The Poetry of Physics Answers

21

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Which excerpt from Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Death by Black Hole” best provides evidence that escape from a black hole is impossible?

A

. . . the speed required to escape a black hole is greater than the speed of light itself. . . . light travels at exactly 299,792,458 meters per second in a vacuum and is the fastest stuff in the universe.

B

But if the black hole were 6,000 feet across, then the same man’s feet would be only one-tenth of 1 percent closer to the center than his head, and the difference in gravity—the tidal force—would be correspondingly small.

C

Meanwhile, the stuff within the event horizon has collapsed to an infinitesimal point at the black hole’s center. So black holes are not so much deadly objects as they are deadly regions of space.

D

If you stumbled upon a black hole and found yourself falling feet-first toward its center, then as you got closer, the black hole’s force of gravity would grow astronomically.

22

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Read the excerpt from “Death by Black Hole.”If you were made of rubber then you would just stretch in response. But humans are composed of other materials such as bones and muscles and organs. Your body would stay whole until the instant the tidal force exceeded your body’s molecular bonds. (If the Inquisition had access to black holes, this, instead of the rack, would surely have become the stretching device of choice.)Which sentence from the excerpt supports the idea that falling into a black hole would be a violent death?

A

If you were made of rubber then you would just stretch in response.

B

But humans are composed of other materials such as bones and muscles and organs.

C

Your body would stay whole until the instant the tidal force exceeded your body’s molecular bonds.

D

If the Inquisition had access to black holes, this, instead of the rack, would surely have become the stretching device of choice.

23

Which excerpt from Billy Collins’s “Man Listening to Disc” best supports the idea that the speaker uses the music to isolate himself from others?

A

as if he were right beside meon this clear day in March,the pavement sparkling with sunlight,

B

In fact, I would saymy delight at being suffusedwith phrases from his saxophone—some like honey, some like vinegar—

C

And I bow deeply to Thelonious Monkfor figuring out a wayto motorize—or whatever—his huge pianoso he could be with us today.

D

The music is loud yet so confidentialI cannot help feeling even morelike the center of the universe

24

Which of the following ideas is discussed in both Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Death by Black Hole” and in Billy Collins’s “Man Listening to Disc”?

A

what is present in the center of the universe

B

humanity’s place in relation to the larger universe

C

the universe as a source of inspiration

D

the complexity and beauty of the universe

25

Read the excerpt from “Death by Black Hole.”If you were made of rubber then you would just stretch in response. But humans are composed of other materials such as bones and muscles and organs. Your body would stay whole until the instant the tidal force exceeded your body’s molecular bonds. (If the Inquisition had access to black holes, this, instead of the rack, would surely have become the stretching device of choice.)Which sentence from the excerpt supports the idea that falling into a black hole would be a violent death?

A

If you were made of rubber then you would just stretch in response.

B

But humans are composed of other materials such as bones and muscles and organs.

C

Your body would stay whole until the instant the tidal force exceeded your body’s molecular bonds.

D

If the Inquisition had access to black holes, this, instead of the rack, would surely have become the stretching device of choice.

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