Informational Text Review - The Tunguska Event

The central idea of the passage is that

• The 1908 Tunguska event is fascinating to study but troubling at the same time

• The movie "Armageddon" provides an unrealistic solution for dealing with an asteroid on a collision with Earth

• The 1908 Tunguska event was probably caused by an air burst

• The presence of iridium in Siberia proves that it was a meteoroid that exploded in the air in the 1908b Tunguska event

Why, can readers infer, does the author consider calling the Tunguska incident an "impact event" misleading?

• The Russian scientists might have been biased and provide false information

• The meteoroid never actually hit the ground

• There is not enough iridium in Siberia to prove beyond all doubt that there was an impact

• The atomic bomb that struck Hiroshima, Japan, made a much greater impact than the Tunguska meteoroid did

Why, can readers infer, did 80 million trees crash to the ground in the falling object never actually hit them?

• Enemies of Russia dropped an atomic bomb immediate after the initial air burst of the meteoroid.

• Iridium poisoned the trees, and they all died and collapsed before the first investigators could arrive.

• Upset by the airburst, the Stony Tunguska River flooded the area, and the flood's power caused the trees to fall.

• The air burst released an enormous amount of energy, and this energy pressed the trees to the ground.

What does the word "extinction" most nearly mean as it is used in paragraph 4?

• permanent dissaperance

• temporary decline

• permanent migration

• violent explosion

According to the movie "Armageddon," why would detonate explosives deep inside of an asteroid while it was still in outer space save the Earth from destruction?

• The asteroid would completely dissentigrate

• Although the asteroid would stay intact, it would be severely weakened by the blast, and its impact would be less forceful

• The asteroid would fragment, and these fragments would fly in all directions and narrowly avoid Earth

• The impact of the asteroid's fragment would not be as severe as the impact of one massive asteroid

How can people be sure that the Tunguska event of 1908 was not triggered by an atomic bomb?

• Atomic bombs don't contain iridium and nickel

• Atomic bombs had yet to be invented in 1908

• Investigators have found few traces of atomic material in Siberia

• An atomic bomb would have been much more destructive than the air burst that did not occur

What does the author consider the most fascinating aspect f the Tunguska incident?

• For being such a massive event, it was not well documented.

• She is not sure whether it resulted from the first use of nuclear weapons.

• It happened in an extremely inhospitable climate.

• If it happened in an urban population center, it would have killed a vast number of people.

Which of the following does the author use as evidence to support the scientists' claim that what exploded in the air burst was a meteorite?

Select all that apply.

• The presence of nickel near the impact area

• The presence of iridium near the impact area

• The example of the extinction of the dinosaurs

• a detailed description of the construction of the first atomic bomb