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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. If a clock were accelerated to nearly the speed of light for a year's time, which of the following would be true of its reading at the end of that time?
(a) It would be less than one year.
(b) Its reading would be random and meaningless.
(c) It would be more than one year.
(d) It would be exactly equal to one year.

2. Which of the following is not one of the four fundamental forces of the universe?
(a) The electromagnetic force.
(b) Gravity.
(c) The nuclear-weak force.
(d) The photoelectric force.

3. In the 1800s, James Clerk Maxwell used a new mathematical framework to unite _____.
(a) Magnetism and gravity.
(b) Electricity and magnetism.
(c) Nuclear forces and gravity.
(d) Magnetism and light.

4. Who discovered the theory of general relativity?
(a) Albert Einstein.
(b) Max Planck.
(c) Richard Feynman.
(d) Isaac Newton.

5. What characteristic of the string determines the properties of the particle it represents?
(a) Its mass.
(b) Its frequency of vibration.
(c) The number of other strings with which it is threaded.
(d) Its length.

6. What is the shape of all particles, at the smallest possible level, according to string theory?
(a) A one-dimension loop.
(b) An infinitely long string.
(c) A thread of thin strings.
(d) A tangled ball of thin filament.

7. According to general relativity, all objects that have mass have what effect on space-time?
(a) They warp space-time around them.
(b) They fold space-time as they move past one another.
(c) They tear space-time when they travel at near-light speeds.
(d) They stretch space-time for other very distant objects.

8. What is the quantum, or messenger particle, of the strong force?
(a) The muon.
(b) The baryon.
(c) The hadron.
(d) The gluon.

9. What rule did Max Planck discover the electromagnetic waves bounded in a container, such as an oven, must follow?
(a) There must be an even number of peaks and troughs.
(b) They must have a whole number of peaks and troughs that fit perfectly inside the container.
(c) The frequencies of the waves must all be the same.
(d) The energies of all waves inside the over must cancel out to zero.

10. Which of the follow is true of objects with which string theory is concerned?
(a) It concerns one-dimensional strings and nothing else.
(b) They include strings and other objects as well.
(c) The objects are purely imaginary.
(d) They are all really Calabi-Yau shapes.

11. In 1968 it was discovered that protons and neutrons are composed of which type of particle?
(a) Muons.
(b) Baryons.
(c) Neutrinos.
(d) Quarks.

12. The first version of string theory did not include any particles of _____.
(a) Fermions.
(b) Gravitons.
(c) Messenger particles.
(d) Bosons.

13. According to Einstein's theory of general relativity, if two objects have a gravitational pull on one another, and one changes its mass or distance from the other, how quickly does the effect of this change travel to the other object?
(a) Near the speed of light, faster for more massive objects.
(b) At exactly the speed of light.
(c) Instantaneously.
(d) Near the speed of light, faster for lighter objects.

14. What is the fundamental force responsible for keeping the nucleus of an atom "glued" together?
(a) Quantum-tunneling force.
(b) Gravitational force.
(c) The nuclear-strong force.
(d) Potential electrical force.

15. How are the amplitude of a string's vibration and the mass of the particle it represents related?
(a) If there is a non-zero amplitude, the particle is massless.
(b) The higher the amplitude, the more massive the particle.
(c) Amplitude and mass are not related.
(d) The higher the amplitude, the less massive the particle.

Short Answer Questions

1. Richard Feynman's "sum over paths" theory states that in the double-slit experiment, an electron behaves in what way?

2. In quantum mechanics, what is symmetry breaking?

3. The wave-like nature of the electron means that after a collision, _____.

4. Two theories form the basis of modern physics, but are incompatible with one another. String theory attempts to reconcile these fields. What are these two theories?

5. What is the photoelectric effect?

(see the answer keys)

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