The average scientific literacy rates of MLPF

[I used to be a stranger 7,989]

Sorry to say, but the radiation of the Sun is not its source of energy. It's power source is the fusion of hydrogen atoms to produce helium atoms. And, the radiation that is emitted is infrared and ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation.

 

EDIT: And since infrared radiation isn't harmful in any fashion that I know of, the only conclusion is sun screen is used to block out ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation.

Damn it Jim! I'm a Doctor but not that kind of doctor!

 

I haven't cared enough about radiation to recall those particulars as well as I did for the rest of the questions, ergo I got one question wrong. I see no real point to discussing it :U

Edited July 17, 2014 by Blue

[paradoxical 1,735]

EDIT: And since infrared radiation isn't harmful in any fashion that I know of, the only conclusion is sun screen is used to block out ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation.

 

Well you could cook somebody with infrared, but for some reason Ultraviolet is the most dangerous of all Electromagnetic Radiation at NATURALLY occuring levels.

 

I find that most interesting.

[GGG 176]

i got 9/13

 

pfff, who needs knowledge when you got swag.

[Limey 524]

Got 12/13, pretty good. Never was any good at science, so this was kinda surprising for me.

Edited July 17, 2014 by Spess

[BronyPony 575]

Well you could cook somebody with infrared, but for some reason Ultraviolet is the most dangerous of all Electromagnetic Radiation at NATURALLY occuring levels.

 

I find that most interesting.

That is only if it is concentrated on a particular object.

[truth is life 76]

The Sun emits radiation across all frequencies, from gamma rays to radio. It does have an emission peak in the ultraviolet/visible region of the spectrum, though, and emits mostly ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light.

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,671]

Well, I'm happy with the results so far -- both my own and the voting. 81% of voters here fall into the upper quartile of the public results which is quite impressive, I find.

 

By the way, where are the demographics from? I'm from the Caribbean.

Edited July 17, 2014 by SunBurn

[BronyPony 575]

The Sun emits radiation across all frequencies, from gamma rays to radio. It does have an emission peak in the ultraviolet/visible region of the spectrum, though, and emits mostly ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light.

It becomes irrelevant to the point to bring up the other forms of radiation unless they are the main focus. But my main fit with the claim was that they are the source of energy for the sun, which is inaccurate.

[IceeBrony 251]

The only question I got wrong was about sunscreen. Which is understandable in my mind since A. I nearly never use sunscreen and B. the Sun's light is a source of energy on all bandwidths, above and below Radio, X-Ray, Infrared, Ultraviolet and other radiations.

@@BronyPony The sun's light is a source of energy, not the source of energy for the sun. Enough please

[Arctic Night 884]

Well, I'm happy with the results so far -- both my own and the voting. 81% of voters here fall into the upper quartile of the public results which is quite impressive, I find.

 

By the way, where are the demographics from? I'm from the Caribbean.

Yes, it seems the results might have improved since I last checked.

 

And unless I am mistaken, pewresearch's survey only included participants from the United States.

[I used to be a stranger 7,989]

It becomes irrelevant to the point to bring up the other forms of radiation unless they are the main focus. But my main fit with the claim was that they are the source of energy for the sun, which is inaccurate.

 

I think you're getting into semantic arguments.

 

What was originally stated was not saying that emitted light is the source of the Sun's energy. At least what I meant earlier was that the sun does in fact emit energy in various form, since strong nuclear reactions produce many different kinds of energy, not limited to electromagnetic waves and heat.

Edited July 17, 2014 by Blue

[truth is life 76]

It becomes irrelevant to the point to bring up the other forms of radiation unless they are the main focus. But my main fit with the claim was that they are the source of energy for the sun, which is inaccurate.

Yes, it's not true that light is the source of the energy emitted by the Sun (that would be rather entertainingly circular), but Blue's comment merely stated that "the Sun's light is a source of energy." In the context of a question about sunscreen use (presumably on Earth), and going by the common meaning of "source of energy,", it's perfectly true to say that sunlight is a source of energy, just as you would say that sunlight is the source of energy for a solar power plant. It is, indeed, the proximate source of the energy that causes cellular damage leading to cancer for persons exposed to excessive amounts of ultraviolet radiation, just as it is the proximate source of the energy that liberates electrons and holes from photovoltaic material to generate electrical current.

 

Sure, if you want to be strictly accurate then you should say, "Ah, but the sunlight comes from nuclear fusion in the Sun's core!," but that's not really relevant to the question. For that matter, you could say that the extra mass-energy of a free proton relative to a helium nucleus (that is, the energy liberated in the fusion process!) came from the Big Bang (which it did, after all), so that sunlight really comes from the Big Bang. Just like...well, everything else, if you start playing that kind of game. It's not really very helpful.

[Arctic Night 884]

Unfortunately, it appears that the number of participants scoring 12-13 is still hovering around 74%, even after fifteen more users joined the survey.

[BronyPony 575]

@@BronyPony The sun's light is a source of energy, not the source of energy for the sun. Enough please

A misunderstanding then, and you don't control the discussion, so please. 

[IceeBrony 251]

@BronyPony: I never thought I did. I'm sorry you think that I am

Edited July 18, 2014 by IceeBrony

[Anneal 2,194]

That one question I knew people would get wrong because I feel a majority of public schools don't teach it, unfortunately.

 

Actually, my school taught about that last year. "Fracking" might have been the more difficult one – I only knew it because I learned about natural resources in 8th grade. 

 

I have no idea where I'm going with this ;p. It seems like the majority of MLPF scored pretty well however.

 

It's also because of the age of most of the people who took it.

 

If you checked every person that did this quiz, they're bound to be 10 - 35 years old, with the majority of the people in high school, university, or in graduate school. Say, if you got several people in their forties or fifties, it would have been much different.

 

Also, there's the possibility of a number of people cheating or lying. It's very easy to do so on the Internet without anyone noticing...and the poll is on the Internet as well, so you can't be certain whether the person taking the poll is intentionally getting the questions wrong. 

[Twilight Dirac 720]

Well you could cook somebody with infrared, but for some reason Ultraviolet is the most dangerous of all Electromagnetic Radiation at NATURALLYoccuring levels.

 

It is a combination to two different effects.  First, in order for the radiation to be harmful to begin with, it needs to be able to ionize the water that makes up most of our bodies.  To do this, the photon energy must exceed the binding energy of the outer valence electron of a water molecule and this energy is not reached until the wavelength falls either within or below the wavelengths that characterize the ultraviolet spectra.  Thus any microwave, IR or visible radiation from the Sun isn't harmful because the associated photons cannot ionize.  The radiation also has to be able to reach the Earth's surface.  Near UV radiation can, but there is a sharp atmospheric absorption cutoff just below 300 nm, so any X-rays and gamma rays from the sun are absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere before reaching the surface.  This makes ultraviolet radiation the only spectral band that contains both ionizing frequencies and that can reach the Earth's surface, and is therefore the only set of frequencies you have to protect against.

 

Actually, my school taught about that last year. "Fracking" might have been the more difficult one – I only knew it because I learned about natural resources in 8th grade. 

 

 

I don't even know why Fracking was on the test.  Hydraulic fracturing is more of an energy exploration method than a piece of fundamental scientific knowledge, and your probably more likely to learn it through paying attention to politics rather than studying science because it is quite controversial.  There are far better questions that could have been incorporated.  How about one asking if gravitational acceleration is independent of mass.  That is like the classic physics questions.  How did that get bumped for something like this?

Edited July 18, 2014 by Twilight Dirac

[truth is life 76]

My post had nothing to do with the physics of ionizing radiation or their generation of cancer, but was backing up the statement that the Sun emits light in all frequency ranges, which it does. Whether or not the atmosphere filters some of those ranges out, or whether or not some of them could possibly be harmful, was not relevant to the point I was making.

[Mephala 2,633]

I had Stupid People Chem (HATE THE CHEM) and AP Physics right before the summer, so 13/13 GG ez.

[Twilight Dirac 720]

 

 

My post had nothing to do with the physics of ionizing radiation or their generation of cancer, but was backing up the statement that the Sun emits light in all frequency ranges, which it does. Whether or not the atmosphere filters some of those ranges out, or whether or not some of them could possibly be harmful, was not relevant to the point I was making.

 

Fair enough.  I changed the quote to a comment that actually works better (yea for the edit function). 

[BronyPony 575]

How about one asking if gravitational acceleration is independent of mass.

Who would not know that mass results in the curvature of space-time?

[Felix 1,363]

11/13.

 

I'm not aware of what one of the things are. If it weren't for that I would have had at least 12, probably.

Edited July 18, 2014 by Felix

[Anneal 2,194]

I don't even know why Fracking was on the test.  Hydraulic fracturing is more of an energy exploration method than a piece of fundamental scientific knowledge, and your probably more likely to learn it through paying attention to politics rather than studying science because it is quite controversial.  There are far better questions that could have been incorporated.  How about one asking if gravitational acceleration is independent of mass.  That is like the classic physics questions.  How did that get bumped for something like this?

 

It's extremely bad, since during the process it releases an extremely large amount of toxic chemicals which can possibly threaten people living nearby the site by possibly contaminating the ground and water. Unfortunately, anti-fracking protests has been pretty much ignored by industrial companies and some people in the government.

 

 

Who would not know that mass results in the curvature of space-time?

 

How about: "What if the Earth stopped rotating?" That would be a very interesting question.

Edited July 18, 2014 by Original Suri

[BronyPony 575]

How about: "What if the Earth stopped rotating?" That would be a very interesting question.

Everyone would be killed because of the massive deceleration. Since the Earth is rotating about 1000 mph, everything on Earth is rotating at this speed. There would be massive devastation. 

[IceeBrony 251]

Fracking is a pretty big political/environmental issue right now, that's probably why it's there.

Many places are voting on banning (or partial banning) of it and it has caused some serious damage in places. And not 'environmental' but damage to homes and cities.