Julian Date: 24591167.16
2020-2021: XLIV
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Friday, November 13, 2020
Remote Planetarium 123: Week 27 Astronomy/Mythology Quiz
The Big Bang was our focus this week! Combine that topic with mythology and you'll have a quiz that is most likely unlike any other...and maybe for good reason.
Enjoy the quiz!
Prepare for dark energy on Monday!
1. What is the weakest of the fundamental forces?
a. gravity
b. electromagnetism
c. weak nuclear force
d. strong nuclear force
2. What precisely happened at the very moment of the Big Bang?
a. a quantum fluctuation gave birth to the Universe
b. 27-dimensional space contracted to three spatial and one dimensions
c. space-time foam issued from a hyperdimensional space-time matrix broke off to produce the Universe
d. scientists have no idea
3. Which one of the following statements about the Hadron Epoch isn't true?
a. the Universe cooled to one trillion degrees
b. electrons combined with protons to form neutrons and in the process emitted neutrinos
c. the Hadron Epoch lasted until three seconds after the Big Bang
d. neutrons and neutrinos recombine to form proton-electron pairs
4. How did Otus and Ephialtes manage to enter Olympus?
a. they piled mountains on top of each other and climbed up
b. they ascended on Hermes' winged sandals
c. they captured Pegasus and ascended to Olympus on her back
d.they overthrew Helios and stole his chariot
5. Which goddess did the brothers pursue after arriving in Olympus?
a. Athena
b. Aphrodite
c. Hera
d. Artemis
6. The ____________ occurred between 1 - 3 seconds after the Big Bang.
a. Photon Epoch
b. Lepton Epoch
c. Dark Epoch
d. Recombination/Decoupling Epoch
7. How long did the Nucleosynthesis epoch last soon after the Big Bang?
a. 7 seconds
b. 7 minutes
c. 17 seconds
d. 17 minutes
8. Star formation began approximately _________________years after the Big Bang.
a. 25,000
b. 110,000
c. 300,000
d. 1.2 billion
9. What animal threatened Bootes flock of sheep?
a. a bear
b. a fox
c. a dragon
d. a giraffe
10. The constellation Bootes stands behind the constellation _____________ high in the northern sky.
a. Draco the Dragon
b. Vulpecula the Fox
c. Camelopardalis the Giraffe
d. Ursa Major, the Great Bear
11. Who coined the term "Big Bang?"
a. Edwin Hubble
b. Albert Einstein
c. Vesto Slipher
d. Fred Hoyle
12. The more distant the galaxy, the _________________.
a. greater its recession velocity
b. lesser its recession velocity
c. greater its mass
d. lesser its mass
13. What discovery in 1964 convinced most scientists that the Big Bang Theory was correct?
a. Penzias and Wilson's detection of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
b. Watson and Crick's discovery of the DNA molecule
c. Kepler and Brahe's discovery of the Harmonic Law
d. Penzias and Wilson's discovery of pulsars
14. Arethusa, a follower of ____________, fled from the river god Alpheus who tried to make her his wife.
a. Athena
b. Artemis
c. Aphrodite
d. Hera
15. Arethusa's matron goddess transformed her into a ________ in order to escape from Alpheus.
a. laurel tree
b. spring
c. eagle
d. cloud
ANSWERS
1. What is the weakest of the fundamental forces?
a. gravity
Anyone who's climbed a mountain -or a stairwell- might find it difficult to believe that gravity is the weakest force. If you are skeptical, please walk to your refrigerator. Do you have any magnets on its door? Realize that the electromagnetic force exerted by the small magnet is easily overpowering the gravitational pull of the entire planet Earth.
2. What precisely happened at the very moment of the Big Bang?
d. scientists have no idea
Cosmologists don't know what precisely transpired at the very moment of creation. They have developed models that replicate the early Universe back to the Planck Epoch, 10^-43 seconds after the first moment. Physical laws break down prior to this epoch, so the precise first moment remains deeply mysterious.
3. Which one of the following statements about the Hadron Epoch isn't true?
c. the Hadron Epoch lasted until three seconds after the Big Bang
The Hadron Epoch started 10^-6 seconds after the Big Bang and ended one second after the Big Bang.
4. How did Otus and Ephialtes manage to enter Olympus?
a. they piled mountains on top of each other and climbed up
The brothers moved to place Mount Ossa on top of Pelion in order to access Olympus. The giants did access Olympus, but didn't remain there for long.
5. Which goddess did Otus and Ephialtes pursue after arriving in Olympus?
d. Artemis
Artemis fled back to Earth as soon as the brothers started pursuing her. She swam to an island and transformed into a hind. The giants both threw javelins at the animal simultaneously. The hind leapt quickly away and the javelins then struck each brother.
6. The ____________ occurred between 1 - 3 seconds after the Big Bang.
b. Lepton Epoch
During this two-second-long epoch, leptons and anti-leptons annihilated each other to create photons that recombined to produce electrons and positrons.
7. How long did the Nucleosynthesis epoch last soon after the Big Bang?
d. 17 minutes
The epoch during which the first elements formed lasted between 3 - 20 minutes after the Big Bang.
8. Star formation began approximately _________________years after the Big Bang.
c. 300,000
The first stars formed about three hundred million years after the Big Bang, when gaseous material pervaded the early cosmos. Regions of greater density within this Universe gave rise to the first stars.
9. What animal threatened Bootes' flock of sheep?
a. a bear
A mighty bear often attacked Bootes' flock of sheep. These frequent assaults prompted the sheepherder to construct enclosures to protect his sheep. Unfortunately, the bear managed to break into each enclosure he built.
10. The constellation Bootes stands behind the constellation _____________ high in the northern sky.
d. Ursa Major, the Great Bear.
Bootes grabbed the bear by the tail and flung it into the sky to prevent it from ever attacking this sheep again. We can still see the bear and Bootes together in the northern sky.
11. Who coined the term "Big Bang?"
d. Fred Hoyle
Professor Hoyle's term was a pejorative one, as he believed the theory to have been absurd. Hoyle believed in the Steady State Theory, which has fallen out of favor.
12. The more distant the galaxy, the _________________.
a. greater its recession velocity
The Big Bang Theory was based on the observation that distant galaxies appear to be moving away from our own. We know that space is expanding and the galactic motions are a consequence of this expansion.
13. What discovery in 1964 convinced most scientists that the Big Bang Theory was correct?
a. Penzias and Wilson's detection of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
Physicist Arno Allan Penzias and radio astronomer Robert Woodrow Wilson discovered the pervasive "static hiss" indicative of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation through their radio antennae.
14. Arethusa, a follower of ____________, fled from the river god Alpheus who tried to make her his wife.
b. Artemis
The wood nymph Arethusa worshipped Artemis and resolved never to marry, but to always be a free spirit.
15. Arethusa's matron goddess transformed her into a ________ in order to escape from Alpheus.
b. spring
The spring arose out of the soil on the Sicilian island of Ortygai. Ultimately, this transformation didn't save Arethusa because Alpheus, the river god, turned himself back into a river. He then guided his own waters into the spring so they would mingle with the waters of Arethusa's spring.
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