View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do the Schrodinger equations assume?

2. What are the size of biological brains limited by?

3. What question does Hawking ask about extraterrestrials?

4. What does Hawking think one can do to positive vacuum energy?

5. What does much of the possibility of time travel depend on?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Strominger and Vafa postulate in 1996?

2. What does Hawking think about the possible technological level of extraterrestrials?

3. How many books are published a year, and what does Hawking have to say about the good ones?

4. What is a time travel "horizon"?

5. What does it mean for Hawking to think one can "move" positive vacuum energy?

6. What does Hawking claim might happen if children could gestate outside the womb?

7. What is the main question concerning space-time, if one avoids philosophical discussion and focuses on the laws of physics?

8. What is the grandfather paradox?

9. What might happen if we do not destroy ourselves?

10. What partially restores determinism and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Hawking's formulation of the Chronology Projection Conjecture is an important topic in Chapter Five. Write an essay that summarizes what the Chronology Projection Conjecture is, how it was formulated, and what its function is now.

Essay Topic 2

Describe the history of the theory of curved spaces. What is this theory's relationship to the idea of space-time? Cite two examples from Chapter One that identify key participants, events, or ideas related to this topic.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that answers the following questions: What is M-theory? What is its relationship to various string models? What does Hawking believe about M-theory? The essay must include at least two supporting evidences from the book, and one example from an outside text.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 787 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample