THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N 70.2667° W
Altitude: 10 feet below sea level
Founded January 1970
2021-2022: III
"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday."
-Don Marquis
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Friday, September 3, 2021
Quiz 1: Brain of Portland
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The Friday quizzes have returned!
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Brain of what?
Let us explain.
Now that we've started another regular DA school year, we have also reintroduced the almost-popular quiz series entitled "Brain of Portland." We model these quizzes on BBC Radio 4's VERY popular quiz show "Brain of Britain." We decided not to title our version "Brain of Maine," because that rhyming scheme sounds so silly and, as regular readers will know, we planetarium people are an austere lot who can abide no silliness.
Our intention is to offer a Brain of Portland quiz on the first Friday of each month. Unlike other quizzes, the Brain of Portland quiz could contain questions from a wide variety of topics ranging from physics to world literature; astronomy to zoology. Next to this computer we have a handy topic list numbered 1 - 20. Our precious 20-sided die Horwindil, who, we must acknowledge, weathered the protracted lockdown with admirable aplomb, has now awakened to select these topics. For instance, if we roll a "1." we'll write a math question; roll a "2," a geography question; roll a purple cherry, a surrealistic philosophy question and so on.
An ideal, platonic version of Horwindil.
However, we'll begin the quiz with a question of our own choosing. After this first question, Horwindil will decide.
1. Horwindil is a 20-sided polyhedron technically known as an ____________________.
a. dodecahedron
b. tetrahedron
c. icosahedron
d. none of the above
2. Nuuk is the largest community in ________________
a. Greenland
b. Northwest Territories
c. Nunavut
d. none of the above
3. The human skull that Hamlet famously held aloft once belonged to ________________.
a. his father
b. Horatio
c. Yorick
d. none of the above
4. Which one of the following is not considered a high cloud type?
a. Cirrostratus
b. Stratocumulus
c. Cirrus
d. Cirrocumulus
5. The goddess ______________ was not one of the three goddesses who participated in the judgement of Paris.
a. Hera
b. Athena
c. Aphrodite
d. Gaia
6. Phobos and Deimos are moons revolving around which planet?
a. Mars
b. Jupiter
c. Saturn
d. Neptune
7. How many Maines could fit inside Alaska?
a. 7
b. 11
c. 15
d. none of the above
8. Which star was the "north star" when the Step Pyramid in Egypt was built?
(Hint: consult yesterday's DA)
a. Vega
b. Porrima
c. Thuban
d. Errai
9. If you double a moving ball's velocity, its momentum ________________.
a doubles
b. triples
c. quadruples
d. increases to eight times its original amount.
10. Epistemology is the branch of philosophy dealing with ______________.
a. ethics
b. the nature of reality
c. knowledge
d. none of the above
ANSWERS
1. 1. Horwindil is a 20-sided polyhedron technically known as an ____________________.
c. icosahedron
Euclid proved that only five Platonic solids exist in three dimensional space:
tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedron. The icosahedron consists of 20 equilateral triangles.
2. Nuuk is the largest community in ________________
a. Greenland
With a metro population of 19,023,Nuuk is both the capital of and the largest city in Greenland, a place that most people think is uninhabitable. Yet, just look at this image of downtown Nuuk and tell me that it isn't one of the most stunningly gorgeous bergs ever built on a berg.
Welcome to Nuuk.
3. The human skull that Hamlet famously held aloft once belonged to ________________.
c. Yorick
"Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio" is the correct line, as opposed to "Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well," which is often quoted but, alas, is incorrect.
4. Which one of the following is not considered a high cloud type?
b. Stratocumulus
Statocumulus clouds are considered mid-level clouds, with bases generally 6,500 feet above Earth's surface.
5. The goddess ______________ was not one of the three goddesses who participated in the judgement of Paris.
d. Gaia
Aphrodite, Athena and Hera all wanted the golden apple tagged with the label "for the fairest." The Trojan prince Paris was required to give the apple to one of them. He chose Aphrodite, who bribed him with a promise to give him the most beautiful woman in the world.
6. Phobos and Deimos are moons revolving around which planet?
a. Mars
Phobos and Deimos, which are most likely captured asteroids, are the only two known moons in orbit around Mars. Their names, Greek for "Panic" and "Fear," are quite appropriate as Mars was the Roman god of war.
7. How many Maines could fit inside Alaska?
d. none of the above
Nineteen Maines could fit inside Alaska!
Note: 425 Rhode Islands could fit inside Alaska
8. Which star was the "north star" when the Step Pyramid in Egypt was built?
(Hint: consult yesterday's DA)
c. Thuban
This star in Draco served as the north star approximately 5,000 years ago.
Errai will be the north star in about 2,000 years.
Vega will be the north star in 13,000 years
9. If you double a moving ball's velocity, its momentum ________________.
a doubles
An object's momentum is a product of its mass and velocity. If you double the velocity, the momentum also doubles.
10. Epistemology is the branch of philosophy dealing with ______________.
c. knowledge
a. ethics ===> axiology
b. the nature of reality ==> metaphysics
d. none of the above ==> nihilism
RATINGS
7-10 CORRECT MONSTER BRAIN!
Very impressive! Go out and tell your fiercest detractors that you possess a monster brain! Of course, such a brain makes you often crave flesh, but, then again, who doesn't?
3 - 6 CORRECT HUMAN BRAIN!
Congratulations! Your brain is 115% homo sapien. Although being human puts you in very good company, brace yourself before reading honest history books.
0 - 2 CORRECT NO WORRIES
Other tests will most assuredly show you to be either a human or a monster.
See you on Tuesday with Part II of the September Night Sky Calendar.
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