THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
70 Falmouth Street Portland,Maine 04103
43.6667° N 70.2667° W
Altitude: 10 feet below sea level
Founded January 1970
2021-2022: XXII
"Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death." -Albert Einstein
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Friday, October 1, 2021
Quiz 5: Brain of Portland II
October 1st, can you believe it? Well, don't we always make such statements? I'm sure somebody once said, "Wow, 1457 already! The late middle ages are almost over." Well, be that as it may (or may not), September now belongs to the ages and the tenth month is hard upon us. It is also the first Friday of the month and with it comes the next Brain of Portland quiz.
Inspired by BBC Radio 4's popular quiz show, "Brain of Britain," Brain of Portland quizzes include questions from a wide variety of topics from astronomy to zoology and everything in-between. We consider these quizzes to be deliciously good fun, For one, we don't have to take them. Secondly, remember that infinite catacombs of alternate universes encapsulated in your brain? Well, that magnificent brain is also insatiably curious, prodigiously imaginative, and capable of storing vast quantities of information within it. Every thought alters the brain and we can sumptuously furnish it with as many facts, theories and notions as our neurons can accommodate.
So, now that we've lulled you to sleep, it is time for another Brain of Portland quiz! Don't forget that when the DA school year ends in mid-July, we'll end with a Brain of Brains quiz: a mega quiz that takes questions from past Brain of Portland quizzes. So,store them in your memory for quick recall in July.
1. Which ONE of the following is not one of the muses?
a. Terpischore
b. Urania
c. Electra
d. Clio
2. Whose autobiography includes the chapter entitled, "Why I write good books?"
a. John Le Carre
b. Fredrich Neitzsche
c. J. R.R Tolkien
d. Agatha Christie
3. Which chemical element has the highest electronegativity?
a. Aluminium
b. Fluorine
c. Carbon
d.Tellurium
4. What does ZIP in "zip code" stand for?
(No choices for this one.)
5. Katherine Hepburn is the only actor/actress to have won four leading actor/actress Oscars. Daniel Day-Lewis and _______________ are the only two to have won three leading actor/actress Oscars.
a. Meryl Streep
b. Jack Nicholson
c. Frances McDormand
d. Ingrid Bergman
6. What body of water separates Spain and Morocco?
a. the Strait of Gibraltar
b. the Strait of Hercules
c. the Bosphorus Strait
d. the Bering Strait
7. An astronomer on Jupiter* would classify how many planets as "inferior?"
a. 3
b. 4
c. 5
d. 7
8. The movie "300" was somewhat based on the Battle of Thermopylae fought between the Persians and Spartans. In what year was that battle waged?
a. 710 BCE
b. 514 BCE
c. 480 BCE
d. 397 BCE
9. Human beings belong to which phylum?
a. Chordata
b. Annelida
c. Nemertea
d. Brachiopoda
10. What is the second largest perfect number?
a. 18
b. 28
c. 88
d. 428
ANSWERS
1. Which ONE of the following is not one of the muses?
c. Electra
Terpischore => muse of dancing
Urania => astronomy
Clio => history
2. Whose autobiography includes the chapter entitled, "Why I write good books?"
b. Fredrich Neitzsche
This chapter was included in his autobiography, "Ecce Homo."
3. Which chemical element has the highest electronegativity?
b. Fluorine
Electronegativity is the tendency of an atom to attract shared electrons when forming a chemical bond.
4. What does ZIP in zip code stand for?
Zone Improvement Plan
5. Katherine Hepburn is the only actor/actress to have won four leading actor/actress Oscars. Daniel Day-Lewis and _______________ are the only two to have won three leading actor/actress Oscars.
c. Frances McDormand
Fargo (1996). Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), and Nomadland (2020).
Just a note, Meryl Steep, Jack Nicholson, and Ingrid Bergman each won three Oscars. However, in each case, two were leading actor Oscars and one was a supporting actor Oscar.
6. What body of water separates Spain and Morocco?
a. the Strait of Gibraltar
7. An astronomer on Jupiter* would classify how many planets as "inferior?"
b. 4
Inferior planets are those that are closer to the Sun than a given planet. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars would all be inferior planets to a Jovian astronomer.
8. The movie "300" was somewhat based on the Battle of Thermopylae fought between the Persians and Spartans. In what year was that battle waged?
c. 480 BCE
9. Human beings belong to which phylum?
a. Chordata
Meaning "with a cord."
10. What is the second largest perfect number?
b. 28
A perfect number is one that is equal to the sum of all of its divisors apart from itself.
The smallest perfect number is 6 3 + 2 + 1 = 6
The second is 28 = 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14
*Yes, we know that an astronomer can't be ON Jupiter because it doesn't have a solid surface. Well, as an admirably earnest teenage climate activist might say when exasperated by the disconnect between the expressed sentiments and implemented policy initiatives of those she perceives as ineffectual world leaders, "blah, blah, blah."
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