California Multiple Choice

Can you answers these multiple choice questions about California?
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Last updated: January 20, 2019
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First submittedJanuary 20, 2019
Times taken24,907
Average score60.0%
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1. What is the capital of California?
Los Angeles
Sacramento
San Diego
San Francisco
2. What is the approximate population of California?
10 million
20 million
40 million
80 million
3. Which of these companies is not based in Silicon Valley?
Amazon
Apple
Google
Facebook
Amazon is based in Seattle
4. Where was gold discovered in 1848, leading to the California Gold Rush?
Lee's Ferry
San Francisco
San Luis Obispo
Sutter's Mill
5. Who was the only U.S. President that was born in California?
Jimmy Carter
Richard Nixon
Ronald Reagan
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Richard Nixon was born in Yorba Linda. Ronald Reagan moved to California as an adult.
6. Which of these national parks is not located in California?
Death Valley
Joshua Tree
Redwood
Zion
Zion is located in Utah
7. Which of these cities is not in Los Angeles county?
Burbank
Compton
Monterey
Santa Monica
8. If you sailed directly west from San Francisco, which country would you land in?
India
Japan
Philippines
Russia
9. How many other U.S. states does California border?
1
2
3
4
Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon
10. About what percentage of California residents are Hispanic?
5
10
20
40
11. What animal is depicted on California's flag?
Bald eagle
California condor
Grizzly bear
Mountain lion
Sad note: California grizzly bears went extinct in the 1920s
12. In what year was 80% of the city of San Francisco destroyed by an earthquake?
1906
1921
1938
1989
13. What county is on the northern side of the Golden Gate Bridge?
Cook County
Humboldt County
Marin County
Orange County
14. Which of these cities is not on the Pacific coast?
Eureka
Fresno
Malibu
Santa Barbara
15. Which of these people has not served as California governor?
Jerry Brown
Robert La Follette
Ronald Reagan
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Robert La Follette was governor of Wisconsin
+17
Level 89
Jan 20, 2019
Sail WEST from San Francisco? (If you sail east, hit the United States.)
+2
Level ∞
Jan 20, 2019
Fixed
+11
Level 89
Jan 20, 2019
Maybe Alcatrazz seceded.
+3
Level 82
Feb 25, 2019
So I didn't think long enough about the gold rush question and I didn't think there were quite that many Hispanic people in California. Those were the two I missed. Having visited the town where Reagan was born in Illinois probably helped with that one.
+5
Level 37
Jan 8, 2022
why the heck are you EVERYWHERE
+7
Level 69
Jan 9, 2022
Seems you just joined jetpunk
+2
Level 28
Feb 25, 2019
For what country would you hit I was like “ummmmmmm China?” Because I really thought it was China. Went with The Philippines. Ouch. Seriously though, why is India an option when it wouldn’t even be possible to not hit Thailand or Malaysia or maybe even Indonesia?
+7
Level 82
Feb 25, 2019
Well Columbus tried to get to India sailing west from Portugal. Some people aren't very good at geography.
+9
Level 75
Feb 26, 2019
A teacher once told me that when creating a multiple choice test she always had one completely outrageous answer that anyone should be able to eliminate unless they just didn't care, one that would be easily eliminated if one even partially studied, and two answers that seemed as though they could both be correct but only a student who truly knew the material would choose the better answer. Maybe India is QM's outrageous answer.
+2
Level 72
Aug 30, 2020
It turns out that the earth is round. So if you sailed directly west from San Francisco, and never turned, you would end up way south of Japan. Similarly, if you want to fly to Japan, you have to fly to the northwest. I guess the correct way to phrase the question would be, "What country is due west of San Francisco?"
+10
Level 71
Oct 5, 2021
I think you're a little confused about the implications of the fact that the earth is round. There's nothing stopping you from sailing due west along a line of latitude from San Francisco; and you will end up arriving at Japan (in your fantasy sailing vessel that ignores weather, fuel, etc.)

You do not "have" to fly to the northwest to get to Japan--it's just the shortest path. It's called a great circle route and your commercial flight will surely fly a course pretty close to it, so as not to waste time and fuel. (Real flight paths deviate for all kinds of political, safety, etc. reasons from these ideal great circle routes, of course).

In neither case would you need to "turn". Both ideal paths will be straight with respect to the track on the surface of the earth. They both will seem curved or straight on a flat map, depending on the type and center of the projection.

+1
Level 67
Feb 28, 2022
No, Ing is actually correct, if you depart due west from San Francisco you would actually end up in Papua New Guinea, (if you don't hit one of the islands in Marshall Islands or FS Micronesia first). if you have a flat map and draw a straight line headed west you will reach Japan, but in real life this would require you to change direction as you go. This is better displayed if you get close to the poles. If you go straight west when you are very close to a pole and stay at the same latitude, you will eventually go "all the way around the world", but in reality you walked in a relatively small circle. The only path where you don't have to slightly turn as you go is actually the great circle route.
+1
Level 71
Apr 18, 2022
Interesting--I do see what you mean. What I said isn't right.

The question, though, is correct--it never mentions "not turning", for example. But I see that you're right, that following a "directly west" course from San Francisco requires a "turning" course so that you are always on the same line of latitude as you started.

+1
Level 62
Jan 7, 2022
15 with two and a half minutes to spare. Pretty easy when you grew up there.
+3
Level 57
Jan 7, 2022
Question 10 was easy, although the correct answer should be, "too many".
+1
Level 63
Jan 9, 2022
Phil, that is a bit coarse.
+1
Level 66
Jul 20, 2023
Hey, look at how population demographics affected Southeast Ukraine. Those who don't learn from history..
+1
Level 68
Sep 3, 2023
Bold take, while the state was Spanish then Mexican land, an heritage found through local Californio population who stayed and Spanish toponimy across the state, required and welcomed workforce throughout its history, ...