a. Careful observation of nature
b. Building theories to explain what you observe
c. Testing the predictions of those theories against observations
d. They are all part of the scientific method
2. The moon has phases because...
a. It passes into the Earth's shadow every month
b. Only the side of the moon facing the sun is illuminated
c. The moon causes tides in the oceans
d. None of the above
3. Once you burn gasoline in your car, the energy in that gasoline
a. Enters the environment as heat
b. Is lost forever
c. Has to be replaced by drilling for more oil
d. None of the above
4. You touch the inside of a window with a wooden frame on a cold day and find that the glass feels colder than the wood. This is because
a. The glass is at a lower temperature
b. Wood is a poorer heat conductor than glass
c. Wood generates more heat than glass
d. None of the above
5. A lightning bolt results from
a. Large magnetic fields in thunderclouds
b. Intense flashes of light in the clouds
c. The flow of electrical charges between the cloud and the ground
d. None of the above
6. The difference between radio waves (RW) and visible light (VL) is that
a. RW have electrical fields, VL doesn't
b. RW have magnetic fields, VL doesn't
c. VL has a longer wavelength than RW
d. VL has a shorter wavelength than RW
7. According to the Theory of Relativity
a. No massive object can be accelerated past the speed of light
b. Moving clocks run slower than stationary ones
c. Moving objects are shortened in the direction of motion
d. All of the above
8. New materials are created by scientists through a process of
a. Changing the properties of atoms
b. Discovering new kinds of atoms
c. Putting known atoms together in new ways
d. None of the above
9. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle says that
a. You can never measure the exact position of an electron
b. You can never measure the exact velocity of an electron
c. You cannot simultaneously measure the position and velocity of the electron exactly
d. You can never measure any property of the electron exactly
10. Chemical reactions
a. Take place only in test tubes
b. Are always dangerous
c. Take place everywhere in nature
d. Take place only in living things
11. Which of the following kinds of materials make the best electrical conductor?
a. Glass
b. Metal
c. Wood
d. They are all good conductors
12. Carbon dating of old materials is possible because
a. Carbon is black and absorbs sunlight
b. Carbon is a common chemical element
c. Some isotopes of carbon are radioactive
d. None of the above
13. The difference between nuclear fusion and nuclear fission is that
a. Fission is used to generate commercial electricity, fusion is not
b. Fusion is used to generate commercial electricity, fission is not
c. Fission is the source of energy in stars, fusion is not
d. None of the above
14. A particle accelerator is a machine designed to
a. Make experimental cars run faster
b. Speed up chemical reactions
c. Explore the basic structure of matter
d. None of the above
15. The sun is approximately how old?
a. Thousands of years
b. Millions of years
c. Billions of years
d. Trillions of years
16. Which of the following best describes the ages of the solar system, the Milky Way, and the universe?
a. The sun is much younger than the universe
b. The sun and the universe are about the same age
c. The sun is about the same age as the Milky Way
d. The sun is younger than the Milky Way
17. The Earth is approximately how old?
a. Thousands of years
b. Millions of years
c. Billions of years
d. Trillions of years
18. Which of the following is a permanent feature of the Earth's surface?
a. The Atlantic Ocean
b. The Rocky Mountains
c. The Sahara
d. No geological feature of the Earth's surface is permanent
19. Most of the fresh water in the world is located in
a. The eastern United States
b. Antarctica
c. The Great Lakes
d. None of the above
20. Acid rain is caused primarily by
a. Natural acids in the atmosphere
b. Material emitted by refrigerants in air conditioners
c. Material emitted by industrial smokestacks and automobiles
d. The destruction of the ozone layer
21. The most abundant animals in the world are
a. Mammals
b. Fish
c. Insects
d. Birds
22. The interior of cells in the human body
a. Contains many complex subunits
b. Is mainly composed of a fluid known as protoplasm
c. Does not operate by the same rules of chemistry as other parts of the world
d. None of the above
23. Which of the following are part of a healthy diet
a. Fats
b. Carbohydrates
c. Proteins
d. All of the above
24. DNA
a. Contains the information that allows cells to run chemical reactions
b. Makes up most of the material inside a cell
c. Is almost all composed of genes
d. None of the above
25. Stem cells
a. Are found only in humans
b. Are only found in the laboratory
c. Have the ability to produce any kind of tissue in the body
d. None of the above
26. The earliest animals we could say are related to modern humans appeared on Earth
a. Thousands of years ago
b. Millions of years ago
c. Billions of years ago
d. Trillions of years ago