Olympiad: planet puzzles ★★★

Tests: 5 of 12 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★★★ · Understood: 8 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 31 of the space course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · ★★★ · right ✓

★★★ Ruby from Cardiff, tamping: "Mercury's closest to the Sun so it's deffo the hottest, end of." What is the truth?

1. The Earth is hotter, it has the most air — no support
2. Mars is hotter, which is why it looks red — score 5
3. Venus is hotter: its thick air traps the heat — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
4. She is right: the closest is always hottest — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 8, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 3, line 11: «Although Mercury is closest to the Sun, it is not the hottest planet; Venus is, because its thick air traps heat.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «trap» (+3); the same doer «thick air» (+3); the same thing acted on «heat» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Jayden from Texas: "Y'all, Saturn takes 29 and a half years a lap. Grandpa's 59, so he's seen it go round like a million times." How many laps really?

1. About a million — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. About 59 — no support
3. About 29 — no support
4. About 2 — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Mia from Melbourne: "Venus takes longer to spin once than to go round the Sun, no cap." Is she right?

1. Yes: a spin takes twice as long as a lap — ← Mova's choice · score 7
2. Yes: a spin is about 243 days, a lap 225 — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. No: it spins once a day, like the Earth does — score 4
4. No: Venus does not spin round at all — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 7, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 31, line 9: «Venus takes about 243 Earth days to spin once but only about 225 days to go round the Sun, so one spin takes longer than one lap.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «one spin» (+4); the same action «take» (+2); the same property (+1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★★ · right ✓

★★★ Grandpa: "Back in my day, a rock that glows across the sky and burns up was called a meteorite, sonny." Put him right.

1. It is a meteor; a meteorite is a piece that lands — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
2. It is a comet, because it glows and has a tail — score 7
3. He is right: any glowing space rock is a meteorite — score 7
4. It is a meteoroid all the time it glows — score 7

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 31, line 18: «A space rock is a meteoroid in space, a meteor while it glows in the air and a meteorite if a piece lands on the ground.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «space rock» (+4); the same thing acted on «meteoroid» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★★ · right ✓

★★★ A cartoon shows a comet zooming away from the Sun with its tail streaming behind it. What is wrong?

1. The tail should point down towards the Earth — no support
2. Nothing: a tail always trails behind its comet — no support
3. The tails should point away from the Sun, in front — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 11
4. Comets heading outwards have no tail at all — score 8

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 11, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 31, line 5: «Read every word: "meteor" and "meteorite" are different things, "day" and "year" swap their usual order on Venus, and a comet's tails point away from the Sun,…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «tails» (+4); the same action «point away» (+3); the same place «sun» (+2); the same property (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Ollie from Newcastle: "Howay, Titan's just a moon, so it's gotta be smaller than every planet." Check the claim.

1. False: Titan is wider than Mercury — ✓ the right answer · score 7
2. False: Titan is wider than the Earth — score 6
3. True: no moon is wider than a planet — ← Mova's choice · score 10
4. True, but only for Saturn's moons — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 10, against 7 for the next best. Its support: lesson 6, line 1: «The Moon is a ball of grey rock about a quarter as wide as the Earth, circling us about 384,000 kilometres away, the width of about 30 Earths in a row.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «moon» (+4); the same circumstance (+4); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). The right option, 1, scored 7. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Zoe says Uranus was found with a telescope, Neptune with maths and Pluto with photographs. Which years match, in that order?

1. 1781, 1930, 1846 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 1930, 1846, 1781 — no support
3. 1846, 1781, 1930 — no support
4. 1781, 1846, 1930 — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Ava from Toronto: "Full Moon tonight, eh, so we might get a solar eclipse tomorrow." What is wrong?

1. Solar eclipses can only ever happen at night — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. A solar eclipse needs a new Moon, about two weeks off — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Nothing: solar eclipses come the day after full Moon — no support
4. A solar eclipse needs a half Moon, a week off — no support

Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★★★ · right ✓

★★★ Leo, rough: "Shut up, Neptune's furthest out so it's got the coldest air, everyone knows that." What did measuring show?

1. Uranus's air was measured colder — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 11
2. Saturn's air is the coldest of all — no support
3. Mercury's night air is the coldest — no support
4. He is right: Neptune's air is coldest — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 11, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 31, line 2: «Many traps hide in rules that sound obvious: the planet nearest the Sun is not the hottest (Venus is), and the planet furthest out did not have the coldest air…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «measure» (+4); the same thing acted on «coldest air» (+4); the same property (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Kai from Liverpool weighs 42 kilograms: "On the Moon I'd be dead light, our kid, like 2 kilos." How light would he really feel?

1. Like 2 kilograms — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Like 7 kilograms — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Like 36 kilograms — no support
4. Like 252 kilograms — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Dad: "Mars days are only a smidge longer, nothing really." The rover has worked 10 sols. How much more time is that than 10 Earth days?

1. 10 hours — ← Mova's choice · score 5
2. 4 hours — score 5
3. 40 minutes — no support
4. 6 hours 40 minutes — ✓ the right answer · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 31, line 11: «A day on Mars, called a sol, is about 24 hours 40 minutes, so each sol is 40 minutes longer than an Earth day.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same circumstance (+2); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same thing acted on «24 hours» (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 12 · ★★★ · right ✓

★★★ Nan, being dramatic: "Saturn would float in my bath, it's that light!" What is right?

1. It weighs less than her bathful of water — no support
2. It is less dense than water, but no real bath could hold it — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
3. It is made only of ice, and ice floats — no support
4. It is the lightest of all the planets in mass — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 31, line 16: «Saturn is less dense than water, so in an impossibly huge bath it would float.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same property (+2); the same circumstance (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Determine the number of Mercurian years which elapse between successive sunrises on Mercury.

1. One hundred and seventy-six — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. One — no support
3. Two — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Eighty-eight — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓

A comet recedes from the Sun. State the direction in which its tails point.

1. Away from the Sun, ahead of its motion — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Towards the Earth, wherever it lies — no support
3. Across its path, at right angles — no support
4. Towards the Sun, behind its motion — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Neptune was discovered in 1846 and completes an orbit in about 165 years. State the year in which it completes its second orbit since discovery.

1. About 2046 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. About 2176 — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. About 2011 — no support
4. About 2341 — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the planet in the following list which is not of rocky composition.

1. Mercury — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Mars — no support
3. Jupiter — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Venus — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/31-olympiad-planet-puzzles/