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OP
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Salutations esteemed Boarders!
I agreed to gather some questions for an upcoming quiz night and need some help.
Much to my dismay my assigned topic is 'the universe'; awful, isn't it.
Can anyone provide some non-scientific vocab which I might test? Or alternatively any posers with a loosely inter-galactic theme would be much appreciated.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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1. Nearest star (apart from the Sun)
2. Nearest galaxy
3. What is a quasar or what is a black hole?
4. What was the big bang?
5. How far away is the Sun?
6. What is a light year?
7. Name the nine planets of our solar system?
8. What is the derivation of galaxy (this is AWAD after all)?
9. Who was the second man on the moon?
10. What was the name of the computer in 2001?
Bingley
Bingley
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OP
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thanks for the post Bingley,...
The questions you proposed are of course fitting, but..
>1. Nearest star (apart from the Sun)
there are so many names and conflicting data it would be hard to have a definitive answer (I would say alpha Centauri or Proxima Centauri)
>2. Nearest galaxy
I was always told it is Andromeda, but just recently I read/heard that it is merely the closest large galaxy
3&4 go beyond the scope of the questioning (we might get some pro who writes an essay!).
The others are similar to one that came to my mind:
'What is the aurora borealis better known as?' But I don't just want a table with the physicists and/or astronomers to do well.
I'll take that 'galaxy' derivation question Bingley, cheers!
I had also already considered a question on SO 2001, but it is kind of an culturally eclectic bunch, so I'm not sure (anyway what is the name of the computer again? 'H.A.L., P 3000' or something, isn't it?). Then there's Star Wars, Star Trek and a myriad of books (e.g. Hitchhiker's) from which I'll glean a question or two.
Since posting I considered asking a question on 'Across the Universe' by those good old Liverpudlians, or something in that vein.
Any further linguistically orientated conundrums are most welcome!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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9 planets? Oh, you've missed the news-- Pluto is being demoted from Planet to ... well something less, at least at the planetarium here in NY-- so the mnemonic phrase i learned--
My Very Educated Mother Just Sat Upon Noodle Pudding-- has be updated to
My Very Educated Mother Just Sat Upon Nothing. Pshaw!
and if your writing about universes-- doppler effect or red shift-- or expanding equally and everywhere are word/concepts to included.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The only one I am sure of is HAL in 2001 ... the computer
The reason is this :
H = I
A = B
L = M
Clever, wot?
Is Uranus the "U" in your mnemonic?
Oh, didn't someone once say something about being able to discover the whole universe in a single flower?
wow
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>>to discover the whole universe in a single flower?
Blake, I think in his songs of innocence and experience? "To see an ocean in drop of water..," when i still had all my faculties-- i knew that.. but now you have LIU..
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OP
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>to discover the whole universe in a single flower?
I like it! Those are the kind of questions with which I can stymie those smug physicists!
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I like it! Those are the kind of questions with which I can stymie those smug physicists!HEY! I'm a physicist and I know that poem. We had to sing some arrangement of it in high school. I was forced to accompany the choir on the piano. It didn't nurture any love of the poem in me, but at least I know it! [indignant-at-the-suggestion-that-physicists-don't-know-any-poetry emoticon] 
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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So, Bean, does a poetic physicist write uni verse? And study poetry in motion? Measure in meters? Rhyme in time?
-- somebody stop me
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OP
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>HEY! I'm a physicist I was just pointing that which you can certainly confirm: 'Which planet is the hottest in our solar system?' and similar questions would not pose much of a problem to the average person who sees the world through the pious standard model (+ missing Higg's particle ).
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Have to be careful with "How far away is the Sun?" You probably have to add "on average".
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Yeah, C-K, that's the problem with those technical questions. If you get people questioning the questions themselves, then you're in for it!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Have to be careful with "How far away is the Sun?" You probably have to add "on average".One can answer with a fixed number. Simply reply that the Sun is one AU from the earth.  
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>one AU from the earth
one Angstrom Unit? one ten billionth of a meter?? aaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!
it's the end of the universe (as we know it)!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Tut, tut, tsuwm, context my boy, context!  I know that you are perfectly well aware that I was using the standard abbreviation for Astronomical Unit, which is defined as "the mean distance between the Sun and the Earth." Max will now devote himself to searching for opportunities to return the favour.
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