Common Misconceptions About Science

[Fire Fly]

There are many misconceptions about science. But do you yourself fall ill to these misconceptions? Here's a simple quiz to find out. Be warned that some of the questions are worded poorly and that some of the answers are somewhat wrong. I was really peeved by some of the answers that it prompted me to write an email to the administrator to correct them on this point. The issue, I believe, is that the questions do not state the conditions or that when one works out the math, there really is no statistical significances. Anyways, my own score was 94% although it could easily have been higher or lower since I was a bit unsure given that no conditions were specified for some of the questions.

Quiz

[PeZook]

Some of these question are indeed worded poorly. "All animals depend on plants"? Well, yes and no, depending on how you interpret them. Carnivores don't depend on plants directly, but indirectly, the entire ecosystem does.

I got caught with number 44. Damn, that was a tricky question and I didn't read into it enough

Final score was 74%. Some of the answers I gave were pretty stupid, and I bow my head in shame. Though this excercise definitely killed some brainbugs. It also pleases me that every single one of these topics was covered during my high school and primary education, it's just that I forgot details over the years, but could find them out easily enough.

[2000AD]

Final score of 79% questions i got wrong:

3 - The only factors that are necessary for a plant seed to germinate (sprout) are water and a certain temperature range.

5 - All animals depend on plants.
I said false because hydrothermal vents allow archea to be the bottom of some food chains, though come to think of it, the next link in the chain might be a plant.

6 - The arrows of a food chain symbolize the transfer of energy from one organism to another. (e.g., grass -> mouse -> snake -> hawk)
I said false as it's the transfer of energy and material, not jsut energy

19 - It is possible to light a flashlight bulb with just one wire and one battery and no other equipment.
I forgot you could apply one part of the bulb directly to the battery

24 - Most things in our universe tend to become more organized and more orderly over time.
Been a while since i did physics and chemistry so i messed this up

35 - A baseball hit with the same force will travel farther on a humid day as opposed to a dry day.
Got it wrong for the reason they said most people got it wrong

37 - Approximately 97% of the earth’s water is found in the oceans.
Number sounded too big to me given the ice caps, water in the air, in organisms etc. Turned out they were looking at the division between salt water and fresh water.

39 - It is unlikely that Chicago could experience a major earthquake in the next 500 years.
Because I mistakingly put true instead of false, doh!

43 - We see phases of the moon because the moon moves into the earth’s shadow.
I said true

45 - When people in North America view a full moon, people who live in Australia would see a different phase.
Said true

[2000AD]

Ghetto edit:

Turns out i didn't read the answer to:
39 - It is unlikely that Chicago could experience a major earthquake in the next 500 years.

correclty and that Chicago will experience earth quakes.
So i was plain wrong on that one, not wrong because i made a mistake i inputtinmg the answer.

[Teebs]

77% I got the first question wrong because I wasn't concentrating rather than because I didn't know the answer.

Other wrong 'uns:
8.) I thought insects weren't animals.
19.) I thought a lightbulb needed two wires and a battery to light up but the bulb can touch the battery so only one wire is necessary.
21.) Backing away from a mirror doesn't work (just tested it) well I'll be damned!
24.) I said matter becomes more organised over time, but I really didn't have a clue, as to the answer or even what was meant by organised.
29.) I thought sugar sank eventually.
35.) I knew the answer to this but entered the wrong one on the question.
36.) Simply didn't know enough about clouds.
39.) I assumed that as Chicago wasn't on any fault lines it wouldn't have earthquakes.
44.) Wild guess and was wrong.
45.) Another wild guess.

All in all, if i'd been concentrating better I'd have had just over 80% and I'm pretty happy with my results. I wouldn't expect myself to know all of the answers and I got most of them.

[Singular Intellect]

Wow...there's only three options available, asking you for consent to do the test. It doesn't matter which one I select, it does nothing except reload the page.

[Kristoff]

83%

There are few questions I would argue about:

"The only factors that are necessary for a plant seed to germinate (sprout) are water and a certain temperature range."
their answer - true
my answer - false - as good as I know some seeds need to simply lie certain amount of time in ground, get their shell damaged or digested, you can place them in optimal condition but you'll get nothing.

"In order for a plant to grow, you need to provide the plant with fertilizer."
they - false
me - true - they think they can grow plants on pure water, CO2 and light, without any salts as source of metals and nitrogen?

"Sexually produced offspring can be identical to either of their parents."
they - false
me - true - how about hermaphrodite self-fertilization?

[wolveraptor]

I got the following 5 wrong.

10 Question: All organisms are composed of cells.

I put false for this, because some organisms are composed of a cell. It was a stupid, semantic differentiation, I suppose.
I actually didn't know the next three.

21 Question: If you see your head and shoulders in a mirror, with the mirror mounted securely and flat against the wall, and you wanted to see more of yourself (for example, your belt), you should back straight away from the mirror.

29 Question: If a small amount of sugar is added to a closed container of water and allowed to sit for a long period of time (e.g., a week or longer) without stirring, the sugar molecules will be more concentrated at the bottom of the container

35 Question: A baseball hit with the same force will travel farther on a humid day as opposed to a dry day.

This next one was obvious. If it were true, clouds would be invisible. I should've known it.

36 Question: A visible cloud in the sky consists primarily of water vapor.

89%

[Glimmervoid]

11 Question: Reproduction is a characteristic of all living systems.
Them -True.
Me- What about mules they are alive but can not reproduce, you could also GM one.

[General Zod]

Hrmm . . .64%. Some of the biology questions threw me off. Though it would have been nice if they'd titled it "Science Knowledge" instead of "Science Beliefs"

[Glimmervoid]

11 Question: Reproduction is a characteristic of all living systems.
Them -True.
Me- What about mules they are alive but can not reproduce, you could also GM one.

Nuts I just realised that systems means groups of plants and animals. So it is true.

[Academia Nut]

I got 87%, but in my defence I will note that two of them I got wrong my explanation would show as being correct. And yeah, some of them are like the Chicago question require a bit more knowledge, so this isn't really challenging scientific beliefs so much as it is challenging what you know. I think a scientific beliefs quiz should ask more about the scientific process and what the various terms like theory, hypothesis, experiment, etc. actually are, because that would be far more enlightening into what people think about science than this.

[Howedar]

The amount of energy in the universe is not in fact constant. Nuclear fusion, FFS.

Further, nutrients in soil are indeed necessary, which I wrote in the explanation.

They claim I got 42/47. They are wrong.

What an astonishing number of poorly posed questions.

[Pick]

89%. I missed the humid baseball one, the sugar-in-water one, the mirror one, the Chicago one, and one other one I forget.

[The Vortex Empire]

I got 83%. Got 9, 21, 23, 29, 30, 32, 35, and 39 wrong.

[The Vortex Empire]

"In order for a plant to grow, you need to provide the plant with fertilizer."
they - false
me - true - they think they can grow plants on pure water, CO2 and light, without any salts as source of metals and nitrogen?

I believe they mean artificial fertilizer, not natural nutrients. Plants don't need miracle-gro.

[Singular Intellect]

Can anyone explain why I'm unable to take the test?

I'm stuck at the bloodly page where is asks you for consent...no matter what option I select and then submit, it simply reloads the same page asking for consent.

It's fucking annoying.

[Nova Andromeda]

-I have to say that I didn't even get past the 7th question before getting so annoyed at the horrible quality of the questions that I e-mailed the guy in charge and the admin. If the first questions are any indication, the results from this test cannot be usefully interpreted without significant feedback on each question from the test taker.

[Junghalli]

85%

The stuff I got wrong:

(2) Plants use oxygen. True. I thought it was just a waste product.

(3) The only factors that are necessary for a plant seed to germinate (sprout) are water and a certain temperature range. True. I answered false, I guess 'cause I didn't know the definition of germinate well enough.

(9) Organisms that possess locomotive structures (e.g., movement capabilities) and are able to reproduce are classified as animals. False. I actually was going to give the right answer but changed my mind for some reason.

(19) It is possible to light a flashlight bulb with just one wire and one battery and no other equipment. True. I was basically just guessing, I answered false.

(35) A baseball hit with the same force will travel farther on a humid day as opposed to a dry day. True. Before this they'd asked a bunch of questions on the motion of molecules, so I figured they were trying to trip me into saying the baseball would travel faster because molecules move faster in hot conditions, which is obviously retarded. Turns out it had to do with the density of the air.

(38] Molten earth material (magma) that produces such features as volcanoes comes from the middle mantle (about half way between the Earth’s center and surface). False. I answered true 'cause I knew the upper mantle (part of the lithosphere) was solid, and I didn't know how deep it extended, so it seemed right.

(39) It is unlikely that Chicago could experience a major earthquake in the next 500 years. False. I was really surprised to get this one wrong. I thought it was just supposed to test me on the basics of plate tectonics and why earthquakes happen, so I answered no because it isn't close to any plate boundaries.

[Darth Wong]

The real problem with science comprehension in the general public is not knowledge of factoids, but comprehension of the underlying philosophy. This quiz is aiming at the wrong target.

[Wicked Pilot]

Three questions in and I'm calling bullshit. As if the questions weren't badly worded enough, but allowing only True and False answers is horseshit.


Moreover, Science Beliefs Quiz? WTF is that suppost to mean. You believe in god and country, in science you know, or you don't.

[Coriolis]

Is it just me, or did they take down the quiz? I keep getting "File does not exist".

[Singular Intellect]

Is it just me, or did they take down the quiz? I keep getting "File does not exist".

There wasn't actually a quiz, just a page with a consent question regarding a quiz that reloaded the same page no matter what option you chose.

[Howedar]

The amount of energy in the universe is not in fact constant.

Matter is just a form of energy, so yes, it is constant.

In any useful sense of the word, energy is not constant in the universe.

[Darth Wong]

The amount of energy in the universe is not in fact constant.

Matter is just a form of energy, so yes, it is constant.

In any useful sense of the word, energy is not constant in the universe.

Actually, most astrophysicists tend to refer to mass/energy as a conjoined term because there is so much exchange from one form to another in larger-scale universal processes.