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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 13, The Gift of Apollo, Chapter 14, Exploring Other Worlds and Protecting This One.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What hazard from nuclear weapons causes "nuclear winter"?
(a) Acid rain.
(b) Smoke particles in the upper atmosphere.
(c) Cloud scattering.
(d) The erosion of land after plant life is wiped out.

2. What was the name of the mission that sent the first probes to Venus?
(a) Lyka.
(b) Oracle.
(c) Sojourner.
(d) Venera.

3. Earth will most likely lose contact with the Voyager probes when what happens?
(a) Their radio transmitters die.
(b) They reach the Kuiper belt.
(c) Their solar cells die.
(d) They pass the troposphere.

4. Sagan describes humans as which of the following, with respect to their arrival in the universe?
(a) Slow movers.
(b) Middling achievers.
(c) Extreme latecomers.
(d) Early adopters.

5. Sagan believes that Titan hosts oceans made of what compound?
(a) Methane.
(b) Water.
(c) Saturated salts.
(d) Hydrocarbons.

Short Answer Questions

1. What concept does Sagan suggest that the image of the "pale blue dot" mocks?

2. What planet is the "evening star"?

3. What is the most important thing that would immediately be apparent to any alien intelligence that found the Voyager probes?

4. What form do the materials that planets emerge from take before they coalesce into proto-planets?

5. What role does Sagan suggest that religion has played in the development of science?

(see the answer key)

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