ROUND 2

TOSS-UP

1) Earth and Space – Multiple Choice What water cycle process causes water molecules to move from
a lake and into the atmosphere?

W) Precipitation
X) Evaporation
Y) Transpiration
Z) Condensation

ANSWER: X) EVAPORATION

BONUS

1) Earth and Space – Short Answer What reflecting space telescope has the largest collecting area?

ANSWER: HUBBLE

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TOSS-UP

2) General Science – Short Answer Chemistry emerged from efforts to transmute lead into gold. What
was the name of this practice?

ANSWER: ALCHEMY

BONUS

2) General Science – Multiple Choice When a measurement is close to the theoretically correct value
for that measurement, it is considered which of the following?

W) Accurate
X) Precise
Y) Significantly correct
Z) Insignificantly different

ANSWER: W) ACCURATE

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 TOSS-UP

3) Life Science – Multiple Choice Which of the following is the general relationship between the
availability of soil nutrients and bacterial populations?

W) Increased bacterial populations are predicted as soil nutrients increase

X) Decreased bacterial populations are predicted as soil nutrients increase
Y) Bacterial populations are not impacted by nutrient availability
Z) There are no bacteria in soil

ANSWER: W) INCREASED BACTERIAL POPULATIONS ARE PREDICTED AS SOIL

NUTRIENTS INCREASE

BONUS

3) Life Science – Multiple Choice Some scientists believe that humans have possibly caused the sixth
mass extinction on Earth. Which of the following is a major consequence of mass extinction?

W) Loss of biodiversity
X) Increased fitness
Y) Increased environmental health
Z) Stabilizing population flux within a specific environment

ANSWER: W) LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY

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TOSS-UP

4) Physical Science – Short Answer What fundamental law states that “energy can be neither created
nor destroyed?”

ANSWER: CONSERVATION OF ENERGY (DO NOT ACCEPT: 1ST LAW OF

THERMODYNAMICS)

BONUS

4) Physical Science – Short Answer What is the name of the SI unit of measure for electric charge,
equivalent to an ampere-second?

ANSWER: COULOMB

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 TOSS-UP

5) Energy – Short Answer A renewable energy source generates 7 kilowatts. If the power lost due to
transmission is 1 kilowatt, what is the efficiency, to the nearest whole percentage, of the distribution
system?

ANSWER: 86

BONUS

5) Energy – Multiple Choice What thermal property of home insulation does the R-value represent?

W) Transmissibility
X) Resistance per unit area
Y) Flux resistance
Z) Insolance per unit area

ANSWER: X) RESISTANCE PER UNIT AREA

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TOSS-UP

6) Math – Short Answer Evaluate the following expression: 27 minus 19 minus open parenthesis 19
minus 27 close parenthesis.

ANSWER: 16

BONUS

6) Math – Short Answer Identify all of the following four statements about angles that are true: 1) Two
angles that form a linear pair must be supplementary; 2) Supplementary angles must form a linear pair; 3)
An exterior angle of a triangle must be obtuse; 4) An exterior angle of a triangle must have greater
measure than either of its remote interior angles.

ANSWER: 1 and 4

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 TOSS-UP

7) Life Science – Short Answer The family Mephitidae is characterized by having contrasting black
and white fur patterns and modified anal glands that expel a highly irritating fluid when faced with
danger. What is the common name of species found in this family?

ANSWER: SKUNK

BONUS

7) Life Science – Multiple Choice In a cell, the presence or absence of a nucleus distinguishes
between:

W) plant and animal cells

X) gymnosperms and angiosperms
Y) bacteria and viruses
Z) prokaryotes and eukaryotes

ANSWER: Z) PROKARYOTES AND EUKARYOTES

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TOSS-UP

8) General Science – Short Answer One of the qualitative characteristics used in evaluating minerals
by their scratch resistance was invented by a mineralogist in 1812 and is used today. What is that scale
called?

ANSWER: MOHS SCALE OF HARDNESS (ALSO ACCEPT: MOHS SCALE, MOHS HARDNESS
SCALE)

BONUS

8) General Science – Short Answer Fires are categorized by class. What type of fire is a class C fire?

ANSWER: ELECTRICAL FIRE

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 TOSS-UP

9) Energy – Short Answer Natural gas is mostly composed of what hydrocarbon?

ANSWER: METHANE

BONUS

9) Energy – Multiple Choice Cellulosic biomass can be converted via fermentation to what usable
form of energy?

W) Ethanol
X) Biogas
Y) Liquefied natural gas
Z) Nitrogen

ANSWER: W) ETHANOL

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TOSS-UP

10) Earth and Space – Short Answer What layer of the Earth includes the crust and the uppermost
mantle?

ANSWER: LITHOSPHERE

BONUS

10) Earth and Space – Short Answer Identify all of the following four choices that are tectonic plates:
1) Atlantic; 2) African; 3) Pacific; 4) Australian.

ANSWER: 2, 3, 4

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 TOSS-UP

11) Math – Short Answer A square of side length 4 is divided into four squares. One of these is then
split diagonally. What is the area of one of the resulting triangles?

ANSWER: 2

BONUS

11) Math – Short Answer A ball moves 0.24 kilometers in one minute. What is the speed of this ball in
meters per second?

ANSWER: 4

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TOSS-UP

12) Physical Science – Short Answer The electric force on a point charge as a result of another charge
is given as M. If the distance between the two particles is halved, then in terms of M, what is the new
force on the point charge?

ANSWER: 4M

BONUS

12) Physical Science – Short Answer In some materials, an electrical signal travels at about two-thirds
the speed of light. Giving your answer in scientific notation to one significant figure and in meters per
second, what is the speed of this signal?

ANSWER: 2 × 108

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 TOSS-UP

13) Life Science – Multiple Choice How many teeth do average human adults have?

W) 28
X) 32
Y) 34
Z) 36

ANSWER: X) 32

BONUS

13) Life Science – Short Answer Benzyl bromide is a lacrymating agent. This means that it causes
humans to produce what?

ANSWER: TEARS

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TOSS-UP

14) General Science – Multiple Choice Which of the following is the name of the grid or coordinate
system on which points in a plane are described with ordered pairs?

W) Descartes’s plane
X) Cartesian coordinate system
Y) Ordered pairs graph
Z) Scatter plot

ANSWER: X) CARTESIAN COORDINATE SYSTEM

BONUS

14) General Science – Short Answer Place the following four divisions of human prehistory in order,
from earliest to most recent: 1) Paleolithic; 2) Bronze Age; 3) Neolithic; 4) Iron Age

ANSWER: 1, 3, 2, 4 (PALEOLITHIC, NEOLITHIC, BRONZE AGE, IRON AGE)

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 TOSS-UP

15) Physical Science – Short Answer Most room temperature permanent magnets are magnets due to
what phenomenon that is commonly seen in iron, nickel, and cobalt?

ANSWER: FERROMAGNETISM

BONUS

15) Physical Science – Short Answer Pascal's principle states that applied forces are evenly distributed
in what state of matter?

ANSWER: LIQUID

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TOSS-UP

16) Earth and Space – Multiple Choice Fossils tell us about the evolution of life. In which of the
following rock types are you most likely to find a well-preserved fossil?

W) Basalt
X) Granite
Y) Shale
Z) Amphibolite

ANSWER: Y) SHALE

BONUS

16) Earth and Space – Short Answer Which one of the solar system's rocky planets rotates in the
opposite direction from all the others?

ANSWER: VENUS (DO NOT ACCEPT: URANUS)

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 TOSS-UP

17) Math – Short Answer For a group of 200 students, 75 percent had brown eyes, 15 percent had blue
eyes, and the rest had green eyes. How many students in the group had green eyes?

ANSWER: 20

BONUS

17) Math – Multiple Choice How many times do the graphs of the following equations intersect?
x squared plus y squared = 4 and open parenthesis x – 2 close parenthesis squared plus
open parenthesis y – 2 close parenthesis squared = 4

W) 0
X) 1
Y) 2
Z) 4

ANSWER: Y) 2

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TOSS-UP

18) Energy – Multiple Choice How many states in the US mined coal in 2013?

W) 10
X) 25
Y) 48
Z) 50

ANSWER: X) 25

BONUS

18) Energy – Short Answer As of the third quarter of 2015, what state generates the most electricity via
wind power?

ANSWER: TEXAS

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 TOSS-UP

19) Life Science – Short Answer In the human gut, what segment of the small intestine is between the
duodenum and ileum?

ANSWER: JEJUNUM

BONUS

19) Life Science – Multiple Choice Blood is classified as what type of body tissue?

W) Epithelial tissue
X) Connective tissue
Y) Nerve tissue
Z) Muscle tissue

ANSWER: X) CONNECTIVE TISSUE

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TOSS-UP

20) Earth and Space – Short Answer On the Mohs scale of hardness, what mineral is defined to have
hardness 1?

ANSWER: TALC

BONUS

20) Earth and Space – Multiple Choice Which of the following is true every year when the United
States experiences winter solstice?

W) Earth is at its maximum distance from the Sun

X) The Southern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun
Y) Antarctica experiences 24 hours of darkness
Z) The Moon is a waning crescent

ANSWER: X) THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE IS TILTED TOWARDS THE SUN

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 TOSS-UP

21) Physical Science – Short Answer What is the commonly used name for circuits that are composed
of a resistor and a capacitor?

ANSWER: RC CIRCUIT (ALSO ACCEPT: FIRST ORDER RC CIRCUIT)

BONUS

21) Physical Science – Short Answer What electronic circuit components produce magnetic fields as
current flows through them and can be used to block AC current while letting DC current pass?

ANSWER: INDUCTORS

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TOSS-UP

22) Math – Short Answer A jet travels 2500 miles in 6 hours. To the nearest whole number of miles
per hour, over the six-hour period, what is the average speed of the jet?

ANSWER: 417

BONUS

22) Math – Short Answer Identify all of the following 4 sets of numbers that are Pythagorean triples:
1) 5-12-13; 2) 13-13-15; 3) 6-9-12; 4) 9-40-41.

ANSWER: 1 and 4

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 TOSS-UP

23) Physical Science – Multiple Choice The potential energy stored in a spring is proportional to
which of the following?

W) The square of the spring constant

X) The square root of the spring's mass
Y) The spring's height from Earth's surface
Z) The square of the spring's stretch from equilibrium

ANSWER: Z) THE SQUARE OF THE SPRING'S STRETCH FROM EQUILIBRIUM

BONUS

23) Physical Science – Short Answer Consider a Carnot engine operating between two reservoirs of
different temperatures. If the absolute temperatures of both reservoirs are doubled, by what factor is the
efficiency multiplied?

ANSWER: ONE

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