I took this fun science literacy quiz, and got 47 out of 50 questions correct.
The ones I missed were all in biology and life sciences, my weakest subject. Since so many of the angroids label climate skeptics as “scientifically illiterate”, and because climate change is specifically mentioned, I thought it would be fun to share and to have readers post their scores. Many of the questions are simple, like the first one:
Then there’s some tougher ones, like about Planck’s constant and some that require some simple physics math, F=ma and stuff like that. There’s a bit of irony in whose website the poll is on.
The Christian Science Monitor.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/1209/Are-you-scientifically-literate-Take-our-quiz/
Surprisingly, there wasn’t a single question about climate change, even though they mention it. If you feel like taking it, don’t succumb to the temptation to look up everything on the Internet…there’s no sport in perfect scores.
Hydrogen (you have to remember Hydrogen) – Here Little Beggar Boys Catching Newts Or Fish; New Nature Magnifies All Sin. P.S. Chlorine ArKCa.
Thank you Mr Brennan – St Cyres Scohol 1980-1982.
43/50 but I’m a confirmed adherent of Einstein’s idea of, ‘never memorise something you can look up!’ It was the biology that got me, never my strongest field. Well, I was an engineer prior to my academic career…
27/50 With a few lucky guess and even more stupid mistakes. Not bad for a ex-farmer & sheep shearer. Have to lay off the Johnnie Walker at nights & the score might improve.
Anthony: great fun, thanks. I blew three of them…one from true ignorance, one from over-thinking, the last from carelessness. A real education in humility, and a reminder of that old test-taking mood: somewhere between terror and hubris, with a big slug of adrenaline.
45/50 here. Not too shabby for an old bugger.
45 out of 50. Misses were random.
Bah 38/50 but who read James Joyce??
I also didn’t read 1 question correctly. nanometers in a centimeter otherwise a bit poor.
Ah well, so besides being old and fat now I can claim stupid also!
48/50
Saved by Latin, Greek, physics, and the usual skill at taking multiple-guess tests.
And to think that we questioned the value of Latin when in school. Newton wrote in Latin.
The Monitor’s quiz gives a hint, but little more, of the victim’s skill at science. Knowing the terminology is necessary but not sufficient for rational discussion. There is no point in arguing climate with someone who has watts of energy, or who cannot distinguish insulation from insolation.
35 out of 50.
43 out of the 50
Several clear brain f**ts – Nitrogen, Fluorine, Joule??? WUWT
Sigh
wsbriggs,
You done good! Very good. I made a few guesses that turned out to be right. They could easily have been wrong guesses. That’s multiple choice for you.
I took the test 10 times. Total correct answers were 487. Average score 48.7.
30 out of 50 – but at least 10 of them (on subjects I know nothing about) were guesses! I’m rather angry that some I should have got right I didn’t…
46. Over-thought the question on surface gravities of planets, and miscalculated a low value for the surface of Neptune. Also failed on clouds, so my main weakness is obviously related to gas.
Great quiz, 38-50 for me.
37 … which, for an Arts graduate, I rate as pretty good.
39…send me to a re-education camp…
40 of 50. Moons and planetary stuff was my downfall. The fact that I have a sixth grader whom I’ve helped with his math and science lately helped me in a few questions (scalene triangle, metamorphic rock)
43 out of 50. I would have backed myself to do better … shamefully missed the planetary ones, and clouds, and relied on Greek to do the biology. You’d never think I studied physics!
Shame on me!
Only 43/50
37 correct — interesting that more than a few I would have had no idea on (e.g. nimbus, horsepower, bernoulli principle, … ) were it not for the great content on WUWT stimulating me to look up and read about things I don’t understand.
Thanks Anthony. Your efforts are appreciated daily. Rich
I nearly passed!
I ‘got’ zygote and joule, missed on nimbus.
Scientific literacy is knowing that you don’t know how much you don’t know but you do know that you need evidence to show what you think you already know.
46 out of 50, and I don’t know if that’s good, bad, or indifferent, since there was no breakdown of score distribution.
I confused meiosis and mitosis
I had no idea on nanometers. After kilometers, meters, centimeters, and millimeters, everything is just 10^-x meters for me.
I assumed that extra pluto body was called Charon,
I knew as pipes narrow, the flow rate increases- I got that one wrong.
This was a very good test of general scientific knowledge. Anyone scoring 25/50 or better is more informed than 98% of the general population. Those with no scientific background who scored better than 25/50 know more than most all of the scientific illiterati — who unfortunately can vote on science questions involving “carbon”.
The readership of WUWT is far and away more informed than the general public, and we should be proud of our wide ranging knowledge of the physical world.
Kudos to everyone who accepted the challenge. I doubt that Algore would have scored better than 20/50. His “D” in his college Science class demonstrates his inferior intellect and education. Even WUWT’s non-science majors would have done better than the Goreacle.