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

3 million
    b) 30 million
    SUN
    c) 3 billion
    GAZING
    d) 30 billion
    CORRECT ANSWER:
    d) 30 billion
    The sun’s total energy output is enough to provide solar power to more than 30 billion planet Earths. We only intercept a billionth of the sun’s output, and half of that gets scattered or bounced off the atmosphere.
    Still, the amount of solar power that gets through is nothing to sneeze at. If you took the 187 cubic kilometres (116 cubic miles) of water in Lake Erie (one of the Great Lakes), and turned it into fuel oil, and you burned it all in one second, it would produce the same amount of energy as the sunlight that strikes Earth in a day. That’s a lot of solar power.
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    A Stellar Old Age
    Our sun is about halfway through its expected life-Q
    span of 10 to 12 billion years. It will last longer than some stars, but not nearly as long as others. Some stars burn out in a few million years, but there are SUN
    others that will last 100 billion years or more. If you’re GAZING
    a star, what’s the secret of living to a stellar old age?
    The stars that burn the longest are . . .
    a) 100 times as massive as our sun
    b) 10 times as massive as our sun
    c) 5 times as massive as our sun
    d) less than half the mass of our sun
    47
    A Stellar Old Age
    The stars that burn the longest are . . .
    A
    a) 100 times as massive as our sun
    b) 10 times as massive as our sun
    c) 5 times as massive as our sun
    SUN
    d) less than half the mass of our sun
    GAZING
    CORRECT ANSWER:
    d) less than half the mass of our sun
    When it comes to stellar longevity, size matters. Red dwarfs are the smallest stars, and last the longest, because they burn cooler. Burning cool means they’re dim, and that makes them hard to locate, never mind study. Even the largest red dwarf known is only a tenth as bright as our sun. But just because you can’t see them, doesn’t mean they’re not there. Some
    astronomers estimate that 70% of the stars in the Milky Way are red dwarfs with less than half the mass of the sun, and they should outlast Sol by at least 40 billion years. A red dwarf with a tenth of the sun’s mass will shine dimly for about 100 billion years, maybe even longer. Can you even imagine
    living that long?
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    THE FIRST ASTRONAUTS
    First Earthling in Orbit
    The very first astronauts went where no man had Q
    gone before and, often, it was a one-way trip. Many of them died for our benefit, yet most of these fine, furry astronauts are forgotten. Animals were
    “recruited” to find out, among other things, what would happen to them (read us) in a weightless
    environment. More than 50 years ago, no one knew stuff like that, so instead of risking human lives, they launched a variety of animals. Animal astronauts were the first living beings in space, and the first to orbit the Earth.
    Who was the first earthling in orbit?
    a) Ham, a chimp
    b) Laika, a dog
    c) unnamed mouse
    d) Yorick, a monkey
    49
    First Earthling in Orbit
    Who was the first earthling in orbit?
    A
    a) Ham, a chimp
    b) Laika, a dog
    c) unnamed mouse
    THE
    d) Yorick, a monkey
    FIRST
    ASTRONAUTS
    CORRECT ANSWER:
    b) Laika, a dog
    The first earthling in orbit was a three-year-old, six-kilogram (13 lb), stray mutt from the streets of Moscow. Laika was called Kudryavka (Little Curly) during astronaut training, which included weeks of being confined to progressively smaller boxes, and being spun in a centrifuge to simulate the G-forces of blast-off. Before her flight, she was given her astronaut name, Laika (Barker). If the mission succeeded, the little dog would make news headlines worldwide, so her name had to be easy to pronounce. She was alive and barking for the first three or four orbits (about six hours), but by the time fame came, she was dead from stress and overheating in her
    unshielded Sputnik 2 capsule. Laika is a