PY124: Solar System Astronomy
SAMPLE TEST 2
Instructor: R.A. Egler
About this sample test:
The sample tests are intended to acquaint you with the types of questions I will ask, along with the manner that I will ask them. Although some questions on the actual test may be similar, they will not be identical. No answers are provided on-line to the sample questions. If you don't know the answer to a question, I want you to study your notes and the textbook to find the answer, not just click on a button. You will learn the material much better this way. Of course, if you still have trouble, stop by my office and we'll go over the questions that are giving you a problem.
Each Question is Worth 4 Points (25 questions = 100 points)
Choose the best answer to each question and mark that answer on the answer sheet.
1) We view a hot, dense, object through a more diffuse gas. We will see
A) an absorption spectrum, the lines of which indicate the chemical composition of the diffuse gas.
B) an emission spectrum, the lines of which indicate the chemical composition of the diffuse gas.
C) an absorption spectrum, the lines of which indicate the chemical composition of the hot dense object.
D) an emission spectrum, the lines of which indicate the chemical composition of the hot dense object.
2) If we would make a reflecting telescope with a parabolic mirror, we will still expect the mirror to have
A) chromatic aberration.
B) spherical aberration.
C) parabolic aberration.
D) A and B
E) None of the above.
3) The type of telescope mount where one axis of the mount is parallel to the Earth's axis of rotation is known as
A) an equatorial mount.
B) an Alt-Az mount.
C) an axial mount.
D) a rotational mount.
4) What do we mean by "retrograde rotation"?
A) A planet goes around the sun in a direction opposite that of the Earth.
B) A planet appears to go backwards for a while on the celestial sphere as the Earth passes it in its orbit.
C) A planet goes around on its axis in a direction opposite that of the Earth.
D) A planet's atmosphere appears to be evolving opposite the order that the Earth's atmosphere evolved.
5) The age of the solar system is believed to be about
A) 4.5 trillion years.
B) 4.5 billion years.
C) 4.5 million years.
D) 4.5 thousand years.
E) 4.5 years.
6) When we make a radio telescope dish out a wire mesh with holes much smaller than the wavelength of the radio signals,
A) much of the radio energy passes through the holes in the mesh.
B) almost all the radio energy is reflected as if the mesh dish were a mirror.
C) the wire mesh absorbs most of the radio energy.
7) With a mean orbital distance of approximately 1.5 AU, Mars is about twice as far from the sun as is Venus, therefore the amount of energy that Venus gets from the sun (per square meter of surface) is about
A) twice what Mars gets from the sun.
B) four times what Mars gets from the sun.
C) eight times what Mars gets from the sun.
D) one quarter what Mars gets from the sun.
8) As an electron falls from a higher energy level to a lower energy level inside an atom,
A) the difference in energy between the two levels will be given off as a photon of equal energy.
B) a photon will be absorbed with the same energy as the difference in energy between the two levels.
C) a neutron will be emitted with half the difference in energy between the two levels.
D) None of the above.
9) William Thompson (Lord Kelvin) estimated the age of the Earth as 30million years based on the present temperature of the Earth and its rate of heat loss. His method was sound, but his value for the age of the Earth was in error because
A) even though his method was valid, he made serious computational errors.
B) he did not take into consideration that radioactivity adds heat to the Earth's interior.
C) he did not have an accurate value for the present temperature of the Earth.
D) he did not have an accurate value for the mass of the Earth.
10) In general, earthquakes occur
A) along plate boundaries.
B) in the center of plates.
C) more or less randomly over the surface of the planet.
11) The planets fall into two broad groups, the Terrestrial and the Jovian planets. When comparing the groups, we see that the Jovian planets are__________ the Terrestrial planets.
1) less dense than
2) more dense than
3) smaller than
4) larger than
5) farther from the sun than
6) closer to the sun than
A) Answers 2, 4, and 6
B) Answers 1, 4, and 5
C) Answers 2, 3, and 5
D) Answers 1, 3, and 5
E) Answers 1, 4, and 6
12) The 'dry river beds' on Mars
A) are actually earthquake (Marsquake) faults.
B) are what Lowell mistook for "canals".
C) are an indication that Mars once had liquid water on its surface.
D) B and C
E) All of the above.
13) The runaway greenhouse effect on Venus is a result of there being
A) little oxygen in the atmosphere.
B) little carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
C) a lot of nitrogen in the atmosphere.
D) a lot of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
E) iron oxide on the surface of the planet.
14) The moon has considerably more craters than the Earth. What do we believe is the prime reason that this is so?
A) The Earth is largely shielded from meteoric impact by the moon.
B) The moon's higher gravity attracts most of the meteors that enter theEarth-moon system.
C) The moon has been hit by vastly more meteors than the Earth has.
D) Geologic processes on the Earth have acted to erase craters.
E) A and C
15) In order of increasing (low to high) atmospheric density (atmospheric pressure), we would write:
A) Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury
B) Venus, Earth, Mercury, Mars
C) Mercury, Mars, Earth, Venus
D) Mars, Venus, Mercury, Earth
16) Which of the following pictures has the layers of the Earth labeled correctly?
17) Which of the following statements about the solar system is not true?
A) The distance between adjacent planets increases as you go farther from the sun.
B) All of the planets orbit the sun in the same direction.
C) All of the planets orbit the sun in about the same plane.(Within 20 degrees)
D) The closer a planet is to the sun, the longer it takes to complete an orbit.
E) The planets all orbit in about the same plane as the sun's equator.
18) We take the spectrum of a distant star. By the analysis of this spectrum we call
tell which of the following?
A)the star’s chemical composition
B) the star’s radial velocity
C) the star’s temperature
D) We can tell all of the above by an analysis of the spectrum
19) Why can't we just keep adding more lenses to a refracting telescope to remove all of the chromatic aberration?
A) Because each time the light passes from one lens into another some of the light is reflected away.
B) Because all lenses have exactly the same chromatic aberration, so adding more lenses won't make any difference.
C) Because lenses don't have chromatic aberration, only spherical aberration, so adding more lenses would have no effect.
D) All of the above.
20)What properties do we think are necessary in order for a planet or moon to have a magnetic field?
A) A molten (liquid) core.
B) A core made from material that conducts electricity.
C) A core that is rotating
D) All of the above are believed necessary.
21) One method we use to determine the age of
the Earth is to look at the present abundance of certain radioactive elements,
whose half lives are known, in rocks on the Earth. If today we have a one kilogram sample
of a pure radioactive element that has a half life of 2
million years, how much of that sample will still the same element in 6 million
years?
A) 1/4 of the sample
B) 1/6 of the sample
C) 1/8 of the sample
D) 1/12 of the sample
E) None of the sample will still be
the same element.
22) Where are most of the asteroids located?
A) Mostly in an orbit between Jupiter and Mars
B) Mostly in an orbit between Saturn and Jupiter
C) Mostly in an orbit between Mars and Earth
D) Mostly in an orbit between Uranus and Saturn
23) There are some ‘moons’ that are larger than some ‘planets’. What is the basic difference between a moon and a planet?
A) A planet is a large body that orbits a star, and a moon is a small body that orbits a star.
B) A planet is a large body that orbits a star, and a moon is any body that orbits a planet.
C) A planet is anybody that orbits a star, and a moon is a small body that orbits a planet.
D) The difference is based on chemical composition of the body
24) Chromatic aberration would be eliminated by
A) using a spherical mirror
B) using a parabolic mirror
C) using a lens
D) A and B
E) All of the above.
25) Considering their orbital distances, which planet comes closest to the Earth?
A) Mars
B) Jupiter
C) Mercury
D) Venus
E) The Klingon Home World
(Updated 12 October 2006)
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