WINDOW ON WELLESLEY
WELLESLEY’S TOP TEN
QUESTIONS TO TEST YOUR SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE At the start of the spring semester, Kim McLeod, the Theresa Mall Mullarkey 3. About how many years old is the earth? Associate Professor of Astronomy, gave her students in ASTR 100, Life in the Universe, an online survey to test their understanding of basic science. She then posted the same quiz for faculty and staff, and compared the number of
5 thousand 5 million 50 million
500 million 5 billion
correct responses in each group. Fortunately, faculty and staff proved they did in fact know more than the students, keeping the cosmos in proper 4. About how many years have humans been on Earth (Homo sapiens and other Homo species)? alignment. How much do you know? (Answers can be found on page 84.) 100 million 5,000
1. Select the BIGGER item in each (horizontal) pair
Milky Way The moon Water molecule Hydrogen nucleus The Big Dipper Gene Cells in a paramecium Quark Space shuttle’s altitude Temperature of a red star Time for Earth to orbit sun Time for Earth to spin once Federal spending
This survey
Pluto
5. How does Carbon-14 differ from Carbon-13?
Carbon atom Oxygen nucleus
Answer: They have different numbers of
Solar system
Neutron Three Proton
The universe The sun Earth’s crust Earth’s atmosphere You
—LS
electrons protons AND electrons
of size and separation best represents the earth? (Choose one.)
Time for moon to orbit Earth
3 meters away 30 meters 300 meters 3,000 meters
Time for moon to orbit Earth The Wellesley endowment
A grain of salt Earth
for astronomical research
A lentil Earth A tennis ball Earth
7. Check all items that are “kinds of light.”
Hydrogen Nitrogen Carbon
gamma ray x-ray ultraviolet
visible infrared microwave
radio wave cosmic ray
8. What is the most abundant greenhouse gas in Earth’s atmosphere? (Note: Not all of the choices given are greenhouse gasses; make sure your choice is.)
Carbon dioxide (CO2) Water vapor (H2O) Oxygen (O2) Ozone (O3)
9. Which best describes your ideas about intelligent life beyond Earth?
NASA/JPL/SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE
revelations: The rings are composed mainly of water ice, with a red contaminant that may be rust or small organic molecules, and surprisingly, the small moon Enceladus is the biggest contributor of charged particles to Saturn’s magnetic environment, not the sun nor the planet’s largest moon, Titan.
neutrons
6. In a scale model where a basketball represents the sun, which combination
Temperature of a blue star
2. What’s the most abundant element (by number of atoms) in . . . Oxygen
protons
Distance to California
My attention span
Iron
1 billion
10,000 1 million
Solar system
It probably exists—philosophical reasons. It probably doesn’t exist—religious reasons. It probably doesn’t exist—other philosophical reasons. There’s evidence that aliens have visited the earth a few times. Aliens regularly visit Earth and abduct people.
10. Which best describes your ideas about astrology/horoscopes?
It’s total bunk, and it makes me uncomfortable when people make decisions based on their horoscope. It has predictive power, and I read horoscopes fairly regularly. It has predictive power, but I don’t generally read horoscopes. I’m reserving judgment because I don’t have good evidence either way. Summer 2010 Wellesley
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