Earth 113 Ch 24 Review Clickers
The earth is one of the most interesting planets in existence so far. There is still a big chunk of the universe that scientists have not figured out yet. The quiz below is a review of the physical earth to help you better understand and comprehend this vast planet. All the best and enjoy!
- 1.About how old is Earth?
- A.
6000 years
- B.
One million years
- C.
One billion years
- D.
5 billion years
- E.
14 billion years
- 2.How do scientists tell the age of different rocks on Earth?
- A.
Layering of rocks is similar in many places on Earth, so they examine different layers to assess ages
- B.
They look at the density of rocks, because density gradually increases as Earth ages
- C.
Some elements gradually change into other elements due to radioactivity. This rate can be studied in the lab, and then applied to rocks to see how old they are
- D.
All of the above
- E.
A and C
- 3.How do we know Earth’s age?
- A.
Radiometric dating of the oldest Earth rocks
- B.
Radiometric dating of Moon rocks
- C.
Radiometric dating of meteorites
- D.
All of the above
- 4.When did life begin on Earth?
- A.
Thousands of years ago
- B.
Millions of year ago
- C.
Between 3 and 4 billion years ago
- D.
We don’t really know
- 5.How do we know when the first life arose on Earth?
- A.
By counting tree rings
- B.
By radiometric dating of fossils
- C.
By dating rocks in which the fossils are found (determined from layering and radiometric dating of the rocks)
- D.
A and B
- 6.Why is it unlikely that life could have arisen before about 3-4 billion years?
- A.
Earth was too hot
- B.
Earth was being bombarded by planetesimals that formed the solar system
- C.
Earth may not have had much water yet
- D.
All of the above
- 7.How do we know that life evolved from simple to more complex?
- A.
Like the evolution of stars, we study the mechanism (DNA and mutation, rather than fusion, gravity, etc.)
- B.
We look for clues of various stages (fossils, rather than red giants and white dwarfs)
- C.
We make predictions of what should be found, then go look (the scientific method)
- D.
All of the above
- E.
A and B
- 8.True or False?: All living organisms known today evolved from a common ancestor that lived long ago.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 9.How do we know that life evolved from a common ancestor?
- A.
The fossil record shows sequences of organisms of similar morphology (appearance) that change with time
- B.
DNA shows remarkable similarities among all life forms
- C.
DNA is more similar among closely related forms
- D.
All of the above
- 10.When Charles Darwin proposed the theory of evolution,
- A.
He used evidence from fossils and from DNA
- B.
He only used evidence from fossils; DNA hadn’t been discovered
- C.
He didn’t know why organisms varied from generation to generation, but the evidence showed that they did
- D.
A and C
- E.
B and C
- 11.When DNA was discovered,
- A.
It contradicted what Darwin had said
- B.
It showed the mechanism – mutation – that explains why organisms change over time
- C.
It didn’t affect our understanding of what Darwin said, since he lived almost a century before DNA was discovered
- 12.How does evolution affect people today?
- A.
It doesn’t–evolution takes a long time
- B.
If you get the flu this year, you can still get sick next year because the virus evolves
- C.
The AIDS virus mutates quickly, making it hard to fight with drugs
- D.
Mutation causes antibiotics to gradually lose their effectiveness against certain infections
- E.
B, C, and D
- 13.How did life arise on Earth?
- A.
We don’t know
- B.
We have some clues, such as DNA studies that suggest the first life may have lived in hot water near volcanic vents
- C.
This is an important topic of scientific study
- D.
All of the above
- E.
B and C
- 14.What suggests that there could be life on Mars?
- A.
There is evidence of liquid water today, and evidence that there was more water in the past
- B.
Mars has the next best climate than Earth. It is colder than us but was probably warmer in the past
- C.
Mars has an atmosphere
- D.
All of the above
- E.
A and C
- 15.Surprising Discovery?: In 2020, a spacecraft lands on Europaand melts its way through the ice into the Europanocean. It finds numerous strange, living microbes, along with a few larger organisms that feed on the microbes.
- A.
This is likely because biosignatures were already detected on Europa by the Voyager 2 spacecraft
- B.
This could happen because there is evidence for an ocean underneath the icy surface of Europa and water is a good place to look for life
- C.
This is fantasy because it would take more than 20 years for a spacecraft to reach Saturn using current rocket technology
- D.
This is fantasy because the X-ray emission from Saturn has effectively sterilized all the moons around it
- 16.Surprising Discovery?: In 2030, a brilliant teenager discovers a way to build a rocket that burns coal as its fuel and can travel at half the speed of light.
- A.
This is possible because rocket technology is constantly improving
- B.
This is possible because new power generators using coal are becoming increasingly more efficient
- C.
This is fantasy because purely chemical burning cannot release enough energy to achieve such speeds
- D.
This is fantasy because Einstein showed that it is impossible to travel faster than a fraction of the speed of light
- E.
This is fantasy because there are no brilliant teenagers anymore
- 17.Surprising Discovery?: In the year 2750, we receive a signal from a civilization around a nearby star telling us that the Voyager 2 spacecraft recently crash-landed on their planet.
- A.
This is a possibility because Voyager 2 was deliberately aimed at nearby stars as it left the solar system
- B.
This is fantasy because astronomers have shown that there are no other civilizations in the universe
- C.
This is fantasy because Voyager 2 will take tens of thousands of years to reach the distance of even the nearest stars
- D.
This is fantasy because there are no stars within 750 light years of the Sun
Recent Quizzes
Featured Quizzes
Back to top