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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What type of motion cannot be felt or sensed by the moving observer?
(a) Constant-velocity movement.
(b) Orbital movement around a star.
(c) Accelerating movement.
(d) Slowing or decelerating movement.

2. 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) Near the speed of light, faster for lighter objects.
(c) Instantaneously.
(d) At exactly the speed of light.

3. What is quantum foam?
(a) The mixture of short-lived particles observed after a matter and anti-matter collision.
(b) The faint material ejected by black holes.
(c) Particles that are scattered from their normal positions by quantum interference.
(d) The rapidly changing spatial distortions at the Planck length.

4. According to Newton's law of gravity, the strength of the pull between two objects depends on what factors?
(a) The distance between them and their average atomic numbers.
(b) Their densities and the strength of the gravitational field they occupy.
(c) Their masses and the distance between them.
(d) Their masses and potential energies.

5. Which of the following is true of a particle's spin?
(a) It increases with each interaction with a particle of greater spin.
(b) It changes depending on the particle's energy.
(c) It depends on the strength of the local magnetic field.
(d) It is constant for that particle.

6. What is different about a particle of antimatter, compared to its normal counterpart?
(a) Opposite electrical charge.
(b) Complementary spin.
(c) Negative mass.
(d) Zero mass.

7. Which of the follow best describes a boson?
(a) A particle of energy, a messenger particle for a force.
(b) The super-partner of a proton.
(c) The supersymmetric version of a proton.
(d) A particle of matter.

8. Why are the fluctuations that quantum physics predicts not observable in everyday life?
(a) Most fluctuations are canceled out by electromagnetic waves, like light.
(b) The human brain filters them out.
(c) The fluctuations only occur in deep space.
(d) On large scales, the effects cancel each other out.

9. Which of the following qualities must a physical law have in order to be considered symmetric?
(a) It does not depend on where or when it is applied.
(b) It is valid for both matter and anti-matter.
(c) It is valid for both matter and energy.
(d) It works regardless of the spin of the particles involved.

10. The smallest possible unit of energy is referred to as _____.
(a) A quark.
(b) A quantum.
(c) A muon.
(d) A photon.

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

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

13. What is the quantum, or messenger particle, of the weak force?
(a) The Higgs boson.
(b) The neutrino.
(c) The up quark.
(d) The weak gauge boson.

14. How many dimensions did the tiny objects involved in the original statement of string theory have?
(a) Three.
(b) Four.
(c) One.
(d) Two.

15. Quantum electroweak theory concerns quantum mechanics and _____.
(a) The strong force.
(b) The weak force.
(c) The electromagnetic force.
(d) Gravity.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the Planck mass?

2. General relativity is incompatible with _____.

3. In which particle was spin first discovered?

4. What discovery was made that incorporated gravitational force into quantum mechanics via string theory?

5. Which of the following correctly describes the structure of an atom?

(see the answer keys)

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