What Does the Moon Smell Like?: 151 Astounding Science Quizzes Read Online Free PDF

have to be the size of a banquet hall 30 metres (100 ft) long. The ENIAC, or Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, was the first COMPUTER
    large-scale, electronic, digital computer that could be reprogrammed to solve a full range of problems.
    Those who worked the massive machine were the
    FIRSTS
    world’s first computer programmers. Can you believe that no one thought to honour these trailblazers for more than 50 years? By the time their work was recognized, several of them had died. So, who were these computer pioneers? Maybe you know . . .
    Who were the first computer programmers?
    a) female mathematicians
    b) military electrical engineers
    c) Phi Beta Kappa fraternity members
    d) telephone operators
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    First Computer Programmers
    Who were the first computer programmers?
    A
    a) female mathematicians
    b) military electrical engineers
    c) Phi Beta Kappa fraternity members
    COMPUTER
    d) telephone operators
    FIRSTS
    CORRECT ANSWER:
    a) female mathematicians
    Most of the programming was done by six female
    mathematicians in the mid 1940s: Kay McNulty,
    Betty Jennings, Betty Snyder, Marlyn Wescoff, Fran Bilas, and Ruth Lichterman. ENIAC was a top-secret military project, and the women weren’t allowed on site to watch it being built. They had to figure out how to make the computer work by memorizing
    drawings and diagrams. Because ENIAC had no stored programs, the women had to program every computer task by hand, by manipulating cables and switches —
    many, many cables and switches. Only one ENIAC was ever built. It showed that electronic circuitry worked, and the rest is computer history. Or is it herstory?
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    SUN GAZING
    Average Joe Star
    There are about 100 million stars just like our sun in Q
    the Milky Way. Our sun is an average Joe, or Sol, hanging out in the suburbs of the galaxy. The sun is a middle-aged, yellow dwarf, and a bit on the cool side, but still the big guy in the solar system. If the sun wore pants, it would have to find a pair with a waist size of 4.3 million kilometres (2.7 million miles).
    Those are big pants to fill. How big? Have you ever wondered how massive the sun is compared not just to Earth, but to everything else in the solar system?
    How much of the solar system’s mass does the sun make up?
    a) less than 33%
    b) about 50%
    c) close to 66%
    d) more than 99%
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    Average Joe Star
    How much of the solar system’s mass does the sun A
    make up?
    a) less than 33%
    b) about 50%
    SUN
    c) close to 66%
    GAZING
    d) more than 99%
    CORRECT ANSWER:
    d) more than 99%
    If the sun wore pants, the rest of the solar system’s mass would fit into one of the pockets. Astronomers estimate that all the planets, their moons, every planetary ring, all the asteroids, meteoroids, and comets, every rock, pebble, speck of dust, and all the space junk, in the solar system add up to anywhere from 0.02% to 1% of the solar system’s mass. It may not be impressive compared to the biggest stars out there, but in our solar system you can’t get more massive than the sun.
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    The Sunshine of Our Lives
    What’s the most important thing for sustaining life?
    Q
    Are you thinking food? Water? Clean air? All of those things are, without a doubt, critical to life, but the most important thing is the sun, and the energy that SUN
    it beams to Earth. Not only does it power all life on GAZING
    the planet, but if we could collect all the sunshine that reaches us, it would be more than enough to meet the world’s energy needs. Now let’s take it one step farther. What if we could collect all of the sun’s energy, not just the rays that hit the planet.
    How many planet Earths could the sun power?
    About . . .
    a) 3 million
    b) 30 million
    c) 3 billion
    d) 30 billion
    45
    The Sunshine of Our Lives
    How many planet Earths could the sun power?
    A
    About . . .
    a)