early players in the longitude prize described in Chapter 6: The Prize. What role did they play?

2. Describe John Harrison's family.

3. Describe John Harrison.

4. Why did changes in temperature affect early clocks?

5. Why is the story of Sir Clowdisley included in Chapter 2: The Sea Before Time?

6. Compare Newton's thoughts about the solution of the longitude problem at the beginning of Chapter 6: The Prize to his thoughts at the end of the chapter.

7. What were the economic consequences of not knowing longitude?

8. In Chapter 2: The Sea Before Time, what happened to Sir Clowdisley's voyage?

9. In 1740, the Centurion set sail for the South Pacific without Harrison's clock. What might have been different about the voyage if they would have taken the clock? Why?

10. What were the problems with William Whiston's proposal for determining longitude?

(see the answer keys)

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