Quiz on the Feynman video
Name ______Student Number ______
(Circle ONE answer only)
#1 Richard Feynman speaks of teaching his son about dinosaurs by
a. using the encyclopedia b. using a government picture book
c. comparing it with the house d. using the local museums
#2. What did Feynman's father teach him about birds?
a. how to say the name of birds in foreign languages b. the different colors of birds
c. the names of all the birds they saw in English d. how different birds live
#3. At the beginning he stated that someone once said that Feynman could not really enjoy beauty because Feynman was a scientist. This person was
a. a scientist like Feynman b. an elementary schoolteacher who taught his son
c. an artist who painted d. a movie director from Hollywood
#4. When Richard was a little boy he asked his father a question about his little wagon and a ball in the wagon. This question was
a. why does a ball move to the back of the wagon when the wagon moves forward
b. why does the ball in the wagon want to bounce out of the wagon
c. how can we make a ball remain motionless in the wagon
d. who creates toys like balls and wagons for children to play with
#5. His father answered the question by telling him
a. the ball and wagon are made by companies and Feynman learned about economics
b. the ball can never be motionless in the wagon
c. the ball bounces because the road is uneven, not because of the wagon
d. the ball actually stay still and the wagon moves beneath it
#6. Feynman tested his father's explanation of the ball and wagon by
a. going to the library and looking up books on the subject
b. moving the wagon while watching from the side
c. asking his teacher at school the same question
d. bouncing the ball inside and outside of the wagon
#7. When Feynman was 13 years old he wanted to borrow a calculus book from the library and was stopped by the librarian who said he was just a child. Feynman borrowed the book by
a. doing some calculus problems to show her b. saying he wanted to impress girls
c. saying that the book was for his father d. saying he liked the pictures in the book
#8. Many years later Feynman's father ask him if light particles are inside the atom before the light is emitted and we see them. Feynman said no, the light is created and then emitted. He tried to explain to his father that this phenomenon is like
a. rain being created in the clouds before it rains down on us
b. words which do not exist inside us before we speak them
c. the growth of a tree that grows tall from water and nutrients only
d. the radiant heat of our bodies
#9. Feynman was one of the persons who helped to created the atomic bomb in the US. When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, Feynman said he and the others were very happy it worked and he
a. attended church to pray for those who died
b. tried to use mathematics to limit the number of dead
c. laughed and played the drums while sitting on a jeep
d. danced with many women and drank a lot of liquor
#10. Feynman feels that his Nobel prize is not really important because the "real prize" is the pleasure he got from of finding things out.
a. true b. false
#11. After the war, Feynman would be in New York and would feel it was strange to see people building things like new houses and bridges. He felt strange because
a. he thought there were better uses for the money
b. new houses and bridges cannot produce happiness
c. such new houses and bridges should be built in the war torn areas, not New York
d. he thought all these things would be destroyed in the coming nuclear war
#12. Feynman says that science is like observing a game of chess being played. This is because
a. there must be a winner always b. we learn the rules by noting how things change
c. science is never changing d. chess is fun and science is fun
#13. Feynman explained that if you hit the nucleus of an atom with a proton, hundreds of little particles called hadrons would come out. This meant that there were hundreds of little parts to the nucleus of an atom...not just protons and neutrons. Modern physics has given up on trying to explain so many little parts to the nucleus of an atom
a. true b. false
#14. According to Feynman, in order to test modern theories of physics we need to
a. better understand the consequences of theories b. use less machinery
c. focus attention on how to use our technology d. stop using statistics
#15. When Feynman taught his son and daughter things he found that
a. he must use the same method to teach each child
b. he taught his son using imagination and his daughter by reading a book
c. taught them together in the same room
d. he taught them best by going to the park and observing nature
Essay: On the back of your paper describe something about the interview that impressed you the most.