To test your knowledge of scientific concepts and recent scientific findings and events, we invite you to take this 12-question science knowledge quiz. Then see how you did in comparison with the 1,005 randomly sampled adults asked the same questions. You’ll also be able to compare your Science IQ with the average scores of men and women; with college graduates as well as those who didn’t attend college; with people who are your age as well as with younger and older Americans.
I got 12/12, but I’d expect anyone with a science degree to do pretty well — this is targeted to a lay audience. And it sets the bar pretty low; numerous bloggers have discussed the poll results and implications. The poll is reasonable, I think, with two exceptions. One is a question that is not so much science as current events, and another is the type which becomes harder to justify when you know more about the topic. Look at the quiz first, though.
Nit #1. Is the knowledge that astronomers demoted Pluto actually science? Knowing some of the reasoning behind the decision is, but the status of Pluto is not. One of the big problems of the public outcry was that many of the people upset by the decision had no real clue why the decision was made. They would have gotten the question right, and that’s a problem, not a feather in the cap of science education.
Nit #2 is the GPS question. GPS certainly relies on satellites and that’s the answer for which the question was trolling. The problem is that GPS relies on other things mentioned, too. Stars? Yep. Knowing where the satellites are with respect to the stars is an absolute necessity, because if you don’t know the satellite location in the reference frame, you can’t figure out your coordinates. Magnets? Atomic clocks use magnets, and without atomic clocks GPS won’t work. Lasers is the only one where it’s not so clear-cut — there are atomic clocks that use lasers, but they are not (yet) in the direct path to the time that GPS uses. Soon, however, they will be.
As an amateur astronomer, astronomy student and writer, I consider myself reasonably informed about the solar system, and I would rather get the answer wrong than consent to the controversial demotion of Pluto. Do not assume that people would not be upset if they “only understood” why the decision was made. That decision was political, not scientific.
Only four percent of the IAU voted on the controversial demotion, and most are not planetary scientists. Their decision was immediately opposed in a formal petition by hundreds of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto. One reason the IAU definition makes no sense is it says dwarf planets are not planets at all! That is like saying a grizzly bear is not a bear, and it is inconsistent with the use of the term “dwarf” in astronomy, where dwarf stars are still stars, and dwarf galaxies are still galaxies. Also, the IAU definition classifies objects solely by where they are while ignoring what they are. If Earth were in Pluto’s orbit, according to the IAU definition, it would not be a planet either. A definition that takes the same object and makes it a planet in one location and not a planet in another is essentially useless. Pluto is a planet because it is spherical, meaning it is large enough to be pulled into a round shape by its own gravity–a state known as hydrostatic equilibrium and characteristic of planets, not of shapeless asteroids held together by chemical bonds. These reasons are why many astronomers, lay people, and educators are either ignoring the demotion entirely or working to get it overturned.
I think those are all valid points, Laurel, but IMO tangential to the issue of whether the poll/quiz question reflects scientific knowledge. One can be aware that Pluto was demoted while being entirely unaware of any of the issues involved.
Is an electron smaller than an atom? Well, it depends … if you ask me how much space does an electron in some n>>1 orbital occupy then I’d say it’s a lot more than the accepted size of a ground state H atom. And ‘how much space’ is basically size.