1. Four goals or benefits for you from taking this course were presented right at the start of the course. State two of the four here. Mentioning subpoints under the four goals in lieu of the main goals may earn you only partial credit. Some Extra Credit opportunity here.
2. What is the "fine balance" it (science) requires?
3. What is the estimated % of scientifically illiterate Americans? _____%
4. Philosophically, what was the fundamentally and distinctively different approach to understanding how the world worked that the Greeks contributed?
5. Which one of the following was not a contribution of Hipparchus?
a. accurately determined the length of the year and his error
b. discovered precession
c. established the magnitude system
d. discovered the planet Uranus with an early telescope
e. actually all of the above were done by Hipparchus
6. When did the Greek philosopher-scientists flourish? (I want the range of time covered from Thales of Miletus to Hypatia of Alexandria.)
a. 600 B.C.E. ( B.C.) to 400 C.E. ( A.D.)
b. 4000 B.C.E. to 2500 B.C.E.
c. 400 C.E. to 1400 C.E.
d. 1500 C.E. to 1700 C.E.
e. 2000 B.C.E. to 600 B.C.E.
7. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary _______________."
a. credulity
b. chutzpah
c. imagination
d. evidence
e. skill
8. The ecliptic is (define).
9. What was the Islamic world's chief contribution during medieval times?
10. In one of the Windows on Science the author discusses the role of skepticism in science. Select the statement below which best describes this role.
a. Skepticism helps scientists to hold no beliefs in anything.
b. Skepticism actually plays no major role in the process by which we learn through science.
c. Skepticism is an excuse used by scientists to not believe in God(dess).
d. Skepticism is what drives scientists to find what is worthy of belief.
e. Skepticism is used to help scientists to avoid studying flaky claims.
11. Tycho Brahe's principal contribution to astronomy was
a. his observation of the comet of 1577
b. his observation in 1572 of a supernova
c. his "compromise" model for the origin of the moon
d. his accurate observations of the positions of the planets
e. his choice of Galileo as an assistant
12. State correctly Kepler's Third Law of Planetary Motion, the "Harmonic Law." (If you choose to describe this with an equation or relation, ensure that you define the symbols.)
13. One of the lessons of Galileo's clash with the Catholic Church, a lesson that bears directly on today's Christian fundamentalist resistence to several well established scientific findings, such as the evolution of life on Earth, the age of the Earth and universe, and the origins of things.
a. The Bible is not a science text; nature itself is the source of knowledge regarding how nature works.
b. Scientists can be shown wrong with a few select verses from the Bible.
c. The Inquisition, with its trials, torturing, and killing was, putting them in their proper historical perspective, a proper response to intellectual challenges from Galileo Galilei and his ilk.
d. Scientists can be shown wrong with a few select verses from the Koran.
14. The surface gravity of earth induces an acceleration of 32 ft/s/s. If your mass is 5 slugs, what is your weight? (Note: your answer will be in lbs.)
15. The Foucault Pendulum is the experiment which conclusively proved what motion of earth?
Now, for the answers...