There will be three of these questions on the actual exam. You can choose which one of those three you wish to answer.
1. Coal being burned at the EdgeMoor power plant turns a wheel which then generates electricity. The electricity then flows through wires and eventually arrives in room 130 Sharp Lab, where you are taking this examination. It goes into a light bulb and produces some light, but only 20 % of the energy going into the light bulb makes light in the fluorescent bulbs which are in the room. Describe the flow of energy in this system (you should probably draw an energy chain), and also describe how the energy from the turning wheel at EdgeMoor is converted into electrical current.
2. You are an editor for the University of Delaware newspaper THE REVIEW. Someone submits the following article for inclusion in the newspaper. The credibility of the newspaper depends on your publishing articles that are reasonable. Do you:
a: Publish this article? (If so, write an essay stating why you think it is justifiable to publish it).
B: Reject this article? (If so, write an essay stating why you are rejecting it.)
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3. Suppose that you are working for Josie's Party Supply company. One of your customers, for some strange reason, wants you to supply balloons to them that sink to the ground rather than float in the air - so helium balloons won't work. However, these balloons should be like helium balloons in all other respects. The manager turns to you because you have had some chemistry in college. The possible gases that your store can get commercially are fluorine (F, which in its gaseous form comes as a molecule, F2 ), hydrogen (H, also a molecule in gaseous form), chlorine (Cl, also a molecule), Argon (Ar), and Krypton (Kr). The atomic numbers of these gases are
H-1, F-9, Cl-17, Ar-18, and Kr-36. Select one or two of these gases as being the best for this purpose and justify your choice. Hint: You may want to use the periodic table which is supplied.
4.
At the dawn of the third millennium, we are also somewhere near the dawn of a revolution in the way that we do business that has been brought about by computers and their ability to enhance communication across the world. Pick a profession that you have an interest in. Use the knowledge you obtained in class and from the readings to answer the following question. How is this profession going to be different in ten or twenty years? What should someone working in this profession be going in order to stay on top of things, to be a tiger, rather than an ostrich with its head in the sand?
5. Why does the moon show phases? Feel free to illustrate your answer with pictures.
6. In one paragraph, summarize the arguments in favor of one of the following two positions:
Position 1: NASA should spend taxpayers' money on the scientific investigation of UFO reports.
Position 2: NASA should not spend taxpayers' money on the scientific investigation of UFO reports.