1.
On Ground Hogs Day (Feb 2), about where would the earth be on its orbit around the sun?
Correct Answer
B. Close to the sun
Explanation
look at the diagram: http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/6h.html
2.
As of 2011, roughly how many planets have been discovered outside our solar system??
Correct Answer
A. Over 1000
Explanation
The new Kepler telescope is even better than the Hubble Space Telescope in detecting extra solar planets. The universe may have more planets than stars!
3.
Who was the woman from Roanoke, Virginia whose cancer cells have become immortal and now exist all over the world due to cloning for research?
Correct Answer
C. Henrietta Lacks
Explanation
A Black woman who was born in Roanoke and the source of HeLa cells in labs all over the planet. Read about her: http://rebeccaskloot.com/the-immortal-life/
4.
Where is the biggest supervolcano on the planet, long overdue to erupt?
Correct Answer
C. Yellowstone National Park, USA
Explanation
Yellowstone Park: the entire park area is the top of a supervolcano's caldera. It last erupted 65 - 70 thousand years ago, and researchers identified that this volcano usually erupts every 60 thousand years, so that makes it long overdue. Researchers report the super-volcano underneath the state of Wyoming has been rising at a record rate since 2004. Its floor has gone up three inches per year for the last three years indicating the fastest rate since records began in 1923.
5.
What kind of lighting is the most energy efficient lighting currently available?
Correct Answer
B. LED lights
Explanation
CFCs are better than incandescent lights, but LEDs present many advantages over incandescent light sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved robustness, smaller size, faster switching, and greater durability and reliability.
6.
After Russia, whose land area is the size of the Moon, what is the second largest country in the world?
Correct Answer
C. Canada
Explanation
Canada's land area is 9,984,670 km2 while the United States is 9,826,630 -- close! Australia is the 6th largest country.
7.
Considering that all of the oceans are connected and that the ocean is vital to all ecological processes on the planet, about how much of the world's ocean has been explored?
Correct Answer
B. One-twentieth
Explanation
NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research is our federal agency charged with exploring the ocean. It supports expeditions to investigate and document the ocean, but thus far only 5% has been accomplished.
8.
In what country did the biggest earthquake every recorded occur?
Correct Answer
C. Chile
Explanation
occurred in Chile in 1960. The Great Chilean Earthquake measured an impressive 9.5 on the Richter scale. The estimated death toll was nearly 1,700 people.
9.
By volume of fresh water, what is the largest lake in the world?
Correct Answer
C. Lake Baikal, Russia
Explanation
Nothing compares to Lake Baikal in southern Siberia: with a maximum depth of just over a mile, it’s the deepest lake in the world. And at over 400 miles in length, Lake Baikal contains a full one-fifth of the freshwater on the entire planet. Lake Vostok is about the size of Lake Ontario and the Russians are drilling below the ice right now to get to it.
10.
About how long ago did North America host camels, American cheetahs, lions, giant ground sloths, tapirs, muskox, giant beavers, elephants, and giant tortoises?
Correct Answer
A. 13,000 years ago
Explanation
The North American mega-fauna listed, which also included the sabre-tooth cats and mammoths and mastodons went extinct 13,000 years ago during the end of the Pleistocene, presumably caused in part by over predation by human migrants from Asia, who we call "native Americans" today.