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Author Topic:   How Scientifically Literate Are You?
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 7 of 134 (697583)
04-27-2013 8:09 PM
Reply to: Message 6 by jar
04-27-2013 7:47 PM


Re: What is really, really, really scary ...
What is really, really, really scary is that it said that 100% right was better than 93% of the respondents.
Exactly. That was pretty telling.
And there was only one question on the quiz that I could imagine a sixth grader missing because of his religious beliefs.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; ‘That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heaven goes.’ Galileo Galilei 1615.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

This message is a reply to:
 Message 6 by jar, posted 04-27-2013 7:47 PM jar has not replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 12 of 134 (697600)
04-27-2013 9:24 PM
Reply to: Message 11 by jar
04-27-2013 9:18 PM


Re: Average Adults
Seems it's more like 90+% of Americans are below average.
Below what average? Certainly not below the median for American...

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; ‘That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heaven goes.’ Galileo Galilei 1615.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

This message is a reply to:
 Message 11 by jar, posted 04-27-2013 9:18 PM jar has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 13 by jar, posted 04-27-2013 9:32 PM NoNukes has not replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


(2)
Message 16 of 134 (697611)
04-27-2013 10:22 PM
Reply to: Message 15 by AZPaul3
04-27-2013 10:11 PM


Re: really simple quiz.
I was peaking into your curtains. Yes you did get the demographic questions wrong, but they did not even give you a correct choice to pick for gender.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; ‘That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heaven goes.’ Galileo Galilei 1615.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

This message is a reply to:
 Message 15 by AZPaul3, posted 04-27-2013 10:11 PM AZPaul3 has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 18 by AZPaul3, posted 04-27-2013 11:34 PM NoNukes has seen this message but not replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 21 of 134 (697643)
04-28-2013 11:11 AM
Reply to: Message 20 by Faith
04-28-2013 5:59 AM


Oh all right, I got two wrong.
No big deal. Your score is still better than 75% of the general public. FWIW, I tutored a college student last week who was a bit tentative on a question about photons/sec for blue light vs. yellow light of the same intensity. (The student did get the question right though).
You can alway go back and take that test again and report a perfect score!

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; ‘That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heaven goes.’ Galileo Galilei 1615.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

This message is a reply to:
 Message 20 by Faith, posted 04-28-2013 5:59 AM Faith has not replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 27 of 134 (697676)
04-28-2013 10:46 PM
Reply to: Message 23 by ringo
04-28-2013 3:55 PM


I couldn't do a test for gender because I'm at the Public Library, so I had to go on memory.
Peeking is cheating. If you are going to peek at your junk, why not just google all of the test answers.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; ‘That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heaven goes.’ Galileo Galilei 1615.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

This message is a reply to:
 Message 23 by ringo, posted 04-28-2013 3:55 PM ringo has seen this message but not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 29 by xongsmith, posted 04-29-2013 1:45 AM NoNukes has seen this message but not replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


(2)
Message 31 of 134 (697735)
04-29-2013 11:19 AM
Reply to: Message 30 by caffeine
04-29-2013 11:07 AM


I think it's more interesting to look at which questions people were bad at.
I think an interesting item is tha 77% of people knew that the continents had been moving for millions of years. I wonder how many people held their nose and marked this question the way a scientist would mark it.
For example, I am guessing that Faith does not believe that the earth is millions of years old. Yet she marked the correct answer to this question.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; ‘That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heaven goes.’ Galileo Galilei 1615.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

This message is a reply to:
 Message 30 by caffeine, posted 04-29-2013 11:07 AM caffeine has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 47 by Faith, posted 04-30-2013 2:32 AM NoNukes has seen this message but not replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 40 of 134 (697760)
04-29-2013 4:37 PM
Reply to: Message 37 by Percy
04-29-2013 3:34 PM


Re: The Fracking Question
Nanotechnology didn't exist and bacterial resistance wasn't a problem
Excellent point.
I think that the prefix nano- gives a strong enough hint to answer the question nanotech questionn. And as I recall, at least two of the answers to the bacterial resistance question seemed pretty silly.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; ‘That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heaven goes.’ Galileo Galilei 1615.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

This message is a reply to:
 Message 37 by Percy, posted 04-29-2013 3:34 PM Percy has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 50 by Percy, posted 04-30-2013 8:41 AM NoNukes has seen this message but not replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 44 of 134 (697769)
04-29-2013 8:58 PM
Reply to: Message 41 by Son Goku
04-29-2013 5:40 PM


Re: Fracking.
Fracking is a big political deal in North Carolina right now. Apparently there is just enough natural gas suspected to be here to fight about the pros and cons. There is no doubt in my mind that the state is going to screw it up on regulating fracking.
Any how, the local public radio has somebody on every other week on some side of the fracking issue.
I think this is largely a US issue.
Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; ‘That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heaven goes.’ Galileo Galilei 1615.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

This message is a reply to:
 Message 41 by Son Goku, posted 04-29-2013 5:40 PM Son Goku has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 48 by caffeine, posted 04-30-2013 4:02 AM NoNukes has seen this message but not replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 46 of 134 (697772)
04-29-2013 10:48 PM
Reply to: Message 45 by ramoss
04-29-2013 9:47 PM


The one on plate tectonics is technically wrong.. because not all continents are moving further apart. North American and North Asia are getting closer together, as well as south America and southern asia.
You are not recalling the question correctly. The question only said that the continents were moving their locations. Nothing about getting closer together or further apart.
Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; ‘That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heaven goes.’ Galileo Galilei 1615.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

This message is a reply to:
 Message 45 by ramoss, posted 04-29-2013 9:47 PM ramoss has not replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 54 of 134 (697810)
04-30-2013 10:21 AM
Reply to: Message 51 by Coragyps
04-30-2013 9:09 AM


Percy, I'm not at all sure "nano-" was in use back in 1960-something.
Hard to tell how prevalent it was in the US, but the 'Online Etymology Dictionary' says that the term nanometer dates back to 1963. But I cannot recall when I would have heard it. If you were in school around 1968 or so, you would have been smack in the middle of attempts to push the metric system in schools. I don't see any way to tell whether nano would have discussed.
Perhaps you and Percy are right. Perhaps for at least some of us, our speculations on how we would have done on this test at age 12 is inaccurate. Perhaps the real lesson is that maintaining scientific literacy is a life long endeavor. It is certainly true that what matters is knowing about relevant topics, and not trivia.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; ‘That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heaven goes.’ Galileo Galilei 1615.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

This message is a reply to:
 Message 51 by Coragyps, posted 04-30-2013 9:09 AM Coragyps has not replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 88 of 134 (697918)
05-01-2013 3:13 PM
Reply to: Message 67 by petrophysics1
05-01-2013 11:01 AM


Re: To Frac
I have designed and done frac jobs for over 35 years and it has been around since the late 1940's. Over a million wells in the US have been fraced with no problems. It's nothing new.
As best as I can tell, the frack spelling was indeed originated by environmentalists. It was originated by someone at Earthworks.
On the other hand, there are some things that are not told fully in your post. The 'fracking' that is the subject debate here on the east coast is not exactly the 70 year old process that you refer to. Instead, the debate is about a fracturing process called slickwater fracturing developed in the late 1990s.
Hydraulic fracturing - Wikipedia
quote:
In 1997, based on earlier techniques used by Union Pacific Resources, now part of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Mitchell Energy, now part of Devon Energy, developed the hydraulic fracturing technique known as "slickwater fracturing" which involves adding chemicals to water to increase the fluid flow, that made the shale gas extraction economical.
It should be apparent that the above is not the process used for increasing water well production, but I'd appreciate any correction from petrophysics1 to the contrary.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; ‘That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heaven goes.’ Galileo Galilei 1615.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

This message is a reply to:
 Message 67 by petrophysics1, posted 05-01-2013 11:01 AM petrophysics1 has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 91 by Percy, posted 05-01-2013 3:43 PM NoNukes has seen this message but not replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 98 of 134 (697944)
05-01-2013 9:39 PM
Reply to: Message 90 by dwise1
05-01-2013 3:24 PM


Re: No Fracking Problem
This seems a little confused
That also touches upon a fundamental confusion that the US system causes, in that weight is measured as a force
That's the correct method for measuring weight. Weight is the force due to gravity. The real inconsistency is that almost nobody uses slugs unless they are doing homework problems. We instead indicate mass using weight on earth surface.
whereas the metric system measures mass.
Not really true.
Some apparatus measure mass while others measure weight. For example a balance with standard masses will indicate the same mass on any planet surface. Scales using springs indicate weights.
Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; ‘That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heaven goes.’ Galileo Galilei 1615.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

This message is a reply to:
 Message 90 by dwise1, posted 05-01-2013 3:24 PM dwise1 has not replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 123 of 134 (698164)
05-03-2013 1:00 PM
Reply to: Message 121 by ringo
05-03-2013 11:46 AM


Re: Metric System groupies and scientific literacy
That was my point: it's too easy. It's easier to make mistakes when you don't have to think about what you're doing.
Your argument here seems to be that finding imperial system conversion factors is difficult enough that a person who who wants to convert from feet to miles is more likely to find the correct conversion factor than when converting from, say meters to kilometers.
I find that prospect a bit dubious, but let me instead suggest that if left alone, many people are unlikely to produce the conversion factor for feet to miles if given any infinite amount of time to recall it, and that the difficulty for recalling the correct conversion for meters to kilometers is much smaller, and that the same conversion factor works for grams to kilograms, or from Hertz to kiloHertz.
That's why we still use Imperial measures for a lot of things when they're more convenient.
There is a metric unit that is conveniently sized for any task. The only advantages Imperial measures have over metric units comes from the tradition of use. My main 'beef' with non metric units is the division of units into non-decimal parts. Converting calculated values into 16ths and 32nds before you can use them is an error prone step that provides no extra value.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; ‘That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heaven goes.’ Galileo Galilei 1615.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

This message is a reply to:
 Message 121 by ringo, posted 05-03-2013 11:46 AM ringo has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 124 by ringo, posted 05-03-2013 1:18 PM NoNukes has not replied
 Message 127 by dwise1, posted 05-03-2013 6:24 PM NoNukes has replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 128 of 134 (698197)
05-03-2013 10:32 PM
Reply to: Message 127 by dwise1
05-03-2013 6:24 PM


Re: Metric System groupies and scientific literacy
Though interestingly, I've seen it pointed out that 12 inches to a foot is easy to divide up because 12 is one of those special numbers like 60, of which 12 is a factor: 12 is evenly divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6 -- throw in 5 as a factor and you have 60.
How often do you need to subdivide exactly one foot? This seems even less convincing than ringos examples.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; ‘That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heaven goes.’ Galileo Galilei 1615.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

This message is a reply to:
 Message 127 by dwise1, posted 05-03-2013 6:24 PM dwise1 has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 129 by ringo, posted 05-04-2013 11:58 AM NoNukes has not replied

  
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