Question

Question 1

Science affecting our daily lives is exemplified by:

		relying on hunches to solve crimes.
		using DNA evidence in criminal investigations.
		seeking the help of people with psychic visions in police work.
		relying entirely on preconceptions to identify people who may have committed crimes.

4 points

Question 2

When an object’s velocity changes, which of the following must have occurred?

		A unbalanced force acted on the object.
		An balanced force acted on the object.
		The object started to deviate from motion along a straight line.
		The object’s speed and direction remained unchanged.

4 points

Question 3

Potential energy can be thought of as which of the following?

		a measure of the amount of power exerted by a system
		the ability of a system to store energy
		a measure of the kinetic energy that is left in a system
		the storage of energy that is available to do work

4 points

Question 4

Heat conduction works primarily because of which of the following reasons?

		In a closed system, energy is conserved.
		When two objects interact with each other, they exert equal but opposite forces on each other.
		The most likely outcome is for the particles making up the substance to go from a less likely state to a more likely state.
		In the absence of unbalanced forces, an object in motion will continue along with that motion.

4 points

Question 5

Which of the following is not a similarity between the equation for the electrical force between charges and the equation for the gravitational force between masses?

		The forces can each be either positive or negative.
		The forces are each proportional to a property possessed by each of the objects.
		The forces decrease with the square of the separation between objects.
		The forces increase with the square of the separation between objects.

4 points

Question 6

When two waves, each with identical frequencies and an amplitude of 4 cm, interact with each other at the same point, which of the following happens?

		Without knowing the timing of the waves, we can’t say anything.
		The point experiences a shift of 8 cm upwards.
		The point experiences no shift at all.
		The point experiences a shift of 8 cm downwards.

4 points

Question 7

The atomic number of an element best corresponds to which of the following?

		The mass of an atom of that element.
		The number of electrons orbiting the nucleus of an atom of that element.
		The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom of that element.
		The number of neutrons in the nucleus of an atom of that element.

4 points

Question 8

An ionic bond forms where the following happens?

		Atoms that like to share electrons interact with each other.
		An atom that likes to share electrons interacts with an electron that likes to take electrons.
		An atom that likes to give up an electron interacts with an atom that likes to take electrons.
		Atoms that do not like to share electrons interact with each other.

4 points

Question 9

The properties of a material do NOT depend on which of the following?

		The kind of atoms from which the material is made
		The way the atoms are arranged inside the material
		The way the atoms are bonded to each other in the material
		The way the atoms can be broken apart inside the material

4 points

Question 10

Within a permanent magnet, which of the following is true?

		The atomic-level dipole magnets are randomly oriented.
		The atomic-level dipole magnets clump together in similar orientations; these clumps tend to line up with each other in the same direction.
		The atomic-level dipole magnets all point in exactly the same direction.
		The atomic-level dipole magnets tend to line up with each of their nearest neighbors.

4 points

Question 11

Which of the following are accurate statements about the nucleus of an atom?

		The nucleus contains very little of an atom’s total energy.
		The nucleus contains the greatest part of an atom’s total volume.
		The interactions within the nucleus of some atoms occasionally send matter and energy out of the atom.
		The interactions within the nucleus alone control chemical behavior of the atom.

4 points

Question 12

When an atom undergoes radioactive decay, which of the following happens?

		The parent nucleus loses some of its internal energy and the decay products have a great deal of kinetic energy.
		The parent nucleus converts some of its internal energy into mass and the decay products have more mass than the parent nucleus.
		The parent nucleus converts some of its mass into kinetic energy for the decay products.
		The parent nucleus converts thermal energy into kinetic energy for the decay products.

4 points

Question 13

Which one of the following is a reason why the Large Hadron Collider is so large?

		The detectors must be spread out over many kilometers to catch all of the fast-moving particles.
		Fast-moving protons are less likely to collide unless there are very long beams.
		As the protons get closer to the speed of light, the acceleration induced by a given force will decrease in magnitude.
		A perfect vacuum cannot be achieved, but the imperfections are diminished in effect if they are spread over a long distance.

4 points

Question 14

Which one of the following lists places the forces in order of strength, from strongest to weakest?

		gravity, weak, electromagnetism, strong
		strong, weak, electromagnetism, gravity
		strong, electromagnetism, weak, gravity
		electromagnetism, gravity, strong, weak

4 points

Question 15

Approximately how far is it from one side of the Milky Way Galaxy to the other side?

		1,000,000 light-years
		100,000 light-years
		10,000 light-years
		1,000 light-years

4 points

Question 16

When we see a galaxy moving towards us and emitting a ray of light in the green part of the spectrum, which of the following colors is the one that we would most likely see?

		Yellow
		Blue
		Red
		Green

4 points

Question 17

As a nebular cloud collapses into a planetary system, mass is:

		uniformly distributed throughout the volume.
		mostly contained in the center of the cloud.
		mostly distributed along the outer rim of the cloud.
		distributed in a wave-like pattern throughout the cloud.

4 points

Question 18

Which of the following parts of a typical planet would we expect to have the lowest density?

		Outer core
		Inner core
		Crust
		Mantle

4 points

Question 19

Which of the following is typically not a way that a mountain can change in size?

		Water erosion
		Wind erosion
		Volcanic eruption
		Mountains can change in size through each of these methods.

4 points

Question 20

The speed of a seismic wave:

		fluctuates slightly, and is on average several of tens of meters per second.
		does not fluctuate, and is on the order of thousands of meters per second.
		does not fluctuate, and is on the order of hundreds of meters per second.
		fluctuates wildly, depending upon the type of rock through which it travels.

4 points

Question 21

The Earth’s major cycles are predominantly driven by which of the following?

		The tendency of heat to diffuse
		Gravitational attraction
		Nuclear reactions within the Earth
		Chemical reactions

4 points

Question 22

Of all the water on Earth, __________ percent is salty and __________ percent is available for human use.

		97.5; 10
		75.9; 100
		97.5; 1
		100; 79.5

4 points

Question 23

Wind patterns in the world tend to be like which of the following?

		Winds are arranged in bands running north to south.
		Winds flow from the equator to the poles.
		Winds flow from the poles to the equator.
		Winds are arranged in bands running east to west.

4 points

Question 24

A system in homeostasis experiences which of the following?

		Stability in the day-to-day changes in moisture
		Stability in the types of species present
		Stability in the number of organisms present
		Stability in the rate of extinction

4 points

Question 25

Which of the following accurately summarize the Law of Unintended Consequences?

		Changing one aspect of a complex system will typically cause exactly the opposite thing to happen in another part of the system.
		Changing one aspect of a complex system will typically cause exactly the same thing to happen to a surprising number of other parts of the system.
		Changing one aspect of a complex system will typically cause several other parts of the system to change in exactly the right way to counteract the original change.
		Changing one aspect of a complex system will typically cause wholly unforeseen changes in a surprising number of other parts of the system.

Answer 1