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Astronomy quiz question: cause of lunar eclipses

Astronomy 210 Quiz 2, Spring Semester 2011
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

What causes a lunar eclipse?
(A) The slow, gradual rotation of the moon about its own axis.
(B) Earth blocks light from the sun, casting a shadow on the moon.
(C) The moon blocks light from the sun, casting a shadow on Earth.
(D) Different amounts of the day and night sides of the moon as seen from Earth.

Correct answer: (B)

During a lunar eclipse, the moon is in Earth's shadow, on the opposite side of Earth than the sun.

Section 30676
(A) : 2 students
(B) : 32 students
(C) : 13 students
(D) : 0 students

"Success level": 70% (including partial credit for multiple-choice)
Discrimination index (Aubrecht & Aubrecht, 1983): 0.38

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:29 PM

    In the highly unlikely event that no one has already pointed this out, response (C) [instead of (B)] was listed as the correct response to the "What produces a lunar eclipse" question.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes--thanks for noticing that the answer was cut-and-pasted from the "What produces a solar eclipse" version of this same question. The correct answer is now posted.

    ReplyDelete