The Making of a Scientist Class 10 MCQ Quiz – Test Your Knowledge

Richard Ebright's study of the gold spots on monarch butterfly wings demonstrates:

“I didn’t get any real results,” he said. “But I went ahead and showed that I had tried the experiment. This time I won.” The next year his science fair project was testing the theory that viceroy butterflies copy monarchs. The theory was that viceroys look like monarchs because monarchs don’t taste good to birds. Viceroys, on the other hand, do taste good to birds. So, the more they look like monarchs, the less likely they are to become a bird’s dinner. Ebright’s project was to see whether, in fact, birds would eat monarchs. He found that a starling would not eat ordinary bird food. It would eat all the monarchs it could get.

Choose the option listing Ebright’s qualities as depicted by the above extract.

1. persevering
2. visionary
3. determined
4. liberal
5. conceited

When he saw those photos, Ebright didn’t shout, ‘Eureka!’ or even, ‘I’ve got it!’ But he believed that, along with his findings about insect hormones, the photos gave him the answer to one of biology’s puzzles: how the cell can ‘read’ the blueprint of its DNA. DNA is the substance in the nucleus of a cell that controls heredity. It determines the form and function of the cell. Thus, DNA is the blueprint for life. Ebright and his college roommate, James R. Wong, worked all that night drawing pictures and constructing plastic models of molecules to show how it could happen. Together they later wrote a paper that explained the theory.

Compound words are those words that are formed by joining two separate words to create a new word with an entirely different meaning.

Choose the option that lists the compound words from the above extract.

1. determines
2. blueprint
3. nucleus
4. heredity
5. room-mate

“I didn’t get any real results,” he said. “But I went ahead and showed that I had tried the experiment. This time I won.” The next year his science fair project was testing the theory that viceroy butterflies copy monarchs. The theory was that viceroys look like monarchs because monarchs don’t taste good to birds. Viceroys, on the other hand, do taste good to birds. So, the more they look like monarchs, the less likely they are to become a bird’s dinner. Ebright’s project was to see whether, in fact, birds would eat monarchs. He found that a starling would not eat ordinary bird food. It would eat all the monarchs it could get.

Choose the statements that are TRUE for the given extract contextually.

1. Ebright didn’t get any results for the experiment he conducted on butterflies.
2. Monarchs tasted awful to the birds.
3. Ebright wanted to explore the possibility of monarchs getting eaten by birds.
4. He wanted to prove that viceroys were lookalikes of monarchs.

How does Richard Ebright's story inspire young scientists?

When he saw those photos, Ebright didn’t shout, ‘Eureka!’ or even, ‘I’ve got it!’ But he believed that, along with his findings about insect hormones, the photos gave him the answer to one of biology’s puzzles: how the cell can ‘read’ the blueprint of its DNA. DNA is the substance in the nucleus of a cell that controls heredity. It determines the form and function of the cell. Thus, DNA is the blueprint for life. Ebright and his college roommate, James R. Wong, worked all that night drawing pictures and constructing plastic models of molecules to show how it could happen. Together they later wrote a paper that explained the theory.

Four newspapers published a headline about Ebright and Wong. Choose the option that publishes a factually correct headline, as per the extract.

Dr. Urquhart's response to young Ebright's butterfly collection project teaches us that:

When he saw those photos, Ebright didn’t shout, ‘Eureka!’ or even, ‘I’ve got it!’ But he believed that, along with his findings about insect hormones, the photos gave him the answer to one of biology’s puzzles: how the cell can ‘read’ the blueprint of its DNA. DNA is the substance in the nucleus of a cell that controls heredity. It determines the form and function of the cell. Thus, DNA is the blueprint for life. Ebright and his college roommate, James R. Wong, worked all that night drawing pictures and constructing plastic models of molecules to show how it could happen. Together they later wrote a paper that explained the theory.

Choose the option that shows the picture of the type of task Ebright and Wong were engaged in, as per the extract.

What does the story suggest about the impact of curiosity on personal growth?

What does Richard Ebright's success in science fairs teach us about perseverance?

“I didn’t get any real results,” he said. “But I went ahead and showed that I had tried the experiment. This time I won.” The next year his science fair project was testing the theory that viceroy butterflies copy monarchs. The theory was that viceroys look like monarchs because monarchs don’t taste good to birds. Viceroys, on the other hand, do taste good to birds. So, the more they look like monarchs, the less likely they are to become a bird’s dinner. Ebright’s project was to see whether, in fact, birds would eat monarchs. He found that a starling would not eat ordinary bird food. It would eat all the monarchs it could get.

According to the dictionary, ‘fair’ as a noun, shows the following meanings.

Choose the option that lists the meaning similar to the usage to that in the extract.

Ebright's involvement in other activities besides science indicates:

What does Richard Ebright's study of monarch butterflies reveal about his character?

The question he tried to answer was simple: What is the purpose of the twelve tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa?

“Everyone assumed the spots were just ornamental,” Ebright said.

“But Dr. Urquhart didn’t believe it.”

State TRUE or FALSE.

None of the terms (a) -(d) below, can be applied to the question - What is the purpose of the twelve tiny gold spots on a monarch pupa?

a. A hypothesis - a proposed explanation for a phenomenon

b. An assumption - something that is taken for granted or assumed to be true without proof

c. A premise - a proposition that forms the basis of an argument

d. A theory - a well-substantiated explanation for a natural phenomenon

What is the significance of the title The Making of a Scientist?