Film Science Questions for H G Wells: The Crystal Orb

Background: H G Wells is perhaps the most famous writer of science fiction in the world. But, were all the events in his stories just fiction? Also, an important part of science is gathering information and developing ideas. You are doing science by: i) obtaining, ii) organizing and iii) evaluating the answers to these questions.

full sentences, completed = A

point form, completed = B

point form, mostly done = C

partial effort = D or F

1. As an elderly H G Wells and Ellen McGillvray (a government agent pretending to be a journalist) examine the dark egg-shaped crystal taken from the big trunk, what does H G say about the ability of science to identify its chemical makeup?

2. How had the trip through the Earth's atmosphere affected the surface of the meteorite?

3. What level of interest did Mr. Skinner's dog pay to the meteorite?

4. What did Mr. Skinner see within the meteorite?

5. What did Mr. William Cave bring to Jane Robbins' lab?

6. What type of shop did William and Rosa Cave run?

7. How did the crystal respond to Mr. Jacoby Wace's attempts to pry off a speck for analysis?

8. X-rays revealed the crystal's interior structure resembled what?

9. a) What type of alien world does Mr. Cave see when he stares into the crystal?

b) As he continues to stare, mesmerized, what pops up into his field of view?

10. a) What is Miss Robbins initial opinion of Mr. Cave's story and diagram of the alien?

b) Is H G Wells as doubtful as Jane?

11. Why was Mr. Cave so anxious that Rosa not sell the crystal to the clergyman?

12. When H G, Jane and William peer into the crystal, who is looking out at them?

13. a) As H G, Jane and William examine the meteorite's furrow in the ground, H G realizes it seems to point back to what spot?

b) What does H G think might be a positive aspect of the crystal?

c) The next day, looking around Jane's lab, H G suddenly realizes the crystal has been sent to Earth for what purpose?

14. What does H G try to convince Professor Gibberne about the influence of fiction?

15. What does H G tell Ellen McGillvray was the reason he wrote War of the Worlds?

16. a) Why is Professor Bellows so worried about the effects of the Faraday coil explosion on Sidney Davidson?

b) The Professor had been trying to create a wave that would do what?

17. H G and Professor Bellows determine the accident was caused by resonance from what?

18. a) Dr. Symonds, head of Spitalfields Asylum, sees Sidney as what?

b) What does Dean Frederick Masterman, Dean of the Imperial College of Science (Sidney's father) think of conditions at Spitalfields?

19. Why does H G believe Capt. Hapgood is lying about knowing nothing about the HMS Fulmar and its investigations with radio waves?

20. On the island, after the shipwreck of the HMS Fulmar, how does Sidney's "optical polarity reversal" benefit Lt. Atkins?

21. How is Sidney's visual cortex imbalance corrected?

22. Name two areas under investigation at the secret laboratory complex inside the warehouse.