View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Sagan say is an easy way to visually identify planets?
(a) Their size.
(b) Their movements.
(c) Their brightness.
(d) The color of their atmospheres.

2. What did ancient people notice about planets that set them apart from the stars?
(a) They had complex motions and were not fixed.
(b) They were much larger.
(c) They had unique colors.
(d) They grew closer from time to time.

3. What role does Sagan suggest that religion has played in the development of science?
(a) Religion informs and guides scientific development.
(b) Religion has aided science in significant ways.
(c) Religiously-minded individuals often become scientists.
(d) Science progressed in spite of religion.

4. At the time of the writing of this book, what is the farthest planet that humans had reached through the use of exploratory probes?
(a) Uranus.
(b) Pluto.
(c) Neptune.
(d) Saturn.

5. What does Neptune's moon have less of compared to Titan?
(a) Carbon.
(b) Iron.
(c) Ice.
(d) Potassium.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Neptune fall in the mission plan for the Voyager probes?

2. What criticism does Sagan make of NASA in Chapter 6, "The Triumph of Voyager"?

3. According to Sagan, how do early Earth and Titan compare?

4. What is notable about the Sun's light in Sagan's distant picture of the Earth?

5. Which of the following is a major point opponents of space exploration raise?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the Strong Anthropomorphic principle suggest?

2. What dangers did the Voyager I spacecraft face in taking a distant picture of Earth?

3. What undesirable features of human activity might be easily noticed from space?

4. As of 1990, what had the Voyager spacecraft achieved?

5. What is the problem of perspective in estimating the importance of human beings?

6. What "malevolent" theology does Sagan describe in Chapter 3, "The Great Demotions"?

7. What aspects of science make it unappealing to some?

8. How was Sagan involved in discoveries about Titan?

9. Why does Saga say he is optimistic about the "human prospect"?

10. Why does Sagan believe that the image of the "pale blue dot" undermined the "imagined self-importance" of humanity?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 760 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample