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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. How many times was Harrison married?
(a) Never.
(b) Twice.
(c) Three times.
(d) Once.

2. How is the fog described at the beginning of Chapter 2: The Sea Before Time?
(a) "London fog."
(b) "Smokestacks.:
(c) "Dirty weather."
(d) "Pea soup."

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

4. Why was it remarkable for Harrison to build his first pendulum clock?
(a) He wasn't a watchmakers apprentice.
(b) He came from a very poor family with no means to build a clock.
(c) He was an adamant believer in the astronomical solution to longitude.
(d) His design was stolen midway through building the clock.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Harrison's clocks were referred to as:

2. What did Humphrey Ditton propose to use to solve the longitude problem?

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

4. What is the main point of Chapter 6: The Prize?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe John Harrison.

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

3. Explain the title of Chapter 5: Powder of Sympathy.

4. In Harrison's early clockmaking years, what was his goal?

5. What did the Longitude Act establish?

6. What was Humphrey Ditton's suggestion for determining longitude?

7. Why did changes in temperature affect early clocks?

8. In 1530, Flemish astronomer Gemma Frisiusm wrote that the clocks of his day "provided no problem to those who traveled." In reality, what were the problems with clocks of his day for travel?

9. What was the result of the Whiston-Ditton proposal?

10. What was Galileo's longitude solution?

(see the answer keys)

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