Q 01/05

Which Japanese word meaning "harbor wave" names the giant ocean waves set off by undersea earthquakes?

A) Typhoon

B) Monsoon

C) Tsunami

D) Maelstrom

Answer · why

C) Tsunami

Tsunami joins the Japanese words for harbor and wave. Far out at sea one can slip under a ship almost unnoticed, then rear up as it reaches shallow wa...

Q 02/05

A cork bobs up and down as ripples pass instead of drifting along, because waves transfer what rather than matter?

A) Friction

B) Energy

C) Charge

D) Inertia

Answer · why

B) Energy

Energy is what a wave moves from place to place, while the material it passes through never strays far from where it started. Waves also carry momentu...

Q 03/05

Which phenomenon, named after an Austrian physicist, makes an ambulance siren sound lower once it has passed?

A) Doppler effect

B) Coriolis effect

C) Compton effect

D) Hall effect

Answer · why

A) Doppler effect

The Doppler effect carries the name of Christian Doppler, who proposed it in 1842 to explain the colors of double stars rather than sound.

Q 04/05

A singer can shatter a wine glass by holding a note at the glass's natural frequency, an example of what?

A) Reverberation

B) Resonance

C) Dissonance

D) Feedback

Answer · why

B) Resonance

Resonance makes a vibration grow when each push arrives in time with an object's natural rhythm. A playground swing climbs higher for the same reason ...

Q 05/05

A jet flying faster than sound drags a cone-shaped shock wave behind it that people on the ground hear as what?

A) A slipstream

B) A backfire

C) A sonic boom

D) A jet blast

Answer · why

C) A sonic boom

A sonic boom is not a one-off bang made at the moment a plane breaks the sound barrier. It follows the aircraft for the whole supersonic flight, sweep...