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
"Where are the Froggerrrrianssss?!"
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Friday, April 8, 2016
Quiz: Brain of Portland 2016 III
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"METEORITES!"
The subject of this afternoon's "Radio Astronomy" broadcast at 1:00 p.m. Friday, April 8th on WMPG 90.9 FM. (www.wmpg.org)
Jon Wallace joins the panel to discuss the outer space interlopers that have crashed landed on terra firma.
If you miss the live broadcast, you may go to the "Radio Astronomy" show archives: http://usm.maine.edu/planet/radio-astronomy-radio-program
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YES!
The Brain of Portland quiz returns to the delight of some subscribers and the dismay of others.
This quiz, which is named for BBC Radio 4's "Brain of Britain" quiz (www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b075pm3z), is our flailing attempt to elevate the height of our brow. This quiz contains questions from a variety of topics, including mythology, mathematics, history, physics, literature, zoology, architecture, biology, art, meteorology, classical music, anatomy, law, and astronomy. We actually use a twenty sided die (icosahedron) to help us pick the question topics so as to not focuses excessively on one of them.
The "Brain of Portland" quizzes are posted every five to six weeks. They are all leading up to the "Brain of Brains" quiz, which is a 200-question behemoth we're going to post on Friday, August 5th, the last date of the DA school year. (The DA school year extends from September 1 to the first Friday in August).
Enjoy!!....we hope...
ROUND ONE
1. The remains of which English king were recently disinterred from under a Car Park and then reburied with a proper ceremony?
a. Richard III
b. Henry VIII
c. Edward VII
2. If a ten foot ladder leaning against a wall is six feet above the ground, how far away from the wall is the ladder's bottom?
a. four feet
b. six feet
c. eight feet
3. To which remote island did Fletcher Christian and the other mutineers flee? It was here that they also destroyed the Bounty and built a permanent settlement.
a. Norfolk Island
b. Pitcairn Island
c. Viti Levu
4. To what does the number 14 refer in the term "carbon-14?"
a. the number of protons
b. the number of protons and neutrons
c. the half life in years
5. Who painted the "Mystical Nativity?"
a. Sandro Botticelli
b. Giovanni Biliverti
c. Raphael
6. Two balls, A and B, have the same mass. Ball A moves twice as fast as Ball B. Ball A's momentum is how much greater than Ball B's?
a. twice as great
b. four times as great
c. the momentum of both balls is equal
7. What is the name of Uranus' largest moon?
a. Miranda
b. Titania
c. Ariel
8. Which Roman fortification extends between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde?
a. Hadrian's Wall
b. Antonine Wall
c. Servian Wall
9. In what year was the first Nobel Prize in economics awarded?
a. 1954
b. 1961
c. 1969
10. Who was the Greek goddess of ghosts and sorcery?
a. Hecate
b. Asteria
c. Eirenne
ROUND ONE ANSWERS
1. a. Richard III
2. c. eight feet
3. b. Pitcairn Island
4. b. the number of protons and neutrons
5. a. Sandro Botticelli
6. a. twice as great
7. b. Titania
8. b. Antonine Wall
9. c. 1969
10. a. Hecate
ROUND TWO
11. The Fujita scale measures the intensity of what?
a. hurricanes
b. tornadoes
c. earthquakes
12. "The Slave of Duty" is the subtitle for which Gilbert and Sullivan operetta?
a. "The Pirates of Penzance."
b. "H.M.S. Pinafore"
c. "The Yeoman of the Guard."
13. The diameter of a circular path was increased from 4 miles to 8 miles. After the increase, the path's distance increased by how about many miles?
a. 4 miles
b. 12.5 miles
c. 16 miles
14. Which element's name is derived from the Greek word for "male?"
a. arsenic
b. neon
c. cadmium
15. Whose last novel was "The Brothers Karamazov?"
a. Leo Tolstoy
b. Boris Pasternak
c. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
16. What part of the eye is otherwise known as the "sclera?"
a. the retina
b. the white of the eye
c. the iris
17. What is the Roman Numeral equivalent to one million?
a. M with a bar over it
b. DCM (short for Deciec centena milia)
c. There is no Roman Numeral equivalent to one million.
18. Spain and Portugal are situated on which peninsula?
a. Hibernian
b. Iberian
c. Gallic
19. The Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world, was a 30 meter (98 foot) high statue of whom?
a. Zeus
b. the Roman Emperor Nero
c. Helios, the Sun god
20. Deneb and Albireo are stars within which summer constellation?
a. Cygnus the Swan
b. Lyra the Harp
c. Aquila the Eagle
ROUND TWO ANSWERS
11. b. tornadoes
12. a. "The Pirates of Penzance."
13. b. 12.5 miles
14. a. arsenic
15. c. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
16. b. the white of the eye
17. a. M with a bar over it
18. b. Iberian
19. c. Helios, the Sun god
20. a. Cygnus the Swan
ROUND THREE
21. What is the largest artery in the human body?
a. the aorta
b. the femoral
c. the subclavian
22. What does the Latin phrase "Caveat venditor" mean?
a. let the buyer beware
b. let the seller beware
c. let the banker beware
23. If the force exerted on a moving object is tripled, how much does the object's acceleration increase?
a. the acceleration triples
b. the acceleration increases nine times
c. the acceleration doesn't change
24. The 1954 US Supreme Court decision "Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka" established that separate but equal schools for blacks and whites were unconstitutional. This decision reversed which 19th century US Supreme Court decision that did establish that "separate but equal" schools were constitutional?
a. Dred Scott vs. Sanford
b. Marbury vs. Madison
c. Plessy vs Ferguson
25. Portia is a heroine in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." Portia is also the name of a minor character in which other Shakespearean play?
a. "Julius Caesar."
b. "The Merry Wives of Windsor"
c. "Romeo and Juliet"
26. The earliest two periods in the Paleozoic Era are named for US States. What are those two states?
a. Mississippi and Pennsylvania
b. Mississippi and California
c. Pennsylvania and Virginia
27. What was Hercules' final labor?
a. Cleaning the Augean Stables
b. Abducting Cerberus
c. Taking the apples from the Garden of the Hesperides
28. What is the final product that a highly massive star forms in its core just prior to exploding as a supernova?
a. Nickel-56
b. Iron-57
c. Iron-60
29. The US Constitution currently has how many amendments?
a. 23
b. 25
c. 27
30. A coat costs $100.00 on May 1st. The coat is offered at a 15% discount on June 1st. The price is then discounted 20% on July 1st. How much does the coat cost on July 1st?
a. $65.00
b. $68.00
c. $71.00
ROUND THREE ANSWERS
21. a. the aorta
22. b. let the seller beware
23. a. the acceleration triples
24. c. Plessy vs Ferguson
25. a. "Julius Caesar."
26. a. Mississippi and Pennsylvania
27. b. Abducting Cerberus
28. a. Nickel-56
(It is radioactive and decays to Iron-56)
29. c. 27
30. b. $68.00
ROUND FOUR
