A Short History of Nearly Everything Test | Mid-Book Test - Hard

Bill Bryson
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Short Answer Questions

1. Continental drift refers to:

2. When did the last supervolcano erupt on Earth?

3. What are so small that the dot on the letter "i" could hold 5 billion of them?

4. What massive bone belonging to a dinosaur was found in New Jersey in 1789?

5. Which of the following is not part of an atom?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the protons, neutrons, and electrons of an atom.

2. Describe some of the theories regarding what might have caused the Big Bang.

3. Explain the misunderstanding of radiation during the early 1900s.

4. Who was Clair Patterson? Describe Clair Patterson's campaign against lead contamination.

5. Describe what the Archbishop James Usser and the Reverend William Buckland concluded regarding the age of Earth.

6. What explanation did James Hutton come up with to describe the phenomenon of seashell fossils frequently found on mountaintops?

7. Describe the three basic layers of Earth, namely, the crust, mantle, and core.

8. Why is the term "dinosaurian" a misnomer?

9. What did geologist Harry Hess discover about the Atlantic Ocean in the 1960s that validated the idea that the continents are drifting apart?

10. Explain Albert Einstein's theory of space curvature using a tennis ball and an ant.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain supernovas. What exactly are they? Describe the mechanism behind them. How long do they last? What contributions do supernovas make to the universe?

Essay Topic 2

What is continental drift? How did this concept emerge within the scientific community? How long did it take for this idea to gain acceptance? What evidence pointed to the reality of continental drift?

Essay Topic 3

What are quarks? Describe them in detail, including their function, composition, colors, and "flavors."

(see the answer keys)

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