View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Uranus has an unusual field around it of what type?
(a) Gamma rays.
(b) Photons.
(c) Radiation.
(d) Magnetism.

2. What material that humans have added to the environment would be easily detectable from space?
(a) Chlorofluorocarbons.
(b) Plastics.
(c) Carbon dioxide.
(d) Methane.

3. How does Sagan say that science relates to the existence of a divine being?
(a) Science allows for divine beings and miraculous events.
(b) Science disproves that divine beings can interact with the universe.
(c) Science explicitly denies such a being can exist.
(d) Science does not require such a being.

4. Which of the following is a major point opponents of space exploration raise?
(a) The problems on Earth should be solved first.
(b) No good has ever come of space exploration.
(c) Space exploration exists for national prestige only.
(d) There is nothing of value anywhere else in the solar system.

5. Which of the following is NOT one of the ways that Sagan says life seems to be?
(a) Meaningless.
(b) Intentional.
(c) Absurd.
(d) Insignificant.

6. The records on the Voyager craft are most like what type of information storage method?
(a) A phonograph.
(b) Braille.
(c) Magnetic data storage.
(d) A telegraph code.

7. Who was the first to discover moons around another planet?
(a) Copernicus.
(b) Galileo.
(c) Kepler.
(d) Brahe.

8. What unusual source of energy do the Voyager spacecraft take advantage of?
(a) Vacuum energy.
(b) Solar wind.
(c) Cosmic rays.
(d) Planetary gravity.

9. Sagan helped to discover that Saturn provides what critical element to Titan?
(a) Energy.
(b) Hydrogen.
(c) A magnetosphere.
(d) Tidal forces.

10. About how long does Sagan suggest that human beings have been "settled down"?
(a) 100,000 years.
(b) 1,000 years.
(c) 50,000 years.
(d) 10,000 years.

11. Who helped Sagan calculate that Titan should be host to oceans?
(a) Kuiper.
(b) Mach.
(c) Cassini.
(d) Dermott.

12. How many planets were known to ancient people?
(a) Five.
(b) Three.
(c) Four.
(d) Six.

13. What did Galileo demonstrate?
(a) The Earth is not the only planet.
(b) The stars are fixed.
(c) The moon does not orbit the Earth.
(d) The Sun is just a star.

14. The "great demotions" are changes in thinking about the status of what?
(a) The body of human scientific work.
(b) The dominance of religion.
(c) The place of humanity in the universe.
(d) The age of the Earth.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How much bigger is Neptune than Earth?

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

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

4. What was the state of the knowledge and belief about life on other planets at the time the book was written?

5. Kuiper discovered that Titan has what chemical vital to the development of life?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 501 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample