Science Knowledge Quiz #3

1. What kind of lighting is the most energy efficient lighting currently available?

Incandescent lights

LED lights

CFC lights

CFCs are better than incandescent lights, but LEDs present many advantages over incandescent light sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved robustness, smaller size, faster switching, and greater durability and reliability.

Explanation

CFCs are better than incandescent lights, but LEDs present many advantages over incandescent light sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved robustness, smaller size, faster switching, and greater durability and reliability.

2. After Russia, whose land area is the size of the Moon, what is the second largest country in the world?

Australia

United States

Canada

Canada's land area is 9,984,670 km2 while the United States is 9,826,630 -- close! Australia is the 6th largest country.

Explanation

Canada's land area is 9,984,670 km2 while the United States is 9,826,630 -- close! Australia is the 6th largest country.

3. On Ground Hogs Day (Feb 2), about where would the earth be on its orbit around the sun?

Pretty nigh the farthest the earth is from the sun

Close to the sun

About where it always is - the orbit is a circle!

look at the diagram: http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/6h.html

Explanation

look at the diagram: http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/6h.html

4. In what country did the biggest earthquake every recorded occur?

Haiti

The U.S.

Chile

occurred in Chile in 1960. The Great Chilean Earthquake measured an impressive 9.5 on the Richter scale. The estimated death toll was nearly 1,700 people.

Explanation

occurred in Chile in 1960. The Great Chilean Earthquake measured an impressive 9.5 on the Richter scale. The estimated death toll was nearly 1,700 people.

5. Where is the biggest supervolcano on the planet, long overdue to erupt?

Mount Vesuvius, Italy

Mount Tambora, Indonesia

Yellowstone National Park, USA

Yellowstone Park: the entire park area is the top of a supervolcano's caldera. It last erupted 65 - 70 thousand years ago, and researchers identified that this volcano usually erupts every 60 thousand years, so that makes it long overdue. Researchers report the super-volcano underneath the state of Wyoming has been rising at a record rate since 2004. Its floor has gone up three inches per year for the last three years indicating the fastest rate since records began in 1923.

Explanation

Yellowstone Park: the entire park area is the top of a supervolcano's caldera. It last erupted 65 - 70 thousand years ago, and researchers identified that this volcano usually erupts every 60 thousand years, so that makes it long overdue. Researchers report the super-volcano underneath the state of Wyoming has been rising at a record rate since 2004. Its floor has gone up three inches per year for the last three years indicating the fastest rate since records began in 1923.

6. As of 2011, roughly how many planets have been discovered outside our solar system??

Over 1000

Over 100

About two dozen

The new Kepler telescope is even better than the Hubble Space Telescope in detecting extra solar planets. The universe may have more planets than stars!

Explanation

The new Kepler telescope is even better than the Hubble Space Telescope in detecting extra solar planets. The universe may have more planets than stars!

7. Considering that all of the oceans are connected and that the ocean is vital to all ecological processes on the planet, about how much of the world's ocean has been explored?

One-fifth

One-twentieth

All of the ocean has now been explored.

NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research is our federal agency charged with exploring the ocean. It supports expeditions to investigate and document the ocean, but thus far only 5% has been accomplished.

Explanation

NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research is our federal agency charged with exploring the ocean. It supports expeditions to investigate and document the ocean, but thus far only 5% has been accomplished.

8. Who was the woman from Roanoke, Virginia whose cancer cells have become immortal and now exist all over the world due to cloning for research?

Rosalind Franklin

Sally Edelman

Henrietta Lacks

A Black woman who was born in Roanoke and the source of HeLa cells in labs all over the planet. Read about her: http://rebeccaskloot.com/the-immortal-life/

Explanation

A Black woman who was born in Roanoke and the source of HeLa cells in labs all over the planet. Read about her: http://rebeccaskloot.com/the-immortal-life/

9. By volume of fresh water, what is the largest lake in the world?

Lake Superior, U.S.

Lake Vostok, Antarctica

Lake Baikal, Russia

Nothing compares to Lake Baikal in southern Siberia: with a maximum depth of just over a mile, it’s the deepest lake in the world. And at over 400 miles in length, Lake Baikal contains a full one-fifth of the freshwater on the entire planet. Lake Vostok is about the size of Lake Ontario and the Russians are drilling below the ice right now to get to it.

Explanation

Nothing compares to Lake Baikal in southern Siberia: with a maximum depth of just over a mile, it’s the deepest lake in the world. And at over 400 miles in length, Lake Baikal contains a full one-fifth of the freshwater on the entire planet. Lake Vostok is about the size of Lake Ontario and the Russians are drilling below the ice right now to get to it.

10. About how long ago did North America host camels, American cheetahs, lions, giant ground sloths, tapirs, muskox, giant beavers, elephants, and giant tortoises?

13,000 years ago

65,000 years ago

1.6 million years ago

The North American mega-fauna listed, which also included the sabre-tooth cats and mammoths and mastodons went extinct 13,000 years ago during the end of the Pleistocene, presumably caused in part by over predation by human migrants from Asia, who we call "native Americans" today.

Explanation

The North American mega-fauna listed, which also included the sabre-tooth cats and mammoths and mastodons went extinct 13,000 years ago during the end of the Pleistocene, presumably caused in part by over predation by human migrants from Asia, who we call "native Americans" today.