Satellites and GPS

Tests: 4 of 11 right · Exam: 3 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 9 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 38 of the technology 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 ✓

«astronauts float on the space station cos there's no gravity up there, easy» What is the best correction?

1. They wear magnetic boots that lift them — no support
2. The station is filled with helium — no support
3. Right, gravity stops above the clouds — no support
4. Gravity is still there; they float because they and the station are falling around the Earth together — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 12

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 12, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 38, line 13: «The International Space Station is a big laboratory orbiting Earth with astronauts on board, and it goes around the Earth about every 90 minutes; the astronaut…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «float» (+4); the same doer «astronauts» (+4); its «because» matches the remembered cause (+4). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★ · right ✓

In a cartoon, a satellite crashes because its engine runs out of fuel. What keeps a real satellite up?

1. Its sideways speed makes it keep falling around the Earth — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 10
2. Air under it holds it up — no support
3. Strings to the ground hold it — no support
4. Its engine must run all the time, day and night, or it drops straight down — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 10, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 38, line 1: «A satellite does not float in space; it is falling all the time. It was thrown sideways so fast by a rocket that as it falls, the round Earth curves away benea…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «fall» (+3); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «satellite» (+2); the same place «earth» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★★ · right ✓

«sat nav says turn left into the river, it must be right» What is the right answer?

1. Switch the sat nav off and on again, and if it still says left, then turn left — no support
2. Sat navs are never wrong, so turn — no support
3. Drive in slowly to check — no support
4. The driver must watch the road and not follow a mistake — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 38, line 8: «A sat nav uses GPS for its position and a stored map to find a route; the driver must still watch the road, because sat navs have sent lorries down tiny lanes.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «watch» (+3); the same doer «driver» (+3); the same thing acted on «road» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★ · wrong ✗

What would happen to the satellite TV if a big tree grew between a dish and the south-east sky?

1. The TV would get clearer pictures — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The picture could break up or stop, because the signal is blocked — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Nothing, signals go through anything — no support
4. The dish would turn round by itself — 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 5 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«that bright dot moving fast across the sky, is it a UFO» What is the likely answer?

1. It is just a star, as stars always move that fast — ← Mova's choice · score 4
2. It is a satellite falling to Earth — no support
3. It may well be the space station, seen from the ground — ✓ the right answer · score 0
4. It is surely a spaceship from Mars coming to visit the Earth — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 4, against 0 for the next best. Its support: lesson 22, line 3: «Lift only comes when air moves past the wing fast enough, so the engines push the plane forward, and a big jet must race along the runway at around 250 to 300…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «move» (+4); the same property (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, scored 0. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Count them: the space station goes round the Earth about every 90 minutes. About how many times does it go round in 3 hours?

1. 90 — ← Mova's choice · score 1
2. 1 — score 1
3. 2 — ✓ the right answer · score 1
4. 3 — score 1

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 1, tied with another option at 1 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 23, line 3: «Not everything that flies has fixed wings. A helicopter's spinning blades are long thin wings going round in a circle, a drone does the same with four or more…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «go round» (+2); the same property (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, scored 1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Count them: a phone hears 4 GPS satellites, and later 3 more come into view. How many does it hear now?

1. 4 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 7 — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. 3 — no support
4. 12 — 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 ✗

Count them: a street has 5 houses, and every second house has a dish, starting from the first. How many dishes?

1. 5 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 3 — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. 4 — no support
4. 2 — 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 9 · ★★ · right ✓

«stranger in my game asked where i live, should i send my location» What is the rule?

1. Send it if they promise to send theirs to you first — no support
2. Send only the street name and the town, not the house number — no support
3. Never; share your location only with your family — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
4. Send it if they are the same level as you in the game — no support

Why: It took the question to ask where. It chose option 3 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 38, line 16: «Share your location only with your family.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4); the same action «share» (+3); the same thing acted on «location» (+3). Against it: one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-4). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Why can a tiny fleck of paint damage a spacecraft?

1. Space paint is made of metal — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. In orbit it moves extremely fast — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. It explodes when it touches glass — no support
4. It is red-hot from the Sun — 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 ✗

Why does a GPS satellite need such a precise clock?

1. The clock powers the satellite — no support
2. The phone works out distance from tiny differences in time — ✓ the right answer · score 3
3. The astronauts need to know the time — no support
4. The clock keeps the satellite in orbit by ticking at exactly the right speed — ← Mova's choice · score 6

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 6, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 38, line 11: «Satellite internet uses many small satellites in low orbit to pass signals between dishes on the ground, so even remote places can get online; companies like S…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «many small satellites» (+4); the same place «low orbit» (+2). The right option, 2, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓

Identify the principal reason for which an artificial satellite does not descend to the surface of the Earth.

1. It is supported by the atmosphere beneath it — no support
2. Its horizontal velocity is such that it falls continuously around the Earth — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
3. It is suspended by cables from the surface — no support
4. Gravity is entirely absent beyond the atmosphere — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 38, line 1: «A satellite does not float in space; it is falling all the time. It was thrown sideways so fast by a rocket that as it falls, the round Earth curves away benea…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «fall» (+4); the same place «earth» (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the method by which a telephone determines its position by GPS?

1. It requests its position from the nearest telephone mast — no support
2. It photographs the surrounding streets — no support
3. It estimates its position from the prevailing weather — no support
4. It measures the time taken for signals from several satellites to arrive — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 38, line 6: «GPS works because a phone listens for timing signals from several satellites and works out where it is from how long the signals took; GPS satellites carry ver…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «take» (+4); the same circumstance (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the period of revolution of the International Space Station.

1. It completes one orbit of the Earth in approximately ninety minutes — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. It remains stationary above a single point upon the surface of the Earth at all times — no support
3. It completes one orbit in approximately one day — no support
4. It completes one orbit in approximately one year — 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 ✗

Ascertain the means by which a map application detects congestion upon a road.

1. It infers congestion solely from the time of day — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It receives reports exclusively from a helicopter that patrols the roads continuously — no support
3. It is notified by text message from the police — no support
4. It observes that numerous telephones upon that road are moving slowly — ✓ 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

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/technology/38-satellites-and-gps/