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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Because galaxies are not far apart, fifteen billion years ago what might have occurred?

2. How did the universe initially expand?

3. What is one of the twentieth century's greatest discoveries?

4. What did Penrose and Hawking demonstrate concerning General Relativity?

5. What did Hubble find about collections of stars?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Hawking's view about mathematical models?

2. What is vacuum energy?

3. Describe imaginary time.

4. What is space-time?

5. How did the general relativity theory break down?

6. What was the bedrock of relativity theory, and what did it imply?

7. Describe the contradiction of relativity to Newton's law of gravity.

8. What does Hawking believe the possibility of intelligent beings' existence depends on?

9. What is the no boundary condition, and what does it imply?

10. What was the "ether" theory?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Hawking states that the human race must be able to better itself since it will be dealing with an "increasingly complex world." Write an essay that supports or negates this argument. Be sure to include data from Chapters Five, Six, or Seven and at least two other supporting examples from your own research.

Essay Topic 2

Hawking uses the word "deterministic" quite a bit in Chapter Four. Identify what determinism means in this context, and how it relates to the universe. Then, summarize and analyze the controversy over whether or not the universe is deterministic and what this might entail.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the interpretation of General Relativity according to Penrose and Hawking and how this differed from Lifshitz and Khalatnikov. Cite two examples from Chapter Two that expound on Penrose and Hawking's dissimilar interpretation.

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