12 question science test. 6% get all right.

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/science-knowledge/


The public opinion and research organization quizzed a representative sample of U.S. adults on geology, physics and astronomy, among other topics. Out of 12 questions, the test-takers answered 7.9 correctly, on average. That’s a score of 66%.


Only 6% of the 3,278 test-takers answered all 12 questions correctly. Twenty-six percent missed only one or two questions, and an additional 27% missed three or four.

At the other end of the spectrum, only 1% of those surveyed missed 11 of the questions, 2% missed 10 and 3% missed nine. (Want to see how you'd fare? Take the quiz here.)

The more time people had spent in school, the better they did on the quiz. For instance, those who had earned some type of graduate degree scored an average of 9.5, while those who didn’t make it past high school averaged only 6.8 correct answers.

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-science-quiz-americans-pew-20150909-story.html

[peacebird]

1. I missed one....

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. me too.. the boiling water one

[peacebird]

3. Same here....

[TDale313]

6. Same here.

[TubbersUK]

11. I got that one right

but only because I'd just read an article about how difficult it is to make a good cup of tea at altitude.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

73. I always remember my gases because of the naming.

'Boyle's law'. You compare the relative pressure differential, and you know where gas expands most easily

[TubbersUK]

94. I like it - very useful

[LibertyLover]

145. I remembered because I've camped

in Colorado and I remember the water boiling sooner than I had expected and not cooking what I was trying to make correctly.

[oberliner]

55. That's the one I missed as well - also, astrology is not science

That question should not have been included on this quiz.

[bmbmd]

179. Neither

is Statistics.

[Agschmid]

62. Same.

[NuclearDem]

81. Only one that I missed too.

[Mike Daniels]

89. Missed the boiling question as well

Kind of guessed on the magnifying lens based on what seemed to make sense. The others were pretty obvious from my POV.

[Lancero]

119. Same, though I did randomly guess on the sound one.

[Ilsa]

193. here here. only one. never think about it near sea level. nt

[KentuckyWoman]

16. Me too - the one about sound.

[tblue37]

42. That was the one I missed. nt

[Scootaloo]

178. Same here

I figured it was velocity, since sound is kinetic - oh well.

[restorefreedom]

83. me too

the sound one. and i was going to put amplitude...grrr always go with your first answer

[KamaAina]

146. The magnifying glass one

I imagine representatives from Yale will be waiting at my door this evening to confiscate my diploma.

[A HERETIC I AM]

165. That's the only one I missed. n/t

[Leith]

177. Me, Too

I was going on the fact that a magnifying glass makes the small look big, hence it takes light from the original size object and spreads it out to make it look bigger. How is that not correct?

[Mojorabbit]

203. That was the one I missed also. nt

[Skittles]

4. I got 10 of 12

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. ..

[tblue37]

44. Did you miss the sound and boiling water ones? I would imagine those would be the ones more

people would struggle with. ((My error was the sound one.)

[Whiskeytide]

86. Those are exactly the two I missed. n/t

[Solly Mack]

7. 12/12. You scored better than 94% of the public and the same as 6%.

Science Knowledge Quiz Results

You answered 12 of 12 questions correctly.

See below how your results compare with the 3,278 randomly sampled adults that took part in our national survey and review how you responded to each question. For more findings from the survey, read "A Look at What the Public Knows and Does Not Know About Science."


You scored better than 94% of the public and the same as 6%.

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. ..

[steve2470]

97. congrats, sincerely :)

[bullwinkle428]

100. I got a perfect score as well!

Now I have science backing me up when I roll my eyes at "moran" Freeper-types, snake-handlers, neo-Confederate 8th-grade dropouts, and Trump supporters!

[rock]

121. What a team we'd make

I got 12 as well! (And it has nothing to do with our names!)

[renate]

123. nice catch re the names!

That's cute!

[X_Digger]

200. Ditto. n/t

[TubbersUK]

8. 10 out of 12 for me

better than expected

[Fumesucker]

9. #10 doesn't really have a correct answer listed

I got 100% but for #10 thorium can also be used for nuclear power in a molten salt medium reactor.

[Spider Jerusalem]

15. It CAN, but it ISN'T, generally.

The answer is "uranium"...which is used in breeder reactors to produce plutonium through neutron bombardment; U-238 has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, and thus is relatively abundant. Pu-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years, and only exists on earth in trace amounts; we have to make it.

[Fumesucker]

19. I got 100%, I knew the answer to pick but it's not completely correct

Do you suppose that someone who knows of thorium reactors doesn't also know about the relationship between uranium and plutonium?

[Spider Jerusalem]

21. I think you have a reading comprehension issue

it's correct as presented. Uranium is needed to make nuclear energy, as currently implemented...there are no large-scale thorium reactors anywhere, nuclear powers don't have thorium bombs, you can't make plutonium without uranium, therefore uranium is needed, QED.

[Fumesucker]

22. Uranium isn't *needed* for nuclear power although it is for nuclear bombs

Uranium is the substance that is most widely used in reactors, overwhelmingly so in fact, but it's not totally necessary.

I'll point out that all nuclear reactors are actually running on stored gravitational energy since it is the gravitation powered collapse of supernovae that creates all elements heavier than iron.

Notice that I manged to reply to you without engaging in personal attacks.

[Spider Jerusalem]

23. Yes, it is *needed* for nuclear power.

Why is it needed for nuclear power? Because existing implementations of nuclear power utilise plutonium/enriched uranium reactors. Not thorium reactors. Your argument is kind of like saying "but we don't need gasoline, we can just burn vegetable oil in diesel engines" when all the cars have gasoline engines.

I haven't engaged in any personal attacks (although I am beginning to think your issues go deeper than reading comprehension).

[Fumesucker]

24. I've had a diesel car

And diesel cars are extremely common in Europe.

[Kelvin Mace]

154. Well, the question was

which was needed for nuclear energy AND nuclear weapons. "Uranium" is the only answer that meets the criteria of the question.

[muriel_volestrangler]

34. It does have a correct answer listed, because it's a multiple choice question

If it had been an open-ended question, then thorium would be an acceptable answer. But uranium is used too, and it's the only one of the options listed that's used. And, as pointed out, it describes the current practical situation.

#2 is a bit more of a problem - sound waves are used to make cellphone calls, between your mouth and the microphone, and between the speaker and your ear. A more accurate question could be to ask 'used to send text messages'.

[Fumesucker]

43. I'm a bit embarrassed I missed that one, good catch.

In the case of nuclear power I wasn't saying it was the wrong answer, of course it's the correct answer in the context of a multiple choice question however it's only a partial answer to the question.

I spent a lot of time teaching and tutoring my kids and I found asking unambiguous questions more difficult than I would have guessed beforehand, more than one time I got a correct answer that I did not at all anticipate. It was also interesting that adults could seldom restrain themselves from blurting out answers to the questions I was asking my kids if any were around at the time.

[DCBob]

141. Regarding the cell phone calls..

Radio waves are required to make and receive the call.. sound is not needed. One calls without making a sound and receives the call without sound. Its only after the connection is made are sound waves needed.

[muriel_volestrangler]

144. Hmm - is a call a call before any sound has been received?

'Call' comes from the word involving sound. But a 'missed call' can involve no sound, so you may be right. I do regard my point on that question as pedantry.

[DCBob]

147. It is a bit misleading and clearly they were trying to make that question tricky.

[jonno99]

160. A call without actually connecting can be a form of communication -

Like: "call me when you get in so I know that you made it home - let it ring three times and I'll know you're OK..."

Pedantry? I resemble that!

[Recursion]

58. Plus I'm pretty sure you need CO2 to build a nuclear reactor (nt)

[sir pball]

101. So can Pu, or theoretically any fissile isotope..

..but since it's multiple-choice not essay, of course it's U - indulging my inner pedant, I'd say since it is such a rigidly defined question there is an absolute Correct Answer :p

eta 12/12, thank god or I'd be committing seppuku

[Warpy]

180. Right, that one was a little outdated

but none of the other answers was correct except uranium.

Yeah, I'm a nerd. I wear the label proudly.

[steve2470]

12. 11 of 12, dang magnification question tripped me up nt

[Skittles]

17. the water boiling one tripped me up

I knew it took longer to boil water at higher altitudes but.....

[Fumesucker]

20. It doesn't take longer to boil water at higher altitude, it takes longer to cook

Longer to cook because the temperature is lower at the boil so cooking is slower. Water actually boils slightly faster at altitude because you don't have to get it quite so hot before it starts boiling.

/Pedant preparing for his ass kicking..

[madokie]

39. I have a relatively expensive cooking thermometer

and when I check it at the boiling point it shows that the water reached 210.5 degrees. I'm thinking that surely I didn't pay all this money for a flawed thermometer so I go to google and sure enough at my altitude of 750 ft the boiling point of water is 210.5 degrees.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/boiling-points-water-altitude-d_1344.html

[Scuba]

47. Also 11 of 12, missed the magnification one.

[steve2470]

48. no offense lol but I'm glad I have company in this lol

I was feeling a bit lonely being the only one to miss that one! Have a good day.

[hifiguy]

184. That was the one I missed, too.

[dixiegrrrrl]

59. That one slowed me down, till I remembered ......

ants.
and setting paper on fire in the backyard with a magnifying glass.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

113. I got all 12.

I, too, had to think about ants when thinking about the lens and light rays. Yeah, you could quibble about cell phones and uranium.

[B Calm]

130. The magnification one was easy for me thanks to the Boy Scouts

and using magnifying glass to start a fire. Boiling water threw me.

[smirkymonkey]

95. I also got 11 out of 12 and got the same question wrong.

I answered #2 instead of the correct answer which was #3.

[Xithras]

157. Same here. All right except the magnification question.

And considering the number of telescopes I own, there's no real excuse for me to have missed it. I'll blame my aging brain.

[yuiyoshida]

13. Oh, hell yes!

The one I missed was about boiling water in Denver and LA...i said both, but it was Denver!

[youceyec]

35. less atmospheric pressure =

less energy needed for gas to form.

I got 11. Missed the moon one. One of the easiest ones :/

32 m/college degree.

[yuiyoshida]

38. went to University of California, Berkeley!

But I never got to graduate, I ran out of funds, and I didn't want to borrow it and be in life time debt, like they are now. I wouldn't mind going back, but it might be not for years later.

[Spider Jerusalem]

14. 12/12 (n/t)

[uponit7771]

18. Question 13: What percentage of scientist consider themselves to be republican?

6% - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/10/only-six-percent-of-scien_n_229382.html

Scientist have to deal with facts

I got 12 out of 12...

Nuke question is tricky...

[quaker bill]

26. 12/12

But then I am a scientist.

[NutmegYankee]

27. 12/12.

I kind of expected that.

[murielm99]

28. I got 10 of 12.

[LiberalArkie]

29. Water wrong 11/12

[Trailrider1951]

30. 12 out of 12

But then, I'm an amateur astronomer and a retired geologist.

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. The question about tides is unacceptable as a question (so, spoiler in this post)

"Which of these is the main way that ocean tides are created?"

a: The rotation of the earth on its axis

Well, yes, the cycle of the tides does come from the earth rotating with respect to the moon and sun. That's why there are just over 12 hours between high tides. If the same side of the earth always faced towards the moon (eg as Pluto does with Charon), you wouldn't see the tide created by the moon, just a smaller one from the changing relative position of the sun.

b: The gravitational pull of the moon

Well, yes, that is the dominant gravitational force involved.

Pew failed on that question. I guess they want (b) as the answer, but (a) is valid too.

[Frank Cannon]

37. Well, then you get into the whole pedantry thing again.

I think the intent of the question was to weed out the Bill O'Reillys of the world who have no clue about what is overwhelmingly responsible for the effect of the Earth 's tides.

[muriel_volestrangler]

67. Some of the objections (mine about sound waves, Fumesucker's about thorium) might be 'pedantry'

but this one is at the heart of the question. You really can't talk about the tides without mentioning how often they happen, and that comes from the earth's rotation. What they should have done is give a different wrong answer; or they should have mentioned 'force' in the question, and had the wrong answer being about 'centrifugal force'.

[Recursion]

56. There would still be a tidal bulge on a non-rotating earth

It just wouldn't "move" with respect to the coast.

[muriel_volestrangler]

63. Ocean tides are generally held to be the change in water level, or current speed

A static tidal bulge wouldn't be noticed until very accurate measurement showed the earth to be not a perfect spheroid. But, as I said, with the relative position of the sun and the moon, you'd get some form of tide anyway, just with a very different period. The rotation of the earth remains a vital part of determining how 'ocean tides are created', which is why it's a bad question.

[greyl]

96. No, because you can remove the rotation of Earth and still have tides

as long as the moon still orbits Earth.

[muriel_volestrangler]

104. The question asked "the main way that ocean tides are created"

You could also still have tides without the Moon; the tidal effect of the Sun is quite noticeable in the difference between spring and neap tides. The question asks you to compare things that are not directly comparable - the rotation of the Earth, which is the main reason for the period of the tides; and 2 gravitational forces, of which the Moon provides the larger.

It's a poor question, because 2 of the answers are valid.

[greyl]

125. Right, but the rotation of Earth on its axis isn't necessary,

so it gets ruled out as the main way. Still a lame test, yes. The astrology question alone rules it out as decent test.

[muriel_volestrangler]

142. and the presence of the Moon is not necessary

because you'd still get easily noticeable tides, with high separated by 12 hours, just from the Sun. So, by your logic, you can rule of the Moon as the main way. The presence of the Sun isn't necessary (for tides), so by your logic you can rule out all three answers.

To get the tides anything like we do, you need both the rotation of the earth and the gravitational force of the Moon. Because the rotation and the Moon's gravity are not directly comparable, saying one is the 'main way' isn't really possible.

[greyl]

168. But it's one of 3 choices for the Main way tides are created,

not the main "way" they are regular and predictable as they are.

[muriel_volestrangler]

171. Exactly - neither the Moon nor the rotation of the Earth are the 'main' way

so when both are presented as alternatives, it's a crappy question.

[Jim Lane]

133. I completely agree with you. That was the only one I "missed" and I dispute it.

If the Earth didn't rotate on its axis, greyl is correct that we'd still have tides because of the orbiting Moon, but we'd have a tide twice a month instead of twice a day. The actual tides that we really have are dependent on the Earth's rotation.

Also, I'm pretty sure that if you let the Earth keep rotating but destroy the Moon, we'd still have twice-daily tides. They'd just be smaller than they are now.

[greyl]

167. I see that as the reason for the timing/interval of the tides, not their existence altogther.

Their timing is a definitely an integral part of how we usually talk about tides, but I think the question was not asking about their interval.
A body could rotate or not, and still have tidal forces upon them by the presence of external bodies. A constant rotation simply does not create the presence of tides on a whole body, because those rotational forces are distributed fairly equally around the entire axis of rotation. (A bulge is not a tide) The unequalizer would be the external bodies.

[muriel_volestrangler]

172. The question asked about neither their timing, nor magnitude

just their creation. That makes it a bad question.

[Jim Lane]

174. But if the question is about their existence altogether then there are two right answers.

A rotating Earth would have tides with either the Sun's gravity or the Moon's.

That was why I picked the rotation answer. The difference between the Moon's gravity and the Sun's is merely a difference in degree. The difference between either of them and rotation is a difference in kind.

You write, "A constant rotation simply does not create the presence of tides on a whole body...." That's true, but only of a body that's rotating out in interstellar space with no star nearby. There are few or no such bodies known to science. If a body is in a solar system and rotating, then it will have tides (provided of course it's not of uniform rigid composition -- I don't think Mercury has tides).

Perhaps we can compromise by agreeing it's a lousy question? A test intended to cover basic scientific knowledge shouldn't be subject to such wrangling. If they wanted the right answer to be the Moon's gravity, then the other answers should have been things like volcanoes, earthquakes, sunspots, or other fakeouts that might trap the ignorant but be inarguably wrong.

[NuclearDem]

82. The whole question's nonsense.

Tide goes out, tide goes out. You can't explain that.

[MindPilot]

106. Yeah I got stuck on that one too...my oceanography prof went nuts if somebody said "Moon's gravity

Last edited Fri Sep 11, 2015, 11:49 AM - Edit history (1)

caused the tides". If the moon's gravity was strong enough to lift an ocean-sized body of water, it would have already sucked everything else off the Earth's surface. ETA: or more accurately, since the Moon is somewhat smaller than the Earth, the Moon would have pulled itself into the Earth. It is the Moon's mass, not its gravity that affects the tides.

Imagine the Earth and moon connected like a barbell so they rotate together within the Sun's gravity field, but since the ends of the barbell are different sizes that motion is lopsided. It is the combination of the Earth's mass and the Moon's mass along with the rotation of the Earth all moving within the gravity field of the Sun that makes the tides.

For the final exam in the Oceanography class, we were each to pretend we were the science officer on a Galaxy class starship. We were approaching a uncharted class M planet with multiple moons. The assignment was to assess among other things the tidal movements on the planet.



12 out of 12.

[TexasProgresive]

32. I got 12 out of 12. Some questions had answers that were close to correct

It is like what I've heard about the Cisco certification test which is rumored to have several correct answers but to get it right you must choose the most correct answer. I pondered long over the answer for the sugar/cavities question, finally choosing the correct answer.

[tblue37]

41. That graph had no information about years--only about sugar consumption and cavities.

IOW, the only answer anywhere near the correct one could be excluded because labels indicating yearly changes were not shown on the graph.

[hobbit709]

33. Put me in that 6%.

[madokie]

36. 12 of 12

You scored better than 94% of the public and the same as 6%.

12 Total number of questions answered correctly
These percentages only reflect the 3,278 adults that took part in the national survey; online quiz results are not included in the sample.

[tblue37]

40. SPOILER ALERT! ANSWER SPOILER AT END OF MESSAGE.

Last edited Fri Sep 11, 2015, 07:25 AM - Edit history (2)

I missed the one about which property of sound waves causes the loudness of a sound.

Apparently that question is one that stumped a *lot* of people, especially in my demographic category: whiite female, post-grad degrees, age 65.

The percentile rating is a bit fuzzy for me, though. Does the fact that only 6% scored better put me and the others in my 12% of 11/12 correct scorers in the 96th percentile, or (as I believe) are we in the 82nd percentile, since all 12% of us scored better than only 82% of responders, since we did not score better than each other?

I am rather horrified, though, since so many of those questions were covered even in *elementary school* science classes in the 1950s and early 1960s! (I was in K-6 from 1955-1961.) IOW, they are not exactly rocket science.

[font color = "red"] [font size = "+1"]SPOILER ALERT! ANSWER SPOILER BELOW!

SPOILER ALERT! ANSWER SPOILER BELOW!

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STOP READING! STOP READING! ***** SPOILER ALERT! ANSWER SPOILER!

STOP READING! STOP READING! ***** SPOILER ALERT! ANSWER SPOILER

STOP READING! STOP READING! ***** SPOILER ALERT! ANSWER SPOILER[/font] [/font]
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Thinking of lightning and thunder, I guessed velocity or rate of change. I kind of remember the correct answer now from high school, but being 65, I am many decades away from that lesson, and being severely hearing-impaired means sound is sort of outside my wheelhouse.

[dixiegrrrrl]

60. You and me both...

11/12.
The sound one threw me, I over thought it.

[Liberal_in_LA]

199. I struggled w the sound question. guessed right

[AngryAmish]

45. Stupid magnifying glass.

[underpants]

46. 7 I suck at science

[polly7]

49. I got them all, but had to think a bit for the water question. nt.

[TransitJohn]

50. Wow, that's all elementary-school level

n/t

[orwell]

51. 12/12...

Thanks for posting.

[LiberalElite]

52. 10 of 12

I was never much for science classes but I must've been paying attention (mostly).

[oberliner]

53. Are these questions racially biased?

If not, why do white people have a higher percentage of correct answers than non-white people on every single question?

[Recursion]

57. The word you're looking for is "privilege", I think (nt)

[pnwmom]

65. Did you look at the questions? Maybe the answer is that white people have higher

educational levels in general?

I can't think of any questions that had a racial component but you can take the test and look for yourself.

[oberliner]

176. I'm not sure what the answer is

I just saw that they included a chart with the results by demographic and that seemed striking.

[lumberjack_jeff]

112. The same question could be asked of gender.

My takeaway is that we really do need to expand the reach of STEM education beyond only white boys.

[MindPilot]

136. True, and how the gap varied with the question is interesting too.

A one-point gap between genders on the Astrology question to a 14-point gap on the Uranium question.

[oberliner]

175. STEM is big with girls

They are many initiatives in that regard.

[Recursion]

54. I have some issues with #2

Last edited Fri Sep 11, 2015, 07:58 AM - Edit history (1)

Radio waves are a type of light wave, so either answer should be OK.

[muriel_volestrangler]

70. I think they're OK on that particular point

radio waves are a type of electromagnetic wave, as is light; but light is taken as meaning the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. We do sometimes say 'visible light' when we want to be absolutely clear, but most of the time we can say "there's no light coming from that object" when we know it is emitting infrared waves.

[dumbcat]

148. Nope, radio waves are not a type of light waves

Both radio waves and light waves are types of electromagnetic waves, but they are in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.

[bigwillq]

61. 10

http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/science-knowledge/results/

[PJMcK]

64. Maybe I'm not in the .01%...

...but I made the 6%!

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

66. I got 503 out of 12.

Error 503 Service Unavailable
We're very sorry, but the page could not be loaded properly.

[ProfessorGAC]

69. I Got The Same Error The First Time

I got all 12 but had to take the quiz twice to get my score.

[ileus]

68. Error 503 Service Unavailable

Oh I'm mad....all those were so easy.

[GreatGazoo]

71. They quiz on science and then use "race" as a cut on the data?! Race is NOT a biologically valid

concept. And they left out Asian as an option there but it doesn't matter because, again,...

Most biologists and anthropologists do not recognize race as a biologically valid classification, in part because there is more genetic variation within groups than between them.

Would have been more interesting to use religious affiliation, church attendance, economic status or anything but race.

They also use "astrology" in their options for a discipline of science. Astrology is, of course, not science.

So for using race and astrology in a science quiz, I give the test makers 10 out of 12.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

72. I'd have to take the quiz again, but I don't think they actually asked for a 'science'

in the question about 'stars influencing behaviour'. Maybe knowing what's pseudoscience is also part of knowing science to them?

[GreatGazoo]

74. I still have the result up on a separate tab. The question was:

Which of these terms is defined as the study of how the positions of stars and planets can influence human behavior?

I get your point about pseudoscience but by context they are positioning astrology as a science. Also, I don't think there is any actual study of planets versus behaviors involved, just creative writing of likable and ambiguous traits and aspirations.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

75. I agree that the context looks bad

but you can study all sorts of imaginary things. Heck, you can get entire college degrees in studying things that don't exist. Just look at Liberty U, and the rest of the Theology outfits.

[Frank Cannon]

76. It seemed obvious that that's what the quizmakers were getting at.

Also, the amount of pedantic hair splitting in this thread is giving me a headache. God forbid that these people should ever have to take a professional certification exam where MOST of the questions are oriented around selecting the "best answer".

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

78. Well, best is somewhat iffy as others have pointed out.

If they want you to select the 'best' answer, they have to provide the criteria on which they determine 'best'. That's the worst part of taking tests - when you know the subject matter in greater depth than the person taking the test or at least in greater depth than the answers for which they're shooting. I had a devil of a time with some of my nursing courses because I 'overthought' what the examiner was asking for, and had to learn to throttle back and go with what I considered more superficial answers. They liked to do a lot of 'what do you do first' questions, to try to drill certain responses to you, but then when you talked to them outside of the test, they would admit that in the 'real world', they actually wouldn't do it that way. Frustrating, but you end up having to figure out what they're trying to test for more than what is 'most right' in either a real world scenario or a technical nitpicky sort of way.

[Frank Cannon]

87. Yup.

I'm a licensed clinician myself. I learned a long time ago not to "overthink" tests. Sucks that we are so often forced to play mind reader with the test designers, but it's really not that hard, if one knows the material and knows what it is that's important to know.

I really think there is such a thing as being too smart for your own good. I had joined Mensa at one time, but I quit after a few meetings when I found I didn't really relate to anyone there. Most of the people I interacted with, though undeniably smart, didn't seem functional enough to tie their own shoes.

[Shrek]

77. 12 out of 12

None of these questions were difficult.

It's a little scary that over 2/3 of the participants couldn't even get to 80%.

[mnhtnbb]

79. I missed the boiling water and the magnifying glass.

I remember from home ec class (back in middle school in the early '60's) there were length of time, temp,
baking adjustments due to altitude, but I couldn't remember what!

[nadine_mn]

169. missed those too

trying to remember how it changed at altitude and just blanked.

[phylny]

80. I got 10/12.

Missed the one about boiling water and the magnifying glass.

I'm surprised I didn't fail. I sucked at science.

[Rex]

84. 8th grade test.

Called it. 12/12. I guessed on the boiling water question.

[Mendocino]

85. 12/12

A little tougher than Celebrity Jeopardy. "Sean, name a number, any number".

[nykym]

88. Missed

1 question, Water boils...

Maybe someone can see how we as a whole on DU scored.

[Mr Dixon]

90. OH WELL

8 OUT 12 RIGHT

[KittyWampus]

91. Got 100% HOWEVER- if you look at the demographic breakdown vs questions most got wrong

If you look at the chart that shows which questions most people got wrong, I think the results for the overall population aren't that bad…

The questions most got wrong were about light through a magnifying glass and loudness/amplitude… and boiling water at high altitudes.

Both those questions, especially the loudness one, might be tricky if you didn't retain much of your high school science.

[SidDithers]

92. I got 12, but why the fuck is there a question about astrology on a science quiz?...

"Which of these terms is defined as the study of how the positions of stars and planets can influence human behavior?"

The position of the stars and planets don't influence human behaviour. Pretending that they do, and including this dumbass question on a quiz purportedly about science, lends legitimacy to the wholly discredited notion that astrology has any science behind it.



Sid

[trotsky]

98. I was quite shocked by that question as well.

Seriously out of place on a science quiz.

[TacoD]

111. There is an in-depth article

http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/09/10/what-the-public-knows-and-does-not-know-about-science/

The question was meant to determine whether people understand the difference between the science of astronomy and the pseudoscience of astrology.

[hatrack]

124. Precisely! If you don't know the difference between astrology and astronomy . . .

Well, then Jupiter help you!

[hfojvt]

158. except the question made astology a science

astrology is the "study" of how planets and stars determine human behavior?

A few of the questions were silly as well. A picture of a comet? That really has some practical use? Knowing about Jonas Salk? That's a history question more than a science question.

[Live and Learn]

134. Because when I was in High School I signed up for a Community College class on Astronomy

thinking it would be easy and fun, just to find out it wasn't about lions, bulls and crabs. Seriously, we barely studied anything to do with astronomy except for memorizing the planets when I was in school.

[steve2470]

188. excellent point, that kinda shocked me nt

[PowerToThePeople]

93. 12 of 12

Pretty lame quiz. I was not sure on polio vaccine one.

[Takket]

99. got all 12....

the loudness of sound one made me pause for a bit but the rest didn't give me much trouble. in fairness I'm a professional engineer. I'm kinda supposed to know this stuff.

[tjwash]

102. It's official - DU has become facebook

Will I "believe what happens next?!?" after I click on the bait, navigate through the ads, and click through the 12 pages of ads and sickeningly slowball questions?

SMH

[urbanhermit]

103. 12/12

But I have a biology degree.

[truebluegreen]

105. 12 for 12

To be fair: I have lived most of my life at a higher altitude than Denver and am well aware that "3-minute eggs" take longer than that becoz water boils at a lower temp up here.

Also I found that the answers I didn't "know" were accessible with reasoning...

[MosheFeingold]

107. 12/12 n/t

[hatrack]

108. Hope Bill-O takes the quiz: "Tide comes in, tide goes out, you can't explain that!"

12/12 - this is really, really easy stuff.

But then, I'm kind of a geek.

[Waldorf]

109. Got 10 out of 12.

Missed the boiling water and sugar/tooth decay graph.

[lumberjack_jeff]

110. HS education + 30 years of NOVA + $15 in library late fees = Better than most post-grads.

[libodem]

131. .

[Baclava]

114. 12/12...too easy

good thing there wasn't any math

[Ms. Toad]

115. 12/12 - I guess that's to be expected since I've been characterized

around here as an anti-science whack job.

[tabasco]

116. That's a pretty easy test.

72% answer half or more of the questions correctly.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

117. This is pretty scary. Because I'm not that smart

The only one I had any difficulty with was "amplitude" and only because thought it might be a trick question - I tend to overthink things sometimes.






Science Knowledge Quiz Results

You answered 12 of 12 questions correctly.
See below how your results compare with the 3,278 randomly sampled adults that took part in our national survey and review how you responded to each question. For more findings from the survey, read "A Look at What the Public Knows and Does Not Know About Science."
You scored better than 94% of the public and the same as 6%.

<1%01%12%23%36%47%59%612%712%815%915%1012%116%12
TOTAL NUMBER OF QUESTIONS ANSWERED CORRECTLY
These percentages only reflect the 3,278 adults that took part in the national survey; online quiz results are not included in the sample.
Your responses and demographic breakdowns

Below are the percentages of each group from the nationally representative sample who answered correctly during the survey.
GENDER AGE EDUCATION RACE
Total Male Female 18-29 30-49 50-64 65+ HS or less Some College College Grad Post-grad White Black Hispanic
sciencequiz_answer1
This picture shows an object in space that has an icy core with a tail of gas and dust that extends millions of miles. What is this?

You correctly answered "A comet"

78 84 73 77 79 80 74 71 79 87 88 81 61 74
Which kind of waves are used to make and receive cellphone calls?

You correctly answered "Radio waves"

72 79 66 80 77 68 57 63 76 81 81 76 48 64
sciencequiz_answer3
This picture shows three layers of the Earth. Which layer is the hottest?

You correctly answered "The inner layer, called the Earth’s core"

86 89 84 90 87 84 84 79 89 93 93 89 75 76
Which of these is the main way that ocean tides are created?

You correctly answered "The gravitational pull of the moon"

76 83 71 76 77 74 80 65 79 90 91 83 46 70
What does a light-year measure?

You correctly answered "Distance"

72 78 66 70 76 70 70 61 76 82 84 77 49 67
Denver, Colorado, is at a higher altitude than Los Angeles, California. Which of these statements is correct?

You correctly answered "Water boils at a lower temperature in Denver than Los Angeles."

34 39 30 38 36 32 29 27 36 42 47 36 33 25
PI_15.09.10_ScienceQuizImages_magnifying glass
Which of these pictures best illustrates what happens when light passes through a magnifying glass?

You correctly answered "3"

46 55 37 49 50 46 33 40 49 49 53 49 29 44
The loudness of a sound is determined by what property of a sound wave?

You correctly answered "Amplitude or height"

35 42 30 40 38 34 28 20 38 52 62 39 23 25
sciencequiz_answer9
Which of the following statements best describes the data in the graph below?

You correctly answered "The more sugar people eat, the more likely they are to get cavities"

63 69 58 67 68 61 54 50 65 79 84 67 51 58
Which of these elements is needed to make nuclear energy and nuclear weapons?

You correctly answered "Uranium"

82 90 75 74 86 82 87 73 85 93 94 87 61 76
PI_15.09.10_ScienceQuizImages_polio vaccine
Which of these people developed the polio vaccine?

You correctly answered "Jonas Salk"

74 79 70 68 73 72 86 64 79 83 88 79 53 69
Which of these terms is defined as the study of how the positions of stars and planets can influence human behavior?

You correctly answered "Astrology"

73 73 72 68 75 75 71 64 74 83 85 76 65 64
Note: Questions about Earth’s hottest layer and magnifying glasses were adapted with permission from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) grade 8 science assessment items in 1999. Images from Pew Research Center.
Want to take another science quiz? Take Pew Research and Smithsonian magazine’s 2013 Science and Technology Knowledge Quiz.

[Xyzse]

118. 12 but those are general knowledge questions though.

I almost got the magnifying glass question wrong, since I was thinking outwards rather than inwards, but fortunately I still got it right(even though I guessed).

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

120. 12/12, but had to guess on the cell phone

Radio waves? Sound waves? both are involved in a cell phone conversation. I flipped a coin and got the "correct" result.

[olddots]

122. did I miss a test ?

[yardwork]

126. I got 11 out of 12. Missed the magnifying glass question.

[B Calm]

127. I answered 10 of 12 questions correctly. Why are men doing better

than women?

[Skittles]

191. because many of us gals were discouraged from all things math / science

it's called sexism and it still goes on

[libodem]

128. I missed the boiling point question

But 11 out of 12 isn't bad.

Once I got 100% on a longer science test and some were just educated guesses. Luck had something to do with that one, I'm sure.

[Aerows]

129. Got them all.

I must have paid attention in my science classes

[RKP5637]

132. I got 100% correct! n/t

[Agnosticsherbet]

135. 12/12

I did not find that difficult.

[ColesCountyDem]

137. 12/12. You scored better than 94% of the public and the same as 6%. n/t

[DCBob]

138. 12 of 12.. pretty easy.. although I did have to think a bit on a couple of them.

Disclaimer.. I am a PhD in a biology field.

[Dream Girl]

139. 12 out of 12 here!

Wasn't sure about the boiling water...

[taught_me_patience]

140. 11/12. Demographic breakdown of male vs. female is very disturbing

Females are lower on every single question and significantly lower on many of them. That gap needs to close big time.

[dumbcat]

164. The questions must be gender biased

is the obvious explanation.

[LibertyLover]

143. I got all of them correct

which surprised the heck out of me given that I was a history major.

[oswaldactedalone]

149. 12/12

[Zorra]

150. 10 of 12. nt

[dembotoz]

151. not to gloat....ok yes to gloat got all 12

[Skinner]

152. One wrong.

The one about sound.

[olddots]

153. will there be a test about the test ?

[Brother Buzz]

155. That test was fairly pedestrian

I challenge all the DUers who tagged a perfect score to take this Christian Science Monitor quiz that has been posted on DU regularly. I guarantee it will separate the eggheads from the amateurs. I know I was humbled.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/1209/Are-you-scientifically-literate-Take-our-quiz

[hifiguy]

185. 36/50

Humbling indeed. The math-y ones were my downfall.

[Brother Buzz]

187. 38/50

But I'm an exceptionally good guesser

I like the quiz because it touches so many disciplines.

[Trailrider1951]

192. Yes, this one was more challenging

42/50, Damn those Physics questions!

[DCBob]

204. Ouch.. 34.

I did it fast and made some dumb mistakes but that was a tough test I am surprised the average is so high. Do some people cheat?

[jonno99]

156. 12

(I'll have to tell my boss that I got something right today...)

[Wounded Bear]

159. You scored better than 94% of the public and the same as 6%....nt

12 for 12

[Bettie]

161. 12 of 12 correct

Those are pretty easy questions, I can't believe most people don't get them right.

[longship]

162. 12 out of 12.

I can see why many missed the tide question. Not surprising that few understand F = G * (m1*m2)/ r^2

It's the 1/r^2 factor that gets ya.

[Boomer]

163. 12 for 12

Not too bad for a Sociology major who graduated 40 years ago.

[DawgHouse]

166. I missed the one about the property of a sound wave. nt

[Blue_In_AK]

170. I missed one.

The one about the height of sound waves. For some reason I thought that had to do with pitch. Whatever - not too bad for a psych major.

[Act_of_Reparation]

173. 12/12

But I'm sure the test is flawed in some way, as the local woo-peddlers insist I am ignorant of science.

[JI7]

181. 11/12 and I'm not that great when it comes to science

[samsingh]

182. 11 out of 12 - missed the light beam through magnifying glass question

[Liberal_in_LA]

186. magnifying glasses are used to start fires. I assumed that meant the beams had to

Come together

[samsingh]

189. logical

[hifiguy]

183. 11/12. Looked at the magnifying glass question

too quickly and got it wrong.

[Gothmog]

190. All 12 correct

[CTyankee]

194. Hey, I was a Fine Arts major...so whaddya expect...

[mike_c]

195. "You answered 12 of 12 questions correctly."

Meh. Izzat all you got?

[alphafemale]

196. I missed one because I got bored with the grade school science

And got lazy with reading all the way through.

[Spirochete]

197. 12 out of 12

I did better than I thought I would.

[MisterP]

198. 12/12--but I wonder what the results are for, like, Britain

heck, 20% of *their* students don't know the Earth goes around the Sun!

[WDIM]

201. I didnt expect astrology on a science test.

I didnt read the last question fully i just read the movement of the planets and stars and marked astronomy. Never would guess astrology would be on a science test.

[drm604]

202. I missed one. The one about the magnifiying glass.

As soon as I saw that I got 11 out of 12 I knew that was the one I missed. It was the only one I had any real doubts about. I was torn between two answers, one of which turned out to be correct, but I picked the wrong one.