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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What term in geometry refers to a straight line that just touches a plane curve at a given point?
(a) A divergent.
(b) A gravitational pull.
(c) A tangent.
(d) A hyperbole.

2. The name “electron” was introduced in 1891 by what Irish physicist?
(a) Albert Einstein.
(b) Sir Isaac Newton.
(c) George Johnstone Stoney.
(d) Galileo Galilei.

3. In Chapter 8, “Zero Hour at Ground Zero,” the author states that the Hubble telescope saw that most galaxies were flying away from one another by using red-shifting and blue-shifting effects, the cosmological equivalent of what?
(a) The Heisenberg effect.
(b) The Doppler effect.
(c) The differential effect.
(d) The radon effect.

4. What kind of stars did the Hubble space telescope use to measure the size of the universe?
(a) White dwarfs.
(b) Hypergiant stars.
(c) Cepheid stars.
(d) RR Lyrae stars.

5. When was Jean le Rond d'Alembert born?
(a) 1717.
(b) 1811.
(c) 1701.
(d) 1659.

6. What refers to an optical telescope that uses a single or combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image?
(a) A chromatic telescope.
(b) An Alhazen’s telescope.
(c) A refracting telescope.
(d) A reflecting telescope.

7. What term refers to the production of nuclei other than those of the lightest isotope of hydrogen during the early phases of the universe?
(a) M-Theory.
(b) String theory.
(c) Quantum gravity.
(d) Big Bang nucleosynthesis.

8. The Leibniz–Newton calculus controversy was an argument between Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz over what?
(a) Who had first invented calculus.
(b) Who had first invented algebra.
(c) Who had first invented geometry.
(d) Who had first invented quantum mechanics.

9. Where was Carl Gauss from?
(a) Belgium.
(b) Spain.
(c) Germany.
(d) France.

10. According to the author in Chapter 7, “Absolute Zeros,” Max Planck came up with a new equation that solved the ultraviolet catastrophe but implied that energy was released in discrete packets that have come to be called what?
(a) Strings.
(b) Quanta.
(c) Photons.
(d) Derivatives.

11. Bosonic string theory was developed in what decade?
(a) 1950s.
(b) 1890s.
(c) 1960s.
(d) 1980s.

12. The Rayleigh–Jeans law revealed an important error in physics theory of its time. The law predicted an energy output that diverges towards infinity as wavelength approaches what?
(a) Pi.
(b) Zero.
(c) The sun.
(d) One.

13. Approximately when did Johannes Kepler live?
(a) 1501-1559.
(b) 1571-1630.
(c) 1611-1669.
(d) 1489-1550.

14. The mass of an electron is represented by what fraction in comparison with the mass of a proton?
(a) 1/594.
(b) 1/1836.
(c) 1/360.
(d) 2/4569.

15. According to the author in Chapter 5, “Infinite Zeros and Infidel Mathematicians,” Jean le Rond d'Alembert had satisfied the mathematician's need for what?
(a) Spirituality.
(b) Logical rigor.
(c) An all-encompassing theory.
(d) Theology.

Short Answer Questions

1. Georg Cantor is best known as the inventor of what fundamental theory in mathematics?

2. The Rayleigh–Jeans law agrees with experimental results at large wavelengths but strongly disagrees at short wavelengths. What is this inconsistency known as?

3. The antiparticle of the electron is called what?

4. What mathematical term refers to a function giving an exact pairing of the elements of two sets?

5. Where was Lord Kelvin born?

(see the answer keys)

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