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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. What would a civilization have to do to build a time machine?

2. What barrier could wormholes break?

3. What outline of cosmic strings is flat?

4. How does Hawking describe himself?

5. How does Hawking describe exploring the galaxy?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did the physicist John Wheeler mean when he said, "a black hole has no hair"?

2. What does much of the possibility of time travel depend upon?

3. What is a time travel "horizon"?

4. What is the grandfather paradox?

5. What did Strominger and Vafa postulate in 1996?

6. How does Hawking begin Chapter Four?

7. At what rate is the computational power of computers increasing, and what computational rate might they actually reach?

8. What does Hawking think he can prove about space-time paths?

9. How would black hole radiation occur?

10. What is the main question concerning space-time, if one avoids philosophical discussion and focuses on the laws of physics?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that answers the following questions: What is M-theory? What is its relationship to various string models? What does Hawking believe about M-theory? The essay must include at least two supporting evidences from the book, and one example from an outside text.

Essay Topic 2

Chapter Five provides a complex picture of the interconnections between space-time, the multiple history idea, and quantum theory. Write an essay that analyzes the relationship between these three concepts, and use at least two examples from Chapter Five that support your argument.

Essay Topic 3

Hawking discusses the concept of brane worlds at length. Since brane worlds are a very difficult and far-reaching topic, write an essay that seeks to succinctly summarize the concept of brane worlds and their relationship with humans.

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