KNOWLEDGE

BOWL

2020 Diagnostic Test

Name: ___________________

Points:___________________

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3. Fine Arts
Name Richard Wagner's cycle of four epic operas.
Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelungs)

4. Historical Documents
During what century did Martin Luther write "The
Ninety-Five Theses"?
16th century

5. Fine Arts
In photography, what adjective indicates the type of
light that is available naturally and is not explicitly
supplied by the photographer?
ambient

8. Ancient History
What non-aristocratic class of ancient Romans
included shopkeepers, craftsmen, farmers, and freed
people?
plebeians (plebes)

9. Art Forms
In what art form is a painting an integral part of a wall
or ceiling?
fresco (or mural or secco)

10. Explorers
Name the 15th-century Portuguese navigator credited
with leading the first European naval expedition to see
the Indian Ocean.
Bartolomeu Dias

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15. Ancient History
In a famous epic, Gilgamesh is credited with building
the walls of Uruk, an ancient city whose ruins are in
what modern country?
Iraq

20. Asian History

Historians say that between 40 and 70 million deaths
in China can be attributed to such programs as the
Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution
instigated by what Asian leader?
Mao Zedong

21. Transitions
A young person's transition from childhood to
adulthood is called the coming of what?
Age

24. Colonial Trade

The "middle passage," a stage of the triangular trade,
involved the transportation of what cargo?
slaves

25. Historical Inspirations

What Shakespearean play was inspired by the wreck
of the Sea Venture during a hurricane near Bermuda in
1609?
The Tempest

26. Novels
This is a ridiculously short summary of what novel?
A Harvard symbologist and a female French

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cryptographer race across Europe to solve
the puzzle of the Holy Grail.
The Da Vinci Code

27. Delusions
What category of delusion is illustrated by people
believing that they are someone famous or powerful
like a queen, a president, or a movie star?
delusions of grandeur (grandiose delusions)

28. Neologisms
What neologism first used in George Orwell's "1984"
indicates evasive, ambiguous language that is intended
to deceive?
doublespeak
29. Ancient Traditions
The ancient Greeks often placed a coin in the mouth of
a corpse to pay what ferryman to carry the soul across
the River Styx?
Charon

SCIENCE Section

*16. Chemistry

Because their properties are substantially different from those of solids, liquids, and gases, what are sometimes
called the fourth state of matter?

Plasmas

*17. Geology

What unit used to measure gemstones is equal to one fifth of a gram?

Carat

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*18. Building Materials

The aggregate in concrete consists of gravel and what else?

Sand

*19. Astronomy

What spectacular impact event of 1908 was named for a region in Siberia?

Tunguska event

*20. Chemistry

What percentage of the original material remains after four half-lives have elapsed?

6.25 (6 1/4)

*21. Geology

In the eastern part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Nazca plate is being subducted beneath what other plate?

South American plate

*22. Anatomy & Physiology

About ninety percent of which layer of the skin consists of cells that produce keratin?

epidermis

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*23. Astronomy

What is the source of most of the neutrinos that pass through the Earth?

the Sun

*24. Physics

What broad category of waves have the same direction of vibration as their direction of travel?

longitudinal waves

*25. Chemistry

Since methane consists of carbon and hydrogen, it belongs to what general classification of organic
compounds?

hydrocarbons

*26. Phytoplankton

A red tide or algal bloom causes surface water to become discolored and depleted of what?

oxygen

*27. Anatomy & Physiology

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The vocal cords extend across the opening of what hollow structure at the beginning of the trachea?

larynx

*28. Physics

What kind of ion has more electrons than protons?

anion (negative ion)

*29. Anatomy & Physiology

An abnormally high number of what kind of blood cells is an indicator of disease?

leukocytes (white blood cells)

*30. Physics

Birefringence is another name for what phenomenon that occurs when light entering a stone is split into two
different paths?

double refraction

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