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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter ∞.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Aristotle referred to Zeno of Elea as the inventor of what?
(a) Geometry.
(b) Algebra.
(c) The Zeno theorem.
(d) The dialectic.

2. According to the author in Chapter 7, “Absolute Zeros,” thermodynamics led physicists to believe that light was not a particle but what?
(a) A proton.
(b) An electromagnetic wave.
(c) A vibrating string.
(d) An electron.

3. When was Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica first published?
(a) 1687.
(b) 1632.
(c) 1568.
(d) 1666.

4. In physics, what term refers to the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical physical system may possess?
(a) Zero-point energy.
(b) A black hole.
(c) The Golden Ratio.
(d) The Planck constant.

5. The absolute value of a number may be thought of as its distance from what?
(a) Itself.
(b) One.
(c) Zero.
(d) Two.

Short Answer Questions

1. Pythagoreanism developed into two separate schools of thought. What group was called “the learners” in Greek?

2. According to the author in Chapter 8, “Zero Hour at Ground Zero,” some physicists think the merging of a particle and a black hole creates a tachyon or a particle with imaginary mass that could do what?

3. What was the fifth element that Aristotle proposed, in addition to earth, water, fire, and air?

4. What 12 Century rabbi sought to reconcile Greek philosophy with the Semitic Bible?

5. The USS Yorktown was used as the test-bed for what Navy program beginning in 1996?

(see the answer key)

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