Think you’ve got your head wrapped around Modern Physics? Put your knowledge to
the test. Good luck — the Stickman is counting on you!
Q. The Sun is fueled by the fusion of two hydrogen atoms into helium. Why do we see light as a result?
Because helium is heavier than hydrogen and requires less binding energy
Because helium is lighter than hydrogen and requires less binding energy
Because binding energy is positive, so it's radiated away as a result of Einstein's mass equivalence principle
Because helium is heavier than hydrogen and requires more binding energy
Because the proton-proton chain forces helium to fuse back into hydrogen
Q. We discover a strange neutral alien element, which we name Shmoopium. Its configuration can be written as 
. What can be said about Shmoopium?
. What can be said about Shmoopium? Shmoopium can't exist, because energy can't be quantized with this configuration.
Shmoopium has no electrons.
Shmoopium has 100 neutrons, 104 protons and an unknown number of electrons.
Shmoopium has 104 neutrons, 100 protons, and 100 electrons.
Shmoopium has 100 neutrons, 104 protons, and 104 electrons.
Q. Which fundamental forces affect leptons?
Gravity, strong, electromagnetic
Gravity, strong, weak
Gravity, weak, electromagnetic
Gravity, strong, nuclear
Only gravity
Q. Which are hadrons?
Protons, Electrons, Leptons
Quarks, Muons, Taus
Electrons, Muons, Taus
Neutrons, Nucleons, Electrons
Protons, Neutrons
Q. The strange element Shmoopium [
] we discovered is radioactive. We counted 200 nuclei of Sh. One week later, there are 50 nuclei left. What is Shmoopium's half-life?
] we discovered is radioactive. We counted 200 nuclei of Sh. One week later, there are 50 nuclei left. What is Shmoopium's half-life? Half a week
0.72 weeks
One week
Two weeks
Four weeks
Q. Absorption and emission spectra occur because of:
Matter annihilation
Beta-decay
Scattering
Energy quantization
Backwards scattering
Q. Neutrons and protons are composed of:
Nucleons
Leptons
Electrons
Atoms
Quarks
Q. Amongst others, which conservation laws do particle collisions always obey?
Conservation of quarks, lepton number, mass
Conservation of quarks, charge, angular momentum
Conservation of energy-mass equivalence, lepton number, charge
Conservation of energy-mass equivalence, quarks, momentum
Conservation of charge, acceleration, and mass
Q. An electron orbiting a hydrogen atom at n = 1 gets knocked out of its shell by absorbing a photon. What energy does the electron escape with?
An energy E < 13.6 eV
It depends on whether it goes to a different orbital and which orbital it's knocked into, or out of the atom entirely.
An energy E > 13.6 eV
An energy E < – 13.6 eV
An energy E = 510986.4 eV
Q. Cesium-137, 
, undergoes β-decay with a half-life of 30.07 years. What daughter nucleus is produced?
, undergoes β-decay with a half-life of 30.07 years. What daughter nucleus is produced? 
Cesium-137 cannot undergo beta-decay because it would violate lepton number conservation.