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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Of the available land on Earth, how much is suitable for people to live on?
(a) 47 percent.
(b) 26 percent.
(c) 3 percent.
(d) 12 percent.

2. Bacteria take nitrogen from the air and form it into what?
(a) Water.
(b) Fluoride.
(c) Nitric oxide.
(d) Amino acids.

3. In a cell, what is the cytoplasm?
(a) DNA inside each cell.
(b) The nucleus.
(c) Contents of the cell outside the nucleus.
(d) Outer fatty casing.

4. What book did paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould write?
(a) Fantastic Voyage.
(b) Wonderful Life.
(c) Enormous Animals.
(d) Amazing Creatures.

5. Approximately 50 million years ago, Antarctica was:
(a) A barren desert.
(b) Five times larger than it is today.
(c) Close to tropical.
(d) Open ocean.

Short Answer Questions

1. If all of the ice in Antarctica were to melt, by how much would ocean levels rise?

2. The human body is composed of how many cells?

3. Most life on Earth is based on what element?

4. How many elements occur naturally on Earth?

5. How quickly can bacteria create a new generation?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the author say about oxygen and the highest elevations people can live at?

2. Describe the Indonesian volcanic eruption of 1815.

3. What did Charles Darwin do on the HMS Beagle?

4. Why does Bryson say that fossils represent only a tiny fraction of life on Earth?

5. How many elements occur naturally on Earth? How many are central to life?

6. Throughout the history of Earth, what are some of the causes of different species going extinct?

7. Describe what happened when the KT meteor crashed on Earth, killing off the dinosaurs.

8. What does a Swedish DNA study reveal about the origins of modern man?

9. What did scientists find in the Burgess Shale of British Columbia?

10. What is Carl Linnaeus known for?

(see the answer keys)

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