20111019

Astronomy current events question: 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics

Astronomy 210L, fall semester 2011
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Students are assigned to read online articles on current astronomy events, and take a short current events quiz during the first 10 minutes of lab. (This motivates students to show up promptly to lab, as the time cut-off for the quiz is strictly enforced!)
Kelly Beatty, "Three Cosmologists Share Nobel Prize," October 4, 2011
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/131071118.html
Three astrophysicists shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for measuring type Ia supernovae brightnesses in distant galaxies to provide evidence that the:
(A) speed of light is broken by neutrinos.
(B) expansion of the universe is accelerating.
(C) universe will not expand forever.
(D) cosmic background radiation is older than the universe itself.
(E) number of multiverses may be infinite.

Correct answer: (B)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186, 70200
(A) : 0 students
(B) : 43 students
(C) : 0 students
(D) : 3 students
(E) : 0 students

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