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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. In the early years of the Enlightenment, the strongest support on the Continent for Newton's philosophy came from ________.
(a) Germany.
(b) America.
(c) Holland.
(d) Italy.

2. In Chapter 1, who claimed that his "principle of least action" proved the existence of God?
(a) Malebranche.
(b) Pierre-Louis-Moreau de Maupertuis.
(c) Leibniz.
(d) Newton.

3. Vis viva was thought by its creator ________ to be the dynamic quantity that was conserved in the universe, according to the narrator in Chapter 2.
(a) Euler.
(b) Leibniz.
(c) Descartes.
(d) 'sGravesande.

4. According to Chapter 1, who made Newton into a supreme rationalist whose laws of motion were a priori deductions of pure thought?
(a) Maupertuis.
(b) Fontenelle.
(c) Roberts.
(d) Marquis de l'Hopital.

5. What was the name of the philosopher who carried out the following experiments: kite, electric spider, and lightning bells to study electricity?
(a) The Jesuits.
(b) Abbe Jean Antoine Nollet.
(c) Stephen Gray.
(d) Benjamin Franklin.

Short Answer Questions

1. The "Philosophical Letters" was a product of Voltaire's visit to ________ according to Chapter 2.

2. Contemporary chemistry recognized only one element in the gaseous state, and that was the element _______.

3. ________, working with the knowledge of latent heat, realized that a big difference in heat could be obtained with a small difference in temperature, if one compared water and ice.

4. The narrator explains in Chapter 3 that ________ and ________ were the best examples of subtle fluids.

5. What was the name of the revolution that was a cultural event associated with Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, Rene Descartes, and Isaac Newton?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss the product of the Philosophical Letters.

2. Briefly discuss the origin of subtle fluid as discuss in Chapter 3 of "Science and the Enlightenment."

3. What were the proponents of blunt rods which where used in the study of electricity? Who led the proponents of blunt rods? Explain.

4. What were the two necessary ingredients for the improvement of astronomical tables? Explain.

5. Discuss Christian Wolff's book "Generally useful researches for attaining to a more exact knowledge of nature and the arts."

6. Why was income important to scientists during the Enlightenment period?

7. What did Leibniz argue in regards to the mechanical philosophy of the Enlightenment?

8. Discuss the two concepts that were studied in rational mechanics during the Enlightenment.

9. How did the eighteenth century define analysis? Explain.

10. Discuss the electrical experiments of Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Gray and Abbe Jean Antoine Nollet.

(see the answer keys)

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