Scientific Literacy Quiz

[jjjnettie]

:) How Scientifically literate are you??
Take the Quiz.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/1209/Are-you-scientifically-literate-Take-our-quiz/Composing-about-78-percent-of-the-air-at-sea-level-what-is-the-most-common-gas-in-the-Earth-s-atmosphere

[supernova1965]

Here are my results:D

[adman]

43/50

[Robh]

Hi JJJ.

Thanks for that. Always like a science quiz!

Regards, Rob

[rmcconachy]

49/50 - I got the cloud question towards the end wrong. :question: A few questions I could narrow the answer down to two options and had to guess between them.

[traveller]

37/50, saved by my rudimentary Latin :question:
Bo

[AstralTraveller]

A lot of questions are more about history of science than science itself. With a few educated guesses I got 44. Did anyone notice the incorrectly worded question?

[mithrandir]

47/50 - two non-science (biology) and the cloud one.

[stardust steve]

You answered 24 of 50 questions correctly for a total score of 48%.

And very proud of that score :rofl:

[AndyK]

Hmmm ... I need more practice.
OK at physics but never was much good at chemistry or biology.

[TrevorW]

Not bad 70% right I should have taken my first choice on a few

[mswhin63]

72% Mostly non physics question I sucked big time. although I got one physics question wrong (ouch) :P

[TrevorW]

Hope everyone got all the astronomy questions correct

[GeoffW1]

Challenging. 46/50. Physics OK but got all the biology ones wrong. Wonder what that means :lol:

Cheers

[scagman]

23/50. I'm better at guessing than I thought.

[Stardrifter_WA]

I got 70% also, and made the same error on a few too. Even got one astro question wrong.

[Terry B]

44/50
Missed 4 physics ones, 1 chemistry and the cloud one
Oh well

[TinyBlueDot]

38/50...

Well, it is late.....:D

John

[bartman]

30/50 = 60%
Chemistry and Biology :( (yet I surprised myself on a few)
A few questions there that I had first instinct on choosing......then went for a different one ( cause of over thinking) and was wrong! DOH!
But hopefully I will remember some of the answers ( like stupid nanometer grrrrrrr), and some others I will have to revist on youtube lectures.....
Thanks JJJ, BTW what was your score????????
Cheers
bartman
ps any more like that....science wise?

[adman]

:lol: there are a few that might take umbrage at your classification of Biology

[Keltik]

Great quiz!

[Keltik]

I wonder how many fundamentalist religious folks ticked the first box in Q.10- "How old is the Earth"? (first option was 6000-odd years) and then were miffed to get it wrong....?

[Ric]

35/50 or 70% for me

Was never that crash hot with the biology stuff.

[jjjnettie]

I scored 34/50.
Not too bad I suppose, considering the only science I took at school was Biology. But bad enough to know that I have to get up off my butt and start doing some serious catch up study.

[renormalised]

They wouldn't be miffed. They'd just refuse to believe that they were wrong and would go on quoting chapter and verse out of the bible stating that they were correct all along. They're imbeciles.

[erick]

43/50.

[Steffen]

I rushed it and made some avoidable boo-boos, 42/50.

Cheers
Steffen.

[barx1963]

43/50 here. Always have trouble with units of measure, nanometers, converting fahrenheit to celcius and so on:P

Malcolm

[tlgerdes]

Who is going to own up to Googling the odd answer?:question:

35/50:shrug:

[strongmanmike]

Got to question 16 with 15 right... and then got bored, slow computer...

So I'll extrapolate that to 15/16 X 50 = 46.875 :question:

The first lot were probably the easiest so I'll quit while I'm ahead... :lol:
Mike

[OzRob]

The biology questions got me, oh and the cloud one...39/50

At least I got all the astronomy and geology ones right!!

[blink138]

38, damn that biology, the clouds and a couple of basic physics laws which i should know
plus a few lucky guesses of course!
pat

[andyc]

46/50 for me, a few biology questions wrong (got lucky on at least one more too) and the cloud one at the end. A bit shocked to get the cloud one wrong, though seems I'm not alone there! :lol: Wiki (after the quiz) put me right on the cloud...

[barx1963]

The cloud one tripped me up, trying to remember 5th form Geography from 33 years ago!!:lol:

[Jeffkop]

28/50 ... OK gimmie da dunce cap ... and I made some logical guesses in that lot ... so not all that good.

[Stardrifter_WA]

Hey Jeff, it's a pass! :)

[DJDD]

40/50
That was a good quiz.




or Q25:
25. The genus Australopithecus, one species of which was an ancestor of modern humans, first evolved on what continent?



maybe the Christian Science Monitor is not anti-evolution...I read the "About US" page and it does nto state that much, other than it is a secular publication.

[Baddad]

I have a terrible memory but when it is prompted with the correct answer, I usually get it right.
Multi-choice tests have always been easy for me. Sometimes the answer can be from info from a previous question.

eg, the moons of Saturn and Jupiter.

Titan was already asked in relation to Saturn, so Europa had to be with Jupiter in a later question. If I am asked in a few months I may get it wrong. I'll forget that Titan is near Saturn etc.

Generally the structure of multi-choice questions are; one most correct answer, one near correct, one related and one unrelated.
eg. Q3 Amplitude, Amplification, Ampere and Amphibian, in decreasing order of correctness.

In cold and hard memory testing I only perform average or below.

[supernova1965]

I decided to try the test again to test memory retention. I improved slightly.:D From 33 right to 40 right.

[Baddad]

I only need to remember one question to score 100%. The one on cell division.:lol:

[Baddad]

Hi Steve,:)

What was your son's score?

[JethroB76]

Stupid cloud question:lol:
44/50 here.

[tlgerdes]

The Brontosaur exists in my Flintstones universe :lol: I have Brontosaurus burgers every week.

[AstralTraveller]

I seems a lot of us have complained about the cloud question. As I remember the correct answer was that a cumulonimbus is a cumulous cloud that is actually raining - or words to that effect. I've looked at The Australian Climatic Environment (Linacre & Hobbs) a very technical book, The Australian Weather Book (Colls & Whitaker), the BoM site and the NOAA site and nowhere can I find the act of precipitating as a defining feature. Linacre and Hobbs state that 'Where thunderstorms may form, the cloud is called cumulonimbus.' (my emphasis) The definition seems to be that it is a cloud of great vertical extent which has reached the top of the troposphere and developed the classic anvil top. This makes sense to me because first, no other cloud is defined in such a way and second, there are such things as dry storms with no rain but plenty of lightening which indicates strong convective circulation and so great vertical development. [The World Meteorological Organisation is the authority if anyone want to follow this up.]

So at the moment my hypothesis is that the quiz was wrong. It happens. Everyone mark yourself up 1. :)

[Baddad]

Hi David,:)

Nimbus = rain producing. I remember learning it in primary school. Also I think wikipedia has a similar definition. "It already has rain or snow falling." Therefore precipitation is the most correct answer.:)

[mithrandir]

Since when was wikipedia authoritative? Good on them though for taking the site down in protest about SOPA.

BOM says "nimbus (rain-bearing)" and nothing about whether that rain is falling, was falling or ever will fall.

I'm voting with David.

[Baddad]

Hi Andrew, :)

Ok.

Cheers

[Baddad]

Hi,:)
I was inclined to agree on some points that were illustrated on this thread.
One in particular. "the test has significant science history content".
Yes I agree that it does.
The test is not a science test in the true sense. It is "Science Literacy"
Therefore the history content is justified.
Simply that the test composers have made it a literacy test on science allows the objectionable content.

Most of you would score much higher on your own subjects. To score high on that test you need to be a kind of jack of all trades and a master of none. (Which I only partially agree with)

Like a cartoonist. He is a good artist but not great. He has a good imagination, but not great. His command of language is good, but not great. However he makes a great cartoonist. (That is my arguement. A jack of all trades can be a master of something.):)

My point is if you specialise in a subject or a number of subjects then like most you miss out on some others.

I would be interested to see what results astrologists achieve. I don't believe I have seen any anywhere. I think they are hiding from this test.

I believe that to score over 25 you are an absolute geek or nerd. Someone who was beat up or bullied at school but now is the bully's boss. LOL

I think it is a safe bet that an astrologist (don't beat me using that word on forum) would not score better than 24.

Anyone up to the challenge? Does anyone have friends that they do not confess easily to having. Ask them to do the test. Tell them if they score 10 they are a science guru.

Cheers

[AstralTraveller]

I know the Latin but also understand that 'derivation' is different to 'definition'. I also read the Wiki but thought two undergad text books written by people with qualification in the area and working in the area backed up by two web site of relevant organisations was more authoritive than Wiki.

The American Meteorological Society entry on cumulonimbus reads:



cumulonimbus—(Abbreviated Cb.) A principal cloud (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=cloud1) type (cloud genus (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=cloud-genus1)), exceptionally dense and vertically developed, occurring either as isolated clouds or as a line or wall of clouds with separated upper portions. These clouds appear as mountains or huge towers, at least a part of the upper portions of which is usually smooth, fibrous, or striated, and almost flattened as it approaches the tropopause (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=tropopause1). This part often spreads out in the form of an anvil (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=anvil1) (incus (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=incus1)) or vast plume (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=plume1). Under the base of cumulonimbus, which is often very dark, there frequently exist virga (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=virga1), precipitation (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=precipitation1) (praecipitatio (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=praecipitatio1)), and low, ragged clouds (pannus (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=pannus1)), either merged with it or not. Its precipitation is often heavy and always of a showery nature. The usual occurrence of lightning (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=lightning1) and thunder (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=thunder1) within or from this cloud leads to its popular appellations: thundercloud (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=thundercloud1), thunderhead (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=thunderhead1) (the latter usually refers only to the upper portion of the cloud), and thunderstorm (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=thunderstorm1). Cumulonimbus is composed of water droplets and ice crystals (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=ice-crystal1), the latter almost entirely in its upper portions. It also contains large water drops, snowflakes (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=snowflake1), snow pellets (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=snow-pellets1), and sometimes hail (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=hail1). The liquid water forms may be notably supercooled. Within a cold air mass (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=air-mass1) in polar regions, the fibrous ice (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=fibrous-ice1) crystal structure may extend virtually throughout the cloud mass. Cumulonimbus always evolves from the further development of cumulus congestus (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=cumulus-congestus1), which, in turn, usually has resulted from the growth of cumulus (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=cumulus1) (Cb cumulogenitus). This complete development may initiate also from stratocumulus castellanus (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=stratocumulus-castellanus1) (Cb stratocumulogenitus) or from altocumulus castellanus (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=altocumulus-castellanus1) (Cb altocumulogenitus). In the latter case the cumulonimbus base is particularly high. It may also, but infrequently, develop from a portion of altostratus (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=altostratus1) or nimbostratus (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=nimbostratus1) (Cb altostratogenitus or Cb nimbostratogenitus). The formative process of cumulonimbus starts as a result of convection (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=convection1) from the earth's surface or instability (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=instability1) in the upper air (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=upper-air1), or both simultaneously. It therefore has a predominant diurnal (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=diurnal1) cycle similar to that of cumulus. Cumulonimbus is rare over the polar regions, and becomes increasingly frequent with decreasing latitude, and is, in fact, an almost regular climax of the diurnal cloud cycle (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=cycle1) in the humid areas of the tropical regions and in humid and unstable air (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=unstable-air1) masses penetrating the temperate latitudes. Because of its great vertical size and of the magnitude and variety of forces that act within and upon it, cumulonimbus is a vertical cloud factory. In addition to the complex of accessory features it may possess, which includes tornadoes (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=tornado1) (tuba (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=tuba1)), it may also be responsible for the formation of nearly all of the other cloud genera. Cumulus congestus always preexists, and therefore is often easily confused with, cumulonimbus. A cloud is called cumulus congestus until its upper portion begins to show the diffuseness or fibrous quality indicative of ice crystal predominance. Only cumulonimbus is accompanied by lightning, thunder, or hail; only cumulus congestus can rival the intensity (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=intensity1) of its shower (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=shower1)-type precipitation. See cloud classification (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=cloud-classification1), thunderstorm (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=thunderstorm1).
http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=cumulonimbus1

[renormalised]

I got 43/50, which I'm actually disappointed with. When I read through the ones I got wrong, I realised I knew what the answers were....I should've got full marks. I made the mistake of just glancing at the questions when I initially did the test, so I missed crucial bits of info. Mainly because the damn thing was taking so long to go through!!!.

[telemarker]

42/50 with a couple of stupid mistakes by not reading the question properly. The biology was easy, got a PhD in Zoology so it should be. A wasted education if it wasn't :screwy: