THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM 207-780-4249 www.usm.maine.edu/planet 70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103 43.6667° N, 70.2667° W Founded January 1970 "Disavowing spacism." THE DAILY ASTRONOMER Friday, March 4, 2016 Quiz: Brain of Portland 2016 II Yes, another synapse-straining but spirit-elevating "Brain of Portland" quiz! Based on BBC Radio 4's venerable "Brain of Britain" quiz show, "Brain of Portland" quizzes take questions from about every intellectual pursuit from aerodynamics to zoology. Since we introduced "Brain of Portland" last year, it has undergone some changes, under the sage advice of some helpful subscribers. Each question now has three answer choices. Also, we divide the quizzes into 10 question rounds, as opposed to listing all the questions together. This division will aid you, we hope, in taking this quiz as "Brain of Portland" quizzes become progressively longer throughout the year. The last Brain of Portland quiz contained 20 questions. This one has thirty. The next, scheduled to post in April, will offer forty. Eventually, at the very end of the DA school year in early August, we'll delight you with a 200-question "Brain of Brains" quiz. ROUND 1: 1. Who granted King Midas his wish to have everything he touched transformed into gold? a. Dionysius b. Zeus c. Hera 2. What country would you be visiting if you were climbing along the "Giant's Causeway?" a. Scotland b. Ireland c. Norway 3. The Egyptian goddess Bastet assumed the form of what animal? a. Flamingo b. Crocodile c. Cat 4. The National Prohibition Act that made alcohol illegal in America during the early twentieth century was also known as what? a. The Volstead Act b. The Mothers Act c. The Dow Act 5. Ganymede, Io, Callisto and _________ are the four Galilean moons in orbit around Jupiter. a. Titan b. Amalthea c. Europa 6. How tall is Mount Everest? a. 29,035 feet b. 28,985 feet c. 31,890 feet 7. The body's smallest muscle, the stapedius, is found in which part of the body? a. ears b. fingers c. eyes 8. The Irish rock band U2 entitled the last track of their first album "Shadows and Tall Trees." This song title was taken from a chapter title in which book? a. Robinson Crusoe b. Lord of the Flies c. Old Man and the Sea 9. Who had to completely re-write his book "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom" after having misplaced his manuscript in 1919? a. Arthur Conan Doyle b. F. Scott Fitzgerald c. T.E. Lawrence 10. Which state was the first one to ratify the U.S Constitution? a. Delaware b. Virginia c. New York ROUND 1 ANSWERS 1. a. Dionysius 2. b. Ireland 3. c. Cat 4. a. The Volstead Act 5. c. Europa 6. a. 29,035 feet 7. a. ears 8. b. Lord of the Flies 9. c. T.E. Lawrence (Also known as "Lawrence of Arabia.") 10. a. Delaware ROUND 2: 11. The Sun appears to occupy which constellation on the December solstice (first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere)? a. Scorpius b. Sagittarius c. Capricornus 12. Born in Alexandria around 300 BCE, who is considered the "father of geometry?" a. Euclid b. Pythagoras c. Hipparchus 13. In the South Pacific, the Solomon Islands are between Vanuatu and which other country? a. Australia b. New Zealand c. Papua New Guinea 14. Which musical word derives from the Greek term meaning "agreement or concord of sound?" a. symphony b. oratorio c. orchestra 15. A" florilegium" is a collection of what? a. literary works b. poisonous plants c. squares used in mosaic art work 16. What is the highest numbered element in the "Periodic Table of the Elements" that has only a single letter as a symbol? (No choices for this one.) 17. The brachial artery is the main artery in which part of the body? a. lower leg b. upper arm c. lungs 18. Jim Wickwire is noted for being the first American to have done what? a. climbed to the summit of K2 b. circumnavigated the world c. flown in a hot air balloon 19. In the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, "Charlie," for instance, stands for "C." What city name stands for the letter "L?" a. Lisbon b. London c Lima 20. What is room temperature expressed on the Kelvin temperature scale? a 277 K b. 293 K c. 311 K ROUND 2 ANSWERS 11. b. Sagittarius 12. a Euclid 13. c. Papua New Guinea 14. a. symphony 15. a. literary works 16. U (Uranium, element 92) 17. b. upper arm 18. a. climbed to the summit of K2 19. c Lima 20. b. 293 K = 68 degrees (approx) ROUND 3: 21. Let's pretend you did have a laser powerful enough to shoot into outer space for a great distance. How far would the beam have traveled exactly one minute after you turned it on? a. about 7.1 million miles b. about 11. 2 million miles c. about 186 million miles 22. The branch of zoology that studies tissue is known as what? a. histology b. pathology c. physiology 23. What does the "DC" stand for in relation to airplanes, such as the DC-3? a. District of Columbia b. Douglas Commercial c. 600 24. What is the most widely spoken language on the continent of Africa? a. Arabic b. Swahili c. English 25. If a person was said to have been afflicted with "morbus cyclometricus," what was his problem? a. he kept attempting to square a circle b. he drew circles on their foreheads each morning to prevent death c. he could only sleep in a coffin 26. "The Bach Quadrangle" is a feature on which planet? a. Mars b. Mercury c. Venus 27. What was Don Juan's last name? a. Tenorio b. de Molina c. He didn't have a last name 28. The Białowieża Forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the border of which two countries? a. Greece and Bulgaria b. Poland and Belarus c. Ukraine and Russia 29. Who was credited with having invented the lyre? a. Apollo b. Orpheus c. Daedalus 30. Which baroque composer was known as the "Red Priest?" a. Antonio Vivaldi b. Jean-Philippe Rameau c. Arcangelo Corelli ROUND 3 ANSWERS 21. b. about 11. 2 million miles 22. a. histology 23. b. Douglas Commercial 24. c. English (Note: Arabic is the most widespread official language in Africa. However, about 700 million Africans have English as their primary language.) 25. a. they kept attempting to square a circle 26. b. Mercury 27. a. Tenorio 28. b. Poland and Belarus 29. a. Apollo 30. a. Antonio Vivaldi