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

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

3. What did WIlliam Whiston contribute to the longitude debate?
(a) He proposed using animals and sound.
(b) He proposed using a telescope and a compass.
(c) He proposed using the moon and the stars.
(d) He proposed using sound and light.

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

5. What toy does the narrator play with at the beginning of Chapter 1: Imaginary Lines?
(a) A globe.
(b) A spinning top.
(c) A beaded wire ball.
(d) A yo-yo.

Short Answer Questions

1. At the end of Chapter 6: The Prize, how had Newton changed his thinking about the longitude problem?

2. What was the powder of sympathy method to determine longitude called?

3. What could have avoided the tragedy near the Scilly Islands?

4. When did clock makers begin to design clocks to measure longitude?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. 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.

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

3. What is the main difference, as identified in Chapter 1, between latitude and longitude?

4. Describe John Harrison.

5. What was Galileo's longitude solution?

6. Why was it unusual that John Harrison became an accomplished clockmaker?

7. Why did changes in temperature affect early clocks?

8. What was King Charles II's role in solving the longitude problem?

9. What was the problem with measuring the speed of light? How was it solved?

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

(see the answer keys)

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