# Take the Basic Physics Quiz. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 26, 2005, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726 "2005-08-26T14:05:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/41 "2005-08-26T20:09:42Z")
> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#): > > 97.5% > > Fuckin’ clouds. > > I was annoyed by the car battery question. If they wanted to test electrical knowledge, they could have drawn a simple circuit diagram and asked questions about it. Instead they asked a question that requires knowing the electrical resistance of an average person. First 82.5 so I should not be correcting anybody, but… That’s a common sense answer, you don’t die when you pick up a D-Cell for the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/42 "2005-08-26T20:10:31Z")
> [@treis](#): > > Overall in this context is meaningless. Does it mean the entire object is at the same temperature or each molecule is at the exact same temperature? I don’t think it matters either way. The sensation of hot and cold is not a measure of temperature, but of _rate_ of heat loss/gain, which depends strongly on thermal conductivity of the object. I got 97.5%, by the way. Would have gotten that one right too if I didn’t try to second-guess what they’re trying to say. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/43 "2005-08-26T20:17:37Z")
90%. I never studied physics, even in high school, so I don’t know from vectors. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![vertizontal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ad7895/32.png) [@vertizontal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertizontal)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/44 "2005-08-26T20:20:50Z")
87.5 Put me down as another doper annoyed with the cloud question. ---
**Author:** ![Crab\_Rangoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Crab\_Rangoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crab_Rangoon)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/45 "2005-08-26T20:29:21Z")
70% ouch… Eh, what does Newton know anyway… ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/46 "2005-08-26T20:50:58Z")
90%. I call bullshit on the cloud too. > [@](#): > > 50%. Never taken a physics class, and my last science class was more than ten years ago, in college. But I did read the introduction to a physics book last week, so I’m actually kind of proud to have gotten half the questions right. Of course, some of them were pretty obvious based on the phrasing of the question (like number 35), so I think if answered only the questions I actually knew the answers to, my score would be more like 20%. If I’m lucky. Campion I hate to break this to you, but with a T/F test you get 50% just by chance 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/47 "2005-08-26T20:54:03Z")
77.5%, and I want to be an EE. Atleast I can say that I have never had a single physics class besides chemistry, so I did poorly simply because I suck at teaching myself. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/48 "2005-08-26T20:59:08Z")
77.5% (which I thought was not bad but compared to you nerds I’m not so special) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/49 "2005-08-26T21:03:16Z")
> [@Crab Rangoon](#): > > Eh, what does Newton know anyway… Oh he was some sort of Astrology and Alchemy nut, who would beleive such a person ? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/50 "2005-08-26T21:21:47Z")
72.5%, and I’m happy with that. I have a fine arts degree, and I never studied physics in high school or college. My familiarity with scientific subjects is entirely due to reading of lay-oriented material as an adult. Given that, I think I did pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/51 "2005-08-26T21:51:54Z")
> [@uglybeech](#): > > Campion I hate to break this to you, but with a T/F test you get 50% just by chance 😛 Not quite true. You don’t get 50% on a T/F test “just by chance”; you mean, instead, that by guessing (without reading the questions or attempting to answer them), you’re likely to get half right. For kicks, I just retook the test, guessing “false” for all questions. Guess what? 67.5%. And yet, for some reason, I’m still kinda proud of my 50%. But I think I may spend a wee bit of time reading this weekend. 😉 Just so I can bulk my score up to the 67.5% “guesswork” level. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/52 "2005-08-26T22:10:45Z")
> [@treis](#): > > Overall in this context is meaningless. Does it mean the entire object is at the same temperature or each molecule is at the exact same temperature? They apparently meant absolute temperature. For someone writing a test for basic Physics you think they would have a grasp of basic physics terminology. It’s standard high school physics to demonstrate that steel at room temperature feels colder than, say, cotton fabric at the same temperature, and that the sensation has as much to do with conductivity as with temperature. I agree that some of the questions were worded in a rather colvoluted way, but this one wasn’t technically incorrect, and if you got it incorrect by thinking too hard about the wrong aspect of it, then tough! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![cabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/53 "2005-08-26T22:54:48Z")
80% - some of them I agree I got wrong because I wasn’t thinking clearly, others are an argument over semantics, and some of them try to confuse between the theoretically correct answer, and the practically correct answer. 1. For example. They set up an engine with no frictional losses, and no unwanted heat transfer, then claim this magical device is subject to Carnot’s law anyway. I knew it was a bullshit machine, the only question was where would the bullshit stop. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/54 "2005-08-26T23:29:32Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > I call bullshit on this one: > 29) A cloud’s mass consists primarily of water vapor. > X Your Answer: true View Explanation > > They say no, it’s lots of water droplets floating in the air. WTF is vapor then? My definition doesn’t match theirs. I think the judge from Lithuania will give me that one. Agreed, some of the questions, in my opinion, were ambigious. Clowds have dust particles, for instance. But, no sour grapes for me, I got 53 percent. :::Looks away in shame::: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/55 "2005-08-26T23:40:27Z")
> [@cabdude](#): > > 1. For example. They set up an engine with no frictional losses, and no unwanted heat transfer, then claim this magical device is subject to Carnot’s law anyway. I knew it was a bullshit machine, the only question was where would the bullshit stop. That’s a pathetic excuse 😛 …all they were needing was a realisation that the ignition of a fuel results in various forms of energy, not all of which are useful. How would you ignite petrol vapour without any sound being emitted? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/56 "2005-08-26T23:43:06Z")
Actually, the ‘cloud’s mass’ one I will concede as ambiguous, because defining a cloud is kinda tricky 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/57 "2005-08-27T00:24:18Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > That’s a pathetic excuse 😛 …all they were needing was a realisation that the ignition of a fuel results in various forms of energy, not all of which are useful. How would you ignite petrol vapour without any sound being emitted? I’d do it in a vacuum. Oh wait, you need oxygen. OK, I’d do it in the middle of a forest, without anyone around to hear it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/58 "2005-08-27T02:52:27Z")
I nailed 90%. Economics degree. Go figure. I missed 6, 8, 15, and 21. Water vapor’s invisible. When they say the humidity is 88% and you walk outside and you can’t see any fog, that is because it’s water vapor. Clouds are made of liquid water. The question and its answer are correct. ---
**Author:** ![exastris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b38774/32.png) [@exastris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/exastris)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/59 "2005-08-27T04:53:45Z")
90% Not so good considering I have a physics degree! ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726/60 "2005-08-27T05:28:05Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > That question is wrong in the test the physicists forgot the difference between vapor and gas. A clouds mas is almost 100% vapour, but not much gasseous water. > > From dictionary > vapor 1 a) visible particles of moisture floating in the air > From my Webster’s New World College Dictionary. The dictionary notwithstanding, in science lingo a vapor is a gas. This is a physics test, not a test on the vernacular. 92.5% for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-basic-physics-quiz/318726.md?page=4)