Q 01/05

Earth is which planet from the Sun?

A) Third

B) Second

C) Fourth

D) Fifth

Answer · why

A) Third

Third from the Sun puts Earth at a distance where surface water neither boils away nor freezes, making it the only planet in the Solar System with oce...

Q 02/05

Which ocean alone is larger than all of Earth's land combined?

A) Atlantic

B) Indian

C) Pacific

D) Southern

Answer · why

C) Pacific

Pacific Ocean was named by Ferdinand Magellan, who sailed into it in 1520 and called it the 'peaceful sea' for the calm water he met after a perilous ...

Q 03/05

About how many years ago did Earth form?

A) 500 million

B) 4.5 billion

C) 13.8 billion

D) 45 billion

Answer · why

B) 4.5 billion

4.5 billion years is a figure read from meteorites: plate tectonics has recycled Earth's own oldest rocks, so the age came from dating a meteorite in ...

Q 04/05

Which Greek scholar first measured Earth's circumference, using shadows in Egypt?

A) Pythagoras

B) Eratosthenes

C) Ptolemy

D) Archimedes

Answer · why

B) Eratosthenes

Eratosthenes knew the midsummer Sun shone straight down a well at Syene, measured the shadow it cast in Alexandria at the same moment, and scaled up t...

Q 05/05

Which device gave the public the first simple, direct proof that Earth rotates?

A) Galileo's telescope

B) Harrison's chronometer

C) Foucault's pendulum

D) Cavendish's torsion balance

Answer · why

C) Foucault's pendulum

Foucault's pendulum first swung for scientists invited to the Paris Observatory to 'come and see the Earth turn' in 1851, then for the public beneath ...