View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How are black holes are widely believed to have originated?
(a) Spontaneously from quantum foam.
(b) From the collision of stars.
(c) Through the phase transition of normal elementary particles.
(d) From the collapse of a star.

2. The horizon problem is the contradiction that which of the following properties of the universe shouldn't be uniform, but is?
(a) The cosmic background radiation.
(b) The gravitational constant.
(c) The cosmological constant.
(d) The electroweak field depth.

3. In string theory, how do strings interact?
(a) By resonating with each other.
(b) By threading.
(c) By colliding and tangling.
(d) By joining and splitting.

4. What metric best approximates the scales at which extra dimensions would have a major impact?
(a) The Planck length.
(b) The Kaluza length.
(c) One-billionth of a meter.
(d) The nanometer.

5. Which of the following is true regarding tears in space time occurring in normal three-dimensional space?
(a) It is unknown whether or not they can occur.
(b) It has been proven that they can occur.
(c) Such tears have been observed in particle accelerators.
(d) They cannot occur.

6. What is entropy a measure of?
(a) The energy lost by a black hole.
(b) Disorder.
(c) Heat and pressure.
(d) Energy lost over time.

7. What is one possible way that the three dimensions we observe could have been "stretched out"?
(a) Quantum fluctuations.
(b) Vacuum energy.
(c) A false vacuum event.
(d) The big bang.

8. What did Stephen Hawking prove regarding black holes?
(a) The emit radiation.
(b) They have electrical charge.
(c) Light cannot escape from them.
(d) They are the most massive objects in the universe.

9. Riemannian geometry describes the following objects: _____.
(a) Finite, unbounded spaces.
(b) Curved spaces.
(c) Six-dimensional manifolds.
(d) N-dimensional spheres.

10. Which of the following is true regarding the tearing of space-time according to string theory?
(a) A tear would destroy the universe.
(b) It is not known if space-time can tear.
(c) It can tear under special circumstances.
(d) It cannot tear.

11. How many total dimensions are required by string theory?
(a) Five.
(b) Ten.
(c) Seven.
(d) Eight.

12. What prevents the potentially dangerous effects of an exposed tear in space-time?
(a) Tears only widen to about the Planck length.
(b) Tears are quickly mended by the force of gravity.
(c) Tears occur in curled-up dimensions.
(d) Tears are shielded by strings.

13. Which of the following methods has been used to determine the shape of the Calabi-Yau space?
(a) Perturbation theory.
(b) The finite elements method.
(c) Discrete mathematics.
(d) Matrix manipulation.

14. In what important way does string theory affect the cosmological model of the big bang?
(a) The big bang could have created multiple universes.
(b) The big bang created strings, not particles.
(c) The universe started at a certain minimum size.
(d) The universe is infinite, but has no boundaries.

15. String theory claims that super particles _____.
(a) Are massless.
(b) Do not exist.
(c) Come in pairs.
(d) Are the only non-string particles.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why are the extra dimensions needed in string theory?

2. Which of the following most accurately describes the state of the universe?

3. What property of both black holes and elementary particles is still unknown?

4. Why can the objects predicted by string theory not be observed?

5. When a black hole's entropy increases, which of its characteristics increases as well?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 593 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample